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Local Columns

Is it proper to laugh in church?

Years ago I considered writing a book about funny things that happen in church. “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Heaven,” would make a good title, I thought. Of course, I never got around to writing it. Alas, I’m a day late and a dollar short. Several other writers have beaten me ...

Elon Lee was a Civil War veteran

In The Daily Freeman-Journal dated May 10, 1938, an article appeared on the death of the last Civil War veteran in Hamilton County, some 73 years after the end of the war. It marked the end of an era in local history; these veterans had played such active and important roles in this ...

Understanding life backwards

Danish theologian and philosopher Søren Kierkegaard observed, “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.” I’ve been thinking about that concept all week. Fifty years ago this month my wife, our one-year-old son and I moved from a community we loved to a city ...

Way, way too close to home

You'll recognize these words. I'm going to run this until somewhere, someone grows a spine. I'm going to run these words over and over until the people who imagine they are in power can understand that with power comes responsibility. I'm going to publish this column until we are sick of it ...

It’s good to be back in ‘Our Neighborhood’

In early November I had to have a knee replaced. During the recovery period following surgery, my mind was a complete fog (even more than usual); between drugs for the pain and the focus I put toward rehabilitation, it just didn’t feel normal trying to write. I was able to continue research, ...

Random thoughts about the new year

Here it is — a brand new year. Yippee! Every January 1 brings back memories of New Years 2000 and the Y2K scare. Readers of sufficient age should remember all the anxiety that was wasted in 1999 as some folks thought the world was coming to an end (or something similarly calamitous) on ...