Opinion & Editorial

From the Desk of Phil Hudgins: If I were running for president, you’d want to know about my boyhood

When I was a little guy, I would lie on my back in the yard and look up at the clouds or the trees, searching for an answer to the question of the day. God, do you want me to start raising worms now so that when I open my bait shop, I’ll be ready?

Paul’s Perspective: Big Lou

Targeted marketing is an ingenious way to get your message or pitch to a clearly defined audience. It’s most effective when the advertiser convinces their targeted audience that they are being spoken to individually – as if the pitch was written specifically for your needs or desires.

YOUR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

France should be ashamed To the Editor: France should be ashamed of their theatrical performance in the opening of the Olympic games. News commentators reported it as the “Last Supper.” Most people saw this apparent depiction of the “Last Supper” as a sick insulting parody.

From the Desk of Phil Hudgins: Please hold your applause

Have you ever felt like you received more credit for something than you deserved? Well, I have. About 15 years ago, I came across a recipe for pancakes in a little book of breakfast specialties. I made those pancakes for my family. Everybody loved them, and I’ve been making them ever since.

YOUR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Thankful and prayerful for all who serve To the Editor: In reading the editorials lately, seems to be a lot of negative things said and thought. This week, with school starting back I just want to take a moment to say something positive.

Love Thy Neighbor: What is it like to live in a perfect community?

Forget how you feel about where we are as a society today. Instead, close your eyes and picture the perfect community — a community where everyone’s needs are met, everyone’s voices are heard and everyone feels safe. How would people work together?

Bear with Me: The little armored one

I didn’t pay much attention to the dug-up pine straw on my slope out back. Deer sometimes do that.  Squirrels too. Then I noticed disturbed red clay under my deck stairs. I poked my head under the stairs. Uh oh. I brushed the pine straw away and saw a six-inch hole in the corner.

YOUR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

A team of winners   To the Editor: In a time and place far away, there was a certain high school that had a very unpredictable football team. When they were good they were champions and when they were bad they were losers. Each year the first game told the story.

From the Desk of Phil Hudgins: Lesson in human decency can be learned in grammar school

When I was in elementary school—it was either the sixth or seventh grade—my classmates elected me to fight a boy named Johnny because he supposedly was picking on smaller kids. It was almost an honor. The fight took place down at the railroad tracks near the school.

Paul’s Perspective: Shall not perish

Author’s disclosure: I am “resubmitting” an article I wrote three years ago. Perhaps the lazy days of summer have overtaken me; but I prefer to think that what I wrote over three years ago has as much, or even more, poignancy for us now as it did then.