For the baby-boomer generation (or at least the counterculture segment within it) the summer of 1967 became known as The Summer of Love. Actually, most of us boomers never experienced it. Certainly, 1967 wasn’t a blissful, carefree summer of love for the hundreds of thousands of Americans serving in Vietnam. It didn’t feel much like […]

Religious deception and hucksterism is certainly not a new phenomenon. From Sinclair Lewis’ Elmer Gantry to televangelist Jim Bakker to some proponents of the Prosperity Gospel, fictional and real life examples abound. So the revelation that Kevin Malarkey fabricated his six-year old son’s account of his near-death experience (NDE) in “The Boy Who Came Back […]

Editor, A hideous structure was recently erected on fragile wetlands near a building our family has owned for 94 years on Langsford Road. The reaction to everyone has been: “…how the hell did that get permitted?!” In 1926 our family sold land to friends to build a boat house. That property was sold to Jeff […]

Picture this. On the day your friend is released from jail, he heads up that long curving lane that runs from the county jail up to the highway. He has a little plastic bag with his toothbrush and toothpaste, but no other possessions. He has burned bridges with his entire family and all his friends. […]

Political battles in Washington reveal the sad state of governing. Traditional pragmatism has been replaced by strict partisanship. Checks and balances are threatened. Partisanship – “It’s my way or the highway” – has replaced the pragmatic style of government. Our tradition has been to find practical solutions to clear public needs. Is there no role […]

In a tale of questionable historical validity, the British colonial government in early 20th century India found itself confronting a fearsome pest: cobras. Though natives had long since adjusted to uneasy coexistence with the snakes, the occupying force did not take kindly to their ubiquitous presence. Seeking their eradication, authorities devised a bounty program to financially […]

Big government versus small government. Left versus right. King Kong versus Godzilla. Two of these conflicts have plagued the country since its inception. The third is downright hilarious, especially if you’ve been up for three days chugging Jolt cola. There are a lot of things that divide us these days, not least of all a […]

Editor, I was pleased to read in a recent edition of the Journal Tribune that the Sanford School Department is expanding its Pre-Kindergarten program to enroll twice the number of students in the upcoming school year. There are a variety of benefits to high quality early childhood education programs like Pre-K. From my perspective in […]

Our elderly church member and friend had been widowed, again. When we visited his home, we saw that he had written on his calendar, “Alone again.” He was a man of strong faith, and he was not questioning the presence of his God. Yet, his raw human emotions were quite understandable, and he needed our […]