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It's not cool to keep silent
I remember the first time I ran away from home. I was in sixth grade and I had been wronged in some way. I was sure my parents loved my sister more or denied me some privilege, and I was having none of that. I stayed home when my parents left for work, skipped school, packed a bag and took my bike to this little secluded spot by the river, thinking that was an awesome place to live. I was home before my parents.
Credit report coding trips up buyers
Are large numbers of homeowners who have negotiated short sales with lenders at risk because of a startling omission in the American credit system? Do their credit reports and scores indicate that they were foreclosed upon, rather than having negotiated a mutually agreeable resolution with their lenders?
Sometimes, perspective changes things
Single and lonely in a new neighborhood, a guy invites his neighbors to a drop-in party. With ample food and drink, he sits alone as party time comes and goes.
Who's teaching students to hate U.S.?
Brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who are accused of setting the bombs that exploded at the Boston Marathon, attended the University of Massachusetts. Maybe they hated our nation before college, but if you want lessons on hating America, college attendance might be a good start. Let's look at it.
Where am I? Brain isn't playing fair
Last week, while out of town and staying in a hotel, I had a most exasperating experience.
Property tax proposal doesn’t add up
The word tax is a three-letter word that might as well be a four-letter word these days.
Cushman: Crisis management
My graduate course in crisis management was the 2012 Republican presidential primaries as a senior advisory and national media surrogate for Newt Gingrich.
Crosswalk confusion is rampant
I try to walk at least five days or more a week for close to an hour.
Dalton mayor mulls run against Deal
David Pennington, the mayor of Dalton, is making noises about challenging incumbent Gov. Nathan Deal in the 2014 Republican primary. Say what?
Carter: Character, integrity are true pillars of society
I was conversing with a couple of friends this week, each of whom expressed frustration and disappointment at having been wronged recently in a business transaction.
McCoy: Men, watch your step at weddings
If you're a man who's been invited to a wedding, you need to heed my advice so you know what to do at these alien affairs.
How home sellers shoot themselves in the foot
With full-fledged sellers' markets underway in dozens of metropolitan areas around the country, new research has found curious statistical patterns emerging: Even in cities where listings get multiple offers within days or hours, significant numbers of homes are sitting on the market for six months, 12 months or more with no takers.
Williams: Hustlers are selling a bill of goods
One definition given for insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Dupree, Graubart cook up another gem
Cook, author and TV personality Nathalie Dupree is long gone from these parts, having been carted away to endlessly charming Charleston by husband Jack Bass, chronicler of Southern history. Still, she retains devoted fans and many friends here since she ran "Nathalie's at Mt. Pleasant Village" and lived in Social Circle.
Moms can embrace change at any age
This week, my mother called around 10 a.m. one morning to chat for a minute and catch up. During our conversation, I realized that she was still in her bed, waiting for an aide to help into a wheelchair.
Archive By Section - Columnists
America has no time for more silliness
Last week the White House released a long-form official Hawaiian birth certificate purporting to lay to rest ongoing controversy regarding Barack Hussein Obama II's qualification by birth to fill the office of president of The United States of America. At the heart of the matter has been rampant speculation that the conditions of the birth of the 44th president did not satisfy requirements set forth in the supreme law of the land, The Constitution of ...
Cultural conceits and value of values
"Every society produces its own cultural conceits," Jack Weatherford wrote in "The Secret History of the Mongol Queens," "a set of lies and delusions about itself that thrives in the face of all contrary evidence. The Mongols believed that they could not be completely defeated."
Understanding Gas fees can be taxing
A lot of press, including this publication, has been dedicated to trying to figure out why gas prices, already high, are headed further upward due to an increase in state and local sales taxes, effective Sunday.
Mystery gives way to merriment
The ghostly visage of a grand four-columned, two-story home alone in a broad field of alfalfa appears in a photograph likely taken sometime in the first quarter of the 20th century. It sat beyond the eastern edge of Covington, now at the end of Floyd Street and behind the Newton County Library, but at the time the house was built -sometime between 1910 and 1918, it is thought - Floyd Street went only as far ...
Yarbrough: Happiness a state of mind
I feel like a failure. For years, I have told you what a privilege it is to live in Georgia. We have beautiful mountains, pristine beaches, the oldest state-chartered university in the nation, Vidalia onions and more concrete fishponds than you can count. And we are unhappy. Where have I gone wrong? A survey by Gallup-Healthways called the Well-Being Index released last month says Georgia is only the 31st happiest state in the nation. For ...
Giddens: An ode to Oxford
Our cottage in Oxford is once again a woodsy retreat, lush with fresh greenery and new growth.
Tread lightly when stepping into local affairs
In case you missed this, there is a bill calling for the governor to be able to remove members of the Atlanta School Board if they keep chicken fighting among themselves rather than doing their job.
Holt: Legislative session a wrap
This year's legislative session is at last over. We saw the usual surge of bills and resolutions in the last week, as well as many reconciliation reports between House and Senate versions of some of those. Overall, we voted on 99 measures. SB 33 is the Senate's version of zero-based budgeting. Zero-based budgeting requires that an agency justify its budget request from the ground up, rather than simply requesting a continuance each year and merely ...
Mathews: Professional Learning Communities needed
If change were the criteria for judging school improvement, many school systems would be way down the road towards greater student learning. And, while "first order change" (an extension of the past consistent with existing knowledge and skills) is hardly the same as "second order change" (a break from the past requiring new knowledge and skills), both types are at work in Newton County School System as we seek continuous improvement.
Harwell: You can't make this stuff up
Settle back friends, 'cause I'm about to tell you a story that may leave you slack-jawed and dumbfounded.
Economics almost as simple as pie
Economics is much simpler than many highly-paid pundits would like you to believe. At the same time, it's also much more complex than it might appear. For instance, why are there so many economic pundits when all they do is make predictions that often prove wrong (see nearly any of the reporting that preceded the Great Recession)? Are they really adding value? Not all forecasts are a waste of time. Forecasting and tracking of ...
Let’s get on track for railroad buy
My head spins. My eyes cross. My neck tightens. I find it hard to draw a deep breath, and my hands tremble uncontrollably.
Giddens: What we learned doing our homework
Donna and I have seen a lot of Newton County and environs in the past few weeks. We're looking for a home to buy, and we've been looking at properties all around the county. The good news for us: There's a lot to see, and a lot of bargains out there. The bad news for us all: There are way too many homes that have been turned over to the bank or are in ...
Yarbrough: Dubious achievements in state government awards
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Yarbrough Worldwide Media and Pest Control Company is pleased to recognize members of the 2011 General Assembly who gave so much so that we could get so little.
Revere, Doolittle, Yamamoto and me
Upon occasion, when meeting someone for the first time, I've fielded queries about my last name. A knowledgeable baseball fan, for instance, might ask if I were related to the late, great Ernie Harwell of Detroit Tigers broadcasting fame.
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