Articles by Section - Columnists
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
Boehner’s “Plan B” doesn’t help the GOP
President Obama and congressional Democrats are still winning the messaging battle in the debate over the impending "fiscal cliff."
Yeah, I’m delighted
Congratulations! If you're reading this, it means you survived the Mayan calendar's alleged prediction of total world destruction. But, if the world has been destroyed, then you're not reading this, and I just wasted a perfectly good "congratulations" on a bunch of cosmic dust. Either way, let's move to today's topic: cloying customer service.
A hundred percent of nothing
JoAnn Watson, Detroit city council member, said, "Our people in an overwhelming way supported the re-election of this president, and there ought to be a quid pro quo." In other words, President Obama should send the nearly bankrupted city of Detroit millions in taxpayer bailout money. But there's a painful lesson to be learned from decades of political hustling and counsel by intellectuals and urban experts.
Hearing God’s call
The school shooting in Newtown, Conn., where 20 children and six staff members of Sandy Hook Elementary School were killed last week, is a tragic reminder of the sanctity of life. Of promising young lives cut short and the uniqueness and preciousness of every single person.
Looking back on a great year
The holiday season is upon us already. I would like to wish the City of Covington a Merry Christmas, as well as a Happy New Year, and I hope that everyone enjoys this special time of year. I know that I myself am looking forward to this Christmas season.
Making sense of the senseless
It's the same each time. After yet another tragic loss of life at the hands of an armed madman, we mourn, ache, cry and seek someone or something to blame.
Will we be transformed?
It is a fledgling tradition, but traditions start somewhere. It is becoming a ritual for us to settle in on successive nights and work our way through a library of Christmas movies. There's "White Christmas" with mellifluous Bing Crosby, antic Danny Kay and sumptuous but stiff Rosemary Clooney who transform a failing New England inn and the fortunes of its owner, a retired general under whom characters played by Crosby and Kay served in World War II.
Understanding American liberty
Authoritarian governments - whether religious or secular - have long sought to curb or even to extinguish religious liberty. On the other hand, the limited American government established by our Constitution respects the institutions of our civil society - including, especially, religious institutions. The American Founding Fathers believed that strong religious congregations and vibrant faith communities were essential to ordered liberty. As a result, Americans have long enjoyed the fullest religious liberty in the world ...
A gift fit for a princess
My youngest granddaughter asked me for a pair of boots for Christmas. Wanting to clarify her request, I asked if she meant cowboy boots. She looked at me as only a child can look at an adult when the adult has not grasped what is obvious to the child, and she said firmly, "No, grandmamma, cowGIRL boots.
Georgia’s good ol’ boys club
OK, so I talk to myself when I'm making my hour long commute. It's usually after something irritates me while listening to the morning news on the radio. Last week, however, I had a pretty constructive discussion with myself. Why do we keep turning to the same people to fix the problems we have within our government? At the federal, state and local levels we consistently turn to the "good ol' boys" to reform our ...
Sing a song of hope
So long as I live in a world where more than 100 people can gather on a Sunday afternoon to sing Christmas carols accompanied by 48 tuba players, I have hope for humanity. That was my overriding feeling at Tuba Christmas last Sunday in Porterdale.
Health care law is still fighting for its life
Having survived the Supreme Court and the November elections, President Obama's health care law now faces an even bigger hurdle: the reality of making it work.
Out of my time
Here's some ugly math I wish I hadn't calculated. It's 2012 and I'm 52 years old. If the Mayans and their silly calendars leave us alone, and I live to be 90, I'll have 38 years left. Thirty-eight years seems like a lot of life remaining... until you think about it. Thirty-eight years ago was 1974. Back in that strange year, I turned 14, learned to play the guitar, listened to ABBA and moped around ...
Our government-created financial crisis
Suppose you saw a building on fire. Would you seek counsel from the arsonist who set it ablaze for advice on how to put it out? You say, "Williams, you'd have to be a lunatic to do that!" But that's precisely what we've done: turned to the people who created our fiscal crisis to fix it. I have never read a better account of our doing just that than in John A. Allison's new book, "The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure."
Marriage best left to churches
The current conundrum regarding the legalization of same-sex marriage is what happens when church and state are mixed - the topics become confusing and confused.
- LOCAL
- NIE
- Local Home
- Business
- Archives
- Education
- Covington
- Oxford
- Porterdale
- Social Circle
- Eyesore of the Week
- Newton County Jail Log
- Pets of the Week
- Restaurant scores
- BOC Media
- LEGALS
- SPORTS
- Alcovy
- Eastside
- Newton
- Social Circle
- YMCA
- Recreation
- Sports Columnists
- Oxford College
- OPINION
- Columnists
- Our Thoughts
- Letters
- RELIGION
- Columnists
- LIFE
- Birthdays
- Anniversaries
- Births
- Engagements
- Weddings
- Health
- Home & Garden
- Special Print Sections
- Academic Achievement
- BOC
- VIDEOS
- STATE
- OBITS
- PHOTOS
|
Powered By
|