Summer started today, bringing an anti-climactic end to pretty dreary, rain-infested late spring here in North Carolina. The Haw River was nearly out of its banks Tuesday morning after a torrential downpour that almost outweighed a tropical system in intensity, and density. So even though muggy and not very comfortable was the rule today as … Continue reading Sun Hands: A refresher from Haw River Farmhouse Ales
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Four fathers
I'm not a dad. This isn't a lament but a fact. It's neither good, nor particularly bad. It simply is. I will admit taking some comfort that during my journalism career I might have helped someone along the path when their own dads weren't readily available. As I got older I often thought of young … Continue reading Four fathers
Throwback Thursday column: Memories of two leaders and their sacrifices
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I wrote this column in June of 2015 upon the death of J.A. Freeman, the longtime educator, first principal at integrated Cummings High School and a political leader. It reminded me of a similar figure from my youth growing up in Stokes County -- John L. Hairston. When I heard last Sunday about … Continue reading Throwback Thursday column: Memories of two leaders and their sacrifices
You don’t say; or how I nearly got myself killed one morning
People usually edit their memories in one way or another. Some even manage to forget specific events completely. Facebook doesn't have a selective memory function. What someone produced on their Facebook page on a random day in say, 2011, will turn up on that same day in 2017 in a daily feature the social media … Continue reading You don’t say; or how I nearly got myself killed one morning
Commissioners punt on third and long for ABSS strategic plan
Revised to reflect change in amount of funding needed to pay for the entire request. If we’re going to talk football and local government spending then let’s call what happened Monday night at Williams High School what it really was. The Alamance County Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 to punt. Worse, the board voted to … Continue reading Commissioners punt on third and long for ABSS strategic plan
Putting the education cards on the table
In what has a emerged as a government budget showdown, the time for bluffing is nearly over. After a public hearing Monday at the Williams High School auditorium -- a cavernous post-World War II facility -- members of the Alamance County Board of Commissioners will have to put their cards on the table when it … Continue reading Putting the education cards on the table
The return of recreational reading; or, stuff to do this summer
I stopped reading for fun a couple of years ago. It happened gradually. I didn't really notice for several months. And then one day I realized I hadn't cracked a book in a long time, forget fiction novels. It just wasn't happening. It worried me a little. Reading was my primary hobby dating to childhood. … Continue reading The return of recreational reading; or, stuff to do this summer
Former Phoenix John Brebbia makes a rare rise to the Major Leagues
John Brebbia entered his second Major League Baseball game Tuesday night at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. It was the fifth inning of a butt-ugly game between the Cardinals – the team Brebbia joined on Saturday from Triple A Memphis – and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The bases were loaded, Cards down 6-3. The previous … Continue reading Former Phoenix John Brebbia makes a rare rise to the Major Leagues
The green vase
For the past few years I have posted this over Memorial Day Weekend. It's the strongest memory I have from my newspaper life at the Jacksonville Daily News in North Carolina, the home of Camp Lejeune, the largest Marine Corps installation on the East Coast. I'll always remember. The vase is still with me. ---- … Continue reading The green vase
Top secret: The day Oprah came to Elon
Friday as I sat inside Alumni Gym at Elon University for its annual baccalaureate ceremony, I had some sympathy for my newspaper friends back at their offices in Burlington, Greensboro and Raleigh. Inside the gym a pretty big story no one saw coming emerged just before the actual ceremony began. Without fanfare, music, entourage or … Continue reading Top secret: The day Oprah came to Elon
Madison's Avenue 