Columns

Band wasn’t greatest, but was sober

A brass band playing on the town square was a prime-time affair in summers long past. Practically every community of any size had one to provide weekend concerts and to play at fairs, festivals, and celebrations like the Fourth of July.

Depp-Heard trial set a precedent we should follow

For years, social interactions between men and women have become fractured, where the wrong word or glance could end your life as you know it.

Don’t count on a solution to gun violence

If you have small children or grandchildren, it’s difficult to process how a deranged assassin could slaughter such innocent youngsters. Yet it has become a regular happening all over America. After each shooting, we hear cries of “not this, not ever again.

It’s inflation, stupid

When the draft Supreme Court opinion overturning the constitutional right to an abortion was leaked to the media last month, it tore through Washington, D.C., with the force of a category five hurricane.

Are you wild about bookazines?

Did you get your copy of “Queen Elizabeth II: Reign in Pictures” in time for Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee ceremonies? As a bookazine fanatic, I certainly did. Beg pardon? What’s a bookazine, you ask? (I promise I am merely making educated guesses about your inquiries.

They used to dig for oil

When we say that some of the early oil wells in south Louisiana were shallow wells, we mean really shallow. Some of them were dug with long-handled post-hole diggers.

Supreme Court rules against humanity

I’ve been in favor of the death penalty since I first knew what it was. I suppose it has something to do with my sense of justice: if you take a life, which is really the only time the death penalty is imposed, you owe a life.

Addressing the ‘Why?’ in mass shootings

In the wake of every mass killing in this country, politicians do what politicians do, which is to circle their respective wagons and offer solutions that fail to get to the heart of the issue. I don’t have a dog in the gun control fight.

Pass drug savings to consumers

From groceries to gas prices, consumers are dealing with sticker shock in almost every part of the marketplace, including prescription drugs.

Do you have a personal catch phrase?

Hollywood makes iconic catch phrases seem easy. Whether it’s McGarrett’s “Book ‘em, Danno” or Vizzini’s “Inconceivable!” in “The Princess Bride,” we take them for granted.