Rick Patrick Columnist At an early age, I developed a practice of thinking out loud. Some folks called it “talking to myself.” For some reason, this habit caused some concern among my…
Category: Editorials
Letter to the Editor
Note: Letters to the Editor are typed word for word, comma for comma, as sent to this newspaper: Please keep letter to 600 words or less. Florida is set to have a…
From the Sunny Side: Ringtones
Rick Patrick Columnist I’m old enough to remember the days when phones would ring with a rather peculiar sound. They would actually ring. There was an actual bell inside the phone and…
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Thoughts from the past and present: Something is better than nothing
Hailey Heseltine Columnist I’m sure many of us know how difficult it can be to find the motivation to improve. Whether it’s a hobby that needs practicing, a new exercise schedule, healthier…
Re-zoning, who pays?
I am writing this letter as a concerned neighbor about the proposed rezoning of 370 S. Jefferson St. as requested by Ms. Evelyn Hagan owner of Hagan Funeral Service. The land in question…
The Beatles come to Monticello! (sort of)
Laura Young Columnist It was truly “a hard day’s night” when I settled into my vintage seat upstairs at the Monticello Opera House on Thursday night for “Britishmania.” I had been “working…
Thank you, Shirley Washington
Shirley A. Washington, a former School Board Member, continues to support students education by giving high school students her academic scholarship, known as the “SHIRLEY A. WASHINGTON FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP”. Ms. Washington still…
Ponderings…The marks we leave
Heather Ainsley Columnist I’ve been thinking a lot about the impacts people make on the world, those small marks they leave behind that become the only evidence that they were ever here…
From the Sunny Side: Kindergarten
Rick Patrick Columnist In my old home town of Perry, Fla. almost everyone fell into one of two categories. You were either an alum of Kiddie College or Happytime kindergarten. I was…
Thoughts from the past and present: A sincere thanks to the Holliers
Hailey Heseltine Columnist At the Florida Media Conference’s annual weekly newspaper awards luncheon on Aug. 1, we (the family of ECB Publishing, Greene Publishing, and the Riverbend News, which are all owned…
From the Sunny Side: Brain pills
Rick Patrick Columnist The more trips I take around that big yellow ball of gas in the sky, the more I feel I can relate to the people I once thought of…
National Security Matters: Paul Tibbets
Joe Boyles Guest Columnist Today is the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the nuclear age. An atom bomb, dropped from a single B-29 (the Enola Gay, named after the pilot’s mother),…
How to keep the power (and yourself) alive
Hailey Heseltine ECB Publishing, Inc. June 1 has come and gone, and with that, we’ll be stuck in the throes of hurricane season until November 30. Between now and then, chances are…
Thoughts from the past and present: On history
As many of you probably know, I’ve been regularly writing history articles in the Jefferson Journal for a little over two years now. People notice, and because of it, one of the…
From the Sunny Side: Laughing yoga?
I am a generally curious person. Some might say (and some have actually said) I even tend to be a little on the “nosy” side. That basic curiosity often comes in handy,…
Ponderings… A berry good day
This weekend, I was invited to go berry-picking with a friend of mine. We had an excellent time last month picking strawberries and peaches at Moccasin Grove, which is located in nearby…
Marriage & meddling
I was disappointed to see that the Baptist Convention has made movements to try and outlaw same-sex marriage. What an amazing case of, “my world is the entire world” mentality. The inability…
Ponderings… Bees without wings
The other day, I had a rare day off work, and I was helping Ben at the kennel when I spied a small black lump balanced on the tip of a blade…
Ponderings: Beetles in the night
It is June, which means that the season has begun when I venture out into the night in my pajamas and I start a careful vigil that I like to call “caterpillar…