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…
Category: Editorials
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…
From the Sunny Side: Wisdom
I have often heard it said that “with age comes wisdom.” I do believe that is true, in most cases. I like to think I am a bit wiser about many things…
The Bible and human liberty: America’s 250th birthday is July 4, 2026
In the formative days of the Republic the directing influence the Bible exercised upon the fathers of the nation is conspicuously evident. To Washington it contained the sure and certain moral precepts…
Ponderings…The end of a road
I’ve worked here at the local newspaper office for four years, having started in May of 2021. In that time, I have won a total of 12 awards through the Florida Press…
Lessons that stuck: “Go around the leaf”
I grew up in Tallahassee and was blessed to attend SAIL, one of the best high schools there. I won’t go into detail, but I credit the school for saving my life…
Ponderings…Using your voice
The world can be really noisy, and it can be tempting to stay silent in an attempt to not add to all the racket. I have found, however, that often the loudest…
Thoughts from the past and present: On third places
I’ve lived in Monticello my whole life, and I always remember it being pretty quiet. Over the past few years, though, I feel like something’s changed. It’s not a bad change, either. …
Ponderings… To spin around a star
As strange as it seems, I have made yet another revolution around our sun, making me 33 years old. Time seems to go simultaneously too quickly and painfully slow, as if I…