Opinion

There is a big push now by insurance companies sellyou insurance in case you shoot somebody. Not that faraffect it if you look at all the shootings taking place in thenews. So have you purchased your gun insurance yet?In case you shoot someone, there are insurance policiesavailable to cover any liabilities you mightface, pay for your bail if you are …

In the span of one recent long weekend, I found myselfat two different funerals and a visitation. Three differentlives. Three different connections to my own story.It was sobering. It was tender. It was a reminder ofjust how many strands weave the fabric of ourlives.The first service was for a high school classmate.We graduated in 1970, though I confessit doesn’t seem …

In elementary school students were taught aboutthe president that was assassinated, As far as anyoneknew, this president, the 16th president of the UnitedStates, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John WilkesBooth at Ford’s Theater. Other presidents that hadalso been assassinated or had attempts on theirlives were not known and it would not be untilcollege before anyone knew of other attempts.Most of …

In April, I told you about my plan to shed a few poundsby mid-August. It was a reasonable goal, fueled by memoriesof earlier success and the desire to feel healthier.Maybe you’ve had a goal like that, too – one thatlooked doable on paper, but real life got in theway.Yes, mid-August has come and gone. And let’sjust say the results weren’t …

PUTIN THE PLAYERIn 1989 the world turned upside down. After thirty-five years of fear, simulated nuclear attacks and worriesof a world war like was never experienced, the worldwas free to sigh a breath of fresh air as the Soviet Unioncollapsed. The collapse was no slow methodicaldecline; it was quick and it was complete.In East Germany, the geographical area underSoviet control, …

Paper ballots and limited absentee balloting in ourelection? That’s what the president is calling for. Doeshe have a point? The overwhelming majority of democraticcountries require paper ballots in their elections.According to the Pew Research Center, paperballot are used in 209 of the 227 countries thatre democratic.. For example, the AssociatedPress reports that voters in France “use the samesystem that’s been …

President Trump is suggesting that the national guardcould be used in additional American cities besides thenation’s capital, and has included New Orleans on hislist. I have no problem with this, but we need to do a lotmore on our own here in Louisiana.There is a wave of irrational violence in cities all overthe state. Baton Rouge and New Orleans have …

It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway): Thelate, great Ruston journalist Wiley W. Hilburn Jr., mydepartment head for 34 years, taught me a lot aboutwriting. And that includes column writing.I would often proofread his column, “Fragments,”a staple in two area newspapers for decades.In the process, we’d discuss his topics, hiswriting, how he got his ideas – indeed, a …

As a child dinosaurs came into vogue. Toy dinosaursets were sold from the Sears and Roebuck Christmascatalogues. The Peabody Museum, a part of HarvardUniversity, produced a set of drawings depicting lifeduring the Jurassic period and earlier. One could lookat the realistic paintings and visualize what itwould be like to live millions of years beforeman’s dirty little footprints trod the planet.Books …

It was the middle of winter and I was working on anoil rig. A huge storm hit. It was wet and freezing and Icaught pneumonia.“This isn’t what I want to do for the rest of my life,” Ithought to myself.I quit. I had worked making pizzas for Johnny’sPizza House during high school and stillhad some good relationships with managers. Ithought …