Opinion

Ok, I admit it, I'm still a city kid. The other night while driving home, something ran across the road that looked like a gray blur. I've gotten used to seeing deer on the road, so am constantly on the lookout for those, but this was something new.  A few years ago I saw little tiny foxes in a den alongside the road. Yesterday on the way home, we saw a coyote.

A few nights ago, I spent the evening in one of the seats my grandparents and aunts and uncles sat in. I went to a tiny country church about 30 miles from my home. I never get over how you think your life won't intersect again with certain parts of your past..and then one day 20 or 30 years later, you find yourself back at square one.

       When you walk into the nearest Social Security office, the first person you see is a man with a gun. The first words you hear are "Why are you here?"      At first, you think: "Seriously? Who's going to rob (or otherwise harm) the Social Security Administration?" Then you remember that it's a federal building, all of which are under orders for special security.

       The pundits are often saying that politicians are letting us down because they fail to make the "hard choices." Energy policy. Fiscal policy. Middle East policy. These are difficult issues. And many in the media (including me) have been known to rebuke our political leaders for failing to make the hard choices necessary to honestly and completely address these issues.

        For the first time in a very long time, we have very little new news to put on Vinton Today. And since I have written before that TV stations and newspapers should be honest enough to say, "Hey, there's nothing really that exciting going on. Get up and go do something else instead of spending the next 30 minutes here," I think we owe you the same courtesy here at Vinton Today.

       Congratulations! Today is your day!      No, wait. That is someone else's graduation speech, the best one ever written or shared during a commencement ceremony. Dr. Seuss lovers will recognize those five words as the beginning of his book, "Oh, the Places You'll Go," which after 20 years is still a favorite graduation gift and speech.

       Imagine this: You are at a restaurant, eating your steak and chicken. (Unless of course you are a tofu and salad type; if so, imagine that. Me, I am sticking with the meat.)     Your dinner arrives on time and it's great. But there's nothing to drink, even though you ordered your wildberry tea 30 minutes ago.

  Editor:              Is there a real possibility that our President may be ineligible for the Office he holds?  Opposing voices proclaim bigotry or racism or some other –ism or -phobe.  The language of the Constitution – namely Article II Section 1, paragraph 6 states:  “No person except anatural born citizen or a citizen at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President:  neither shall any person be eligible for that office who shall not have attained the age of thirty five years and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.

  Acts 2:14a, 22-32 I Peter 1:3-9 In the movie, "UP," we see Carl's front door door and listen as he unlocks, one by one, six locks follwed by the drawing of the chain bolt.   Carl is grieving the death of his wife, Ellie.  He's angry -- Ellie is gone, the big city has grown up around his home, and the world as he knew it is gone.

One of my favorite things about working on the website is all of the comments that we get. Sometimes they are REALLY, REALLY well written and I want to put them through, but I CAN'T... PLEASE sign your comments...first and last names... If you don't I just assume that you are just venting and want to make sure someone knows what you think, but are too embarrassed to sign it.