Usually, when there's violent crime in our community, it's fairly easy to compartmentalize it in our minds, and not get too worried about it.

Last weekend, I finally got the chance to head down to Dyess to visit the Historic Dyess Colony and Boyhood Home of Johnny Cash, which opened to the public last year.

A little about everything, or a lot about nothing ...

If you could be transported to any place in the world this very second, where would you go?

If you ask me, Christopher Latham Sholes is one of our country's greatest heroes.

Something that many readers already know, but others might not be aware of, is that there are multiple hats I wear in this community.

Today's column is about giving credit where credit is due. Specifically, this is in response to last week's snowstorm, which dumped 9 inches of snow on the Blytheville area.

Encouraging signs are pointing toward the consolidation of the Mississippi County courthouses.

Here's the narrative: In a small town in northeast Arkansas, a young person goes missing. Family, friends and neighbors begin searching, eventually being joined by local law enforcement officials.

A little less than a year ago, after a winter storm left the area more or less paralyzed for several days, I wrote a column that was critical of the community's preparedness for the winter storm.

For those looking for reasons to feel good about Blytheville, the recent growth in the community's retail sector ought to be something that gets your attention.

As the son of a U.S. history teacher, I have always had a deep-seated appreciation for our national heritage. It's imperative for us to remember who we once were, if we want to know who we are going to be.

It's only a few days before Super Bowl XLIX, and I haven't really decided if I'm going to watch the game or not.

On any given weekend these days, you can find my 12-year-old son, Drew, spending hours upon hours playing on the computer. I suppose there are some folks who might have a problem with that.

Well, it looks like this year's first threat of nasty winter weather came and went Sunday, with not much more than a glancing blow, if that. Surely it won't be our last brush with snow and ice and sleet, as there is still a lot of winter left. But for now, a sigh of relief.

Last Saturday's edition of the Courier News included our annual ranking of the top 10 news stories of the year. It's a tradition which we've done for quite a few years now, and it's always an interesting way to look back on the year in local news.

With 2014 coming to an end, and with another new year upon us, it seems fitting to take some time to reminisce about the year just concluded, and to look ahead at the year to come.

It's Santa letter time again at the Courier News. Saturday is the day when we will publish our annual special section containing letters to Santa Claus written by local children.

When it comes to the various genres of music, I think it's kind of odd that there's this happy little niche known as "Christmas music."

Blytheville voters must be experiencing a severe case of deja vu, after hearing the results of last week's mayoral runoff election.

As we prepare to give thanks this holiday, there are no doubt a number of things on our minds.

Let's be very clear about something. There's nothing wrong with saying "Merry Christmas."

For anyone who believes that civility is dead in modern America, I urge you to consider the four-way stop.

When they teach you to write commentary in journalism school, one of the things they say you are supposed to do is take a firm position. Yea or nay. In favor or against. Pro or con.

So we all know the world is changing, and pretty quickly, too. It's an age of technology, and future anthropologists will surely describe this era as the age of the smartphone

I don't think there's any doubting it anymore. Oh, I've resisted it for weeks ... living in a state of denial. But I can't pretend anymore. It's time to put on a brave face and face the facts -- summer 2014 is truly over. The official and unofficial ends of summer passed us by weeks ago. The kids returned to school. August came to an end. Labor Day and the autumn equinox came and went. Heck, it's October for pete's sake...

I don't think there's any doubting it anymore. Oh, I've resisted it for weeks ... living in a state of denial. But I can't pretend anymore. It's time to put on a brave face and face the facts

This is one of the fun times of the year. For the next several weeks, the local calendar is jam-packed with community events.

A weeklong national celebration is kicking off today, and most Americans probably aren't even aware of it -- but they should be.

I've spent some time over the past couple of weeks researching Yellowstone National Park. We're contemplating a trip there, potentially next summer.

Whenever any new tax has been proposed over the years for our community, I admit my first reaction is always the same: "Heck, no!" But then, I've listened to the rationale. I've listened to the reasoning behind the proposals.

One of my favorite first-day-of-school traditions in the Weld family is the annual photo, taken every year in front of the same little hibiscus tree in our front yard.

More often than not, I find myself feeling like our society makes too much of celebrity deaths.

If you paid any attention in history class, you might recognize the name Henry Clay. Most folks probably know Clay as some kind of U.S. legislator from back in the 1800s or so. And that's basically accurate.

For the first time this election cycle, Blytheville's three candidates for mayor appeared at the same forum last weekend.

Earlier this year, my wife and I bought ourselves a new toy -- a little popup camper. It's nothing fancy, just an older model previously owned by a relative who sold it to us for a good price.

In nearly 15 years of working with David Tennyson, I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen him truly angry.

I don't consider myself to be a stodgy person. I can get a joke. I can appreciate edginess. Foul language, used in the right circumstance, doesn't offend me. I can respect people who are developing their own identity and striving to be unique.

As someone who, among other things, writes headlines for a living, I am kind of hoping Mike Ross defeats Asa Hutchinson in this year's race for Arkansas governor.

It was good news last week when Main Street Blytheville announced its intention to move ahead with plans to hire a new executive director.

If you are reading this, you are obviously aware of the Courier News newspaper, which is a good thing.

This is one of the times of the year when a lot of folks pretend to be a fan of a sport they really wouldn't care about any other time of the year.

Suppose you had a million bajillion dollars. What would you do with it? Buy a fancy house? Pay off debts? Get a new car or two (or three)? Create a college fund for the kids? Retire to an island in the Caribbean?

I got to thinking the other day of some of my personal "firsts." The major "firsts" of life are easy to remember, of course -- things like your first date with your future spouse, your first kiss, your children's first steps or your first day on a new job.

Earning the title of class valedictorian is the highest honor a high school student can achieve. Traditionally, the valedictorian is the student with the highest grade-point average after four years of scholastic work.

Last weekend's NFL draft provided the latest in a string of statistics that point toward the dominance of the Southeast Conference when in comes to collegiate athletics, and specifically, college football.

In the nearly 14 years in which I have lived in Arkansas, I have had the fortune to travel to many areas and communities across the state.

By most statistical measures, Mississippi is a poorer state than Arkansas. But driving Interstate 55 from Batesville, Miss., to Blytheville, Ark., you'd never know it.

If I had a vote on the Blytheville City Council, I'd go ahead and vote in favor of renaming Ash Street in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., if the proposal ever actually came up for a vote.

The local youth baseball season is expected to officially get underway tonight, after soggy fields delayed the start of the season by a couple of days.

One of the great things about the rise of digital music is the ability to create playlists. It's not really a new concept, mind you. Back in the '80s, we had our "mix tapes;" and in the '90s, people started burning their own CDs.

The news last week that football players at Northwestern University had won the first battle in their quest to form a labor union is but the latest in an ongoing debate about paying college athletes.

I guess the 2010 Blytheville mayoral election was so much fun, we're going to do it all over again in 2014.

I was struggling with a case of writer's block this week, so I asked my 11-year-old son, Drew, to think of a topic for this week's column. He paused for a few seconds, and then said, "crackers."

Unprepared. That's really the only word that can be used to describe the response to last week's winter storm, which dropped more than 7 inches of sleet and snow on the region, leaving the community virtually paralyzed for almost a week.

The Little Rock Marathon/Half-Marathon is billed as "Arkansas' Race for any Pace." The theme for this year's event, which was held Sunday morning, was "Epic" -- a fitting theme, considering the race was run as a winter storm descended on the region.

When it comes down to it, I've only been drinking soda for a little over 20 years.

Once upon a time, I opined in this space about renaming streets in Blytheville. I made a number of suggestions, most of which I never intended for anyone to take particularly seriously.

I was encouraged to learn earlier this week that a couple of the medal winners at this year's games are in their 40s. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway won gold in the biathlon, while Armin Zöggeler of Italy took the gold in the luge.

Apparently, this month is "Ford Truck Month." This is a factoid I learned Sunday night, while watching the Super Bowl (at least until I got bored with the game and started reading a book instead).

Reading through my Facebook news feed Monday morning, I felt kind of like the only guy who had just missed a good party.

We're three weeks into January now, so if there's a time to start griping about the winter weather, this is it. (If you haven't already.)

I have a new pet peeve. It's something that's been growing for several years, but only recently have I been able to identify it as a persistent irritant.

One of the big issues in the months ahead will be what the city of Blytheville will do with its $561,000 parks and recreation fund.

With this being the first issue of 2014, it's interesting to think about what the top stories of the coming year will be.

One of the endearing things about Christmas is that there are some toys that always seem to stand the test of time.

The big joke on Twitter and Facebook last week was people posting pictures of empty milk aisles at area grocery stores -- evidence of the inevitable rush on bread and milk that occurs every time there is snow in the forecast.

Christmastime is officially here, and with it comes the onslaught of Christmas music, played 24/7, at pretty much any public place you go.

So it looks like the new overpass is going to be brown. The new coloring appeared sometime over the last week or so. Those in the industry apparently refer to it as a "tex-coat."

Come Dec. 5, NBC will be airing a new version of "The Sound of Music," -- this rendition being performed live, and starring country superstar Carrie Underwood in the role of Maria.

It was good to see the way our community stepped up for Veterans Day in the past week, honoring those who have served our nation in the military.

The question was posed to me the other day about whether or not the United States is the greatest country in the world.

Between college football and the World Series, I've been watching a lot of sports lately. And though I have been a sports fan for several decades, there are still some things I don't understand.

What do the TV shows "Walking Dead," "Breaking Bad," "Game of Thrones" and "Downton Abbey" have in common? Don't know? Here's some more shows that contain the same common thread: "Vampire Diaries," "Mad Men," "The Sopranos" and "Arrested Development."

If you want to know why the city of Blytheville is having financial problems, you only need to look at Census data.

With the city of Blytheville's $3.2 million debt to the IRS seemingly satisfied, Blytheville citizens can breathe a sigh of relief that the ugly financial crisis is at last concluded.

Has anyone else noticed that the lane markings on Ward Avenue in Caruthersville are the wrong color?

I am a newspaper editor. To hear people talk, this means I am no more than an endangered species on the brink of extinction; an occupational dinosaur, simply biding time until my professional existence is wiped from the face of modern society.

The lead story in the Sept. 11, 2001, edition of the Courier News was originally going to be a story about the old Blytheville city incinerator.

When folks think about upcoming elections, the first things that no doubt come to most minds are the next presidential election (in 2016), the next congressional elections (in 2014) or even the not-so-far-off municipal elections (also in 2014).

About the worst kind of assignment I could ever get back when I was in school was the group project.

If I had to guess, I'd say Shel Silverstein wrote the above poem at the dawn of a new school year. I can certainly say it pretty much sums up my feelings this week.

Today's topic is Ashton Kutcher. Kutcher is well-known for his roles on the TV shows "That '70s Show" "Punk'd" and "Two and a Half Men," as well as movies like "Dude, Where's My Car?" and "What Happens in Vegas." His most recent role is as computer mogul Steve Jobs in the upcoming flick, "Jobs."

I went camping last weekend. Camping ranks high on my list of things I wish I could do more often. Instead, I end up going about once a year. If that.

One summer when I was in high school, my school's show choir traveled to the International Thespian Festival at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.

One night, not long after I moved to Arkansas more than 13 years ago, my dog went missing. Bailey was a black dog, and it was a dark night, so spotting her was no easy task. I went outside, called her name, and eventually took to my car see where she had wondered off to.

One of the viral videos making its way around the social media world in the past week is a vignette from actor Dustin Hoffman, explaining what he learned while filming the 1982 movie "Tootsie."

I got to thinking the other day about the number of U.S. states I have visited. I'm not sure why this thought popped into my head.

Among holidays, there are few better than the Fourth of July.

In any discussion of the things going right and the things going wrong in our community, one of the problems is that we all live here.

In Idaho, a high school recently dropped its long-held "Redskins" school nickname, and plans are underway to revamp the school's uniforms, logos and signs.

Not long ago, I swore I was done writing about Barrett Harrison and the city of Blytheville's IRS situation. I'd said everything I had to say on the subject, and anything more was just an exercise in redundancy.

The summer travel season is upon us, and no doubt many readers are planning family trips of one sort or another in the weeks ahead.

A fact of life for those of living in the Greater Armorel Metropolitan Area is that our neighborhoods don't tend to have a lot of trees.

This weekend, my wife, Jena, and I will celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary. As luck would have it, we have a break between softball tournaments, school functions and other child-related activities, giving us a chance to mark the occasion with some mom-and-dad time.

This is the time of year when people who deem themselves older and wiser find it necessary to dole out advice to new graduates.

Talk to most educators, and one of the things almost all will agree on is that when it comes to teaching kids, one size does not fit all.

With much fanfare last Thursday, the George W. Bush presidential library was dedicated on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Of all the images and video that has been seen since last week's deadly terror strike at the Boston Marathon, there is one bit of footage that has stuck with me the most.

Among the conversations you tend to hear over and over in the Blytheville area these days is on the notion of retail growth. In simplest terms, folks want to have more places to shop and more places to eat.

I've got a few questions ...

I am no expert on the steel industry. When it comes to knowing what will work and what won't work, I defer to those who have been in the business for years -- companies like Nucor Steel, or individuals like John Correnti.

I guess I'm just not that big of a fan of cactus. That was among the things I learned during my recent spring break trip.

One thing I've always liked about living in Arkansas is that our State Legislature, for the most part, has concerned itself more with the business of running the state government than with making headlines.

One of the most popular pastimes in America these days is government-bashing. The government is too big. The government is inefficient. The government taxes too much. The government is a monstrous bureaucracy.

When it comes to the resignation of Pope Benedict and the soon-to-be-named new leader of the Catholic Church, the mainstream news media is pretty much damned no matter what it does.

From the files of "things that annoy me but nobody else really cares about" is this week's news that the IOC -- the board the governs the Olympic Games -- has voted to drop wrestling as an Olympic sport, beginning in 2020.

Writing about Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe's announcement last week that Big River Steel will build a 525-job mill south of Osceola, Associated Press writer Andrew DeMillo said, "The deal will transform an impoverished region into an economic engine."

So I guess there's some kind of football game or something being played this weekend. You'd never guess. The NFL really needs to think about doing a little marketing for this so-called "Super Bowl" -- you know, let people know it's coming.

Around the time I graduated from college, I was in a band. We called ourselves "Red Dot," a name we came up with after wandering around the woods one weekend following a Boy Scout trail marked by red dots spray-painted on trees.

The current national flap over gun control -- a dialogue that most recently began in reaction to the Newtown, Conn., school massacre -- recently got me thinking about how it came to be that citizens of our country got the right to own guns in the first place.

With the new year still in its infancy, it's not too late to think about what 2013 will bring. Here are a few of my predictions:

It has been nearly two weeks since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., when 27 lives were snuffed from our world in a matter of minutes.

I've made no secret through the years of the fact that one of my favorite parts of the Christmas season is the music. The many vintage tunes and timeless classics, written and recorded through the years, each evoke different memories of holidays gone by.

I'm a believer in giving credit where credit is due. And that's why this week, I am giving credit to Blytheville Mayor James Sanders for negotiating a deal with the IRS for the city of Blytheville to resolve its multi-million dollar payroll tax debt.

An angry post appeared in my Facebook News Feed over the weekend, echoing a theme that seems to be common this time of year.

It's hard to say exactly what it is that makes the Christmas season so special. So instead of trying to fully explain it, I have compiled here a list of a few of the things I most look forward to during the holiday season.

The problem with the city of Blytheville's parks and recreation tax is that nobody has every really defined how it was to be used.

With the 2012 presidential election now a little more than a week behind us, I find myself particularly proud of the voting record in the Weld household.

A few random thoughts, in the wake of the 2012 election ...

When it comes to holiday-related movies and specials, Halloween falls short. Sure, there's the annual rebroadcast of the classic "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," as well as the handful of teen slasher flicks that are sure to be aired leading up to the big day. But that's about it.

The Blytheville area has a lot of problems, and anyone who would argue otherwise clearly has his or her head stuck in the sand. But despite the many challenges ahead of us, this community is still capable of some pretty great things.

Driving home from church with my the kids the other night, the conversation quite naturally turned to flying cars.

According to an article in Friday's Courier News, the city of Blytheville was recently late with its quarterly insurance payment to the Arkansas Municipal League. The payment was due at the end of September, but apparently was not made until early October.

I was witness to a debate a couple of days ago that dealt with Blytheville's ongoing population decline. Obviously, it wasn't the first time that topic has been discussed, nor will it be the last.

As of last Saturday, fall is officially here. The air is a little cooler, the leaves are starting to change colors and farmers can be seen getting their crops out of the fields. But perhaps the surest sign of autumn has been the arrival of political yard signs.

There were no ceremonies held on the Blytheville Courthouse lawn Monday. American flags were not flying throughout the community. The banks were open, and the kids were in school. There was no moment of silence; there was no commemorative edition in the local newspaper. By all accounts it was a typical, ordinary Monday.

Last Friday's thunderstorms brought with them some cooler temperatures, ending what had been several days of humid, muggy weather. We can hope that last week's heat wave was summer's last stand, and that the days of sizzling summer temperatures are behind us, at least for a few months.

A lot of my friends have been spending a lot of time over the past couple of weeks watching the national political conventions. The Republicans had their day in the sun last week, while the Democrats are taking their turn this week.

Talk to a lot of the people who play baseball, softball or soccer at the Blytheville Youth Sportsplex, and they will tell you what a fantastic facility we have here in Blytheville.

2012 in shaping up to be another watershed year when it comes to Blytheville city government.

Three weeks ago in this space, I wrote about some of the things I was most looking forward to in the Olympic Games in London.

This column is going to be boring. I apologize in advance. It's boring because all I'm going to do is talk about my recent vacation to Colorado. I'm not sure how much folks want to read about my vacation, but I've still got Rocky Mountain air in my brain, so it's pretty much all I can think about these days.

Everybody loves the Olympics, right? Well, mostly everybody. Whether its the Winter Games, or the Summer Games, there's something uniquely positive about the Olympics that sets it apart from everything else.

The difference between what is considered an "eyesore" and what is considered "normal" is often no more than a matter of one's daily habits.

I suppose if local grocery stores regularly posted the price of milk or bread on giant plastic signs outside their stores, consumers would pay a lot more attention to ongoing fluctuations.

It is fitting that last Friday marked the 40th anniversary of Title IX -- the landmark legislation which, among other things, paved the way for schools and universities across the United States to start up girls sports teams.

Once again, the highway is calling to me. It's a pretty typical occurrence this time of year. Summer is the time for family vacations, and hitting the road just seems like the right thing to do.

I guess I'm a little naive. I'd like to think that the winners of elections are the people who voters think will do the best job.

I read an article the other day lamenting the death of the family sitcom on primetime network TV. Indeed, it seems like a genre that has pretty much become extinct.

An interesting factoid: On Saturday night, gas prices at the Osceola convenience stores just off Interstate 55 were $3.49. Just a few miles up the road in Blytheville, the same gas was selling for $3.15.

All the local graduation ceremonies are now behind us, and for those involved, the thoughts have no doubt turned to college preparations, work plans and summer fun.

Campuses were always under construction during college visits. There would be sidewalks torn up, streets blocked off and buildings being assembled and remodeled. Tour guides would always complain loudly about the construction

Seeing as how early voting is already under way for the May 22 Primary, it's probably about time for me to figure out who I'm going to vote for.

Maybe it was a communication breakdown. Maybe it was a matter of semantics. Maybe it was an intentional effort to mislead. Call it whatever you want, but the way Blytheville Mayor James Sanders handled last week's departure of city water plant manager Matt Mosley was a disappointment,

I like to consider myself a disciple of the "shop local" ideology. The idea is that when local people buy locally, local people benefit. That's why I couldn't help but feel a little guilty Saturday afternoon as I left town to seek medical care. But when it really comes down to it, I had little choice.

I got an email from a reader one day last week that wasn't all too dissimilar from comments I've heard from folks around town for years.

I still remember when I was in college, and our university got access to a brand new service. It was called the "Internet," and when students first gained access, use was limited to about a half-dozen computers in the back row of the computer lab at the campus library.

Perusing some old newspapers the other day, I came across a Feb. 11, 2011, article about a city of Blytheville Parks and Recreation Committee meeting.

One of my favorite places to run in recent weeks has been the Arkansas Aeroplex. I'll usually start on Memorial Drive, then venture either into the Westminster Village residential area, or into the more industrial-looking section of buildings that once served the Eaker Air Force Base.

It's been a week since Blytheville voters OK'd a 1-cent sales tax to bail out the city from its multi-million dollar debt to the Internal Revenue Service. I've heard it said more than a couple of times that the tax was the "easy way out" for Mayor James Sanders and the City Council.

Perusing the backpack of my son, Drew, the other day, I came upon an interesting sheet of paper. The 9-year-old had written in bold letters across the top: "Things to do before I'm 30."

Another season at the Blytheville Youth Sportsplex is under way. For the Weld family, this marks our eighth consecutive season of playing some combination of t-ball, baseball and softball.

A friend of mine was lamenting the other day about the overall lack of community unity within the city of Blytheville, a problem that has existed for many years.

Well, it looks like the IRS came to play. That point was made clear last week when the federal tax agency placed liens on all city property, including city bank accounts.

Events of earlier this week offer further evidence that something I've been saying needs to happen, indeed, needs to happen.

I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that Mitt Romney gets the Republican nomination for president this year.

Why won't these demon monkeys stop chasing me?!? For many of you, the above line probably makes no sense at all. But those familiar with the hottest new game being plated on iPhones and iPads know exactly what I'm talking about.

As the son of a high school history teacher, I can't help but have an affinity for a good quotation from time to time.

Like anyone else around here, I'm more than ready for this IRS scandal to be behind us. For as long as this issue lingers, it's an albatross around our city's neck, and very little else is going to get done.

We've gotten several letters to the editor in the last couple of weeks voicing strong opposition to the proposed 1-cent Blytheville sales tax, which, if passed, would be used to pay off the city's $3.2 million debt to the IRS.

New research from the Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri shows that communities like Blytheville continue to demonstrate heavy reliance on newspapers like the Courier News for news and information.

There have been a few other letters to Santa from a few other folks, that we didn't get to include in Sunday's special section. I thought I'd print some of them here:

I'm looking forward to the completion of the Highway 18 realignment project coming to Blytheville over the next couple of years, but not for the reasons you probably think.

As is normal this time of year, I've been listening to a lot of Christmas music. I've always loved Christmas music; I think the fact that you only tend to hear it for a few weeks a year makes it especially appealing.

In a famous scene from the "The Sound of Music," Maria is attempting to calm the Von Trapp children during a thunderstorm, and she sings, "My Favorite Things."

As we prepare to give thanks this holiday, there are no doubt a number of things on our minds.

I want to take a little time this week to salute a group of young people I've been privileged to spend some time with over the past few weeks.

So, Beavis and Butt-head are back. MTV recently began airing new episodes of the animated series, which originated in the early 1990s.

I've probably watched more baseball in the past two weeks than the rest of the summer, combined.

My 12-year-old daughter, Katie, and one of her friends had their photo taken Sunday afternoon in the cotton field that is behind our house. Probably a good thing they got it taken when they did, for by Monday night, all the cotton in that field had been picked.

One of the growing hot topics across the country the past few days has been the "Occupy Wall Street" protest, which started in New York, and is now spreading across the country.

Thunder Bayou is a great place for a run. I was out there on a Wednesday evening, just before sunset a couple of weeks ago. I was struck by how epically beautiful that golf course really is.

This is one of my favorite times of the year. It's a great time of the year to enjoy the great outdoors and some of the really cool things our community has to offer.

"Newspapers are dying." That was the big bold headline that appeared on the television screen in front of me at the gym one day last week as I was running on the treadmill.

From a participatory standpoint, at least in my family, it's not football season. It's soccer season. And baseball season. And basketball season. And softball season. And long-distance running season.

Look at it however you want to, but when it comes to the $3.2 million owed by the city of Blytheville to the Internal Revenue Service, it is the citizens of Blytheville who are going to have to pay.

Football season is here at last. Though my wife might disagree with me, this is a good thing.

You have to applaud the energy and vibrancy with which Blytheville's City Council -- half of which only took office this year -- is pursuing ways to better our community.

The 2012 presidential election is less than 15 months away, and the campaign is already in full swing. This is especially true on the Republican side, where devotees cast ballots last weekend in a straw poll in the early caucus state of Iowa.

Since the talk around town the past couple of weeks has been about community cleanup, it seems appropriate for me to mention my own area of concern: Goose poop.

It seems like a lot of people around here really like October. Or at least someone is stuffing the ballot box for that month in the latest Internet poll.

Like many other Americans, I can't help but feel a little melancholy at the end of the space shuttle program.

There seems to be lot less clamoring over gas prices these days. I don't know if it's because we've all simply accepted the notion that the days of $1 or $1.50 gas are long gone, or because paying $3.45 a gallon seems a whole lot better than paying $4.50 or $5.

Kudos go to Kinder Morgan company, for its plans to donate $62,500 for a new boat ramp at the end of Highway 18 east of Blytheville.

It was a quiet drive during my family's road trip to Cabot and North Little Rock last weekend. The downside is that the quiet of the car left me alone with my thoughts for several hours. And that's not necessarily a good thing

It's ironic that it's only officially the second day of summer, yet for many families around here, the baseball/softball season is nearly at an end.

My 20-year class reunion was last weekend. I did not attend.

Amid the euphoria that followed Monday night's dramatic win by my son's Rookie League baseball team, Drew said something which brought the jubilation down a notch, at least for me.

Now that we're past Memorial Day, I guess it's pretty safe to say that summer is officially upon us. (This week's temperatures pretty much erase all doubt.) For a lot of folks, summer means vacation time.

I've never been much for writing love stories. To be honest, I don't think I've even tried it one time, and I doubt I'm very good at it. But every once in a while, the situation commands a bold attempt, and this is one of those times.

It's been a little cool this week, but if previous Delta summers are anything to go by, we ought to be pretty thankful.

There's one local asset that has stood out over the past week or so. And local residents ought to be thanking their lucky stars we have it.

Make no mistake -- when I heard the news late Sunday night that Osama bin Laden was dead, I was pleased.

Like anyone else, I'd like to think of myself of a person of at least average intelligence. I listened in school, went to college and even pay attention to the news on a relatively regular basis. But despite any efforts I put forth to this end, there are some things I still just don't understand.

I have 12 first cousins. Six are on the Weld side; six on are the Fields side. For a number of reasons, ranging from age to geography to common interests, I've never been particularly close to any of them.

It's takes a pretty sadistic person put a large hill at mile 12 of a 13.1-mile race, but someone planning the course for the Go! St. Louis Half-Marathon was apparently just that fiendish.

For three hours Saturday morning, my kids were in school. The Armorel School District, where my kids attend, opted to utilize a Saturday to make up one of the half-day snow days it missed a fews weeks ago.

I've always said that the greatest sporting event in America is the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

The latest trend among my Facebook friends -- at least those in the "new mom" category -- is old-fashioned baby names.