Commentary on Current Events of Interest to Columbus, and the Surrounding Counties of NC
His name was Woody. He never got to run a deer, tree a coon or trail a rabbit. He never got to chase a ball, bark at a cat, or follow a little kid on a bicycle heading out for adventures. He never got...
I was taken aback the other day while talking with a random diner at one of my favorite eateries. I didn’t know him from Adam’s housecat, but we struck up a conversation. We’re around the same age, bo...
When we were little and made silly faces, many of us were warned by our mothers that our faces would stick that way. I have come to the conclusion that I may have a permanent, somewhat cynical, half-...
I was involved in a conversation the other morning, but I have no idea what was said. That’s life with goats. Breakfast is usually served to our livestock as I head out for work, at roughly the same t...
I got out of the truck and a gust of wind threatened to steal my Stetson. I caught it before the Stratoliner could live up to its name, pulled the hat down firmly, and ran the brim. I happened to catc...
It’s no secret that time changes things. Sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad. Change can be your friend and change can be your enemy. For our little area here in Eastern North Carol...
In those days, a newspaper office was a magical place. People were always moving, talking, coming and going. A single BB-sized hole in the darkened front door allowed the sunlight to show dancing dust...
I wasn’t intending to dress any different than usual. It was a Monday. I was an hour behind schedule. The weekend had left too many chores incomplete, too many plans gone awry, and too many nerve-endi...
Editor’s note: Bladen County Board of Education member Steve Kwiatkowski published this opinion piece on his personal social media this week. It is shared here with his permission. On this page, I spe...
I happened to catch maybe two minutes of the Country Music Awards the other night. For reasons I cannot fathom, a bunch of the new stars were singing Phil Collins song. I wasn’t even one of Phil’s son...
I crumpled gratefully into my grandfather’s chair, and moaned a little as I took off my shoes. I had to wonder how many other men in my family had done the same thing through all the years that chair...
I was on an already unpleasant errand when a friend called with the words that would shake the coldest stone statue. “There’s a little kid been shot,” he said. It did not matter that I had heard the w...
I got my digital hands slapped the other day because of my choice of words when I identified an animal track. Some friends were sharing pictures of their camping trip, and during the night they were r...
In the woods beside our house is a half-forgotten colony box for martins. It was knocked into the trees and vines during one storm or another, and restoring it to service is somewhere down around numb...
When I was a kid, there were words that would get your tail torn up, and words that might, in some families, mean you were never seen again. Maybe it wasn’t quite that bad, but I did see a classmate i...
On the road the other day, I glanced at an old farm I’ve watched for years, but this time there was nothing left to see. The first house on the farm was built sometime before the War Between the State...