Opinion

Leftovers for end of August

We’ve go a whole bunch of leftovers from earlier this month: What a great weekend of rodeo, seeing friends and watching our community continue to grow. That’s right, while you’re watching Cowboys saddle up and compete, I see dollars rolling in and scholarships being awarded, youth sports being organized and so much more. The Saddle

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Katy Trail Diplomacy

Katy Trail Diplomacy I made a new friend the other day: A black, French, Muslim woman who recently arrived from Paris. (That sound you just heard was Donald Trump’s head exploding.) I could think of no better way to introduce Joie (named changed to protect her privacy) to the America I love than going for

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Easy answer not best solution

Easy answer not best solution In the classic Sci-Fi novel “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” an alien visiting Earth names himself Ford Perfect – based on the assumption that cars are the dominant form of life on this planet. It’s an understandable mistake. Even in Southern Boone County, we are discovering that we don’t

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Naughton Fatigue Syndrome

Naughton Fatigue Syndrome by Travis Naughton Summer in Southern Boone County marks a reprieve from school for educators and students. It is also a chance for educators, students, and the general population of the area to get a reprieve from Travis Naughton. During the summer months, most folks in and around Ashland are able to

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Clothes don’t make the American

Clothes don’t make the American by Bruce Wallace After a long Tuesday of putting the paper together, picking it up in Jefferson City and getting my reliable inserting/labeling crew to work, I was off to pick up some quick Chinese food for a late dinner in front of the Olympics. While waiting in line at

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Armchair Olympic Gold

by Travis Naughton While watching coverage of the Rio Olympics, I couldn’t help but feel a little nostalgic about my own glorious Olympic moment that occurred twenty years ago. No, I didn’t compete in Atlanta, Georgia like the rest of the athletes in 1996. Instead, I showed off my skills from the comfort of my

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Nickel Nearly Worth a Dime

by Bruce Wallace For so many years, I have written this column, It’s My Nickel, never once considering writing about ….. Nickels. Once in a while after another oh-for-four night on my baseball team, my dad would tell me, “At the plate you’re not worth a plug nickel – but I’ll still take you for

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So far, so good…so far

by Travis Naughton I guess I was about ten or eleven when my folks got divorced. My wife was only a baby when her parents split up. Some of the memories I have from the time before my parents’ marriage fell apart are warm and fuzzy, but most of them are just fuzzy. Bethany, of

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McDonald’s knows how to build

by Bruce Wallace The pure excitement of a new, stand-alone McDonald’s with a double-window drive-thru — that’s right, you heard me, a drive-thru to take your money and a drive-thru to hand you your food – is almost too much to be believed. OK, there’s as much sarcasm in that opening paragraph as there is

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Naughtons survive Florida

By now, I’m certain you’ve grown weary of reading about all of the misfortunes that have befallen the Naughton family on our many R.V. adventures. As a favor to you, loyal reader, I will not write about the fact that we were able to run our roof-top air conditioner for a grand total of only

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