Opinion

Social distancing is easier for some folks than others. I’ve lived alone for much of the past 12 years or so, and I’ve come to appreciate the solitude most of the time. I enjoy the peace and quiet, doing what I want when I want and not having to debate over mundane things like what’s for dinner. Yes, I’m happily divorced...

Regular readers of this column know I am a huge horror fan. I love all aspects of the genre, from B-horror flicks to big studio features. There’s no sub-genre I won’t watch, but apocalyptic horror is one of my favorites. Day of the Dead, Escape from New York, Deep Impact, 28 Days Later and Dawn of the Dead are pinnacles of the sub-genre. ...

As our world faces the once-in-a-lifetime challenge of a global pandemic, the Board of Loaves and Fishes Food Bank would like to thank our community for all the ways it has joined with us in serving the hungry in Carroll County. Our financial donors, whether individuals, churches, or businesses, give us the wherewithal to supplement government commodities with a variety of foods and items that cannot be purchased with food stamps. ...

It’s safe to say all of you understand what I mean when I say 2020 has been one heck of a year, and it’s not even April yet. Over the past few weeks, the novel coronavirus has spread throughout the United States rapidly. Restaurants and shops have closed during one of the busiest tourism seasons of the year. Spring break is effectively canceled for those who are paying attention to what’s happening in the world...

There are folks, including a few right here in Carroll County, who continue to insist that there is no real reason to be concerned about COVID-19, aka the novel coronavirus. They’ll tell you that COVID-19 has killed far fewer people than the flu, that the media is making a mountain out of a molehill, that there is no real reason to do anything differently than we’ve always done it...

I’m not writing about COVID-19 (aka the novel coronavirus) today. That’s not because I don’t believe it’s important, but because a great deal of this newspaper is already related to that topic, and frankly I don’t feel as if I have any special wisdom to impart. The best I can say is, follow the advice of medical professionals and do not take this situation lightly...

We are facing a pandemic worse than anything most of us have ever seen before, and there’s no way to know if it’s going to get better or worse. Lots of folks have said it’s got to get worse before it gets better. I hate to agree with that, but it seems to be going that way — especially if you’re like me and failed to stock up on toilet paper in time...

Carroll County Circuit Judge Scott Jackson’s ruling last week that an $18 annual charge being billed to Carroll County property owners is improper won’t be the final word on the issue, but it was a good first step toward undoing a massive injustice...

About a month ago, one of our friends gave Gideon a globe decoupaged with colorful fabric to display in his classroom. Gideon has been teaching eighth-grade language arts and social studies at Eureka Springs Middle School since last fall, so it was a perfect gift for him...

By the time most of you read this column, it will be too late to vote in Tuesday’s election. If you did take the time to cast a ballot, thank you. If you didn’t, I urge you to do so in the general election in November. The right to vote is something many of us seem to take lightly in the United States, but it’s not something that came without great cost...

It hardly feels like four years have passed, but here we are slogging through another presidential primary. Regular readers of this column know I’m pretty liberal and not the biggest fan of President Trump. That doesn’t mean I’m a huge fan of all his prospective opponents...

If you read this column regularly, you know that I’m a huge sports fan. I started my career as a sportswriter, and I’m fortunate to be in a job now where I get to write about sports in addition to my duties as managing editor. This time of year is especially busy for high school sports, with local teams competing in postseason basketball tournaments and the state wrestling championships being held this past weekend...

On Feb. 11, the Eureka Springs Planning Commission approved plans for a Sonic at the corner of 62 & 23 South. This was done without the required legal advertising and posting on the property. This was also done without the Commission considering all the provisions of City Code that the proposed plans violated (at least 13). ...

Last Friday, my mom celebrated her 50th birthday. Let me tell you something about my mom –– she is not the kind of person you can fool easily. She loves figuring out planned surprises before they happen. One year, she figured out that the Christmas presents were being kept in the trunk of her family’s car. So of course she waited until her parents were asleep, popped open the trunk, opened all her gifts, rewrapped them and snuck back into the house...

A recent visitor to my office wanted to talk about the drug problem in Carroll County and how it impacts almost every facet of life here. I knew that drugs are an issue here. Sadly, it seems they are an issue almost everywhere these days — even in a beautiful county like ours where things seem quiet and peaceful most of the time. Still, I had never really thought about all the ways that drug abuse affects all of us, every day...

An inevitable part of getting older, I suppose, is paying more attention to my health. I’m not a health nut by any stretch of the imagination. I live on coffee and red meat, and 30 years working as a journalist certainly hasn’t benefited my resting heart rate...

Regular readers of this column know I am a Survivor super fan. Yes, that show is still on. And this Wednesday marks a once-in-a-lifetime experience for fans –– it is the premiere of Season 40: Winners at War. For the first and probably last time, 20 winners will compete for a record $2 million. ...

Last Wednesday, I had the honor of judging the Berryville Rotary Club’s Four Way Test Speech Contest. That means I spent my lunch hour talking with folks who work hard to better our community. We all heard from six high school students, who were instructed to deliver a speech that uses the principles of Rotary’s Four Way Test...

For a long while Sunday night, it seemed as if the biggest Super Bowl highlight — for me, anyway — was my crockpot chili. The chili has become a tradition, as has the newsroom Super Bowl party at my place. I tweaked the recipe a bit this year, and the result was delicious. If I do say so myself...

Do you ever think about the circumstances that got you where you are today? The college you attended, the company you kept, the people you dated, the career you started, the city you call home –– all these things define our lives. We are constantly making choices that mold life as we know it, and, ironically, we don’t usually realize it in the moment. ...

My oldest son is 27 years old now, a grown man with a family of his own. But it wasn’t that long ago — to me at least — that he was a 10-year-old boy who was absolutely consumed by the game of basketball. My son’s favorite athlete at the time was Kobe Bryant, just as mine had been Magic Johnson...

Some people live their whole lives without owning a television and they seem to be doing just fine. I respect that decision but it’s not for me. From an early age, I have loved everything about television. It started with Barney –– according to my mother, I was so obsessive about it that she almost had a mental breakdown. ...

It’s fair to say that January is not my favorite month. It’s been well-documented that I am not a fan of cold weather, and it’s not unusual for me to take ill this time of year. That hasn’t happened the past couple of winters, though, and I wonder if it’s because I’ve become proactive about getting a flu shot every fall...

I watch a lot of football. I mean, I watch a LOT of football. Before Sunday, the most amazing thing I had ever witnessed on a football field was a 1994 NAIA playoff game between the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and Western Montana. Western Montana led 46-45 and had the ball with a little more than a minute remaining. ...

Regular readers of this column know about my struggle with anxiety. It began at an early age, as it does for many of us. The anxiety led to insomnia, which led to lots of sleepless nights –– the least fun domino effect ever, if you ask me. It got worse in college, when I experienced my first full-blown panic attack. ...

Growing up, I loved to check the mail. My mom and I lived in a little house less than five minutes from the post office, so she’d often give me the key and let me go get the mail myself. I vividly remember approaching our box and inserting the key, excitedly peering inside at our bounty. Once a week, we’d receive my favorite kind of mail: US Weekly, Hilights Magazine and People Magazine...

Global politics is a very, very, very, very complicated thing. I left out about a dozen verys for the sake of brevity. As we attempt to understand what is happening right now between the United States and Iran, we would all do well to remember that when world diplomacy is the topic, things are never, ever simple...