Opinion

As 2023 begins, it’s a time to look forward and think about some of the things we’d like to accomplish in the next 365 days. With that in mind, here’s a look at some of my New Year’s Resolutions, in no particular order. Some of them are more serious than others, but I’ll leave that for you to judge.

Sunday will mark the beginning of a new year and, in many ways, a new start for this newspaper. The Carroll County News has been owned by out-of-state corporations for decades, but Sunday will be the official beginning of its return to local ownership.

The first time I got paid for writing a newspaper story, I was 16 years old. I wrote sports stories for a weekly newspaper in Pine Bluff that has long since closed its doors. I was paid 25 cents per column inch — about $15 to fill up half a page.

Martin Luther King Jr. has been quoted as saying, “Whatever your life’s work is, do it well.

A few weeks ago, I joined 20 of my fellow governors in a letter to Congressional leaders asking them to repeal the Biden administration’s COVID vaccine mandate for our military, and today I’d like to provide an update on our request.

Dear readers, Perhaps nothing that has ever been published in any newspaper is as well-known as the piece I’d like to share with you today. Although it was written more than 120 years ago, its message is timeless and perhaps even more important today than it has ever been.

People generally want to know that the job they are performing in order to earn a living, where they spend the bulk of the hours in their day, has purpose and meaning. They want to know that their work makes a difference.

It’s been more than 80 years now, but the date continues to live in infamy. Just before 8 a.m.

It takes a special person to work in a public service career. Public service professionals serve their community in immeasurable ways by offering social services, educating children, protecting the welfare of others and promoting public health. For this reason, I have never understood why the salaries of public servants are often much less than the salaries of other professions. It’s a sad state of affairs when occupations such as professional athletes earn unfathomable amounts of money in the form of a salary. I’m of the mindset that if you want insight into what a business, society, family or employer does value, just follow where money is spent. If this is true, society has proved over time that professions such as police officers, EMTs, teachers, first responders and social workers are not truly appreciated. At the root of being valued is respect.

On balance, it’s been a disappointing season for the University of Arkansas football team, capped by a frustrating loss last Friday in Columbia, Mo., to a Mizzou team that the Razorbacks should have beaten.