Opinion

Over the past few years, I’ve become notorious for my early bedtime. I tend to head toward my bedroom around 7 p.m., if not earlier, with two or three bottles of water in hand and a couple of fairly large dogs in tow. Now, that doesn’t mean I go to sleep at 7 p.m. ...

Two years ago, I was happy. I was living in Missouri, my home state, in a town that was finally starting to feel like home. No one had told me, “Go back where you came from” for two years. The fact that I was born less an hour away made that funnier to me than hurtful...

Two weeks ago, my best friend Stephanie asked if I could take some photos for her. I’m always up for practicing photography, so I would have said yes no matter the assignment. But this particular photoshoot was special. Life changing. A day I’ll remember until my last day...

Mondays are busy days in the Carroll County Newspapers newsroom, and today is no exception. A lot goes into producing a newspaper on deadline, especially one with a full-time staff of three people. But in between writing stories and toning photos and proofreading pages today, I’m also trying to take a little time to enjoy my birthday and count my blessings...

Regular readers of this column know I’m obsessed with horror movies. These days, I have a companion for most every movie I want to see. Gideon is truly the best. It’s nice to have him there, but sometimes I miss going to the movie theater alone. For most of high school and college, I was a solo moviegoer. ...

Every once in a while, an event happens that is so memorable, many people have no trouble remembering exactly where they were or what they were doing at the time. For myself, some of those events include the Iran hostage crisis, the death of John Lennon, the attempted assassination of President Reagan, the Challenger disaster and the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City...

Last week, I wrote about the dissolution of a close friendship, something I’m sure many of you have experienced. In that instance, I was the person to pull the plug. But I’ve had plenty of failed friendships with a different trajectory: me hanging on tightly as the other person pulled away, all the while feeling like I was proving something by not giving up...

Nearly 20 years ago while on a plane from Paris to Detroit I started writing the commentary “Two Americans in Paris on 9/11.” It was published in the Carroll County News on the 10th anniversary of the attack. Today seems an appropriate time to reflect back and consider what has changed since that awful day — both for better and worse...

Bless all my math teachers for their patience and understanding. Math has never been my strongest suit. Don’t get me wrong — I can do it and understand it, I just don’t generally retain the methods without daily use. Spending my early years as a sportswriter, I came to rely on box scores, season averages and the like and can still figure out a team’s winning percentage against a left-handed quarterback in a snow game on a Saturday fairly easily...

Editor’s Note: This letter is a response to a Letter to the Editor written by Andrew Dziedzic  of Berryville and published in the Aug. 24 issue. Dear Andrew, I read your article in the paper entitled “Do better Carrol County.” In that article it was explained that a friend reached out to a church to ask for transportation help. They were not asking for a free handout and the results were that they were declined due to they were not members...

Four years ago, a close friend pointed out that we had been friends for five years. According to some internet meme, they said, that meant we would be friends for the rest of our lives. I believed them the way everyone believes their best friend: happily, openly and blindly...

I was reminded earlier this week about something that happened during my tenure as managing editor of the daily newspaper in Pine Bluff. I happened to run into that city’s mayor at a convenience store, and he did not speak to me. That wasn’t really surprising; he hadn’t been taking my phone calls for several months at that point, after I called him to discuss his habit of trying to embarrass the talented and hardworking, but young and sometimes meek, reporter I had assigned to cover City Hall. ...

Last week marked the third consecutive year that Gideon has gone back to school. Of course, he spent most of the summer working on professional development and the first few weeks in August getting his classroom ready. Being married to a teacher is a learning experience in itself — for example, I have learned to avoid making jokes about how teachers have the whole summer off...

Recently, a friend reached out to several churches in the community to try to get a ride to Walmart. He lives down a farm road in Berryville and has no transportation. He had gas money and money for groceries and was not looking for a handout. Several churches would not help him because he was “not a member.” Did Jesus refuse to help those who were not members of his congregation? I am tired of churches that preach God’s mercy and grace only to thrust membership applications in the faces of any who dare to ask for the slightest bit of assistance. ...

A few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to meet and visit with several employees of our county’s largest employer, Tyson Foods. The employees I met included one young woman, Jessie Maybee, who has worked in the company’s Berryville plant for 59 years. When she started her career, 10 days after her high school graduation, the plant was still owned and operated by Ocoma Foods...

Monday was the first day of school for most kids in Carroll County. As always, that kind of makes me a bit nostalgic. I still remember the excitement and apprehension I felt walking into a new school, the relief of seeing familiar faces of both students and a few teachers and, by the end of the day, an impatience to get back home...

Well, here’s one thing I can scratch off my to-do list. After fostering a litter of kittens for Good Shepherd Humane Society since April, Gideon and I have cut our cat cache in half. We were elated to find forever homes for all three adoptable kittens last Friday...

As the battle against COVID-19 continues, so does the Arkansas Legislature’s stubborn resistance to anything that scientists tell us might help turn the tide or even ease the burden on those affected by the pandemic. Masks? Nope. You can’t tell us what to do...

I am an avid budgeter. Gideon can’t take me anywhere, especially Sam’s Club, without being reminded to keep the receipt or else. Or else what? I’ve never had to go through with the threat, so I’m really not sure. It wasn’t always this way. There was a time when we couldn’t afford to shop at Sam’s Club or buy anything in bulk besides dry beans and rice. ...

I’ve been battling sinus issues for two weeks now. I’ll spare you the details that I’m sure you can imagine except to say that one of my symptoms is a productive cough. I’ve been able to handle the situation with over-the-counter medication, but one of the side effects of that is that I’ve felt extra tired and lazy — so much so that I took the day off last Wednesday. ...

Regular readers of this column know I’m a big fan of the horror genre. I love the slasher sub-genre the most, but there’s no sub-genre I won’t try. One of my favorites is the classic haunted house story. A family moves in, things go awry and before you know it, Dad is hearing voices and Mom is hiding the kids in the boathouse until morning comes. ...

Open letter to the NFL and Commissioner Roger S. Goodell: First you allow players to kneel when the National Anthem is played, which was a hard thing for many to watch. Now, I have just read the NFL will be playing the Black anthem at the start of football games tears it for me...

Once a year or so, I like to devote this space to doing a little boasting. And it’s that time of year again. Last Friday, the Carroll County News editorial team won the general excellence award as the top medium-circulation weekly newspaper in the state of Arkansas for the fourth time in the past five years...

Five years ago, I was a big ball of nerves. Gideon and I were planning our wedding, and I wasn’t so sure I wanted to go through with the big party. Of course I wanted to marry Gideon. I wanted to tie the knot the night he proposed. But the thought of cementing our union for the first time in front of so many people freaked me out. ...

I’m writing this note as a concerned father and citizen to correct the message that was sent by the vandals at the Christ of the Ozarks statue last week.  We all know that the message should have been “God Bless Life” or “Thank You God For Our Lives!” ...

There are few things I love more than seeing a really, truly stupid horror movie at the theater. Horror is my genre of choice, and I’m particularly fond of the slasher sub-genre. But I’m not picky. If it’s a horror movie and it seems far-fetched, I’m planting my butt in that seat on opening night...

My youngest grandson, Liam, will celebrate his sixth birthday in December. When he was born, I jokingly told his parents that he could come and stay with me as soon as he was potty-trained. That milestone has long since passed, but it wasn’t until the July 4 weekend that Liam actually got to spend a weekend at Pops’ house by himself...

Sometime late last year, I resolved to drink more water. A lot more water. Enough water to guarantee at least 10 bathroom breaks a day. Why? Well, my best friend bought a giant water bottle and said the average person should drink that much water in a day. And I realized that I had maybe one or two dedicated glasses of water a day — the rest was tea or coffee. I wondered if I’d feel better with significantly more water in my system, so I gave it a go...

After 49 years on this Earth, they just don’t hold much enjoyment for me. I’m just not amazed, astounded, fascinated — or any other adverb you can think of — by them. Well, maybe there is one — annoyed. I’m annoyed by fireworks. I wasn’t alway this way. ...

My nana turned 70 years old Monday. We celebrated her milestone birthday last Saturday with friends, family and lots of barbecue. It was especially wonderful for me and Gideon to be there, because we hadn’t seen her in person since Valentine’s Day in 2019. That’s a long time to go without seeing the important people in your life...

Mondays are by far the busiest day of the week in the CCN newsroom, as we hustle to meet our weekly deadline. I typically perform best under deadline pressure, probably because I spent more than 20 years working for daily newspapers where that pressure was unrelenting. That’s the good news...

One year ago today, Gideon and I spent the morning working with an Arvest Bank agent to see if we qualified for a home loan. We did, so I reached out to one of our friends who happens to be the best realtor in town. By the afternoon, we were touring a spacious, split-level home near Beaver Lake...