Rich: Supporting your hometown business

Something happened recently that reminded me, strongly, of why I have always supported locally-owned businesses. I grew up in a rural town where we had a Sears, J.C. Penney, and a Belk. Every other business in town was owned by local folks. I knew most of them.

Yarbrough: No sympathy for First Liberty fellows

Believe it or not, there are a number of things I don’t do well. I could never hit a curveball (or a fastball, for that matter). Still can’t. I have a hard time remembering names and dates. I’m not good at chess and have no clue as to how to play bridge.

Letter to the Edtior: Perhaps The Plaza needs to ponder its prices?

Dear Editor,For those who saw the show “Honk!” at The Plaza, you know how great it was. The actors and actresses were fabulous, and the set was well done. Those kids gave it their all and should be very proud.Unfortunately, if you didn’t see it I can guess the reason was the price of the tickets.

Crane: Ending a bad dye job

Colorful candies and cereals, cheese slices brighter than the color of any real cheese, mac n' cheese without any real dairy, these are the food staples of my childhood and adolescence.And now, though still standing, I’m also battling a highly aggressive form of colon cancer.

Rich: Jay, the good shepherd

It is conventional wisdom that you should never do business with family. And, for the most part, that is probably true.Unless that family member is an honorable, God-fearing man like the one that my niece, Nicole, was wise enough to marry and bring into our family.

Yarbrough: Junior not bugged by polling firm’s snub

I run for re-election every week. Even though the editors appreciate the fact that I am a dead ringer for a young Brad Pitt and occasionally I’m correct on the difference between affect and effect, they want eyeballs right where you happen to be looking at this moment.

Rich: The intelligence quotient

Tink was in his office, supposedly, working. We both have home offices because we are both writers and work from home. I am a serious writer who composes prose for books and this column.You would be surprised how much harder it is to write this column of 650 words than it is to write an entire book.

Crane: Divided we stand

Dropping in and out of family and friend celebrations of our nation’s birth over the long holiday weekend, and as we enter the 250th year of this “great experiment,” I am troubled by the tension and at times outright hostility that exists among us.

Yarbrough: Some random thoughts on random subjects

A lot of people are taking a victory lap after the recent announcement that the nonprofit Conservation Fund has purchased the property on Trail Ridge, adjacent to our Okefenokee National Wildlife Reserve, where Alabama-based Twin Pines Materials had planned to mine for titanium dioxide.

Rich: The Tinker diaries

In my office is a beige wicker suitcase with brown leather straps.Inside are 32 handwritten diaries produced by Charlie Tinker during his years working at the White House for his cherished friend, Abraham Lincoln.In another area, squirreled away by Tink, is a hand-duplicated set of those diaries.