Columns

I am witnessing for the first time in my lifetime true disorder in the agricultural world that is the backbone of our local economy and the livelihood for many of our parish residents. People I’ve never seen concerned are gravely concerned, and what we have come to believe as givens are in great question, surrounded by doubt. I suppose the eighties were the last time like this, though even those who lived through that say there is greater uncertainty now.

I have a few pet peeves. One of these is when schools do NOT teach cursive writing. The opinions on this are split, and I am on the pro-cursive side. I can’t imagine not being able to write cursive, and even more so, not being able to read it. So many of our country’s documents were handwritten in cursive. So students with no knowledge of cursive will be unable to read many of these documents.

Why is the Christmas Elderly Project important to the Lake Providence area? The Christmas Elderly Project (CEP) has been in existence for 12 years now. If you are not familiar with it, this article is about what it involves.

Members of every governing agency and body have tough decisions to make in considering their responsibilities to their organization, to this community, to their own integrity. If you have followed our coverage of the East Carroll Parish Hospital board’s decision-making process on outsourcing employee drug testing, you are aware of the facts of the situation. That is our job as a newspaper - to be a watchdog, and to report the facts.

The time that has passed since our last rain shower has been a blur, with every day running into the next. Truly I couldn’t tell you how long it’s been. Whatever amount of time it takes the grass in my yard to die. We have all gotten by in our own way, putting one foot in front of the other. As I trudge through field after field, trying to alleviate this dry spell, a phrase keeps running through my mind: “No one is coming to save you.”

All government bodies — from the local library board discussing book bans to the state board of education debating social studies standards — must send email notices of their meetings to anybody who requests them under a new law that went into effect Thursday, Aug. 1.

Happy anniversary to me! Today on this date, 25 years ago, I became the 911 Director for East Carroll Parish. I was hired by the communications district board and no one knew exactly what all was involved in getting enhanced 911 into East Carroll Parish.

Politics are usually something I don’t discuss. I used to be a member of the “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem” club.

Last week in the store I overheard a woman talking to her momma about another lady they'd just spoken to. She kept insisting, “Momma, you do know her, that’s Gertrude’s niece. They lived across from us for 20 years.” The more she said it, the more anxious her mom became. I realized the lady probably had dementia of some form. My heart broke for her; but it broke even more for her daughter.

For some reason, that title plays in my mind to the tune of the Twisted Sister song, “We’re not gonna take it.” Hey, we’re not out to get you! In the past few weeks, our office has had people ask us not to print things, ask us to print things, voice complaints over the way we printed things, voice complaints over our presence at public, open meetings. Let me say first, we welcome your comments.