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Columns
City of Thomasville owes Surry man an apology
When Thomasville is mentioned, two things usually come to mind: football and furniture. Many people locally are well aware of Thomasville High School’s prowess in football as a regular part of the Mount Airy Bears’ schedule. The boys with red helmets bearing a big white “T” have captured eight state championships over the years and built a proud tradition on the gridiron which encompasses their entire community. And in terms of furniture,...
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Private companies own patents for our genes
The human body contains an estimated 30,000 genes. We must pay over $3,000 to access some of the information in two of those genes, information that reveals our chance of dying of a terrible disease. BRCA1 and BRCA2 are two genes that can contain a mutation that reveals a hereditary predisposition to certain types of cancer, including breast and ovarian cancer. Angelina Jolie’s New York Times op-ed revealed Wednesday that she underwent ...
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Smart graduates and being outsmarted by honeybees
It is no secret in the newsroom that I am a bee geek (called a beek). One of a series of unofficial awards festooning my cubelet is a sign bearing the title “bee whisperer.” And if nothing else, all the media coverage of Honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has enough people interested to question me on a regular basis. Sadly, no smoking gun or simple answer has appeared lately but really good, knowledgeable bee keepers (not novices like...
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Rollercoasters — fun or fear
While life can be a rollercoaster, it tends to be much more exciting and less stressful to physically ride a rollercoaster, or at least it is for those of us who like thrill seeking within a controlled environment. As young children grow and learn, they have new fears and new likes nearly daily. For example, Little Man used to enjoy riding on my shoulders and bouncing as I hopped him along, but recently I put him on my shoulders and he near...
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With raffle tickets, let the buyer beware
I was reminded once again this past week why I never buy raffle tickets, or lottery tickets. My opinions about state-run lotteries have been voiced multiple times in this space. Basically, the astronomical odds of winning should deter anyone from plucking down good money for a ticket, unless you’re mathematically challenged. I wish I had a nickel every time I have had to wait in a convenience-store line for somebody to buy a string of lot...
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In honor of Mother’s Day
With the arrival of Mother’s Day this Sunday, I have been thinking about the role of my mother in my life and how I would not be the person I am today without her. After I became unemployed, two weeks after my 2010 ankle fusion surgery, my mom was a huge support for me. It was difficult to not only go through a major surgery, but the setback after I lost my job was even worse and caused my recovery from surgery to become delayed. Mom was ...
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Should a prom just be about being promotional?
Sometimes ideas for columns for me are like the story about Sir Isaac Newton and the apple which fell on his head and knocked an idea like gravity into his mind. This week’s just walked up to me while I was taking pictures at North Surry’s Prom. I expected something related to youth in finery, the decorations or a timeless lesson in chivalry or the reason behind dressing to the nines. What came up was a pretty straight forward meditation on...
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Cruisin’ the streets of Pilot Mountain
As I do most every first Saturday of the month from May through October, this past weekend I made a pass or two down Main Street in downtown Pilot Mountain to ogle over the beautiful classic cars lining the street and filling the neighboring parking lots. Sometimes I get an opportunity to take time and park and get out and walk up and down the road, take in the shiny rides and rods and listen to good music from a live band. Unfortunately th...
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Contest offers memories (and bragging rights)
Many years ago, more years than I’d care to think about, we lived in a tiny Virginia community near the Chesapeake Bay. Every year, this little town held a festival, complete with parade, games, cooking contests, and a whole host of old-time, small-town festival events. Among those was a baby contest, and you better believe my wife had our oldest — at the time our only — daughter dressed up in her Sunday finest for the event. Don’t get me...
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Childhood’s getting smaller and why I don’t dance with wolves
I recently had the moving experience of attending Central Middle School’s Holocaust Project judging. The morning at that point suited it. Dark, brooding clouds loomed overhead. The rain had left the morning air damp and just enough chilly overnight temperature remained to remind you winter was off somewhere glaring and waiting to return. The uplifting effects of my morning coffee and southern-style chicken biscuit were nullified. Yup. I’m uno...
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Politicians not keeping promises on jobs
It’s funny how politicians at virtually every level of government always pledge to create jobs, yet their actions seem to involve everything but the economy — whether it be a preoccupation with gun control, gay marriage or other irrelevant social issues. This really hit home with me the other day while researching some old newspaper articles. It was one of those situations where you’re looking for one item and stumble onto something else en...
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Early memories of the library
Some of my most vivid early memories are of the Mount Airy Public Library, the earliest from when it was located on West Pine Street, in the former home of E.H. Kochtitzky and his wife Mary Sparger Kochtitzky. I remember when I was only 2 years old, in the upstairs children’s room at the library, my mom standing behind me and helping me take a book off the shelf. My memories of that old house are vague — a fleeting memory of staircase, a me...
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The siren’s song and when to call Fescue 911
Lawns and myself have a history. Early on general consensus, using the extremely scientific litmus test of popular discussion, tagged me as a book reader and not the sort of person you want to sink time into teaching a trade. It was just understood Ted’s boy (that’s how I was most often referred to) was goin’ to college. For what, the town didn’t say. My father’s worries over me daydreaming and pulling a mower over my toe were more than he ...
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Writing the letters the old-fashioned way
Texts, emails, instant messages — those didn’t exist in my years as a youth, but I was what my mom called her “social butterfly” and that meant finding a way to communicate with others. We would frequently go on camping trips to state and national parks as well as private campgrounds, and I was always making new friends who lived far away from the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina. So what did we do to keep in touch? We exchanged addresses...
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Staying focused on normalcy is a message for terrorists
Over this past week, much of the nation — including folks right here in and around Mount Airy — have been riveted to their televisions by the events in Boston. First, the awful, cowardly, and tragic denotation of two bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon; then the initial investigation trying to identify the suspects; followed by the manhunt that saw an police officer killed, one of the suspects killed and the second seriously wou...
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