Last weekend marked the 84th Laurel County Homecoming - a tradition targeted to highlight Laurel County and its history.

I had high hopes for Wikipedia. Having grown up with the Encyclopedia Britannica, I knew that its articles combined a fulsome array of factoids -- at least, those accepted in the historical moment in which its entries were written -- with a literary flair that gave the reader a three-dimensi…

I don’t have much opportunity to associate with the adolescent and younger community these days, but, of the half dozen or so reluctant scholars I have encountered, over the last couple of weeks, the chatter has mostly consisted of grumbling about going back to school.

It is best not to put the glass of water we're about to drink under the microscope. It is full of life. None of it looks good enough to eat or drink. Putting any of our skin under the same analysis finds again a repulsive array of creepy crawling microorganisms, even with a shower since our …

Two pastors stood on the side of the highway, each holding hand-written signs.

In an effort to live a more uncluttered life, and possibly put off writing this column, I have just gone through my makeup drawer. I’m not sure if it’s that I’m feeling particularly decisive or particularly ruthless today, but I am about to throw out about three makeup bags’ worth of creams,…

Semple Elementary first-grade teacher Christina Carter read a story to her class about a child who faced stressful events every day, making it hard to focus at school. After the story, she gave her students a prompt – if Ms. Carter only knew. Some of the responses were eye-opening.

I was somewhat exciting when our editor, Erin Cox, informed me that she was getting me clearance to cover Vice President Mike Pence's visit to Manchester EKU last Thursday. Media was instructed to arrive between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., although Air Force Two wasn't scheduled to arrive at the Lon…

"Abolishing the Electoral College would make Los Angeles county stronger than 43 states."

Not long after Loretta started her career as a family development and management specialist with Kentucky State University, I made the mistake of telling her how my mother, and most other women on Blair Branch, went about canning up to a thousand or more quart jars of vegetables, fruits and …

You might have heard about the two psychiatrists who, while walking down the road one day, encountered a man lying in the ditch, covered with cuts and bruises from a terrible beating. One of the psychiatrists looked at the other and said, “Whoever did this really needs our help.”

Discovering the faulty fuel gauge on my Ford several years ago was a memorable calamity – the fuel gauge reading a quarter of a tank when empty. The Ford stopped suddenly in congested, 5 p.m. traffic on the busiest street in town. Soon horns were blowing and the air quaking with expletives f…

A funny thing happened on my way to growing my hair out. About halfway through, I realized I was already where I wanted to be.

In 2002, a friend’s eight-year-old daughter, Brianna Caddell, while sleeping in her bed, was fatally shot with an AK-47 assault rifle. The shooter, a drug dealer who had beef with another drug dealer, fired on the wrong house in Detroit, spraying it with two dozen rounds.

“Vicariously” is the experience of watching or reading about someone else do something and pretending, or feeling like, you are doing it yourself. A lady reader recently emailed to tell me that I rarely wrote a column that didn’t have at least a couple of words that she had to go look up. Sh…

The U.S. two party system of governing is shamefully failing! Many of those elected to Congress do not represent their constituents because they are obsessed with promoting their political party. Ignoring their commitment to the nation, these members of Congress exhaust their time and this n…

A Presbyterian, a Methodist and a Baptist were enjoying a day at sea with their wives when a tidal wave swamped their boat, drowning them all. The next thing they knew, they were standing at the pearly gates.

“I shouldn't think even millionaires could eat anything nicer than new bread and real butter and honey for tea.” ― Dodie Smith

“Get me rewrite!” So went the popular image of the rewrite editor at the other end of the line from the reporter breathlessly dictating into the phone.

The jerk. According to Webster's, the noun entered our vocabulary in 1575. The verb followed in 1589. It seems to have entered American slang in the 1930s. In British slang, the word is "toss-pot."

Those who know me are well aware that I enjoy joking around, especially if I think I can say or do something to leave you laughing - or speechless.

Our landline telephone has a feature that allows it to keep a record of the last 50 calls that were made to it.

On the way home from church, a little boy sat in the backseat of the car sobbing. His father and mother asked him repeatedly what was wrong. Finally the little guy confided that he was bothered by something he heard in church. “The preacher said all children should be brought up in a Christi…

WASHINGTON -- Acting on the principle "Why put it off until tomorrow when you can do the wrong thing today?" the House of Representatives last week voted to repeal a tax that is not scheduled to take effect until 2022. The vote against the "Cadillac tax" was 419-6, a reminder that "bipartisa…

Most of Kentucky’s Republican lawmakers and Gov. Matt Bevin would have you believe there are only three options to remedy the state’s troubled public pension systems: failure to make good on those pension promises or either huge cuts in government or increases in taxes.

It is extraordinary how the subconscious mind can play tricks on a person.

In mid July of 1956, I was ready to enter third grade and my brother, Keith (Keeter), was all set to become a first grader when we were ready to enter the hallowed halls of Blair Branch Grade School a few short weeks later.

I got such a kick out of a joke Sheila Baker of Wheatley, Kentucky, shared the other day about a pastor who had what he thought was a great idea for a fundraiser.

The Laurel County Fair wound down last weekend and for me, it was a week filled with outstanding musical entertainment.

I was among the first reporters to interview Amy McGrath when she was considering running against Republican incumbent Rep. Andy Barr in Kentucky's 6th District. She was meeting with a small group from Richmond, allowing me to sit in prior to our interview.

Six of our grand kids, along with their parents, have either been to Disney World, Sea World, Universal Studios, Major League Baseball games and some other world famous vacation spots since the middle of June.

Four-legged animals, like a dog or cat, are able to pick-up tremors of an earthquake before us humans can. Also since there are several hundred small earthquakes a day throughout the world, our pets now and then may act mysteriously erratic. We are left with no clue as to why.

For about seven years now, a door in our kitchen has been slowly getting coated with New Yorker cartoons. It is possibly my favorite work of art in our house, in part because William, Gabrielle and I have each contributed to it. Sometimes we clip out a cartoon every few weeks, sometimes a fe…