I read the statement the mayor gave to the City Council on Jan. 19 in The Citizen last night. I had to chuckle a little bit in the irony of the situation. But the more I thought about the current state of the City Council it bothered me.

First the irony: The basic point of what the mayor said is that the City Council had a double standard. The council libeled and slandered the mayor by saying he was not to be indemnified based on the lawsuit filed by H. Logsdon. The council felt Mayor Haddix should be liable for the lawsuit and later reduced his salary to cover the expenses. Read More»

With the inauguration of President Obama I found myself wondering about something. Over 90 percent of black Americans voted for the Democratic Party and more than that voted for President Obama. So why do such a high percentage of black voters pick the Democrats?

I have known lots of black people who are very unique in the way they live their lives and the things they believe. So why are they virtually monolithic at the voting booth? Read More»

The Jan. 9, 2013, issue of The Citizen contained a letter to the editor from Mr. Josh Bloom, who was concerned about what he perceived to be government waste exemplified by a construction roll-off dumpster full of what he described as “office furniture, presumably from the recreation building, ... (with) absolutely nothing wrong with any of it.”

Mr. Bloom suggested several options for getting rid of these items that were preferable to disposal, including redistribution to other city departments, sale of the items, or donation of the items to charities for sale or use. Read More»

We love our guns. Like any love affair our passion for our weapons transcends logic and certainly evades explanation. And like any true love, what feels good is not always good, and our titillation hides the cause of the damage, if not the damage itself.

So it didn’t surprise me to read the passion of a man who should know better, explain away the damage wrought by a passion turned obsession. Read More»