Some of my fondest memories of growing up in coastal Georgia are of going fishing with my dad.
RING! RING! "Hello, this is Teya Ryan, president of Georgia Public Broadcasting. I am calling to ask you to consider a donation to GPB. If you donate $250, we will send you a talking frog." KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! "Please excuse me a moment. Yes, Wanda? What is it?" "Ms. Ryan, sorry to bother you but there is someone at the door dressed like Big Bird and he - or it - insists on seeing you ...
The easy way becomes the hard way It seems to me that a lot of young people have it easy. Too many kids in high school and college are shielded from work and not taught the importance of money or earning it. It seems to me that this is a major default in the education of life. If you don't know the worth of a dollar or what it takes to earn that dollar, how ...
April 22 is the date for the annual international celebration for Earth Day - and last Monday, we did celebrate.
By the time this column makes it into print, my daughter's first birthday party already will have gone down in history as a resounding success - I hope. The Saturday soiree (which was yesterday if you're reading this Sunday) has kept me busy for weeks, sending out invitations, making shopping lists for party food and decorations, tidying up my house, scheduling a landscaper and a carpet steam cleaner, selecting the perfect dress for Reese - ...
The most recent round of BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) occurred in 2005. The Department of Defense is planning another round in 2015. It's a matter of looking at the outcomes of the 2005 process to anticipate possible consequences from the upcoming round.
As a community, we could not be more proud to play host to a major military installation. We have been blessed to have members of one of the Army's finest divisions as neighbors and friends. We should never take this opportunity for granted.
On Monday, 1,500 air-traffic controllers - 10 percent of the total - were furloughed for the day pursuant to a budget deal Congress agreed on last August that none of the lawmakers or its author - President Obama - thought would ever come to pass.
Editor, The ninth annual Scholarship Golf Tournament on April 13 was the culmination of several events hosted this year by the Liberty County Dr. M.L. King Jr. Observance Association.
With the formal release of President Obama's budget, the pieces finally are in place for a reprise of the Washington drama we've all come to know.
Buried somewhere in my parents' house in Watkinsville is a stack of aged newspapers - copies of the Athens Banner-Herald, The Oconee Enterprise and the dearly departed Athens Observer.
When the terrorist attacks occurred during the running of the Boston Marathon last week, memories came flooding back of our own dark days in Atlanta.
Last week was a difficult time for our country. With the marathon bombing in Boston and the subsequent violence and manhunt for the suspects, the ricin-laced letters sent to our president and a Republican senator, and now the horrible fertilizer explosion in Texas, it has been a week that always will be remembered.
My daughter made it through her first week at daycare, and I think she might have handled it better than I did. As my family piled in the car Monday morning to drop Reese off, I grappled with a sense of dread. I had known this day was coming, and I'd tried my best to prepare for it. But as I dressed her, fed her and strapped her into her car seat, I fought back tears.
I always have liked print newspapers. Partly what inspired me was an American Girl movie about a 9-year-old girl living in the 1930s during the Great Depression. Her name is Kit Kittredge.
Editor, Parents should be able to send their children to school with the peace of mind that they will remain safe and healthy. Given that today's children face more chronic health illnesses - asthma, diabetes, food allergies, etc. - than ever before, I take my role as a licensed, professional school nurse very seriously. I am grateful for the teachers, administrators and professional support staff with whom I work each day. They help to create ...
State Sen. Buddy Carter (R-Pooler) deserves thanks for taking a stand against the issuance of another wastewater permit to King America Finishing, the Screven County manufacturer believed to be responsible for the largest fish kill in the Ogeechee River in memory.
Last week, the Environmental Protection Division held a public hearing to solicit comments on the draft wastewater permit for King American Finishing in Screven County. The hearing was held at Effingham County High School in Springfield and, although I was not there, I understand it was well-attended.
David Pennington, the mayor of Dalton, is making noises about challenging incumbent Gov. Nathan Deal in the 2014 Republican primary.
The Ogeechee River is in southern Georgia, just south of Savannah, where it expands majestically into the ocean near Fort McAllister.
Have you ever tried to figure out a maze? You travel down a path and find yourself at a dead end, forcing you to backtrack to find another way out. Well, Midway is in that maze right now - it's called the city charter.
Mama was stubborn. "Set in her ways," is what country folks call it and boy, was she. When she made up her mind, nothing stopped her. Especially when she set her jaw and punctuated her declaration with a firm nod of her head. If she also threw that crooked forefinger in your direction, you knew that it was set in stone. Destined to be.
Columbus lost a huge one in court this week, and it wasn't even close. The Georgia Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that a 2012 Muscogee County Superior Court decision protecting trees along Georgia rights-of-way is invalid.
Congratulations to Hinesville for placing among the top-10 cities in its category for the 2013 National Mayor's Challenge for Water Conservation sponsored by the Wyland Foundation.
Editor, Saturday, May 11, was the birthday of well-known Hinesville entrepreneur and philanthropist Gary W. Dodd. I'd like to thank my dear friend and Kirk Healing Center for the Homeless co-founder for all he has done for Hinesville and, especially, for the homeless men and women we serve.
Although you, my devoted readers and fans, likely are reading this on Mother's Day, it was written several days ahead of time, so I have no idea what kinds of surprises this special day will hold for me.
Editor: I see that Liberty County is still trying to take away Midway's fire department by using fear tactics. If Liberty County wants full-time firefighters in Midway, all the county has to do is send some of Midway's property taxes back to the city so that the city can hire the full-time firefighters.
A little more than three years ago, the controversial health-care law known as Obamacare to some and the Affordable Care Act to others was signed into law.
Editor, I am writing to you about what happen to me and my children at a restaurant in Hinesville. First, let me say that I am a mother of four and my husband is currently deployed, so I am doing it all alone.
This is the story of courage. This is a story of tenacity. This is the story of Hill Daniel.