People who care needed for LeConte board

I gave up the right to whine when I resigned my position as executive director of the LeConte-Woodmanston Foundation in October. Citing health and personal reasons, I knew I could not continue on at the pace of the past three years. So much work to do and so few laborers.

Redeployed soldiers must be top priority

I'll let you in on a little secret: every couple fights. Military or civilian, every relationship faces problems and, most often, the husband and wife will have very different solutions.

Thingamabob makes it harder to get a job

For weeks, I awaited a call from Gov.-elect Nathan Deal informing me that I would be a member of his transition team. The call never came.

Kids ask Santa to fix state's problems

Dear Santa,

Middle class is in midst of crisis

The unemployment rate for people with a college degree or higher is 5 percent. If that were the rate for everyone, it'd be the 1990s again.

Hinesight: Watch out for home fires

Time to trim that holiday 'wasteline'

With Christmas a week away, we are now in the throes of the holiday shopping season. It is also, unfortunately, the trashiest time of the year. And even though we don't hear many Christmas carols with lyrics about garbage, it is a fact that between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, Americans throw away 25 percent more trash than at any other time of the year.

Good times far outweigh snags

"You're glowing," my friend Gina recently told me. "I wonder why. It must be because the hubby is home."

Hearts must be open to accept faith

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus! Most of us are familiar with the letter to the editor that ran in the New York Sun in 1897 from then 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon. She wrote, " Dear editor: I am 8 years old, and some of my friends say that there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in 'The Sun,' it's so. Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?"

So much to believe in at Christmas

I believe in Christmas.

Not remarkable but it's still a skill

I finally did it. I learned to make fire by rubbing two sticks together. And although that particular skill is not marketable in a conventional sense and likely not necessary unless you are lost in the wilderness, I feel a sense of accomplishment.

Should politics trump national security

Very often, the way you respond to a problem depends on where you sit and how you view it. As a child, my parents taught me the value of a "bird's eye view." As an activist working in the trenches of the 1960s civil rights movement, I learned about building a movement from the ground up. Today as an elected official, I try to approach issues with a big-picture view to make the best decisions for my neighbors and the state.

Innovation is the thing

This is the miracle of the modern world: In advanced economies, real income per capita is at least 16 times what it was about 200 years ago.

No-choice health insurance is not the way

"People have no choice and there is no way to avoid it."

State flooded with proposals, solutions

The first thing to know about Georgia's water worries is that just as Washington doesn't have a revenue problem but a spending problem, Georgia doesn't have a water supply problem but a water storage problem. And with a busy session and a cash-strapped state facing Georgia's legislators, members of a joint committee on water supply got a head start last week on the challenges ahead. There were some outside-the-box proposals, but there's still more that could be done.

Lawmakers hear State of Courts Address

The Georgia Senate had a busy week. We held numerous committee meetings to review legislation and listen to testimony either opposing or supporting bills being considered. The committee process is where the bills are vetted before being considered by the Senate, and it is a crucial part of the legislative process.

Citizen protection should be up to police

What mystical powder or elixir anoints our elected officials with the knowledge contained in the Encyclopedia Britannica and all the experience amassed by mankind since Adam and Eve? Apparently, the substance - whatever it is - imparts this knowledge and experience within the first 30 seconds of being sworn into office.

Don't bother remaking an established image

A few years back, someone I knew ever so slightly died. Though I didn't know him well, I knew him to be mean, egoistical and quite a bully.

In the end, parents are usually right

A conversation I had with a co-worker a week ago left me feeling glad I don't have to make the tough decisions and unpopular calls that will be necessary when my daughter becomes a teenager.

A tree-mendous time for Arbor Day

This month, we celebrate trees in Georgia.