Occupy Atlanta protesters are unbearable

News bulletin: The state Department of Natural Resources is reporting that black bears in North Georgia seem to be migrating toward the Atlanta area.

Hinesight: Big banks' new fees fair?

Problem is a 'call to action'

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. For too many families, awareness of behind-closed-doors abuse is not an issue; they are all too intimately aware of violence at the hands of family members, spouses or intimate partners. They know its pain, its fear, its humiliation and the irrational shame victims often feel. For too many others, it's somebody else's business and somebody else's problem. …

Cut pollution, don't feed storm drains

Keep Liberty Beautiful will complete the sixth annual Rivers Alive events this week.

'Fair tax' actually not fair at all

Editor, I worked hard and saved all that I could during my working years. If something needed done and I could do, it I did - from reroofing the house to replacing the brakes on my vehicles. I already have paid income taxes on the money that I've saved, but the fair tax people would have me pay "income" tax on it again if I buy a new set of golf clubs or a boat or anything else. There is nothing fair about that.

Businesses have to pay sales tax, too

Editor, I want to offer a clarification to a statement made by Len Calderone in his column in Wednesday's Coastal Courier on changing the tax code. He favors wiping out the entire income tax code and replacing it with a "consumption tax" or sales tax. He mistakenly states halfway through his commentary that, "Others believe that business owners could make personal purchases and avoid the tax because businesses would be exempt. Businesses are exempt from state sales taxes even now, but they have to prove that what is purchased is for company-only use."

Help to ensure all families enjoy holidays

With the holidays fast approaching, many community members are focusing on hosting and attending parties, buying presents and looking forward to family get-togethers. What many people don't realize is that there are others in our community who worry constantly about how to survive from one month to the next - never mind planning for the upcoming holiday season. That's where our local United Way comes in.

Trading up to parenthood

For the last few nights I've been sleeping like a baby. That's right, I'm up every hour or two, either eating, using the bathroom or just restless for no apparent reason. Who thought "like a baby" was a good way to describe deep sleep, anyway? That's more like sleeping "like a teenager" if you ask me.

Global pecan demand good for Georgia

It appears that overseas markets are learning about a good thing - pecans.

Change the income tax code

U.S. Rep. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said, "The federal tax code, with its 44,000 pages, 5.5 million words and 721 different forms, is a patchwork maze of complexity and a testament to confusion over common sense."

Health insurance now manadatory, or is it?

National healthcare, ObamaCare, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – whatever you refer to it as – the historic legislation passed by Congress in 2010 revolutionizing the American health care system is now law.

It's not government schools, it's stupid government

To quote the Church Lady on Saturday Night Live, "Well, isn't that special?" State School Superintendent John Barge and Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., have asked U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan for a waiver of the controversial No Child Left Behind law and, instead, to measure school performance on a broader basis, consisting of scores on a Criterion-Referenced Competency Test along with other factors in a "performance index."

State should protect families, not criminals

An assistant U.S. District Attorney put into words during the sentencing of a bank robber with a frightening criminal background what many have been thinking or saying all along: Georgia's judicial system leaves much to be desired.

Thanks for supporting ball for Dorchester

Editor, Thank you to everyone who came out in support of our annual Western Ball. The successful event shed light on the increasing awareness of one of our greatest historical landmarks and its importance, Midway's Dorchester Academy. The profits raised will go toward the restoration and upkeep of the center.

Help with Rivers Alive

I like results. I am a product of a generation that wants instant gratification, and I want it now.

Don't fear or tax the robot

We have seen the enemy, and it is the robot.

Feeling unfailing and unconditional love in America

My high school graduation was on a recent Saturday.

Washington's Russian fixation

HOLLYWOOD - God bless America, and how's everybody?

PSC commission, Georgia Power reward failure

The executives of Southern Company, the utility holding company headquartered in Atlanta, have been involved in two of the biggest boondoggles in U.S. industrial ...

Common sense in Cosby trial?

HOLLYWOOD-God bless America, and how's everybody?

So many of you angels among us

Over the past 20 years I've come across hundreds of people in my work. I've met governors, actors, presidential press secretaries, congressmen, generals ...

Climate fears unhealthy

On June 1 came the encouraging news that President Trump has decided the United States will exit the U.N. Paris climate agreement. The agreement ...