All in Columns

Reece Gardner: Count your blessings

I hope your Labor Day Weekend has been wonderful in every way, and that you are looking forward to a great upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas Season. How time flies We need to LIVE each day as fully and completely as possible and count our blessings.

Mike Parker: ‘Wings’ will take off Friday at Farmer’s Market

For the 14th consecutive year, the CSS Neuse Foundation will hold its annual “Wings Over the Neuse” fundraiser. “Wings” began in 2009 to raise the money needed to erect a memorial to Alton “Doc” Stapleford for supervising and doing a great deal of the work in constructing the CSS Neuse II. A marker honoring Doc still stands near the stern of the Neuse II on the Gordon Street side.

Cooking with Tammy Kelly: Green Peanuts are For Sale, Let the Boiling Begin!!!

Peanuts are currently being harvested and if you are lucky enough to be able to snag some fresh green peanuts, you are lucky. As soon as they appear at our local Farmers Market, I start buying them up, one of my friends boils them all and freezes then for our friends to enjoy all year!! Boiled peanuts, like okra, are one of those things you either love or will not eat, most of my crowd loves them!!! They make a great appetizer especially for tailgating!

Dan Perry: The political war on faith

“Faith is more powerful than government and nothing is more powerful than God.” That sounds like a statement that could have been made by President George Washington or President Abraham Lincoln–or one of our founding fathers, for it epitomizes the very foundation and strength of America! That’s why one of our most cherished slogans is “In God we trust.”

John Hood: Biden Flip-Flops on Fighting Inflation

Remember when President Joe Biden and the Democratic Congress took resolute action to combat rising prices? I apologize for asking so much of you. It can be mentally taxing to recall the details of events long past. And according to my calendar, the event I’m asking you to recall occurred way back on August 16 of this year.

John Hood: Are we ready for drone skyways?

In Ukraine and other armed conflicts across the globe, the drone has proven its worth as a gatherer of intelligence and a deliverer of destruction. What’s coming next, however, is a vastly expanded role for the drone here at home: as the gatherer and deliverer of commercial goods and services.

Kristy Bock: Paying the price of ignorance

The term loan shark carries a negative connotation. On television, he’s the guy who sends his goons after people who don’t pay what they agreed to pay. In real life, he’s a business that lends money to high-risk recipients. Where there is a need for revenue, there will always be someone, somewhere, ready to lend it. The lender doesn’t loan money out of the goodness of their own heart. It’s a business decision made with profit in mind. The government has decided that all lending institutions must pay for the predatory loan practices of others.

Mike Parker: What do teachers wish parents would do?

As this new school year begins, a certain group of people have far more influence on the education of children than they think – parents. Years ago, I read an article from the NEA’s Family-School-Community Partnership Training that outlined “Ten Things That Teachers Want Parents to Do.” This wish list deserves repeating.

Kristy Bock: Owning my hypocrisy

The first interaction I had with law enforcement happened before I reached double digits in age. The sight of a police vehicle became synonymous with losing all that was familiar to me. While the fault was not the cops, they bore the brunt of my ill content. I spent years doing all that I could to never have to be in the same place as a cop.