Columns/Opinions

It was June of 1978 when I first walked through these doors and asked Dick White for a job. I was just a high school student who had no intention of staying for more than a couple of years. It didn’t take any time at all for a couple of years to turn into 35. On Aug. 2, I will walk through them for the last time as an employee.
Those first few years I worked part-time, typing news copy. I worked many nights alone in the office, but Dailis Moore had taught me to type well over 100 words a minute, so it didn’t take long.
Dick White was so patient and calm, even on deadline day. Back in those days, he would cover a school board meeting on a Tuesday night and write it up on that old typewriter the next morning for that week’s paper. I spent many Wednesday mornings wishing he would hurry up with his weekly column. Once he got through with it, it got passed on to me to typeset and then get waxed and put on the pages.

I had a very close older friend call the other day, and she told me when you get to a certain age it`s pretty normal to look back over your life and remember what you did right and were so proud of, and what you did not so right and wish you had a “do over.” She went on to say, so when you look back on your life, especially where it concerns Russ (my son), if the final product is any indication of your parenting skills, I just don`t know how you could have done any better. She cried as she spoke and I teared up as I listened.  Very, very kind words from someone I love and respect. She told Debbie something very similar with the same teary-eyed results.

Read more in our e-edition:http://www.etypeservices.com/SWF/LocalUser/Pittsburg1//Magazine30564 /Full/index.aspx?id=30564.

When I tell you that I`m a conservative, that’s no secret. When I tell you our last two choices of the Republican leadership for president have been little more than an embarrassment, that should come as no surprise to anyone who was paying attention. If all the campaign buzz is about your vice-president candidate that says volumes about your candidate for the presidency and his lack of persona.

As I sit and write my column this Sunday, President Obama and his staff are finalizing his major speech, to be delivered to the nation this next Tuesday, on the administration’s plan to combat climate change. Yes, the old moniker “global warming” will no longer hunt, so “climate change” is the new buzz word.

Read more in our e-edition:http://www.etypeservices.com/SWF/LocalUser/Pittsburg1//Magazine29803/Ful....

Father’s Day brought about some reflections of what my dad and granddad’s hopes and wishes for a better life were. If I was a betting man, I would say that most of the hopes and wishes were very similar for men of my generation by our dads and granddads. The type dad that would be proud of a son or daughter who was lucky and educated enough to hold an important job, like let`s say, an ambassadorship to a foreign country. Our fathers knew this country, this government would do all it took to protect our sovereign soil and its people even if it was halfway around the world.

Read more in our e-edition:http://www.etypeservices.com/SWF/LocalUser/Pittsburg1//Magazine29349/Ful....

Fanny Hively
I’ve known Joyce (Fanny) Hively since she came to town in the late ‘70s or early ‘80s. She arrived a character, and she’s been one since she’s lived in Pittsburg.
If you remember, she used to own La Monique Hair Salon where Laura DeWoody’s Jewelry store is now. She also worked at The Gazette for a number of years so she pays us a visit from time to time.

Read more in our e-edition:http://www.etypeservices.com/SWF/LocalUser/Pittsburg1//Magazine28074/Ful...

Traveling to Central Texas
Embarking on a trip to Brenham last Thursday was a nice experience. Even though bluebonnet season has come and gone, the wildflowers were still spectacular. Brenham is a nice, very clean small town between Austin and Houston. Roy said it was 10 miles past ‘no where’ on the way down, but a trip to the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory (with a bunch of women he really didn’t know) was a great treat for him.  And he rethought the ‘no where’ remark on the way home.

For the rest of the column, see our E-edition at http://www.etypeservices.com/SWF/LocalUser/Atlanta1//Magazine27678/Full/....

In 19 days Pittsburg is going to be invaded. They come every year, arriving on Friday afternoon and leaving on Sunday. They come from Little Rock, Houston, Dallas, Gilmer, Jacksonville and Tyler. This invasion won’t mean much to Pittsburg folks, but it means the world to me.

For the rest of the story, see  the Gazette online at http://www.etypeservices.com/SWF/LocalUser/Atlanta1//Magazine27458/Full/index.aspx?id=27458.

Depending on the source, after he signed his new contract, Tony Romo is the fifth or sixth highest paid player in the National Football League (NFL). What is undisputed is, after taxes he is the highest paid player in the NFL.

I get to work each morning about an hour and 15 minutes before it actually starts. This allows me to do some work before I start getting all those annoying phones calls. I listen to classic rock just about as loud as I want, and it sets a wonderful tone of the day. The downside of listening to the radio is the silly commercials. The most ignorant is the one about the problem of not being able to communicate with your children without fighting. For a nominal fee they will send you a DVD or a CD to help solve all your problems.