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Posts published in “Columns”

Business, entertainment, & musical crime?

Sometime in the late 1950s or early 1950s a crime was committed in Mount Airy. Specifically, a crime involving the First Baptist Church on North…

Women seized the chance to vote

Two ladies made their way to the Siloam voter registrar on Saturday, Oct. 23, 1920. The registrar, generally a sheriff’s deputy, likely set up in…

When the high waters came

It started to rain on Thursday night, Sept. 20, 1979. It rained all Friday morning the way it does in the fall sometimes. It stopped…

Who can show us any good?

Recent weeks have been filled with sadness and disturbing news. It takes courage these days to pay attention to the daily news cycle with any…

Movies, popcorn, and memories

Drive-in theaters are as American as the proverbial baseball and apple pie. Many Americans of a certain age, like me, have wonderful memories of loading…

Dangerous love affairs, 2

Editor’s Note: Part 2 of 2. The second column was published July 24 and is available at Dangers Love Affairs, Part 1 One day while…

Banding together in tough times

On Oct. 18, 1929, the ailing stock market started to slide. Years of low and stagnant wages in the midst of a top-heavy economic expansion,…

Hey, read the signs!

Editor’s Note: Community Commentary is a column featuring commentary from community leaders in Mount Airy and Surry County. I like to think we live in…

The call of God

In August1984 I received a phone call from Donald Davis, assistant principal at Dobson Elementary School. He told me he needed a bus driver to…