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Runaway slaves hoping for freedom found horrid conditions
One hundred fifty years ago, runaway slaves hoping for freedom in and near Helena found themselves in horrid conditions. While the Mississippi River port town was overflowing with citizens, military personnel and freedmen, the infrastructure was in a state of collapse. According to Margaret Ross …
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I love a smoker
If all smokers are like the one I love, telling them how they need to quit will only make them light up as fast as they can get a pack open. Rarely do I harp on my mother about her smoking ways and it wasn’t …
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Gov. Drew quit due to low pay
Independence County claims three governors of the state. The men, and their terms in office were: Thomas S. Drew (1844-49), Elisha Baxter (1872-74), and William R. Miller (1876-1880). Drew is the only governor in history to resign because of low pay. Born in 1802, Drew …
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That First Amendment can be sooooo annoying
I syndicate the cartoons of Rick McKee, the brilliant, conservative cartoonist from The Augusta Chronicle, to newspapers around the world. Today Rick sent in a cartoon about a local Georgia legislator that was so nutty, I asked him to explain. Rick writes: “Sticks and stones …
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Co-worker is making me fat(ter)
There’s always one in every office. The one selling something for their kids’ school and around here it’s Debbie Wetzel. Her “day job” is to take all the news, photos and whatever else we throw at her and make them fit nicely on a page. …
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Along these lines
When is a Footlong not a Foot Long? The answer, apparently, is when it’s a Subway sandwich. It seems these tasty, elongated snacks haven’t been measuring up to vigilant customers’ expectations lately. Armed with their trusty yardsticks, pernickety patrons around the country have resolutely sunk …
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Victims not only ones who deserve a vote
Barack Obama can spin a lie into what sounds like something akin to the truth better than anyone else in politics has done in my lifetime — and that’s saying something because it’s starting to be quite a long time. His State of the Union …
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George Washington makeover
Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from Tom Purcell’s new book, “Comical Sense: A Lone Humorist Takes on a World Gone Nutty!” available at amazon.com. “What do you mean America’s youth don’t know who George Washington was?” “Dude?” “He was our first president, our …
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Christie’s girth: A weighty issue
Chris Christie got laughs on the Letterman show last week when he showed up with a doughnut. I get what he was trying to do. People keep goofing on his girth, and a former White House doctor had just told CNN that if Christie were …
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Horsing around with Europe’s beef supply
Beef contaminated with horsemeat has sparked a multi-nation controversy in Europe. It’s no secret that the French have long been galloping gourmets. Gobbling horsemeat there dates back to the country’s 18th century revolution, when rich folks’ horses began to fill food supply gaps. Today horsemeat …
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Winter camping
As Scoutmaster, I gathered my 18 scouts to plan our winter campout. To earn an honor patrol for scout month in February, one of the requirements was that we needed to go camping. My wife, who is from California, was astounded that we camped in …
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Now is not the time for amnesty
Nearly all of us agree it’s time for Washington to fix the country’s immigration crisis and put an end to illegal immigration once and for all. The president and the newly coined “gang of eight,” a bi-partisan group of senators propose a pathway to citizenship …
