• What a feeling

    The thought of picking up a pen or pencil in my right hand and use it just as I do in my left is inconceivable to me. And if I ever want to know what it’s like to ride a bicycle, I probably won’t unless …

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  • Bonnie and Clyde in Arkansas

    Bonnie and Clyde’s crime spree lasted only two years, but the Texas-based Barrow Gang was held responsible for 13 murders, plus numerous robberies, kidnappings and car thefts. One of the murders occurred in Crawford County, near Alma, Arks. In early June 1933, Bonnie Parker was …

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  • Secrets to being helpful rather than critical

    Have you ever experienced any of these scenarios? You have an idea or project you’re excited about. You work on it. You share it with someone you care about, whereupon your friend (colleague, boss, spouse, or parent) takes one look at the report (essay, business …

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  • Union Army, Navy destroying river ports

    One hundred fifty years ago, the Union Army and Navy were ridding the South of valuable river ports on the Mississippi River. Because the “Mighty Mississip” was so valuable for trade and communication in the South, every attempt was made to keep the Southern people, …

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  • First on the scene makes for a long day

    Wednesday marked another first in my life and at my age — there’s not a lot of firsts left. I did my very first on-the-scene story. Three-year-old Landen Trammell from Onia had been missing since Tuesday. The next morning when I came into work, I …

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  • Republican Party’s new branding problem

    It stands on six acres, majestically 175 feet high, white against a bright blue Utah sky: The St. George Utah Temple, dedicated in 1877. It was a work of religious necessity and love by Mormon pioneers including Republican Party presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s great-great grandfather, …

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  • Jimmy Obama, meet your worst nightmare, Ronald Romney

    One of the remarkable things about getting older is the opportunity to see history repeat itself. Those of us who are old enough to remember enduring the abysmal economy of the late 1970s frequently tend to forget that there were other factors in Ronald Reagan’s …

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  • Kids who play together, stay together

    Most children who grow up in a small community have a sense of connection. And sometimes the smaller the neighborhood, the stronger the bond. Enter the Franklin kids. From the time they were toddlers they were attached and early on it was obvious their friendships …

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  • Frozen methane as a solution?

    Methane hydrates at the bottom of the sea could cure all of this nation’s energy woes, but our government is so heck-bent on shooting itself in the foot and shooting us in our feet that no one apparently gives a heck. My March 16, 2006 …

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  • Letter to the editor

    To the editor: In the midst of all the crime we read about in the paper, listen to on the radio and watch on television, there is much good that abounds in this world and especially in our community. Much of this good goes unnoticed …

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  • Honoring Sara

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Rick Crawford remembered Batesville native Sara Elizabeth Low in a speech before the House of Representatives on Tuesday. Low was a flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 11, the plane that hit the north tower of the World Trade Center on …

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  • New football coach

    Our football team was quite subdued that fall, for two of our teammates had drowned the preceding summer. That’s why what we did, we did with our hearts, without thought of consequences. Lloyd was long past high school age, but he loved football. He had …

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