• Letter to the editor

    Dear Editor, Through the years, I have set things (key, shopping bags, briefcase, etc.) down and walked off, forgetting to pick up the item. For the most part, I’ve been unlucky in retrieving those items. This Sunday my husband and I were leaving Batesville and …

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  • Democrats’ declaration of dependence

    The belief that no one owes me anything is one of the greatest gifts my hardworking, blue-collar father gave me when I was young. His words carried me through some difficult times growing up, sustained me through widowhood, years back, and helped to shape me …

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  • Stumbling along

    Mitt Romney has to be more relieved than an Iowa corn farmer in the middle of a thunderstorm to be back on home soil. Arms wide. Head back. Wet face. Smile. Podium steps. National Anthem. The American electorate may harbor an ambivalent attitude towards the …

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  • Mystery of Mrs. Weathersby

    When I purchased an old painting for the frame and not the picture, I couldn’t help but ponder about the artist. An old piece of paper the seller gave me piqued my interest to the point I felt I needed to learn more about the …

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  • Buying better raspberries

    My children and I had been busy picking raspberries, enduring the heat of the sun. We finally felt we had enough to fill all of the orders so, sweaty and thirsty, we retreated to the cool of the house. We filled the flats and found …

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  • Redefining life: Our son’s stories

    My son, Louie, 24, and another young man, Robert Ames, 23, are just a year apart, almost to the day but they share a common history. Both young men have had to fight for their lives at a young age while their mothers learned about …

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  • Want hope? Make a change

    President Obama was supposed to be all about hope and change. But after almost four years he’s squeezed the hope out of most of us. A new Rasmussen poll is the latest proof that the only hope of getting out of our economic ditch is …

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  • More of Elizabeth and Darcy

    It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a woman at home with a newborn, must be in want of a good book. Or several. Or a good TV show. There’s only so much “House Hunters” you can watch while on maternity leave. I really gave …

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  • I owe Mitt an apology

    Presumptive nominee Mitt Romney is seemingly fixated on apologies. He’s obsessed with apologies like Bristol Palin is obsessed with teen abstinence—like BP is obsessed with clean energy—Marcus Bachmann with curing homosexual men … Mitt’s book is titled “No Apology.” He’s convinced the problem with Obama …

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  • State Capitol Week in Review

    The Arkansas tourism industry grew by 4.3 percent last year, the largest annual increase since 2008. Travelers through Arkansas spent $5.6 billion in 2011.  The number of travelers increased to more than 23 million, the highest number in three years. That figure refers to the …

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  • Shedding light on gastroparesis

    Independence Co. woman shares struggle, career with Dick Clark Productions   Frances Lacey would have been honored to have been Dick Clark’s daughter, but she isn’t. While the Independence County woman worked for Dick Clark Productions in California for 34 years and got to know …

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  • Governors from Batesville

    Batesville claims three former governors as its own: Thomas S. Drew (1844-48), Elisha Baxter (1872-74) and William R. Miller (1877-81). Of the three, only Gov. Miller was a native of Independence County. Miller was born to John and Clara (Moore) Miller in 1823 on the …

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