Opinion

Kyle Troutman: It’s a wrap
As 2025 comes to a close, we always take a look back at the top stories of the year in news and sports with our annual top 10s, but in this column, I’m divulging what caught the most attention from you — our readers.

Dakota Pettigrew: American Insights — The Greatness of Jimmy Carter
The train carrying the president-elect sped into Union Station at 3:45 p.m. To Woodrow Wilson’s surprise, few people had gathered to welcome him to the nation’s capital. The Washington Post reported, “It was a strange greeting for the man who is to rule the destinies of the nation for the next four years.”

The effects of Jesus’ birth
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14.

Kyle Troutman: Rising from the ashes
A segment of the Barry County Courthouse square in Cassville will soon receive new life.

Jeff Fugitt: A Christmas Reading — Twas the best of songs, twas the worst of songs
Christmas can be a confusing time — especially for kids. We keep hearing that Santa Claus is coming to town. He/they seem to be duplicates everywhere and we wonder if mommy is kissing them all.

William Hodgson: In the fulness of time
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” (Galations 4:4-5)

Kyle Troutman: ’Twas on the press before Christmas
’Twas 12 days before Christmas, and at The Cassville Democrat, A busy hand was a’typing requests for iPhones and crafts.

Lynn Hilburn: School house memories
This time of year brings memories of the time I spent getting part of my education in elementary country schools back in the 1950s.

What’s in a genealogy?
When you begin to read the New Testament in Matthew chapter one, there is a long genealogy of Jesus who is proclaimed to be Christ.

4 down, 2 to go
Christmas may be the busiest day of the year for Santa Claus, but for a small-town journalist like myself, the first couple Saturdays in December rival any day of the year.



