Opinion

Happy belated birthday to the oldest man in Wheaton, Mr. Floyd Hughes, who turned 100 on July 19. Floyd was gracious enough to invite me into his home to talk to him before his community bike ride, even letting me pull him away from that night’s episode of Wheel of Fortune! The ride was not set to begin until 7 p.m., but that didn’t stop Floyd from sitting on his bike in the final 10 minutes, revving up and ready to go. At 100 now, the great-great-grandpa took his time to enjoy the moment, clocking in at about 1.23 miles per hour as he passed the train depot on Main.

Gatekeeping news in small communities and as a public figure is a heavy weight, and this week it was mine to bear. A story in today’s edition describes an incident occurring in the Barry County jail on April 1, 2022, involving a deputy and an inmate.

When I was a little girl, one of my favorite activities was to explore the public library in my hometown of Pierce City. At that time, the library was housed in an old church, and in the back was a long display case with artifacts from Harold Bell Wright, the namesake of the church, and the early days of Pierce City.

Everyone has a physical birthday; a day in which one celebrates their physical birth. When one becomes a Christian, they have a spiritual birthday.

I have never considered myself a history buff, but for a few hours on June 7, my wife, daughter and I sent ourselves on a wild goose chase to learn every single thing we could about Lot 114 in the city of Cassville.

As I write this, the temperature outside is climbing to the expected 98 degrees for the day. We have experienced a heat wave these last couple of weeks that has broken records all over the country.

For the first half of the 20th century, tomato canning was an important industry Barry County. During the industry’s peak during the 1930s, a total of 16 canning factories were in operation in Barry County.

Community fireworks events vary from town to town in Barry County, but none are quite as ruralAmerica heartland as the Wheaton 4th of July celebration. The family and I went to Wheaton on the fourth and were not disappointed. Their $5 cheeseburgers are what I call land lunkers, thick, savory and hot off the grill. My kids really enjoyed the playground at the park. Our youngest wore out the slides even more than she wore out herself! The two bands performed well, and the sound crew avoided any aux cord technical difficulties so we could hear the National Anthem on the speakers just before the fireworks show. The Wheaton firefighters shoot the pyrotechnics, and they have the timing down to when the Anthem finishes with “home of the brave,” the first firework lights up the park. It was a warm night, but that timing even gave my cold-blooded body the chills!

The beginning of July is a time of peak patriotism in the United States, but as surely as you can count on the flood of Red, White and Blue, you can also count on another thing — complaints. Ordinances regarding fireworks within city limits vary as much as the arguments for and against the pyrotechnics.