Column

Drake Thomas: Rules in summer aren’t a bummer; the beauty of keeping a schedule during off seasons

Reading that title may give you pause. Summer is a time for respite, rejuvenation — and most importantly, no alarms — right? Why in the world would anyone want to keep their rigid normal schedule when the days are longer, and cookouts, ball games and pool parties seem to jump out from every direction? It is difficult to convince little minds that it is bedtime when the sun sits low and fat on the horizon boasting perfect playing light, before disappearing completely and giving the stage to twinkling fireflies that hover at the perfect height to be cupped and observed by tiny hands.
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Kyle Troutman: The ides of May

The saying goes, “Beware the Ides of March,” but fore the last two years, it has been the “Ides of May” bringing the bad to Barry County. At this time last year, we as a community were dealing with a lot, most significantly the disappearance and death of Dr.
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Dakoda Pettigrew: American Insights — The Tragedy of B. F. Randolph

On Wednesday, January 15, 1868, Benjamin Franklin Randolph opened the second day of the South Carolina Constitutional Convention with a prayer. Brief but moving, Randolph exhorted God to “fill our hearts with love for the general welfare” of all South Carolinians. “Help us in our work here, and when we finish our earthly course, receive us into that welcome abode in heaven.”
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Kyle Troutman: A worthy and colorful cause

Inever ceased to be amazed by the extent and variety of our local philanthropic organizations. From the Cassville Education Fund’s support of our school teachers to the Cassville Community Foundation’s support of all things Cassville and Roaring River and the Soroptimist Club’s support of local women to the Cassville Rotary Club’s support of the Cassville community — and many, many more organizations I don’t have all the space to name — there is no shortage of neighbors helping neighbors in our slice of southwest Missouri.
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Dakoda Pettigrew: American Insights — Lincoln at Independence Hall

The president-elect reached Philadelphia at 4 p.m. on Thursday, February 21, 1861. In response to warm greetings, Lincoln told a crowd that he hoped “to restore peace and harmony and prosperity to the country.” He added, however, “I shall do nothing inconsistent with the teachings of those holy and most sacred walls” of Independence Hall. “I have never asked anything that does not breathe from those walls,” Lincoln said. Paraphrasing Psalm 137, he added, “May my right hand forget its cunning and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I ever prove false to those teachings” of the Constitution and the Declaration.
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