Opinion: As spring approaches, cat hair falls
First published in The Madera Tribune, on Saturday March 3, 2013. I know spring is here because the cat is starting to shed, and I am looking for the telephone number of the fellow with the truck who comes by to haul the hair away once I have piled it up with the leaf blower. […]
Opinion: Children see, and some children do
First published in The Madera Tribune, on Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013. Here is how The Wall Street Journal describes a new television offering: “An ice pick impales a woman’s eye in the first episode of the new TV thriller, ‘The Following.’ If the sequence hadn’t been scaled back to meet the guidelines of a major […]
Opinion: Second Amendment may be a target
First published in The Madera Tribune, on Friday, Jan. 11, 2013. A lot of people are interested in gun control these days, as well they might be, given the demonstrations of certain guns’ murderous efficiency to which we have been subjected in the past few weeks. Calls for gun control, followed by the defensive postures […]
Opinion: Doing nothing can be something
First published in The Madera Tribune, on Monday, Jan. 28, 2013 For reasons too inconsequential to mention, I found myself in Fresno doing nothing Saturday. That, in itself, is odd for me. Although I would never be described as a dynamo, I usually always am busy with something, and almost always have a task waiting […]
Opinion: Flunking might be helpful to some
First published in The Madera Tribune on Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013. You will notice the Tribune has had stories about whether to flunk nonperforming students or continue the practice of social promotion. Educators don’t agree on whether holding a student back in a grade is very helpful. I remember vividly that when I was in […]
Opinion: Real-life Reagan just like TV
First published in The Tacoma News Tribune, Tacoma on February 14, 1986. WASHINGTON — “Ladies and gentlemen,” the voice intoned, “the President of the United States.” Those of us seated earlier this week at the round luncheon tables in the gold-draped State Dining Room of the White House stood at the announcement and turned toward […]
Opinion: Hot weather brings animal visitors
First published in The News Tribune, Tacoma on July 26, 1985. The recent hot weather has resulted in some unusual visitors to my neighborhood. Take the other night, when Mrs. Doud and I were at home with the doors open to admit a trace or two of breeze. We did not expect the open doors […]
Opinion: Daylight time doesn’t save bodies
First published in The News Tribune, Tacoma on May 1, 1985. As I write this, my body says it should be 4 p.m., but the clock on the wall says 5 p.m. I am still running on standard time, even though all the clocks are running on daylight-saving time. When I awoke this morning, the […]
Opinion: Shoes of a different color
Originally published Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2012. When I was a little kid and mom was teaching me colors, they were known as red, blue, yellow and variations thereof. I was taught yellow and blue mixed together resulted in green. If you mixed red and blue, you would get purple, and so on. Never did she […]
Opinion: Pants were almost a lost cause
Originally published Nov. 28, 2012. I happened to be at the Madera County Courthouse Tuesday, standing around waiting for a courtroom to open, and I noticed how the people were dressed. Most were dressed as professionals, but a few needed help in that department. In case you haven’t been to the courthouse, you should know […]