Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
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My father’s mission was to tame the stupidity out of me – a powerful blessing too few children are experiencing now. My dad had his work cut out for him. Over the years, I shattered a picture window with a baseball, accidentally broke neighbors’ lamp posts and once hit a golf ball through a neighbor’s window (I mowed a lot of lawns to pay for the repairs). The high point of my stupidity occurred when I was 10. Too lazy to go upstairs to the kitchen to dispose of an apple core, I tossed it into...
It was a perfect late-spring Saturday. Several members of my large extended family gathered at my parents’ house to trim hedges and plant flowers. The sun was out, the skies were brilliant blue and the temperature was perfect for yardwork. A wonderful old saying, “many hands make light work,” was certainly the case – though we really didn’t “work.” We gathered as a family, laughing, joking, catching up with each other, marveling at how fast the little ones are growing, and paying homage to our...
Dear Ms. Beardsley, I hope you’re doing well. I miss seeing you and my classmates at school every day, but homeschooling is working out well for me. Mommy and Daddy are doing the best they can to make sure my siblings and I continue to learn during the COVID-19 pandemic. They make sure we stick to a schedule like the one our school follows. But they aren’t getting along as well as they usually do. Every night, they hit the box wine harder than they ever did before. I suppose that’s becau...
Get this: New parents are giving newborns outlandish names— so they’ll stand out on social media. That’s according to a new survey of British parents by ChannelMum, which found 72% of respondents “believe a unique name will help their child stand out from the crowd,” StudyFinds reports. So, what are some of these “unique” names”? Maevery, Faelina, Idalia, Evabeth and Tessadora are the top five new names for British girls. Jaspin, Charleston, Brigham, Ranger and Wrenlow are the top five new na...
When my childhood home got a phone call, it was an event. That was partly because my father, a longtime phone-company employee, installed four brass-belled phones throughout our home. The phones rang so loudly it sounded like crooks were breaking into Fort Knox. It was also because we were eager to discover who was calling – though I was always disappointed when I answered and it was a young man calling for one of my sisters. You see, before Caller ID became common in the late 1980s, I was o...
Have I benefited from nepotism and cronyism? Sure. But at least I feel guilty about it. Nepotism, says Dictionary.com, is “patronage bestowed or favoritism shown on the basis of family relationship, as in business and politics.” The concept is alive and well in Washington, D.C. The Hill reports Chelsea Clinton reaped a $9 million stock gain since 2011 by sitting on a corporate board controlled by her mother’s rich friend, Barry Diller. Corporate board members are supposed to be chosen for experi...
We could use a good snowstorm right about now. I love a good dusting of snow. I love how it disrupts our routines and throws everything out of whack. I lived in Washington, D.C., for nearly eight years. It delighted me how that city went into a panic every time forecasters predicted a few inches. Not only are school delays common there, but the federal government often announces delays, too. It sometimes shuts down entirely, giving federal employees paid snow days. Which is a delicious irony....
I don’t blame millennials and Gen Z for mocking baby boomers with the trending “OK boomer” meme. I’ve had my issues with baby boomers, too. “OK boomer,” reports dictionary.com, “is a viral internet slang phrase used, often in a humorous or ironic manner, to call out or dismiss out-of-touch or close-minded opinions associated with the baby boomer generation and older people more generally.” It’s sarcasm used to tell baby boomers that they’re too critical, condescending and dismissive toward y...
What’s the best gift you ever received? Whatever it was, it surely wasn’t a material item bought in a store. An experience, rather than a material good, is the best gift to receive. That’s what University of Toronto professor Cindy Chan and University of California professor Cassie Mogilner discovered in a study they conducted in 2018. “The reason experiential gifts are more socially connecting is that they tend to be more emotionally evocative,” Chan told PsychCentral. “An experientia...
What’s the best car on the road? One that’s paid off. That’s what my father loves to say. Regrettably, too many Americans aren’t heeding his advice. What’s worse is that they’re taking on “underwater” loans that far exceed their cars’ value. The Wall Street Journal recently featured a 40-year-old electrician who bought a $27,000 Jeep with a $45,000 loan. How is that possible? A string of bad luck was part of it. He “replaced one because it had 100,000 miles and another when he went through a div...
The numbers are sobering, but we can do something about them. The Department of Veterans Affairs’ 2019 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report says nearly 6,200 veterans took their own lives in 2017— and more than 6,000 took their lives every year from 2008 to 2017. “In 2017, the suicide rate for Veterans was 1.5 times the rate for non-Veteran adults, after adjusting for population differences in age and sex,” says the report. And as with civilians, suicide rates are increas...
My sister Kris kicked the tar out of Frankie Leper. It happened in 1972 after Leper, a notorious neighborhood bully, busted up my handmade go-kart, then shoved me into the mud. Sure, Leper was a big kid. But as he stood over me, taunting me, Kris tackled him and pounded on him so hard that he blubbered like a baby. That ended his bullying days. He never lived down getting whooped by a girl half his size. I was lucky to be a kid in the 1970s, in that regard. Bullies have always existed, but in...
Autumn has arrived. I can't think of a better time to put priorities back in order. You see, a new University of Nebraska-Lincoln study finds that "the current U.S. political climate is literally making Americans physically sick, damaging friendships, and driving many people 'crazy," according to studyfinds.org. Among the findings: About two in five Americans are stressed out by politics, and one in five are losing sleep over it. Look, politics is important. An informed, engaged public is...
Tom Hanks is right: We should be allowed to start off our days feeling good. Hanks stars as Fred "Mister" Rogers in the movie "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood," opening Nov. 22. At a press conference after its world premiere at a film festival in Toronto, reports “Deadline,” Hanks called Rogers' life an antidote to our cynical times: "Cynicism has become the default position for so much of daily structure and daily intercourse. Why? Because it's easy and there's good money to be made at it....
An invasion from outer space might do America some good. And maybe one's coming? In June, Politico reported a top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee sought details from the Navy about pilots reporting an "unidentified aerial phenomenon" that appeared to defy the laws of physics and aerodynamics. The same month, CNN reported on classified Navy briefings for U.S. senators, including the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, that treated those reported Navy encounters...
Here's some great news: The American entrepreneur is flourishing again. From 1980 until 2017, "the number of new startups formed each year... plummeted by half - from almost 15% of all business 35 years ago to barely 8%," according to Forbes contributor David Pridham. In 2015, regrettably, America experienced more business deaths than new business startups— the first time that had happened since the sluggish economy of 1980. Just a few years ago, U.S. Census Bureau data showed the U.S. ranked "...
A phone scammer made a mistake when he called my mother. The young male caller pretended to be her grandson. He said he'd been arrested for fishing on an Indian reservation - unaware he was breaking the law - and needed bail money so a judge wouldn't throw him in jail. My mother's response, which I'll share in a moment, is now a classic part of family lore - but the threat that increasingly sophisticated scammers pose to elderly Americans is nothing to laugh about. In this era of smartphones,...
We could use a hearty dose of Robert Fulghum wisdom about now. Our political discourse is at a fever pitch. Our allegedly esteemed elected leaders are carrying on like unruly children - shouting and pouting and becoming increasingly strident with their political opponents. If they wish to carry on like children, they need to learn some kindergarten wisdom. "All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be, I learned in kindergarten," wrote Fulghum in his famous 1988...
Why do I want more Americans to buy homes? Because misery loves company. The Wall Street Journal reports most American renters believe homeownership is financially out of their reach - only 24 percent say it's "extremely likely that they would ever own a home, 11 percentage points lower than four years ago," according to a Freddie Mac survey - and that isn't good for our country. Look, homeownership brings many benefits. For starters, homeowners' net worth is higher than renters' - for the simpl...
Breaking news: Federal spending is out of control. I'm kidding, of course. Spending, deficits and debt have been out of control for years. It's just that last week we broke yet another record. For the first time in our nation's history, federal spending topped $3 trillion in a fiscal year's first eight months, according to last week's Monthly Treasury Statement. How much is $3 trillion? According to Kiplinger, $3 trillion would pay the salaries of every member of the U.S. Congress for the next...
Like most people, I didn’t think much about my Social Security number – until I got a bizarre call from a total stranger. “Hello?” I answered suspiciously, because I saw “restricted” on my smartphone screen. “Hello, Tom.” “Who is this? What do you want?” “Who I am isn’t important. I called to thank you for working hard and paying your bills on time. Your excellent credit was just what I was looking for when I borrowed your Social Security number.” “You WHAT?” “It was easy, Tom. Maybe I sifted t...
With your military service complete, you're eager to return home and get on with life in the private sector. Surely, in a booming economy, you'll have your pick of jobs? Your training is extensive, after all— the U.S. military's technology training and educational advancement is among the world's very best. Maybe you were a squad leader in the infantry, routinely making more important decisions - life-and-death decisions - than a large global corporation's CEO makes. Nobody questions your p...
Tax season is upon us, which gives us a choice: Laugh or cry. I choose to laugh. Dave Barry offers useful advice for getting through this trying time: "It's income tax time again, Americans: time to gather up those receipts, get out those tax forms, sharpen up that pencil, and stab yourself in the aorta." You got that right, Dave! For the sin of being self-employed, I spend hours navigating a sea of receipts, which I share with my CPA, who tells me I owe $5,000 more than I feared I would....
Socialism is back in vogue in some quarters. According to the website of dictionary maker Merriam-Webster, socialism is a political theory that advocates "governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods." The concept is that government central planners can make really smart decisions to distribute our collective wealth in a manner that benefits all. But socialism never works, because nobody is smart enough to make such incredibly complex decisions....
While organizing my home office a few weeks ago, I came across a letter my grandfather wrote back in 1924. He wrote that eloquent letter to his best friend’s wife, consoling her on the loss of her mother. His cursive handwriting was artful - perfect penmanship. He wrote the letter when he was 21. Since he died at 34, when my father was only 3, it is among the most cherished items I have from a grandfather I never got to meet. Such is the power of the handwritten letter, an art that has died a...
