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Today's Opinions

  • GLIMPSES: Early 1900s reflection of today

    By MARK BANKER

    A rare point of consensus in our polarized times is the notion that “those who fail to learn history’s lessons are doomed to repeat them.”

    Yet, as ongoing debates about the Second Amendment and the Civil War reveal, we disagree vehemently about history’s lessons. That is the subject for a future column.

    Today I redirect attention to a typically overlooked era and insights it might offer for our own.

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  • A VIEW from LICK SKILLET: The 2017 Holidays are coming so again its stack cake time!

    Kind reader, on this, its tenth anniversary, we present our traditional pre-holiday Apple Stack Cake column. As we advised last year, Oren Wooden’s Apple Orchard, located atop the mountain, twixt Dayton and Pikeville, had dried apples. They may still have them, but you had better call to be sure. The folks at Muddy Pond mentioned below are almost certain to have them.

    So, without further preamble, here is the 2017 Edition of the traditional stack cake column:

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  • GOING with the FLO: The heart of the problem is only God Can change a heart

    By FLO CHARLES

    “The heart of the problem is the problem in the heart. Only God can change a heart.”

    That’s why we need the Word of God. Not only do we have this horrific killing in Texas from an enraged, deranged individual, we are facing more and more deception in our America as anger and hate continues to spew through the media against our President and infects other areas of the soul, causing carnage. We become what we feed upon, as this killer did!

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  • GLIMPSES: Roane County efforts focus on early childhood learning

    If you have recently walked the paths at Fort Southwest Point or in the newly established Ladd Landing Greenway, you may have noticed a new and colorful set of signs. They announce that you are on a “Born Learning Trail.”

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  • K-9 Lifeline Rescue helps shelter save animals’ lives

    In the many years I have been privileged to work at the Roane County Animal Shelter, something I love to do, I’ve been so fortunate to network with many beautiful people who do what I do, to bring shelter, comfort and dignity to the sweet, sometimes scared or misunderstood animals which for whatever reason come to our work place.

    There are so many people who we work with that I cannot get through one day without appreciating their kindness and couldn’t do the job without their help.

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  • We’re partly to blame for electing bad leaders

    Dear Mrs. Flo Charles: Thank you for your finely expressed column. Everyone in Tennessee should be shouting it from the housetops that we have finally been told what’s really transpired in Washington!

    How our countrymen and women must feel when they read the account of the past president and his henchmen and women bowing to the needs of our enemies is hard to ascertain.

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  • GLIMPSES: Science minds steer Bethel Presbyterian into 21st century

    By MARK BANKER

    Three months ago, I reflected on Bethel Presbyterian Church’s contributions to Roane County education and celebrated three wonderful teachers with Bethel ties who enriched the lives of countless students and inspired my own 40 years in the classroom.

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  • GOING with the FLO: The Russian collusion is full of uranium

    The Russian story is URANIUM.

    The worst and largest scandal in American political history is being revealed. The FBI has evidence, including an eyewitness account, that the Russia nuclear officials routed $145 million to the Clinton Foundation while Hillary was still serving as Secretary of State and, while Secretary of State, she signed off on the Uranium 1 deal that gave Russian’s Putin 20 percent of our uranium.

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