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Columns

  • Guest Column: School attendance is important

    By Sheila Sitzlar

    Special to the Roane County News

    Did you know that children who miss 18 or more days in kindergarten and first grade are much less likely to read at grade level by the end of third grade?

    By sixth grade, missing 18 or more days of school in a school year is proven as an early warning sign for dropping out of high school.

    By ninth grade, good attendance is a better predictor of graduation rates than test scores.

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  • Glimpses From a Teacher Historian: Politics weather the storms, too

    By Mark Banker

    Kathy and I have watched the weather with more attention than usual this past week as Hurricane Florence blasted the Atlantic coast. More than 40 years ago, she introduced me to North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

    Her Forbes’ ancestors arrived there in the late 17th century, and for more than three centuries that rocky, semi-isolated seacoast was their home.

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  • Guest column: State’s top court could hinder reporters in their job

    By Deborah Fisher

    Should reporters censor information from government proceedings? Of course not.

    The Tennessee Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on Oct. 4 in an important case involving state libel laws and a free press.

    The appeal before the state’s highest court is a test of the state’s fair report privilege.

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  • Going With the Flo: Trump is the miracle answer to our prayers

    By Flo Charles

    Benjamin Franklin said, “It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins.”

    President Obama returned to sow seeds of discord, discontent and distrust toward President Trump’s leadership. How ludicrous! America is better off than ever!

    Lacking the space, I cannot list President Trump’s accomplishments — in just two years – compared to President Obama’s disastrous policies in eight years.

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  • A View From Lick Skillet: Creswell & Chamber know not where Roane is

    “L’état, c’est moi!” [The state, it is me!] Thus spake King Louis XIV of France on 22 December, 1655. But it appears increasingly likely that Louis’ utterance reflects our own Donald John Trump’s innermost conviction.

    Witness for instance his recent “Tweet” concerning the anonymous critical essay published in the New York Times. As we understand it, he characterized the writing in the single word — “TREASON.”

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  • From the Editor’s Desk: Creswell worked hard for all of us

    It is with regret at his leaving and congratulations for a job well done that Roane County will say goodbye to Wade Creswell, president of the Roane Alliance.

    Wade has decided to exercise his considerable talents in the service of another local organization, for whom I’m certain he will be a great asset.

    Wade not only brought a great deal of marketing talent to the Alliance, he also brought a level of sincerity and passion to his promotion of Roane County that could only be found among those who really love this place.

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  • Going With the Flo: Are you ready to say enough is enough?

    By Flo Charles

    Henry David Thoreau stated: “It’s not what you’re looking at that matters, it’s what you see.”

    I was shocked at what I saw of Sen. McCain’s funeral — religiously moving on the surface, but a shocking revelation of mutinous actions! Being so stunned, I missed my high school reunion, replaying everything, disbelieving the contemptuous attitudes I was seeing and hearing.

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  • A View From Lick Skillet: Is it time to revaluate the Roane Alliance?

    President Harry Truman is credited with saying, “If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.” And it’s old folk wisdom, “never to start a fire you can’t put out”. Now why, you may ask, is the old curmudgeon bandying about all this pyrotechnical talk?

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  • Going With the Flo: Are you ready to say enough is enough?

    An immigrant in our country illegally is charged with murdering Mollie Tibbetts!

    This may be old news to some, but not to her family or those who fear that they could be next.

    Politicians protect those living in our country illegally, blocking our president’s every attempt to build a wall. They are working against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, exposing Americans to the same fate as Mollie.

    How many more deaths will it take?

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  • A View From Lick Skillet: Recent national news prompts commentary

    The death of Senator John Sydney McCain, of Arizona, has dominated the news over the last few days, and naturally such an event has prompted the old curmudgeon into random thoughts inspired by that sad event.

    § First there is the question as to whether McCain’s passing will eventually mark the passing of the Grand Old Party, for he was one of the few who still made efforts to maintain the old standards of the Republican Party, even against the assaults of the new born Trump Party.

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