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Today's Opinions

  • Looseleaf laureate: Be grateful that the truth is more interesting

    I cringe every year at depictions of the first Thanksgiving, with Pilgrims and “the Indians” harmoniously sitting down to break bread together.

    It’s a nice thought, it really is, but it has little to do with truth.

    In 1621, a small group of Pilgrims were celebrating a successful harvest, but the fact that 90 warriors were on hand was not a result of invitation.

    The Wampanoag tribe that is often generically referred to as “the Indians” in the Thanksgiving story has much more interesting — and believable — version.

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  • A VIEW from LICK SKILLET: Bill Landry to sign new book at Rocky Top Gen. Store

    There are times when a person, or group, or nation has the strength, or the authority to do something, but which they shouldn’t do, despite that strength or authority.

    As a result of proceeding when they shouldn’t, the person, group, or nation loses that strength or authority.

    Last week saw this very thing happen in one case, and the wheels begin to turn that may well result in its happening again in another case.

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  • Remembers when drug stops were about money

    I read a story last week that could shed some light on meth use in this country.

    I think we are all aware of the civil asset forfeiture law that legislatures passed about 1987, whereby assets gained from criminal activities could be seized.

    The original law was a good law.

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  • REACH spaghetti dinner surpasses expectations

    I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every person who helped make our first spaghetti dinner fundraiser for Operation REACH such a success; we raised more than $2,100.

    This was our first spaghetti dinner and without selling tickets in advance, we were preparing for 100; needless to say, we probably tripled that number.

    We learned a few lessons we will take with us for next year, such as more pasta and faster please!

    I also want to mention that this would not have gone off as well without the coordination of my lovely wife, Marilyn.

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  • GUEST OPINION:What a free press meant when JFK assassinated

    By GENE POLICINSKI
    Inside the First Amendment
    The commemoration on Nov. 22 of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is also a reminder — a stark and somber one, to be sure — of journalism as some call it: “The first draft of history.”

    From the time that three shots were fired in Dallas at the presidential motorcade on Nov. 22, 1963, that “first draft” of reporting about the tragedy reached Americans in a manner unique in history.

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  • A VIEW from LICK SKILLET: Dr. Rywell’s Tenn. apple stack cake re-visited

    Gentle reader, there comes a time when repeating oneself is no longer repetition but a tradition.

    Thus it is with our annual holiday column about our beloved Tennessee Apple Stack Cake, also known in this area as “Fruit Cake.” As we have said many times before, what is being offered in some grocery stores as apple stack cake is not our Tennessee Apple Stack Cake.

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  • Looseleaf laureate: On idealism, cynicism and conspiracy theories

    It has taken decades to realize how much a series of bullets — fired half a century ago by a lone gunman, or maybe not — has impacted the life of one preschooler.

    I was a 5-year-old in hand-me-down dungarees. The knees, judging by most of the pictures from the era, were worn bare.

    I don’t remember ever seeing my mother cry before that day; perhaps that’s why my memory of  President John F. Kennedy’s murder is so vivid.

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  • New initiative helps state conservation

    By GINA HANCOCK
    The Nature Conservancy
    Last week, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell gave an important speech about her vision and priorities for the Department of the Interior.

    In it, she mentioned a key item for conservation in our nation and in Tennessee going forward.

    She announced a secretarial order that will help balance economic development with the protection of natural resources.

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