All in Columns

Reece Gardner: We need freedom of choice in education

In recent years this effort has grown, leading many to believe that we should enact a voucher program that would give parents throughout the state a choice in how and where their children are educated. This could lead to freedom of choice in education, putting education in the market place and requiring educational outlets to compete with each other to attract students to their facilities. Schools would have to be competitive, and most of us will probably agree that competition tends to bring out the best in all of us.

Cooking with Tammy Kelly: Plan your holiday pies

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it is time to start making out menus and deciding on which pie recipes to use. As you cook for Thanksgiving, remember Buy Local produce whenever possible!! All of these recipes are traditional favorites with a slightly lighter twist!! The recipes promise not to skimp on flavor!

Reece Gardner: Count your blessings

With Thanksgiving Day coming up next week we would all benefit by recognizing the many blessings that come our way and by being thankful for those blessings. For example, just this past week I had the good fortune of being included in the festivities surrounding the celebration of the birthday of my two identical grandsons, Patrick Robert Nix and Davis

Adkin students strike early blow for Civil Rights in N.C.

Roughly three years before the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education on May 17, 1954, ordered the end of segregation in U.S. public schools, students at Adkin High School demonstrated their disgust with inadequate educational facilities and materials by planning and executing the Adkin Walkout of November 20, 1951.

Dan E. Perry: Change will not happen if you do not vote!

Recently I heard a conversation between a talk show host and his guest. In discussing the present run-away inflation and the many failed policies of the present administration, the guest observed that, “I can’t think of anything positive about the Biden administration. It’s all going in the wrong direction. Even those who hate Trump must admit that at least we had a lot of good things going our way.”

Library offers State-of-the-Art Media Lab

This month Neuse Regional Libraries are unveiling exciting new resources to our library users that will help them make 21st century digital content and explore new potential hobbies and career paths.Staff have been hard at work preparing our new Digital Media Lab at the Kinston-Lenoir County Public Library and we are now ready to start helping library users create their own digital media projects such as music, video, 3D animation, and podcasts.

John Hood: Don’t buy myth about voter turnout

Republicans in much of the country enjoyed significant success during the 2021 election cycle. They elected a GOP governor in Virginia, almost elected one in New Jersey, won several important judicial races in Pennsylvania, and even elected their first Republican candidate to local office in Seattle (city attorney) since the 1980s.

Reece Gardner: Animals are a blessing!

Today I want to talk about how we are blessed by animals around us and how we need to let them know we care. Joe Exum put the organization "Friends of Man's Best Friends" together a few years ago and great numbers of animals have been given quality lives as a result of his effort, and the efforts of his dedicated associates who give freely of their time, money, and expertise in the promotion of this noble cause.