Most Read from past 24 hours






On Monday night, the Black Lives Matter protest came to the sleepy beach town of Huntington Beach, California: about 500 protesters, most of them white, denouncing police brutality against black men. A diverse group of students, retirees and mothers with children faced off against about 200 police officers, some mounted on horses, many of them
READ MORE
Good grief! What has happened to me? In the past week, I read A Christmas Courtship, by Shelly Shepard Gray, intending to review this romantic holiday novel for the Smoky Mountain News before realizing it would be too late for the holiday shopping season. Not only that, but in some fit
READ MORE
For the last three years I’ve made my way as a freelance writer. I work seven to eight hours every day, seven days a week, and earn enough to remain solvent. I love what I do. Last week, I once again paid my income taxes. My children are all grown, I own no property, and
READ MOREIf you have the time, the grit, and the heart to make a difference serving on a board of education, you should run for your local school board.
READ MORE

“Who was that masked man?” When I was a kid, that was the question occasionally raised about television’s Lone Ranger, who along with his sidekick Tonto rode around the West wearing a mask, taking down the bad guys, and shouting “Hi-Ho, Silver! Away!” The Lone Ranger wore the mask to conceal his identity from a
READ MORE