Opinion Archive

The year 2024 is a big election year, not only nationally, but also in Okaloosa County.

We’re guessing everyone is aware of that, unless you sleep under a rock or somehow drive around town with your eyes closed. At this point, we’re not sure you could throw a rock on most major thoroughfares in Okaloosa County and not hit an election sign.

One of the teachings of Jesus is we are to do good to those who hate us (Luke 6:27). What? Be nice to people that hate us?? He must have been suffering from heatstroke that day.

Then he said we are to love our enemies (Luke 6:35). Love our enemies?? That sounds absolutely crazy. He must have been suffering from heatstroke.

It seems like only yesterday that I was 16 years old and getting my driver’s license. Actually, it should have been 50 years ago tomorrow, May 10, 1974, but I had spring football practice and had to wait until we had the following Wednesday off.

I did the “seminary thing” backward, serving in full time ministry at one church for 12 years – 8 as an ordained pastor – with no formal Bible education; then I went to seminary. Colleagues insisted that I would have an advantage over my classmates who would have just graduated from Bible college. After a few classes, I understood. What the fresh Bible college grads knew was yet untested theory. What I knew came from personal study, from experience, and from making a lot of mistakes.

What is freedom of the press? The definition (Merrian-Webster) is the right to publish and disseminate information, thoughts, and opinions without restraint or censorship as guaranteed under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Thursday, April 18 of this year will go down as one of the more unusual days I’ve experienced in my 30 years or so in the newspaper business. It was the first time I’ve written three stories in the same day about coaches, and in this case, one a full-time pastor, who also helps out as an assistant coach stepping down from their positions.

“The times, they are a changin,’” Bob Dylan warned sixty years ago. Newsflash, Bob, they change every year, twice a year in fact. Last month, we honored the mnemonic “spring forward,” and will do the opposite come November when we “fall back.” It’s even more complicated for Floridians because we are one of the 13 states that sit in two time zones.

Some of my favorite childhood memories are summer days spent running around my grandmother’s yard in DeFuniak Springs. Back then, a “vacation” for our family meant a four-hour drive to Florida to see family for a few days.

We’re now apparently in the era where using the term “birthing person” makes you a thoughtful speaker and saying “illegal alien” gets you suspended — at least if you’re one North Carolina high schooler.

There is a cycle of life that comes with being a sports writer covering high school sports. As certain times of the year draw closer, I can almost feel a change in my body.