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Opinion
D. G. Martin
How did God vote on Amendment 1?
Where was God in all this, really? North Carolinians heard God speaking in contradictory voices during the weeks leading up to the vote on May 8 when voters approved Amendment 1, which added to the state constitution a provision that “Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized…” In the campaigns leading up to the decisive vote, hordes of priests and ministers, mostly from main...
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A mom living life in 15-minute increments
I am the mother of four children, ages 8 to 14 year-old, and trying to launch a business. I live life in 15-minute increments. Our house wakes up at 6 a.m. during the week. Getting everyone to eat something is a challenge so I let them eat whatever they want – leftover pasta, soup, mac and cheese, cereal, bagels, whatever. Then I either drive them to school, leaving at 6:45 or go to my office and start to work. I usually have appointments r...
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Bladen Journal time capsule …
— May 11, 1966: The town of Elizabethtown gives its approval to Carolina Communications Corps. to set up cable television service in the town. *** — May 11, 1977: A woods fire burns out of control for nearly six hours near Ammon, aided by wind gusts of up to 25 mph. Four homes are threatened by the blaze but are able to be saved by area firefighters. *** — May 12, 1986: Dedra Tart is crown Miss White Lake Water Festival, while Samanth...
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God wins
Tuesday’s primary elections spoke loud and clear in a number of areas, but perhaps no louder or clearer than on Amendment One — the Marriage Amendment that defines the state-recognized definition of marriage only as that between one man and one woman. Just as God intended. By a margin even supporters hardly dared hope for — 61 to 39 percent in favor — voters returned some credibility to Christianity and common sense. And in doing so, deal...
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Salaries that don’t make sense
I am always fascinated when PARADE magazine comes out with its annual look at what people earn across the country, and it never ceases to leave me flabbergasted at what jobs pay far too much and what ones pay far too little. For instance, there is a 30-year-old belly dancer in California who earns $65,000; a 45-year-old cat furniture maker in Minnesota who earns $45,000; a 58-year-old CEO of a translation service company in Rhode Island who...
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D. G. Martin
Fountain’s long wait brings us the “Catch-22” of the Iraq War
What is really going on inside their minds when the soldiers come home? Before they can tell us, the call comes to go back to the Middle East for another long tour. In North Carolina, such brave soldiers and their families surround us. We try to honor them and show our appreciation for what they do for us. We do it as best we can when we see them in uniform in airports, on the streets, and at halftimes during athletic contests in university...
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Erin Smith
To create or not to create
Some research scientists have some ‘splainin’ to do as far as I am concerned. I have been reading where some researchers have found a woolly mammoth so well preserved that they can obtain DNA samples and the scientists have decided it would be a good idea to use the DNA to create a baby woolly mammoth. The scientists claim if this idea is approved and works, they will have a living, breathing creature they can study to better understand ...
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Postal prosperity
Now that the U.S. Senate has passed a bill to reform the ailing U.S. Postal Service, critics are trying to disable the bill on its way to the House of Representatives. Business Week recently catalogued unhappy stakeholders, including postal unions, postal management and some Republicans who wrongly think the bill burdens taxpayers. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA, whose own bill awaits action in the House, blasted “special interests.” But Business ...
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Can we do anything about gas prices?
There are few parts to our economy that get people riled up more than rising gas prices, and for good reason. Most of us buy gas at least weekly — spending on gas takes a chunk from our budget — and often we feel helpless in doing anything about what we spend at the pump. Economists who track the economy also get worried when our pump pain tightens. Much of the extra price we pay flows out of the country. Higher gas prices, therefore, l...
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‘Your one vote is actually two’
My grandparents taught me a valuable lesson more than 35 years ago, shortly after I had cast my very first presidential ballot in 1976. Just two months into my sophomore year at Oklahoma State University and already thinking I knew everything I needed to know about how the world worked and who was the best qualified to be in charge of it, I stood before the voting machine, curtain securely closed behind me and … pulled the lever for Jimmy C...
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A proposal with merit
The most important indicator in the education of a young person is the student, his or her aptitude, certainly, and also his or her willingness to learn. In second place, albeit a pretty fair distance behind, is the public school teacher. No one doubts that there are poor doctors, poor lawyers, poor accountants, poor plumbers and poor carpenters. But the market place does a good job of weeding them out. If they do their jobs poorly, then co...
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Bladen Journal time capsule …
— May 4, 1966: William G. Callihan of Bladenboro receives the Army Commendation Medal just prior to his retirement after 20 years of service. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. D.V. Callihan. *** — May 4, 1977: The Samuel L. Brown family of Council is selected as the District VI Farm Family of the Year by the Farmers Home Administration in Bladen County. *** — May 5, 1986: Christine Grange is crowned the Carvers Creek Branch of the NAACP M...
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D G Martin
Amendment One could come to Obama’s rescue
Amendment One. Whether it wins or loses, the effort to defeat it could be a crucial factor in a successful outcome for the Obama campaign in North Carolina this fall. Prospects for the effort to defeat the proposed Marriage Amendment to the constitution are still uncertain, notwithstanding a well-organized and impressive effort on the part of the amendment’s opponents. The enthusiasm of the “Vote No” campaign reminds people of the Obama e...
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Erin Smith
Taking the time to enjoy nature
I must say that nature and wildlife fascinate me. I always marvel at the creatures that makeup our world and their versatility. The world is full of some pretty interesting folks like seahorses and gentle koalas. Let’s not forget the graceful gazelles and the speedy cheetah. Each with their own unique set of characteristics that help them to survive in their environment and leave us human folks amazed. A trip to the N.C. Zoological ...
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What you can do to support the Marriage Amendment
The purpose of this is not to talk about if or why we should support the marriage amendment as North Carolina Baptists and citizens. It is not to try to convince you that marriage is a good thing. It is. God says so. We should be way past that. I believe, no matter what the polls may or may not say, the vast majority of the people of our state and in our churches are supportive of the traditional view of marriage being between one man and o...
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Ahhh, those silly signs
“Sign, sign, everywhere a sign; blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind; do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?” — Five Man Electrical Band , 1971 *** My brother-in-law, Gerald Holland of Salemburg, enjoys a good story — especially if it tickles the funny bone along the way. Not long ago he started telling one about a new business in Fayetteville, and he said he was worried that it wouldn’t last very long. The business...
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D. G. Martin
The pain of losing a town’s only factory
Politicians from the president on down will hear this plaintive statement — “You ain’t never going to understand until you’ve been through it” — when they campaign in North Carolina this year. It will happen when they talk about jobs and their plans for economic recovery in towns that have lost the furniture factories or textile mills on which those towns were built. North Carolinians who have only heard and read about the experiences in mi...
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Bladen Journal time capsule …
— April 27, 1966: The Warner Brothers Company of Bridgeport, Conn., purchase the Burlington Garment Manufacturing plant in Elizabethtown and plan to operate a large lingerie plant with sewing 200 positions. *** — April 27, 1977: The grand champion calf at the Fayetteville Area market Stock Show is shown by Martha White of Bladeboro. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jerry White. *** — April 28, 1986: Cris Harrelson, a senior at Blad...
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Erin Smith
Applauding those forensic investigators
I have to say that forensic science intrigues me. What intrigues me about it are not shows like CSI or NCIS, which glamorize the science. Nope, what impresses me and intrigues the most is how something as simple as a strand of hair, a droplet of blood or fiber from a carpet can be used to tell a story about what happened in a particular place at a particular time. While forensic science is not an exact science, it is one of many tools polic...
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