Which way will they play

With Mount Airy now out of the state football playoffs, it’s never too early to look ahead to next season … or the season after.In 2009, the conferences realign to account for updated enrollment numbers, and the NCHSAA has just released a preliminary proposal to shuffle all the leagues. You can view it here: http://www.nchsaa.org/pdf/5969A.pdfBasically [...]

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Spare the rod?

Do parents have the inherent right to spank their children? The Massachusetts legislature is taking up that issue, a proposal that would bar a parent from forcefully laying their hands upon a child — except to save them from danger.
Corporal punishment in the home is already illegal in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, [...]

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Worth saving?

Some bloggers have requested that we post commissioner topics in the days before a meeting, with an update on how they voted afterwards. This Thursday at 7 p.m. the city board is deciding on bids to the old house on 305 Cherry Street. This was the property that was originally slated for RCC parking, but [...]

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Black Friday

I’ve never really gotten into the spirit of Black Friday, other than to make sure that we have a reporter covering it. The idea of fighting crowds at 4 in the morning just isn’t my idea of fun, no matter what the savings. But apparently there are plenty of folks out there who not only [...]

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Property theft or a necessary taking?

Land condemnations are always emotional issues. On the one hand, it’s the big, bad government picking on the little guys, taking their land for a pittance of its intrinsic value. On the other hand, our society has certain infrastructure needs that often would go unbuilt without the right of eminent domain. Balancing those two positions [...]

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Lights out on lighting up?

When we asked our bloggers to suggest some new discussion topics, the issue of schools and businesses going tobacco-free immediately came up. It’s a very relevant issue. In the last few months alone we’ve had both school systems, Northern Hospital and a number of restaurants prohibit smoking and chewing tobacco. Looks like Surry Community College [...]

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So What’s On Your Mind?

One of our faithful posters prodded me today. “I enjoy the paper and participating in the blogs. I would however, like to see new subjects added sooner,” he ( I think it’s a he) wrote. Folks, this blog can go in just about any direction you want — and some of you have taken it [...]

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Bright Leaf Drive-In’s bright future

Who would have thought that an industry segment could dwindle so much that what remains would be a tourist attraction? That’s the case with Mount Airy’s Bright Leaf Drive-In Theater, now one of a small handful of drive-ins left in the state, which at its peak in the ’50s numbered more than 200.
Since I have [...]

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No reason for overconfidence

Will the extra quarter-cent sales tax fly through the referendum Tuesday. Not likely, even though there’s no organized opposition. I’m not saying it will fail. I think it will pass. But it won’t be by a landslide. A lot of folks just don’t like tax increases, no matter how small or who else might be [...]

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