The two hurricanes struck three weeks apart a decade ago. Hurricane Katrina devastated a large swath of New Orleans and the surrounding area, of course, after making landfall Aug. 29, 2005. Thousands of people either fled or were evacuated. Many ended up in Lufkin, where I lived at the time and published the paper. The evacuees filled the civic center, local churches and other spaces. Local folks did their best to make them welcome and meet their needs. Three weeks later, Hurricane Rita made landfall near Sabine Pass and headed up the Texas-Louisiana border, the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane...
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I attended a Court of Honor recently for a young man who became an Eagle Scout at 16 — an impressive achievement. Eagle is the highest rank in Boy Scouts. Only 7 percent of Scouts make it to that level. It takes grit, hard work and the ability to finish tasks. To make Eagle Scout in just five years is even more rare, since one must be 11 before joining a troop.
The young man thanked his parents, fellow Scouts, all those who helped him arrive at this milestone in his life. And then he thanked his grandfather, who sat beside him at the head table. His grandfather became an Eagle Scout nearly...
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When not working at endeavors that help pay the bills, I burn daylight repainting our house’s exterior. The heat has abated to a manageable level, so I hope to finish before it gets too cold for paint to stick. This is a big project — a two-story dwelling with a couple balconies, several levels of eaves, and faded gutters. There’s a lot of surface area to cover. A commercial painting company likely would charge at least $10,000 to paint the exterior. I hope to get out for about $400 worth of paint. I’m using the same color, which makes one coat sufficient.
I have been painting houses,...
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Thirty-three years ago last July I started writing a weekly column, a habit I have been unable to shake. I had just been hired as managing editor of The Rambler, a weekly newspaper in San Augustine in Deep East Texas. The only person I had to manage was myself, since I was the sole newsroom employee. At 26, that was plenty.
This was my first editor’s job (I would become editor and publisher six months later, with a staff of three — including me), so in order to stay on top of matters I bought a Rolodex with my own money at an office supply store in Nacogdoches. I quickly began filling the blank...
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