We celebrated our nephew Connor’s 10th birthday in a time-honored East Texas manner: grilling hamburgers, pitching washers — and plinking balloons and Diet Coke cans with pellet guns. The clan sat outside on a Saturday afternoon enjoying a rare respite from the incessant rains. Our swimming pool is still covered for its winter hiatus. For the first time since we have lived here, the water is lapping the edge of the pool and floating the cover. That’s how much rain has fallen this winter. When uncovered, and before the pool service shows up to rejuvenate it, that pool is going to look like...
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Patriots Day in Boston passed without incident last Monday. The Boston Marathon was completed under highly tightened security. And the Red Sox beat the Orioles 7-1 at Fenway Park in a game shortened by rain. My beloved team is in first place, but it is far too early to get excited. Only two games separates first from last place in this nascent season.
April is the season of hope for baseball fans. Even those who follow the Cubs or Astros can feel optimistic. As this is written, the Astros hold a slim lead in the AL West. The team improved somewhat last year, still finishing under .500 but managing...
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The heavily accented Spanish voice speaking as I answered my cellphone was familiar and welcomed. “Hallo, Meester Gary. It’s Jaìme. How are you?” I haven’t heard from my compadrè since my birthday in 2010, when he called to remind me I was turning 55. “Muy viejo,” he joked at the time. Very old.
Jaìme and I became acquainted 15 years ago in Nacogdoches, when I was looking for someone to help out on weekends doing yard work. Day laborers gather each morning at a park just south of downtown. When one drives up, usually a dozen or so men run over. Jaìme beat the crowd to my Jeep,...
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I wrote a few months back about downsizing, getting rid of stuff so that my daughters or wife do not have to go through the arduous task of doing so after I’m gone. (Not that I plan on that occurring anytime soon, but who does?) Both my Beautiful Mystery Companion and I had to dispose of our parents’ possessions, with our brothers’ help, after their deaths. In my case, I had to do it twice: the first time after moving them into assisted living, and once again with what remained after they passed. Even after we three sons gathered what photos, artwork and other memorabilia we wanted for our children...
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Johnny Cace’s Seafood and Steak House in Longview served its final meal last Saturday night. A 66-year tradition ended with a two-month farewell that brought out folks who had gotten engaged, celebrated birthdays or enjoyed family reunions at the iconic restaurant. Or they simply patronized the place because of its great Cajun seafood and impeccable service.
The strain of running a 13,000 square-foot restaurant that needed renovation and updating was finally too much for Cathy and Chelsea Cace — the mother-and-daughter team who kept the operation going after Gerard Cace died suddenly of a heart...
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Drones make the news quite often lately, both for the large unmanned versions used to launch stealth attacks in places like Afghanistan, and the much smaller ones used for a variety of non-lethal purposes: photography, tracking cattle in desolate places, or trying to catch drug traffickers. The Federal Aviation Administration recently outlined its proposed new rules in what has been a largely unregulated area, such as keeping drones within sight of the operator, no higher than 500 feet or faster than 100 mph. This is likely going to scotch Amazon’s plans to use drones to deliver packages. I will...
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I noticed in our paper that the Chapel Hill school district is hosting a donkey basketball game this weekend. Teachers will ride on donkeys and attempt to score points against their students. I am a former donkey basketball player but have since hung up my riding sneakers. I was roped into doing this while running the San Augustine paper, despite my lack of qualifications to either play basketball (being vertically challenged) or ride a donkey successfully. The company provided both helmets and the animals, which were much better trained than their riders.
Riding a donkey bareback is hard on one’s...
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Sunshine Week starts Sunday. Newspapers, media organizations and good-government organizations will publish columns, editorials and other material to raise awareness of how we must be vigilant to protect the public’s right to know.
That right is constantly under attack, in Texas and on the federal level. Hillary Clinton’s use of private email while secretary of state has caused a stink, as it should have. Fortunately, the negative publicity compelled the impending release of those emails, which should never have been on a private server. But that is a common practice. Former Gov. Rick Perry,...
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Sam Malone died 15 years ago, a few weeks shy of his 80th birthday, which was on March 2 — Texas Independence Day. That is also Sam Houston’s birthday, and Sam was proud to have been born on that day. He was my first newspaper mentor and a good friend. We rode the roads together for five years to dimly lit football stadiums in towns nestled deep behind the Pine Curtain — Newton, Hemphill and Shelbyville, to name a few.
Sam grew up in the country newspaper business out in Seminole, in West Texas. His dad, Big Sam Malone owned a weekly and taught young Sam how to put type back in the case...
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I finally got a snow day.
About this time last year I wrote about wanting to get a snow day like most everybody else. It never happened, although twice classes were delayed a few hours at Kilgore College, where I was teaching journalism at the time. Both my daughter and Beautiful Mystery Companion got snow days, which made me a bit envious.
When the first round of ice and snow hit town Monday, I had brought a suitcase and change of clothes with me, figuring the roads might be too treacherous to make the 55-mile drive home in the dark. They were, so I spent the night in a motel and was at work...
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