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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CHIHUAHUA CITY, MEXICO — When I told folks I was going to spend a week in Mexico and Big Bend working on a magazine story, a few acted as if I had signed my death warrant. “Are you going to have any security?” one friend asked. No, we didn’t, though there was certainly safety in numbers with five of us working together — including a scientist who lives and works in the city. My brother Scott had the wisest perspective, noting that many millions of people live in Mexico, and the vast majority get through the day just fine. I liked my odds.
I was the first to arrive at the airport in this...
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The finish line of the finest adventure on which I have embarked in many years beckoned, at most 300 feet away. A group of us were descending a peak known locally as Big Hill just off the highway in Big Bend Ranch State Park. The peak overlooks the Rio Grande. On this final day of a seven-day voyage from Chihuahua City, Mexico to the Big Bend area, we got up at 4 a.m. to catch sunrise. It was worth the lost sleep. We arrived in the dark to give the two photographers time to set up their spectacular array of equipment. I was the writer on this trip so I took a short nap in the Suburban as they set up, one eye occasionally...
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From the New York Times: The blue and gold braided beard on the burial mask of famed pharaoh Tutankhamun was hastily glued back on with epoxy, damaging the relic after it was knocked during cleaning, conservators at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo have said.
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I didn’t do it. I have an airtight alibi.
Epoxy? Really? I would have used Gorilla Glue. Epoxy is a pain because you have to mix the two parts together. Invariably I get some on my fingers and then spend the next week peeling dried glue from my skin. Gorilla Glue definitely can be tricky, because it expands as it dries and tends...
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