Opinion

Dakoda Pettigrew: Ask Not
A bitter snowstorm dropped six inches of snow on America’s capital city the day before Inauguration Day. “Many of the pre-inaugural social affairs had to be canceled,” The New York Times wrote on Friday, January 20, 1961, adding that the snowfall had “snarled traffic, disrupted air and highway travel and chilled thousands of visiting Democrats.”

Kyle Troutman: The ball is in your court on Nov. 5
On Tuesday, I will cast my fifth-ever vote for a president in these great United States. To be quite frank, I’ll be glad to begrudgingly mark that oval and move on.

Dakoda Pettigrew: Democracy’s heart, the heart of Lincoln
“It is for us the living,” Abraham Lincoln said on Thursday, November 19, 1863, of the fallen soldiers at Gettysburg, “to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.”

Merlyn Johnson: What to know on education amendments
On the General Election ballot on Nov. 5, two amendments proposing to allocate funds to public education — Amendment 2 and Amendment 5 — will be presented to voters.

Jeff Fugitt: The spectrum of seasons
We read in Ecclesiastes 3:1, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” I love spring with all the excitement of new things. As temperatures rise, flowers bloom.

Kyle Troutman: Joy and despair
You can’t win ‘em all. That’s about all I could think to say on Tuesday morning after a wild weekend in Wildcat athletics.

Jeremiah Buntin: Halloween in the Ozarks
Just like most regions in the country, many folks in the Ozarks historically enjoyed celebrating Halloween. Celebrations were typically expressed in the form of either pranks or parties.
LETTER: Cheers and jeers
As many of you know, I lived in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex for a little over 30 years, and I did take the daily newspaper, Fort Worth Star Telegram. Once a week, they had a section in the paper for their letter writers called “Cheers and Jeers.
LETTER: A thank you to all
Thank you to everyone who attended the inaugural Heritage Festival at the Depot and park in Wheaton on Oct. 12.

TroutMom Says: ‘I don’t know what choice I would have made – when I had a choice’
One of the major platforms in this 2024 election is a long-time sensitive and hot-button issue with extremely emotional arguments on both sides of the fence — reproductive rights. Since the overturning of Roe v.