Opinion

Last Friday night, our football team enjoyed a big homecoming victory over the Springfield Catholic Fighting Irish on a beautiful fall evening in the Ozarks. The crisp, cool air carried the earthy scent of the freshly mowed grass and the beginning of fallen leaves throughout Wildcat Stadium.

Not long ago, I found myself on the other end of the phone being interviewed by a freelance journalist working for a national news website. One of the questions he asked me was, “What do you see as the state of newspapers in this country today?” I have been in the newspaper industry professionally for 12 years now and been asked that question time and time again, but now as a publisher and owner of a smalltown weekly newspaper, it hit me a little different.

“It’s too hard.” “I just can’t cope with this.” “Too many people around me in this room. I need to get out of here.” You know the feeling.

I almost lost my flies last week at the Fun Time Shows carnival at the Stumpff Family Event Center.
The family and I were excited to see so many rides and games set up over four days, and we
made sure to just about all of them.

Did you know that in addition to September being the start of the fall season, it is also Fall Prevention Awareness month? Falls can happen to anyone, and this is what happened to me. The worst fall I ever had occurred when I was a sophomore in college.

My eldest daughter loves to check the mailbox. Searching for anything addressed to her — or any kind of package addressed to anybody — her excitement builds when she finds something out of the ordinary, sounding like a record skipping when she repeats, “Can I open it; what is it; what is it; can I open it?” Such was the case on the afternoon of Sept.

With the recent uptick in criminal activity in the past few years, you can’t help but wonder “Was it ever this bad?” One solution to deterring thievery during the first part of the last century was to form chapters of the Anti-Horse Thief Association in Barry County.

Do you believe the Word of GOD to be true and complete? “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:20-21 “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 Christians, everything we do, believe, and stand on must start and end with God’s holy word. The Bible is the truth we must stand on in everyday life.

One thing is clear following the community meeting on Thursday — a significant portion of the community is tired of being burglarized. About 100 people attended the spur-of-themoment meeting, organized by Cassville resident Donnie Stumpff via one Facebook post and on 24 hours notice.