Opinions

Magic used to be created on the stage of the old Troubadour Theatre on Henry Street in downtown Lexington. It may have been an ill-equipped 19th century auditorium with bats in the belfry, but when the lights went down and the curtain opened, the magic of quality live theater materialized on the stage.

The story you are about to read is true. Only Rod Serling could come up with a tale this wild.

June 12, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: Asking someone their stance on an isolated ballot issue during a job interview is at least unfair and at most unethical.

June 7, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: An eon ago, in my Intro to American Government class, I used to challenge students who thought they lived in a democracy. We don’t. We live in a constitutional republic (with democratic features).

Music and summer seem to go hand-in-hand as many of us associate specific songs of our youth with certain memorable summers. Hearing those songs now evokes feelings of nostalgia for care-free days of summer and maybe even our first love. Viewed from the distance of time, life seemed simpler then, more pleasurable.

Inflation has been taking a bite out of everyone’s wallet over the past couple of years. We’ve heard what the economists claim are the big drivers of inflation: supply chain bottlenecks, fuel and grain costs related to the war in Ukraine, bird flu in the case of eggs, and rising wages, among many factors. One driver not mentioned but certainly affecting our newspaper is the dramatic increase in postal rates.

June 5, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: I lament the unwelcome presence of the Lee-Jackson Memorial Park in Fairfield. The 80-foot tall Confederate flag now flying at the Interstate 81 southbound exit sends a big message to all our nonwhite travelers, neighbors and friends, and their allies. The message is “You are not welcome here!”

June 5, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: “Arguing it does not do enough to rein in federal spending, Rep. Ben Cline (R-6th) on Wednesday voted against a bill to suspend the nation’s debt ceiling that passed the U.S. House with support from a bipartisan coalition.”

June 4, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: I love my hometown paper, but in the May 31 editorial, “A Reasonable Bipartisan Compromise,” they are wrong. When some one or some country is $31.4 trillion in debt, a decision to increase that amount to $34.4 trillion over two more years is unreasonable at best and just plain dumb at worst.

June 5, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: To read the desire and praise for suspending the debt ceiling in last week’s editorial and letters to the editor was shocking.

June 5, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: The Lexington School Board has some good candidates applying for the open position.

In 1888, James Bryce, an Oxford historian and member of Parliament who would later become Great Britain’s ambassador to the United States, published “The American Commonwealth,” a perceptive survey of US politics in the last half of the 19th century. In the book’s best-known chapter, Bryce attempted to explain why Americans so infrequently sent “great and striking men” to the White House.

The debt ceiling agreement that was reached over the weekend by negotiators for President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is being denounced by partisans at each end of the political spectrum. This likely means that each side made significant concessions in the negotiations to win the support of moderate members from each political party.

May 29, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: Got a spare $100,000? Buy some used Chapstick! That’s what Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene did at a recent Republican fundraiser. Evidently, that tube of lip balm was desirable because it smooched Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s lips.

As we salute the 319 graduating high school seniors who will cross the stage to receive their diplomas at Virginia Military Institute’s Cameron Hall Thursday and Saturday, we would like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of teachers who made this milestone possible.

The debate over what to do with the proposed Gold Star Monument seems much like being confronted with what to do with inheriting family heirlooms.