Opinion

‘Calhoun-Liberty Hospital was there for me’ says heart attack patient

June 4, 2010

To the editor, Please allow me the opportunity to share my experience with Calhoun-Liberty Hospital. On May 13 after a morning walk at home I felt extreme discomfort in my chest and throat and called my wife to come take me to the emergency room. I called the hospital on the way in and was met by Phillip and Melissa outside the ER door. I was taken into the trauma room and it was quickly determined by Dr. Cartaya and staff that I was having a heart attack. As I looked up at the familiar faces surrounding me I...

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Memorial Day 2010

June 4, 2010

I stood in formation Monday morning with a rifle in one hand, wiping tears from my eyes with the other as I listened to stories told by Sgt. Major Brock and others about the heroic deeds performed by loved ones right who were born and raised right here in Calhoun County. My thoughts were all over the globe as I went to the places talked about. A hillside in France as 1300 men lost their lives while accomplishing their assigned mission. Their mission was take a German Artillery Unit that was shelling Normandy thirty days after the invasion from...

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Truly a day for reflection

June 4, 2010

Memorial Day 2010 has come and gone. It was a long weekend, time for cookouts, time in the backyard, at the beach or poolside, an American holiday at its best. The first Memorial Day was May 30, 1868. It was called “Decoration Day,” and was created by civil war general, John Logan. Gen. John Logan wanted the day to help mend the relationship between the North and the South after the Civil War. Memorial Day has been celebrated for over 100 years, but it wasn’t until 1971 that it became an official holiday. Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990....

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It’s ‘illegal’ immigration

May 31, 2010

In case you have been marooned in space with no communication, the issue at hand is immigration. Let me clarify that, it is “ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.” The cost we are incurring to pay for illegal aliens is already staggering from a financial standpoint. If the progressives have their way there will be hell to pay politically as well. If you take the time to watch the footage or read the quotes from the illegal aliens protesting the efforts to curtail and deport them you will be amazed at the audacity and brazenness of their claims and demands. In the main,...

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Herbicide use along rivers questioned

May 31, 2010

To the editor, I am concerned about an issue involving the Apalachicola and Chipola River Systems and will try to make a long story as short as possible. On April 22, 2010, I received a call stating that the banks of the river were being sprayed and that the crew boat was at Douglas Landing on the Chipola River. I went to the landing and spoke with Chris Benson who seemed to be in charge. He informed me that Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) was in the process of spraying 250 miles of river bank from the...

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Let’s have a fair shake for fair chase

May 31, 2010

To the editor, The Florida Wildlife Commission is in the process of regulation revisions for the sportsmen who use and operate Fox and Coyote Fair Chase Enclosures. These are large area, natural environment enclosures where sporting breeds of hounds are allowed, under thoughtfully regulated conditions, to chase coyotes and foxes, with the pursuit ending in a safe guarded animal, who will get to lead the hounds on another chase on another day. It is NOT a hunt and the stock animals are NOT killed. There has been very substantial misstatement and misunderstanding about these Fair Chase operations, largely prompted...

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The Founders would not be amused

May 31, 2010

…at the populist movement that has hijacked the Republican Party. While it’s wonderfully satisfying to march in the streets, carry racist signs and denigrate anyone, anything, any idea with which they disagree, the federal government can’t operate based on the fears and hatred of populist groups. It’s that tyranny of the majority thing that James Madison and the Founders recognized when they closed and locked the doors of Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1787, then debated and wrote the Constitution. The Tea Partiers and right wing zealots label people who do not agree with them as “elitist.” The Founders...

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May 19, 2010

May 22, 2010
May 19, 2010

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Do ‘We the people’ know best?

May 16, 2010

We the people know best. Maybe yes, maybe no. I support the Bill of Rights. American democracy is messy. People have the right to take to the streets, carry signs, hate the government, burn the American flag, call people nasty names as long as their activities are within the Rule of Law. The activities of populist groups like the Tea Party are reminiscent of the era of the Articles of Confederation that governed the 13 states from March 1, 1781 until the Constitution was passed in March 1789.  The colonies/states operated individually from 1776 until 1781 and continued to...

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We don’t need leaders, we need people who respect us

May 16, 2010

by Jim Pruette Just before I sat down to write, I changed my mind. I was going to start by saying things like: “My dad’s bigger than your dad” or “My dad can beat up your dad.” I was going to illustrate how juvenile and sophomoric those things are and how they sounded just like my fellow columnist Jerry Cox… until I realized that I was falling into the very trap that these anti-Americans want all of us to fall into. Allow me to explain. It is called different names: “chasing rabbits”, “divide and conquer”, “smoke and mirrors”. One...

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