Opinion

What it really comes down to is osmosis. You remember osmosis, don't you? In high school science, you learned that's the process that lets stuff pass through the membrane that surrounds your cells. Osmosis lets the good stuff in and the bad stuff out, trading spent fuel for new fuel. It keeps you alive.

The funny thing about osmosis (other than the name) is that it's automatic. There's no conscious thought involved. That's why if you get stranded at sea, like Tom Hanks in Castaway, you mustn't drink seawater, even if you're dying of thirst.

I enjoy lively, spirited conversation. And in order to enjoy that, I have to like being around people.

No doubt in anyone's mind, I am a people-person. I come by it naturally, because everyone-and I mean everyone-on my father's side of the family was blessed with the gift of gab.

At family gatherings, it was difficult at the end of the day to figure out just what you may have gleaned from each other because topics were broad, loud and scattered.

In high school, I put that gift to good use by being in the Speech Club and arguing on the debate team.

I enjoy my job about 80 percent of the time. For the most part, coming into the office is not work. It's about the challenges I will face as I watch the puzzle you call a newspaper come together from all over the building into one tight little package.

The last week of June I received a call from Francis Akins to tell me one of his staff was retiring. It was too close to deadline to do anything for that week's paper, but I pledged I'd be in Bronson Friday afternoon.

"He doesn't say much," Akins warned before hanging up.

Serving 53 consumers from its location in Otter Creek, the Levy Association for Retarded Citizens (LARC) provides much needed training for people who are searching for a way to adapt in a world that is not always kind to them.

Since July 2003, adult daycare funding has been cut 24 percent in the state of Florida and on July 1, 2008 the most recent cuts went into effect. Already LARC's executive director Betty Walker has cut staff hours and rearranged other staff members to serve the needs of their clients.

It is said that the death of a child is the most difficult pain to bear: far-more soul wrenching than losing a parent, a sibling or a life partner.

It is also said that it takes a village to raise a child.

And so last September, when Army Specialist Brandon Tyler Thorsen was killed in the line of duty while voluntarily serving his country in Iraq, the villages of Trenton, Chiefland and the surrounding area joined his parents as we mourned our child.

What's the deal with Brett Favre, anyway?

Has he taken too many blows to the noggin? Is senility or early signs of Alzheimer's settling in?

Back in March, he said he was retiring. Then a month later, he said he wants to still play. The Packers are ready to welcome him back, then he says he doesn't want to play.

Now, he wants his release from the Packers.

The Pack say no way. The last thing they need to see is Favre in an opposing NFC North team's uniform.

They reason the least he can do is hold a clipboard and mentor Aaron Rodgers.

My life is good. I have a job that supplies my needs. Children who love me. Friends who support me. A man who understands real partnership.

Yes, indeed, my life is good and it takes a lot to get me riled.

I've mellowed a lot in my old age.

I once stressed about everything and now seldom stress about anything-though perhaps there are some things I should worry about.

When considering relationships, I weigh the good they do/are against the bad and if there are more positive things, I cling.

If they're negative, I cut my losses and move on.

Over the last decades, scores of men and women have fought and died in wars to preserve the ideals and beliefs we hold most dear. Many of the ones who paid the ultimate price for those ideals were youths barely in the bloom of adulthood. The crowded cemeteries bedecked with white crosses bear mute witness to their supreme sacrifice.

Congratulations are in order for the men and women who make up the Levy County Sheriff's Office Drug Task Force.

In the past month the task force has been able to bring about the arrests of dozens of alleged drug dealers. Many of those arrests came on the heels of investigations that lasted months and required countless man hours and dedication.

We also tip our hats to the Chiefland City Commission for having the foresight to set aside money in its budget that allows the city to be a member of the task force.