Opinion

To the editor:

I recently read a couple of articles about the possible appointments for the Board of County Commissioners.

I noticed there were several names of highly qualified individuals.

I also noticed there were several individuals that [sic] did not live in those two respective Districts. If the Governor appoints someone for these two respective Districts who lives outside the respective Districts this might raise a few questions.

I grew up in New Orleans where most folks believe in ghosts, signs, omens and the power of voodoo right along with that of the Roman Catholic archbishop. I am down with that. My father died shortly after I turned 10. I’ve often wondered if he would be proud of the woman I am. My stepfather died in the early 90s and he never failed to let me know he was proud of me.

The death that affects me most is my mother’s. For most of our lives we were at odds. Maybe it was because I was so like her. Maybe it was because I never met her dreams for me.

Someone asked me this morning if I was ready for Christmas and my answer was truthful.

“As ready as I’ll ever be. It’s just a day. After all, it should be Christmas every day.”

For the first time in my life, I will not be with my children during the holiday season.

It’s difficult to think of my babies without me on Christmas, but then I am reminded the first year I didn’t make it to Kentucky to spend Christmas with my parents.

Is this what they felt?

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I listened to an audiobook–Deliver Us from Normal–and one sentence from a very long book hung in my mind for days.

“Mom made us hot cocoa–with salt.”

Boy, did that bring back memories.

As a treat on cold winter nights, my mother would take out the Hershey cocoa powder and make a pot full of steaming hot chocolate.

In the days before Swiss Miss powder or Quik, Hershey’s cocoa was a staple in our home.

I’d forgotten how good it was but that one sentence brought it all back.

To the editor:

My grandmother had many sayings she liked to repeat to us growing up. One of her favorites was “everyone can afford soap and water.” I always thought this to be true until recently. Like many others, I was laid off earlier this year. At first I was not worried, I’m a hard worker with great references. I thought I could get another job very soon. That was over five months ago.

Our Chiefland Indian roundballers are suffering. Several weeks ago the teams’ uniforms were stolen and to date they have not been recovered.

Last week Sports Editor Jenna McKenna detailed the plight of our student athletes and made an appeal for the community to help.

We echo that appeal as we believe the representatives of our school deserve better than the hand that was dealt them.

It has been a roller coaster of a year for me, both personally and professionally.

And for the most part, the roller coaster hasn’t stopped long enough for me to get my bearings.

If you’re a roller coaster enthusiast, you know what that means: you tend to be a little scattered when it does come to a halt and you’re not always sure you’re standing on firm ground.

To the editor:

Another Veterans Day has passed, the parades and cook-outs are but another memory. I wonder how you spent your day on Nov.11.

Each year at this time, I personally dread the duty of accompanying my husband on his hectic schedule of events, through the week of Veterans Day. Not because it is hectic - because I must witness the pain that these veterans feel over the disrespect that they encounter along the way, from a citizenry that purports to love their county and the veterans that keep them safe and free.

It’s Tuesday night as I write this and meteorologists have threatened that this will be a night that sees temperatures plummeting below freezing.

I am not concerned.

Growing up in abject poverty in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, I know what cold weather is.

It is not Levy County, Florida at its coldest.

My childhood home was a sprawling old house that had one coal heater in the middle of the living room to heat the entire house.

It failed miserably.