Slimantics: The man who wouldn't go home

It's been 29 days since the Mississippi senatorial runoff election in which six-term incumbent Thad Cochran narrowly defeated tea party challenger Chris McDaniel.

Possumhaw: It was a big fish

From the dock the lake below was crystal clear, reminding me of those glass-bottomed boat rides of my childhood. I'm still taken with the creatures that dwell below the surface. I wish I could say, dwell harmoniously, but often it's not.

Ask Rufus: The irrepressible Uncle Bunky

Last week my granddaughter who lives in Virginia visited Columbus. While here I took her to experience those delightful "crazy animals" from the hand of Robert Williams, the pioneering icon of children's television known far and wide as Uncle Bunky.

Birney Imes: Just RipStiking around

It was 94 degrees in the shade, a scorcher of a Saturday afternoon. Slim Smith and I were standing in the alleyway behind The Dispatch talking about the next day's paper, taking refuge in what little shade there was.

Slimantics: Losing an old friend

On of my Facebook friends died Wednesday. Maybe you've heard of him. His name was John Dawson Winter III. He was 70 and died while on a business trip in Zurich, Switzerland.

Slimantics: An unapologetic cross-over voter

I'm one of the guys Chris McDaniel is upset about. Let's back up first. Until 2007 when I lost my voting privileges, I was a registered Republican.

Possumhaw: Just another day in paradise

Sam asked if I wanted to go on vacation anytime soon, and I said that I'd rather wait 'til fall when things cool off; besides, it's hard to imagine any place better than this "recreational paradise" I live in.

Lynn Spruill: City shouldn't bank on this bad idea

A late-developing plan to put the police department into the Cadence Bank building seems to be a fait accompli. Not only has this train left the station, it's so far down the line, it is almost out of sight. And most likely it won't be stalled no matter what counterproposals might be offered, but I can't help myself. I have to stand on the track and wave a red flag.

Ask Rufus: A mixing of cultures

The site where Columbus now sits has for hundreds of years been a cultural crossroads.

Slim Smith: The accidental Klansman

Like so many things, it all depends on how you look at it. Quite literally, in this case. On the corner of Second Avenue North and Fifth Street in downtown Columbus, a monument dedicated to the memory of Lowndes County soldiers who fought for the Confederacy rests on the lawn of the Lowndes County Courthouse.

Freeze Frame: Watermelon memories

Slimantics: Allgood wrong on new sentencing guidelines

Lowndes County District Attorney Forrest Allgood does not make single moms. He just does his part in making sure they stay single moms.

Freeze Frame: Harvey's last day

Possumhaw: 'A time to embrace and a time to refrain'

If ever I felt like Mother Goose, it was that day. A duck was tucked against my chest; my arms were wrapped tightly around her. I wanted her to feel the beating of my heart. I whispered to her, "You're OK."

Lynn Spruill: Yes, the city is in the county

When I was a city employee it was always extremely frustrating to hear a resident complain about the high taxes that citizens of Starkville paid.

Birney Imes: Watermelons on Independence Day

Everywhere you go there is the South. The woman at the motel desk this morning in Effingham grew up in New Orleans. Her late husband was from Alabama. Her great granddad was governor of the state of Louisiana, Gov. Nicholls. Julia Street, where you find many of New Orleans' art galleries, was named after her grandmother. (There is a Gov. Nicholls Street -- and wharf -- at the downriver end of the French Quarter.)

Possumhaw: Indoor cats save wildlife

ack sat quietly at the porch rail overlooking the bird feeders. I imagined him recalling the day he would crouch under the fading irises and wait to spring on a cardinal, an indigo bunting, a Prothonotary warbler, perhaps a hummingbird.

Health & Wellness 2014

Salute to Industry 2014

Home & Garden 2014