Columns

I wrote a story this week about a group of church members who took it upon themselves to buy enough advanced tickets to ensure a movie would be coming to our local theater.

Brad Ferguson at New Beginnings Community Church rallied his congregation as well as leaders from other churches in the area to bring “Fireproof,” a Christian drama, to Coastal Stadium in Shallotte.

“We have a good number of tickets we can distribute around the community to other churches that didn’t put up money up front,” Ferguson said.

Persons applying for sensitive jobs, like at the airport, hospital, school, financial institution or in law enforcement, must submit to a detailed background investigation. Consequently, many people do not apply, knowing they will be washed out.

Among those who do apply, a significant number are rejected at the conclusion of the investigation. Derogatory information may be developed when a criminal history is revealed, a poor credit record, past employment problems or disqualifying information from a reference, relative or neighbor comes to light.

The CNN headline Monday afternoon made my stomach flip, “Developing Story: President Bush says Hurricane Ike has put ‘a pinch’ on nation’s energy supply.”

As if things weren’t bad enough.

On Friday, as gas prices in some places across the nation skyrocketed higher than $5 a gallon, I kept an eye on local prices. On a few occasions when I left the office, I noted increasing costs of gas, with lines growing longer and longer at local pumps.

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, I wandered away from my desk in the newsroom where I was working, likely looking for something to eat or caffeine to jump-start my day.

On the way back, uneager to get the morning’s work started, I strolled through the front office and stopped to chat near the front door. Above the main desk, a television was showing live images of a smoking high-rise in New York.

“A plane hit one of the towers,” the receptionist told me.