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Columns

  • Mother warns of spider dangers, cautions parents to keep eyes open

    Brian Brown gave little thought to danger as he slipped on his boots and headed out for a typical afternoon of weed-eating and lawn work on a family farm Saturday.

    Shortly after setting to work, he felt what he thought was a bee sting on his knee. Thinking little of it, Brian swatted the annoyance off and went back to work.

    But by that evening, his mother Patricia Brown of Calabash recounts, Brian’s knee started to swell and streaks could be seen shooting upward from his knee to his groin.

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  • Take the 'Commuter Challenge'

    Looking for ways to save money on fuel costs?

    Trying to decrease your dependence on gas-guzzling vehicles?

    Wilmington-based Cape Fear Breeze, New Hanover County’s public transportation system, which is now reaching out to surrounding counties, wants to help.

    The agency has planned its Second Annual Commuter Challenge for Sept. 15-Oct. 17 to encourage employers, employees and the general public in Brunswick New Hanover and Pender counties to take advantage of alternate methods of transportation.

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  • Back to school shopping more than crayons and lunch boxes

    Preparing children to go back to school can be costly, but necessary to make sure a productive day in the classroom is possible.

    Going back-to-school shopping has been an expensive outing long before gas was $4 a gallon. Even though it was an expensive time of year, my parents made sure we had everything we needed, and most times a little more.

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  • Close encounters with birth, death and beyond

    Over the past seven decades, there have been dramatic events in my professional and personal life worth sharing and reflecting, like the miracle of birth and the tragedy of death.

    Delivering the first baby

    Police officers are trained to respond to a substantial number of calls for service. I had never actually watched a live birth, let alone been the sole assistant for a young woman desperately needing help at a most critical time of her life.

    Nevertheless, I was dealt that card one afternoon as I was on patrol early in my law enforcement career.

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  • Nothing's worse than a room that's bugged

    I had just lain down when a menacing dark blob high on the mango-hued wall caught my weary eyes.

    Even in the dark, my sixth-sense bug-detector went off. Is thatee? I wondered, snapping on the lamp and squinting toward the ceiling.

    Yep, it was.

    An August “palmetto bug” had decided to pay a less-than-August, uninvited visit into the living room—my living room. He was staring down at me from his lofty perch, giggling and daring me to take action.

    “Catch me if you can,” he snickered.

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  • Reader feedback can sometimes be puzzling but is often valuable

    Thanks to those of you who have taken time to respond to the call I put out last week for feedback about our television listings.

    Readers have called, mailed and e-mailed suggestions about what we can do to make our television listings more user friendly.

    I’m collecting all the suggestions and soon we’ll take those comments and evaluate our current product. The goal will be to determine what, if any, changes we need to make or if we need to continue to offer the service at all.

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  • Downtown Shallotte keeps moving ahead

    At this month’s pre-agenda meeting, Shallotte aldermen will hear consultant Allison Platt’s report on the 10-year town vision plan she put together with the assistance of town officials, residents and local business owners.

    If all goes well, the board will vote on the plan at its regular board meeting Sept. 2.

    A vision plan for downtown Shallotte is long overdue. The hodgepodge of styles, pedestrian-unfriendly sidewalks and lack of access to such a great potential asset as the Shallotte River have limited the town’s appeal and possible improvements.

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  • A sudden jolt of electricity leaves me wondering how tough I am

    I learned this week I am not as cool as I once thought I was.

    I always thought of my self as tough—I’ve swum countless miles for countless hours, ran stadiums until my feet bled and tore my MCL after a mishap on a slippery pool deck.

    Year after year of swim practice, cross-country practice and just about every other sport’s practice, I assumed that made me tough.

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  • Sitting 'criss-cross applesauce' wishing for Oreos

    Last week the Beacon’s education reporter returned from covering one of her stories and was talking about some of students. She described them as sitting “criss-cross applesauce.”

    Say what?

    While I thought this must mean they were sitting in a criss-cross pattern in giants bowls of applesauce, she explained this was the new way to describe sitting “cross-legged” or what we used to call “Indian style.”

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  • True happiness is not found in materialism

    In today’s fast-paced world there is an over- emphasis on material possessions. A desire to keep up with Joneses is a national obsession for many men, women, boys and girls.

    Some people are convinced their neighbors and friends are blessed with an abundance of material possessions and they desire to possess the same level of materialism. They fail to realize some people are in debt and have no idea how they will maintain a pseudo delusion of wealth acquired by high interest credit cards.

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