Opinion

In the spirit of the holidays, knowing many readers have faced difficult times during the past year, we reprint “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus,” to spread Christmas cheer.

Eight-year-old Virginia Hanlon penned the original letter, and it appeared in the New York Sun in 1897.

Veteran newspaperman Francis Pharcellus Church wrote the response. Since it’s creation some 111 years ago, the piece has become history’s most reprinted editorial.

“Dear Editor: I am 8 years old.

Some view disappointments as a prelude to failure; others view disappointments as stepping stones to success.

Most major achievements are born out of failure and disappointments. The space program failed many times before it succeeded. Experimental space rockets crashed and fell back to earth before a reliable space carrier was developed.

Most medical cures are products of multiple test tube failures.

The Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers failed before they succeeded. Michael Jordan spent six years in the NBA before he won his first championship.

To the editor: With all the negative publicity Shallotte Middle School has received, I was considering sending my child to a private school. Not wanting to separate her from friends, I decided to give it a try, while keeping the private schools on the back burner.

Although we are only four months into the school year, I am pleased with my child’s repertoire of teachers.

To the editor: I am responding to a recent letter to the editor titled, “Tough times in Brunswick County.” It’s clear Mr. Pruitt never owned a business in a tourist area or he would better understand local merchants.

My husband and I own a restaurant, so I will only respond to that grievance. Over the past two years, one bag of wheat flour jumped 300 percent; ditto for raw chicken, corn and countless other food items.

Insurance rates have doubled (and are on the rise again), utilities have doubled...the list goes on and on.

To the editor: I had the pleasure to visit the Calabash Elks Club at its annual Christmas party for boys and girls from 3-11 years of age.

The weather was a balmy 65 degrees—a welcome change from the frigid North Pole. I have many other duties in life and I only do this visit once a year, but I want to convey what a precious time it is to visit these children.

After pizza, Cokes, ice cream and chasing piñata candy, the kids line up to see me. The Elks supply some of these kids with the only gifts they will see this year.

If the Jolly Old Elf is out there, and his reading time happens to include a few moments with The Brunswick Beacon before he loads his sleigh this year, I hope he knows I’ve been a pretty good girl.

I’ve made mistakes and been far from perfect, but I’m pretty sure my name would ultimately end up on the “nice” list, rather than the “naughty” one.

So if Mr. Claus is wondering what a gal like me might be wanting for the holidays—it’s all about the roads.

When I was a freshman in high school, my younger brother brought home a small, black slobbery puppy.

We didn’t have a dog growing up, so his pleas must have resonated with our parents, not wanting to hear 10 years later we were robbed of precious childhood memories of the quintessential family dog. So they caved and let her become part of the family.

A little less than 14 years later, this past Saturday, surrounded by her favorite people and a few tennis balls, Sadie, our family dog, died.

It’s that time of year again folks, and I don’t mean Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa.

I’m talking about the time of year when people who write smarty-pants newspaper columns, blogs and magazine articles like to haul out their “best and worst of the year” lists.

I, of course, am not immune to this trap, mainly because I’m one of those who loves reading these lists.

During a DWI checkpoint over two days last weekend, local law enforcement officers took 23 potentially deadly drivers off area roadways—that’s 23 people who could have tragically changed their lives or the lives of others forever.

Terry Randolph, a speaker at a recent regional candlelight vigil that honored and remembered those whose lives have been affected by drinking and driving, knows exactly how devastating it can be when someone foolishly decides to get behind the wheel of a vehicle after consuming alcohol.