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Sneezing Makes Him Look Like A Party Favor

Local Commentaries

There was a line delivered in the movie, Major League, where radio play by play character, Harry Doyle (portrayed brilliantly by the late real life legend of Baseball, Bob Eucker), while describing Triple Crown Winner, Clu Heywood (ironically played by real life MLB pitcher Pete Vuckovich), and his iconic mustache, with the quote, “When this guy sneezes, he looks like a party favor.” Due to the VFTB having usually been ahead with articles, and with the amazing schedule of special dates and this year’s extra activities (retirement is a great thing), I had scheduled all my ...

Awakening At Night Was Once Normal

Local Commentaries

Awakening between midnight and 3:00 in the morning used to be an accepted part of life. It was a well-known aspect of being human. People prayed in their beds, or got up and quietly toiled in the kitchen, tended to the fire, wrote letters—-some even went to visit neighbors. Older generations called it “first sleep.” The historical evidence for this is surprisingly rich. The idea of “first sleep” isn’t a fringe theory—it begins to appear everywhere once you know where to look. Historians—most notably Roger Ekirch—have uncovered hundreds of references in diaries, court ...

Big Time Sports On The Big Screen

Local Commentaries

The Masters Golf Tournament this year was a doozy. For us golf junkies, the Big Kahuna of the season’s contests was incredibly exciting, especially for Rory McIlroy fans. I joined that fan club about 17 years ago when he was a new name on the PGA Tour. Rory (he lets me call him by his first name) is an up-from-childhood player like Tiger Woods. His dad bought him plastic clubs at age two and he never stopped swinging. I didn’t realize until recently that he was an only child born to working-class parents. Both of them worked second jobs, hardly seeing each other, so their boy ...

Thinking About The U.S. Navy

Local Commentaries

Many years ago I was in the United States Navy, a junior officer on the deck of a small ship homeported in Japan. These memories never leave you and have been in my mind now with the recent naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. I can almost guarantee you that enforcing blockades was not a skill taught at Navy Officers Candidate School. Attacking, shelling, ship-to-ship warfare, amphibious landings—yes. Blockade enforcement?—I cannot recall that having ever been taught. Yet, I am not greatly concerned. I found during my 3 ½ years on active duty, including Vietnam, that ...

Readers' Forum

Letters To The Editor

Revisiting ‘Look Both Ways’ May Help Car-Pedestrian Issues To The Reader’s Forum: Recently there has been discussions regarding car/pedestrian accidents. It has been suggested that a reduction in speed limits would solve the problem. However, I would like to know how many of these types of incidents were caused by vehicles traveling faster than 20 miles per hour. If more than zero, then reducing speed limits might help. However, this does not really address the underlying issue. I believe the main problem is that parents don’t properly teach their children to look both ...

Ukraine: The Longest Day

Local Commentaries

Putin’s Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Presidential candidate Donald Trump said at least 53 rimes in 2023 and 2024 that, as President, he would end the war in Ukraine “in one day.” Now well over 400 days since his inauguration as President, Russia’s war against Ukraine continues. Russia’s brutal, illegal war against Ukraine, illegal under international law as partly developed by Jamestown’s own Robert H. Jackson, Chief Prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals, has lasted longer than World War II for the United States (December 7, ...