Memories of Popes Passing
I was raised Catholic. Served as an altar boy, went to Catholic schools, have told or heard all the Catholic jokes I think there are to tell and hear. We had crosses in all our bedrooms and a piece of that year's palm from Palm Sunday woven into the cross. ...
The Impact of Newtown is Here
This is a story of just one school, one brief moment at that school earlier today. The school is Pinehurst Elementary. Normally in the mornings, there is a Pinehurst officer on Dundee Road directing the knot of traffic that forms there as parents pull in to drop off their students ...
A Tragedy Too Real to Believe
Words... where are the words? How do you look at something like the school shooting in Connecticut and have the right words to express what's in my heart, the tears on the keyboard, the pain in my head? These mass shootings never get easier. Schools, movie theaters, shopping malls, parking ...
Why I Have No Heroes
People are people. Profound, I know, but it explains why I have no heroes. I don't mean to pick on General David Petraeus, but he's a good -- and latest example. The general and, until last week, CIA director, was by all measures and accounts a good and honorable man. ...
Our Future Workforce is Hungry
Last week, I was invited to participate in the annual career fair held in the gym at West Pine Middle School. Since this is my daughter's school, I jumped at the opportunity to see her in her "native environment" and do my level best either to impress or embarrass her. ...
The Power of Facebook
We've grown to use Facebook more as a two-way real-time communication tool.
We've Got a New Dog
Our newest member of the family came home yesterday, not bundled up in blankets and strapped car seat, but rather with a spiffy new collar and a comfy spot on the floorboards between captain's chairs. Her name is Holly. If you went to Wikipedia and looked up the phrase "cute ...
A New Staff Blog
A new staff blog for you to read...and hopefully more from me.
Call us, Maybe
We love to have fun here at The Pilot in all our various businesses. It's one of our core values. So call it summer craziness, a burst of sun-fried creativity, an ode to the season's big pop phenomenon. Call it whatever you, just call us. Maybe? Check out the video ...
Robbins Gets Huge Boost in USA Today
In case you missed it yesterday -- I know I did -- the town of Robbins got the USA Today treatment yesterday. The article is under the headline "Small N.C. town seeks post-textile turnaround" and relates the town's past strengths, its recent economic struggles and the path for future growth. ...
Curbside Service
I was in Betsy's Crepes this morning meeting someone for breakfast, and I was early. While I sat at my table thumbing through my phone, an elderly gentleman, cane in hand, gingerly stepped in and made his way to a table. Owner Betsy Markey walked over to him, greeted him ...
You Think You Know Walmart, Then This Happens
I had to go into the Southern Pines/Aberdeen Walmart this morning on the way to work to pick up some children's socks the kids were donating as part of their Vacation Bible School program. I can tolerate Walmart early in the morning, because there's so few people and the place ...
The Sly Bartender
In high school, I had a part-time job working at a seafood restaurant. Its name was Peg Leg's and it was located on A1A, the oceanfront highway that runs the eastern spine of Florida. Over the course of a few years there, I worked my way around the place, starting ...
Reconciliation, not Reconstruction
I had a brief visit in the office this morning from Heidi Thompson, the West End woman who Pinehurst Police arrested last week and charged with stealing three campaign signs that oppose Amendment One. I shook her hand and welcomed her back to my office to sit down and talk. ...
More about guns
Regarding my column from Friday -- http://www.thepilot.com/news/2012/apr/27/whatcha-doin-with-that-gun-in-your-hand/ -- the website ended a rather interesting string of comments about gun control and gun safety. I wanted to continue the discussion. The column is merely a first-person observational piece about my evening on the gun range with some peers and the Southern ...
Taking aim
I am not a gun person. I have fired both a handgun and a rifle, but I’m the type of person who calls ammunition “bullets,” instead of “rounds.” I first held a gun in college. It was on a date, and the girl, perhaps trying to impress me, wanted to ...
Tommy Davis and the 911 tape
Most of today has been given over to dealing with a 911 tape and an incident that happened April 4 at the home of state Senate candidate Tommy Davis. That evening, police were summoned to Davis' Aberdeen home. The report from the Moore County Sheriff's Office said Davis had threatened ...
A song for our times
I'm not really a political guy. I'm pretty middle-of-the-road and cross party lines frequently in the voting booth. While my job as the editor of this paper calls for me at times to weigh in on political matters for our editorial page, I don't generally throw around my personal viewpoints. ...
Commenting on Trayvon rally
Yesterday, we posted a story about the Moore County chapter of the NAACP holding a rally and vigil in Trayvon Martin’s memory this coming Saturday evening at the Southern Pines Pool Park. As short stories go, it's fairly innocuous: who, what, when, where and why. But when I was asked ...
Spidey sense saves the day
Bogus news releases don't usually turn up in a newsroom, so we initially didn't think to worry about a news release emailed to staff writer Ted Natt earlier today.
