Staff blogs
Davidson Won't "Eat More Chikin'"
Davidson College will no longer serve Chick-fil-A meals at late-night events until the student union holds a public hearing on the founder's stance on same-sex marriage. Davidson regularly rates way up there on lists of forward-thinking liberal arts colleges. Good for them. I abhor mixing politics/religion with consumerism, especially on ...
By a Hair...
Some months ago I wrote an op-ed piece about how a successful presidential candidate must have good hair...Just look at recent presidents with the exceptions of Lyndon Johnson and Gerald Ford (who weren't elected) . Everybody else sported lucky locks. None as good as Paul Ryan -- not only thick ...
Olympic Wonderings
Before the Olympics wind down I have a few (probably dumb) questions: What was that opening ceremony all about? Critics called it "very British" because they didn't want to express negative reactions, I presume. Some of it reminded me of outdoor historical dramas"The Lost Colony" and "Unto These Hills." Why ...
Olympics lalapalooza
I think it's curious how every four years the world pauses for a couple of weeks to pay rapt attention to a litany of sports that most people never give a second though for 3.989 years. Then, suddenly every sport is of world wide importance, except baseball and golf. Are ...
Justice Creeps in Colorado
Today's healine from the Colorado theater massacre suggests that a trial may be months, perhaps years away. The DA estimated a year. With the greatest respect for the American justice system, I don't understand how a case with dozens of eye-witnesses, a murder weapon and a suspect caught and identified ...
Frank Sports Talk (F.W. Manning II)
Open Shows Greatness of Golf as well as Agony and Beauty of Life
I feel so TORN after witnessing the final round of The Open.
It never makes any sense
How does someone come to a point where they are so unhappy with the world that it seems like a good idea to drop tear gas in a crowded theatre and then randomly open fire on the crowd? Obviously, this will reopen the argument for gun control as the solution. ...
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. ...
Banning Banfield
Without a word of warning, on Jan. 2 CNN installed two new anchors on their Early Start news morning: Ashleigh Banfield and Zoraida Sambolin. Ashleigh (who's blundered her way around cable news for a while) made my knee jerk so hard I got a black eye. Her demeanor exceeded inappropriate; ...
Golf Gods Bring Rain, Courses Respond
Taking an early leave on Thursday afternoon to slip over and meet a friend at Southern Pines Golf Club, the venerable old Donald Ross jewel, we couldn't believe how lush the course and the greens were. The rain has really helped local golf courses. At S.P. there was only one ...
TEE Shots (Senior Writer Tom Embrey)
Tid Bits for the Coming Dog Days of Summer
Pet tid-bits for the dog days of summer.
Urgent! Read now!
OOPS. No sooner had the July 4th Pilot hit the stands than was I flogged for two omissions in stories about scoop shops and bakeries -- both in Pinehurst village. I asked two residents and a shopkeeper about where to get a cone...nobody mentioned the Red Door, where fantastic ice ...
A Beginning on the Fourth of July
There's a lot of history around the 4th of July, and in all truth it only marks the beginning of a long and difficult struggle to freedom from British rule. It was a movement that half of the people at the time didn't even agree with. And declaring freedom was ...
Goodbye, Andy!
I've just seen it online: Andy Griffith is dead at the age of 86. For a child who grew up in the 1960s, "The Andy Griffith Show," set in the fictional town of Mayberry, was something we watched faithfully each week. Even now when I hear that whistle, I'm compelled ...
News isn't all happy....
Often, people make comments online about "happy news" and why the newspaper doesn't have more of it. Papers like to print positive stories; reporters like to write them. Who wants to follow up on a child crippled by a drunk driver or a convenience-store robbery? Papers are slammed for putting ...
Too Hot to Trot....or do anything else
Every time I check the weather website the estimate gets higher: 108 degrees on Saturday. I'm frightened. I know what to do about 20-below zero but have only felt 108 once, in the Middle East -- dry as a bone, where people actually drink hot tea to cool off. Really, ...
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 ...
Simpson's Surprise
Webb Simpson snuck in the back door with two strong rounds on the weekend to win the U.S. Open, staying on course while others on the leader board faltered at the end. Likeable Jim F looked like a sure bet with three holes to go. Clearly the USGA's desire to ...
