“For the times, they are a changin’.” — Bob Dylan

The rapidly expanding scope of the COVID-19 pandemic has put the ultimate stress test on our country’s institutions. While doing so, the contagion continues to expose the strengths and weaknesses of those very institutions.

In the 2010-2011 fiscal year, the village of Whispering Pines initiated a 5-cent tax on every $100 of taxable property value to be deposited into a Capital Reserve Major Repair Fund, an infrastructure account for future major repairs to current village assets such as dams and other structure…

Since its beginning as a Rosenwald School in 1924, the Southern Pines Primary School (SPPS) has been a source of pride for the West Southern Pines (WSP) community.

I recently read an article that reported that Woodstock occurred during the Hong Kong flu pandemic. That pandemic killed over 112,000 Americans but the country did not close businesses or schools, nor was there mandated social distancing.

The country is firmly on the path to opening up. Meanwhile, reactions have flared: more deaths vs. a collapse into an economic abyss. The Senate HELP Committee hearings this past week did not do much better.

I applaud the work that the Pinehurst Village Council is doing to figure out what our community wants and needs in terms of a library. That said, I question, how can we ask the public what they need in a library if their only idea of what a library is is as a place to check out books and may…

A downtown school used to be the living, breathing heart of the community. But this is a precious asset we’re losing as enrollment grows and schools relocate to the edges of town.

If you are like me, your email has been flooded with stories about COVID-19 lately.

BY CLAY DUNNAGAN

We are all adjusting to a new normal. In these unprecedented times, we are getting a crash course in acceptance of an invisible enemy that could kill us. We are quarantined and using masks and gloves to limit our exposure.

The United States will soon begin to reopen the country. Sounds good. In taking stock, however, it is fair to say that Moore County is not out of the woods yet. Vigilance will be necessary for many more months.

Two weeks ago, I introduced you to a few of the health care heroes I interact with each day, highlighting the sacrifices they make to help FirstHealth of the Carolinas care for you.

Almost six years ago I made a whimsical decision to go to the bank and borrow a massive amount of money to buy a bankrupt business in the village of Pinehurst across from my office and create a tavern to honor my dad and his ancestral home —Ireland.

What does a hero look like? I’ve thought quite a bit about that in recent days as the spread of the coronavirus has changed everything about our lives. We need heroes now more than ever, and it’s clear that I’m surrounded by them at FirstHealth of the Carolinas.

While the exact origin of it is somewhat in dispute, it is said that the Chinese have an old saying, “May you live in interesting times.”

Golfer Lee Trevino has advised that if an electrical storm overcomes you on the fairway your best escape is to hold up a 1-iron, “because even God can’t hit a 1-iron!”

Daniel Defoe’s novel “Robinson Crusoe” has been translated into more languages than the Bible, and the Tom Hanks movie “Castaway” is one of my all-time favorites. Also, curiously enough, Defoe wrote “Journal of the Plague Year.”

At the Rural Center, we’ve had the privilege to work in communities all across rural North Carolina, and we’ve seen firsthand that it’s not the size or location of a town that makes it a great place to live and raise a family, it’s the people who make it a community.

Growth is coming to Moore County. Some of us don’t like it, but we all have to acknowledge it. Statistics don’t lie, and we have the numbers now to see it’s not going away.

Would it surprise you to know that many of us have had a coronavirus infection at some point in our lives?

As a resident of the Sandhills and an Afghan War veteran, I urge all citizens to know what Veterans Guardian is doing for our community, and for thousands of veterans. I put these words down because I don’t like lies, slanderers, or bullies; and also, because I love veterans and military fam…

It was about a month ago that the basketball standout Kobe Bryant died in that tragic helicopter crash. I knew the name, and was aware that he was a good player, but didn’t know much else about him. I learned quickly.

The Pilot’s editorial on the resolution to support the Second Amendment at the Feb. 18 Moore County commissioners meeting was perceptive. A profound detachment from the “No Man is an Island” philosophy was revealed by the commissioners, the office seekers and the crowd in a pandering way whi…

Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said free speech does not allow “falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic.” Thus, according to the Supreme Court, the Constitution allows states to adopt laws that regulate non-commercial signs.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should not have ripped up her copy of the State of the Union speech earlier this month. It was wrong of her to do it. But I digress.

I am very proud of the UNC system. Our 17 institutions constitute the finest public university system in the nation. I have been fortunate to serve a combined 17 years, first on the Board of Western Carolina University and then on the UNC system board.

Moore County is growing. We will reach 100,000 residents sometime this year — assuming we’re not already there — if the U.S. Census Bureau data is correct.

How did evangelical Christians become so totally enamored with President Trump? This is a question that most of us have been asking for several years.

Once upon a time, news in these United States was, well, new. And people wanted to know the latest happenings.

It’s becoming something of a seasonal space-filling ritual for The Pilot to air the complaint of Moore County Schools about the impact of charter school enrollment on its budget. The Dec. 8 story “With Student Growth, Charter School Payments Rising” is the latest.

Recently, Washington Democrats passed articles of impeachment with zero evidence President Donald Trump committed a crime or an impeachable offense. It was a dark day for our republic, but Washington Democrats had been planning for this all along.

On Dec. 5, I attended the Ruth Pauley lecture by Professor Michael Mann in Southern Pines regarding climate science. I was disappointed to hear him make many misleading claims.

Remember the schoolyard pushback to a bully’s taunts? “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

Jack, a 5-year-old, was eager to get to the veterinarian’s office to see Santa Claus. He lived with his grandmother and his pet fish named Finn. His grandmother had been told by a neighbor that the vet’s office would host Santa Claus on a Friday morning for children to have their pets’ pictu…

When I was in elementary school, our family didn’t have a television. In fact, TV was just making its way into our culture. I doubt that there were even any programs for children at all.

Did you know that if a child cannot read proficiently by the end of third grade, that child will have missed the opportunity to master this and other learning skills?

Like many folks, there are things that amuse, confuse and interest me. Here are some idle musing about those observations.

A major issue confronting our country is the cost of health care and how we as a public pay for it. It is one that is very complex with many underlying issues to it. This was the topic of a recent Point/Counterpoint article in The Pilot on Dec. 11. I would encourage all to go back to read th…

After perhaps the messiest legislative session of my own memory, many deserving groups got shortchanged because of today’s brutal political narrative. Government retirees are perhaps among those most hurt in this process.

It was with great dismay that I read the recent ill-informed letter from Robert Vetter regarding the planned improvements at Moore County Airport. The facts are different:

During this season of thankful reflection I would like to share my thoughts on my health and this place I call “home.”

I recently read the letter to the editor published in The Pilot titled “We’re Changing.”

President Washington is reputed to have said, “I cannot tell a lie.” President Lincoln was nicknamed “Honest Abe.” President Carter promised American citizens, “I will never lie to you.”

David Sinclair’s Oct. 30 article set forth the views of the candidates on protecting Pinehurst’s National Park Service historic landmark. They suggest that all we need to do is to establish better communications with the National Park Service and come to a better understanding of its positions.

Many of you are aware that the Given Memorial Library and the Pinehurst Village Council and staff have been exploring the future of library services in Pinehurst. Representatives of the library made a presentation to the council in 2017, requesting assistance.

For many years I have subscribed to the Sunday New York Times. Each week The Times reports on a number of weddings that occurred recently. And one thing that seems to be unique to this paper is that it always names the person who officiated at the marriage.

A couple of weeks ago I literally came within a heartbeat of dying. As I was performing my normal workout in the gym, my heart apparently stopped.

Four hundred years ago a ship arrived at Point Comfort, in the British colony of Virginia, here in the “New World.” Its cargo contained 20 to 30 enslaved Africans, people who had been forcibly separated from their families and carried to this country, where they would become the nucleus of o…