Birney Imes: Finding honor in compromise

Monday afternoon, in a room that looked like a set from Gone with the Wind, Dewitt Hicks called to order the monthly board meeting of the Columbus/Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Lacklen: Tea Party realities

Something very strange has happened to the Republican Party I called home for 32 years.

Birney Imes: A letter from Rety

Chances are if you've ever gotten a letter from my mother-in-law, you did with it exactly what I've done with those she's written me, you kept it.

Ask Rufus: Where did those colors come from?

Most people who grew up in the South think of homes built during the 1800s as being painted white. The "new" exterior paint colors of the Tennessee Williams home have caused many people to ask me, "Where in the world did they get those colors from?"

Birney Imes: Lovers of books

Friday night in the center court of Leigh Mall, amid the clutter of empty whiskey boxes and makeshift bookshelves, a score of readers picked through piles of hand-me-downs. Friends of the Library volunteer Doug Blount explained the boxes: "We have a lot of drinkers." And the Friends has a lot of books.

Rufus Ward: Aberdeen's Rev. Ingraham and 'The Ten Commandments'

Birney Imes: Tornadoes vs. Yellowjackets

"What do you know about taking pictures at football games?" Daughter Tanner, who was filling in for Dispatch shooter Kelly Tippett last week, had drawn Friday night assignments in Pickens County and New Hope.

Birney Imes: Back roads and small towns

At the beginning of a workshop on small newspapers last week, everyone was asked to stand, introduce themselves, say where they were born, where they are now and what would be the job of their dreams, if not newspapering.

Garthia Elena Burnett: Where is Kaila Morris? A year later, still a mystery

A year ago, Kaila Morris' room was adorned with clouds and carousels and all things girly. Two weeks later, as Kaila's family talked to the media about her disappearance, her room remained just as she left it.

Shannon Bardwell: Hand over your paper, ma'am

I miss the old ways. I really do.

Birney Imes: Literary notes

About the new color scheme for Tennessee Williams' Welcome Center one of our readers wrote, "I think the colors are hideous and have yet to hear anybody else say otherwise." At this writing 38 percent of respondents to our online poll have said otherwise while 54 percent don't like it. The rest are on the fence.

Jay Lacklen: Starship troopers

In 1970, soon after pilot training equipment issue, I took my helmet into the bathroom and locked the door.

Steve Mullen: Unstimuluslike conduct

On cue, the anti-Obama is behaving very unstimuluslike.

Rufus Ward: A first-hand account of Grierson's Cavalry Raid of 1863

One of the most famous calvary exploits of the Civil War was the Union calvary raid through Mississippi by Col. B.H.Grierson in 1863. The raid has been the subject of several books and even a John Wayne movie, "The Horse Soldiers."

Birney Imes: Wil Colom wants to help save the world

Sometimes the answer comes before the question is fully formed. Just ask Wil Colom. Eight years ago, the lawyer/businessman/entrepreneur happened to be standing on the Serengeti Plain in northern Tanzania in the presence of a Maasai warrior when he heard music.

Best of the Triangle 2014

2015 Auto Preview

Dining Guide 2015