I was pleased with your recent editorial praising President Obama but dismayed that it was sandwiched between two dogmatic writings by columnists. First, it was heartbreaking to see brilliant young Suzannah Beiner apparently being totally brainwashed by the far right wing. It appears that she has used her remarkable talents to gain a total command of rarely used English words, that very few of her readers will understand but has totally missed learning basic science. ...more

December 20, 2009

In response to the column by Raleigh Whiteman dated Dec. 3, I'll take the bait. The fact that your children (spouses and grandchildren) are unable to spend Christmas with you is a good sign. They are setting up their own family traditions. It is a tribute to you and their mother. Feel blessed. Forget shopping. You will be wasting a lot of time and money trying to find things they don't need or want. They will also be doing the same for you. As the patriarch of the family, you have an opportunity to change things. Return the real meaning of Christmas; it will be the greatest gift of all. Here are some suggestions: Rather than gift cards, make a donation to a cause they believe in, in their name. Do they love animals? Cancer, diabetes, heart association and Alzheimer's associations are donations well spent (let them know ahead of time that this is your plan this year so they don't waste all their time and money on you.) ...more

December 8, 2009

Meaning of Christmas In response to the column by Raleigh Whiteman dated Dec. 3, I'll take the bait. The fact that your children (spouses and grandchildren) are unable to spend Christmas with you is a good sign. They are setting up their own family traditions. It is a tribute to you and their mother. Feel blessed. Forget shopping. You will be wasting a lot of time and money trying to find things they don't need or want. They will also be doing the same for you. As the patriarch of the family, you have an opportunity to change things. Return the real meaning of Christmas, it will be the greatest gift of all. Here are some suggestions: ...more

December 6, 2009

As the buzzards that return to Hinckley, Ohio, each March signal the beginning of spring, cruise ships plying their trade in the Caribbean signal the end of the hurricane season. That was brought to mind a few weeks back when my fellow columnist Raleigh Whiteman wrote about the cruise he and his PW took recently. ...more

February 13, 2009

I could scarcely believe my eyes while reading Mr. Whiteman's column titled "Bigotry Outnumbered This Election Season." He obviously does not include himself in the group of those overcome. He states "We must pray that this is not the first jihad in the United States." Jihad? The U.S. population electing a Christian man as president of the United States is a jihad? What is this person thinking? Was he thinking the unspoken, that Mr. Obama is really a Muslim and therefore the Jihad connection? How bigoted! And how can your newspaper print such rubbish? His mistaken notion of what the Democratic Party stands for is up to him. But it is more of a statement of how limited his knowledge really is rather than accurate. ...more

November 9, 2008

This letter is in response to Raleigh Whiteman's article "Bigotry Outnumbered This Election Season." Mr. Whiteman is obviously one of the bigots who were outnumbered - thank God for that. ...more

November 8, 2008

THE DIFFERENCE: Lake Weir (4-1) made too many big plays to offset the highest-scoring game in Wiregrass Ranch history. ...more

October 4, 2008

In Raleigh Whiteman's column of Nov. 8, Democracy Not Always The Answer, he appears to slight democracy in the title. Actually, the column is about religion. Whiteman says there are over billion atheists and agnostics in the world, the wildest estimate I have ever heard. According to Whiteman, "Nary a one of these 37 churches considers any of the others to be equal or valid." On the contrary, today the Roman Catholic Church considers a baptism in virtually any Protestant church to be valid. Although there are several sects of Eastern Orthodox, they all recognize the others as having valid Apostolic Succession. The Church of England practices InterOrdination with a sect called the Old Catholic Church.Bishops of either church are sometimes ordained by Bishops of both churches. The Methodist Church split off the Church of England, but not because of differences in belief. John Wesley did not introduce new beliefs, he wanted a new emphasis on Bible study and to bring Christian services to the American frontier. ...more

December 9, 2007