Editorial

With a theme of “Building Tomorrow’s Future,” many state, city and local school boards are  being recognized in the month of January for all their efforts on behalf of students and communities across the nation.
In Marion County, we are so fortunate to have two great school boards, the Winfield City Board of Education and the Marion County Board of Education.
We applaud each board member and thank them for all their years of dedication and service for our youth during their many years in school, which is often one of the most definitive periods of their entire lives.

By Chazz and Chris Brogan

Who hoo! New Year’s Day 2025! It feels great to write that number! 2025! It’s a quarter of a century down in the 2000s! Congratulations everyone on making it through an- other year to another new year.
Last year, I wrote a column about my friend Chris Brogan’s “My 3 Words” concept. Each year, he and his business partner, Rob Hatch, host an annual webinar event to “explore the process of selecting three words to guide your actions through the coming year.”
Chris has noted, “It’s something I’ve

Mrs. Missouri Isabelle Webster, probably Marion County’s oldest resident, will be 102 years young on New Year’s Day.
If you make friends like Mrs. Webster does, you pile up a lot of them in 102 years, and it was obvious that a lot of folks like Mrs. Webster from the many who came and went during the time the reporter was talking to her one day this week.
Mrs. Webster has had a full life. It began 102 years ago in Fayette County, just south of Bobo near what was then called Stewart’s Creek. Her parents were Mr. and Mrs. Joe
Stewart. Mrs. Webster, who

Thanksgiving is upon us. The forgotten holiday. More and more, people are skipping straight from Halloween to Christmas. Take the holiday candies for example. Halloween has Reese’s Peanut Butter pumpkins. Christmas has Reese’s Peanut Butter trees. Thanksgiving… nothing! Notta! Zilch! You couldn't find a Reese’s Peanut Butter turkey should you look in every Walmart invented.

Questions came at me faster than I could answer them. I usually don’t mind radio interviews because I don’t have to comb my hair for them. I look much better on the radio than I do in person. But this one caught me off guard. I stumbled over words as if I had been to the library liquor bar.

I met him on a job site. He arrived before me. He was standing with his back to me, looking off into a valley of trees and yellow fields designed to swell my eyes and make me fight for oxygen. I didn’t want to startle him, so I spoke as I got closer.
“Mornin’! Sorry I’m running late.”
“All good,” he replied. “Just been standing here enjoying this view.”
“Pretty, ain't it?”
“Man, I love Autumn,” he stated.
“Is that your wife?”
“Who?”
“Autumn.”

I knew it was coming before I got there. I’m a sucker for this stuff. These folks are drawn to me. Maybe I’m drawn to them. Either way, they find me more often than fire ants when I wear flip-flops. No matter how I find myself in these situations, I have always believed that it was not by accident.

Brilliant native fondly recalls the ‘Ville’
By Russell Estes
Guest columnist

On Monday, October 30th, the Haag Circus will offer entertainment for the people of Hamilton, and especially the children.
The Haag Circus is on its 47th annual tour and is well known to many of our people as among the most popular circus organizations on the roads. They carry a menagerie second to none for small town entertainers, and among them the children will see in their grand parade, on October the 30th, two of the largest elephants that grow in foreign wilds. Besides, they have the clowns, dogs, monkeys, music, etc.