The Chatham News + Record

Letters: Thanks for your ‘Pennies from Heaven’ donations

“God Sent Pennies From Heaven” would like to thank each one for their donations in 2019. Your change and offerings came to $536 this year. Once again, every penny and dollar was given to the West Chatham Food Pantry here in Siler City, to be used to purchase food for those in need. more

Connie Holt Lineberry, Siler City | 1/24/20

Resolving the reading/time conundrum

It used to bother me when I’d hear someone say they don’t have time to read...until I became that person. While I used to, in the not-distant past, knock out about a book a week, it now takes … more

BY RANDALL RIGSBEE, News + Record Staff | 1/24/20

What teens feel — it matters, a lot, here in Chatham

I was interviewing Chatham Drug Free’s George Greger-Holt last year for the podcast I just released in collaboration with Our Chatham’s Adrianne Cleven when he said something that made us laugh, … more

BY ZACHARY HORNER, News + Record Staff | 1/24/20

Everyday reminders of my dad as I get older

As I pile up more birthdays, a couple of things come to mind. One is that I’m glad to still be having them. The other is that even though it’s been some time now since he slipped away — … more

BY BOB WACHS, Columnist | 1/24/20

It’s time to see what time it is

As the clock ticks on and the years go by and I have more birthdays, I seem to pay more attention to time. I don’t think it’s an obsession and I don’t understand it any better than before; … more

BY BOB WACHS, Columnist | 1/17/20

There’s another way toward peace

The Gospel of Matthew paints a picture of King Herod as a lying, conniving, egomaniac (see Matthew, chapter 2). Other historical sources tell us this ancient king was even worse. Herod was granted … more

BY ANDREW TAYLOR-TROUTMAN, Guest Columnist | 1/17/20

Sometimes the best path to coexistence is a quick exit

A popular bumper sticker implores us, with just one word and several symbols, to “coexist.” It’s a noble and necessary aim — coexistence — but it isn’t always easy. This is true on a … more

BY RANDALL RIGSBEE, News + Record Staff | 1/17/20

Some random thoughts left over from last year

Obviously, spring isn’t the only time many folks clear up and clean out things. The end of one year and the beginning of another also can serve that purpose. At our house, particularly in my study, … more

BY BOB WACHS, Columnist | 1/10/20

Here’s to making the most of our time in the new year

We’re conditioned — by popular song, by cartoons, by culture — to think of the old year (in this case 2019) as elderly and infirm by its end and the new year (2020, a perfectly … more

BY RANDALL RIGSBEE, News + Record Staff | 1/10/20

Don’t count me in for more ‘Star Wars’ — the Force isn’t with me

Google “Star Wars” and you’ll get 1.67 billion hits, which is about 1.4 billion more than when you type in “The Beatles” but some 390 million less than when you type in “Jesus,” of whom … more

BY BILL HORNER III, Publisher | 1/10/20

The family that reads together…gifts books for Christmas

There’s a line from the eminently-quotable film “The Princess Bride” — a movie about a book, based on screenwriter William Goldman’s book about a book — that my wife Lee Ann and I liked … more

BY BILL HORNER III, Publisher | 1/3/20

What to do about resolutions?

Well, here we are a few days into the new year. Wonder how long it will take us all to remember to write “2020” on checks instead of “2019”? That assumes you still write a check once in a … more

BY BOB WACHS, Columnist | 1/3/20

Some movies are so bad they’re good; others are just bad

It must be a contrarian disposition that compels me to gravitate towards, and often love, movies the masses consider bad. I’ve been this way for years. It may have started in 1980 when … more

BY RANDALL RIGSBEE, News + Record Staff | 1/3/20

Letters: BBN and hearing Christian Christmas music of the 1960s

to the editor: The radio station that I love the most is the Bible Broadcasting Network (91.1 FM in Fayetteville and 96.5 FM in High Point). My car radio picks up these two radio stations on all … more

Alexander Cox, Sanford | 1/3/20

Letters: Rules should apply to all

to the editor: During the era 1960-1980, peaceful protests for civil rights and against the Vietnam War degenerated into conflict. Militant organizations emerged: 1962 Students for a Democratic … more

Frank Dunphy, Pittsboro | 1/3/20

A time to lift every voice and sing

Christmas music seems to begin around Halloween. Perhaps by now you’d just as soon take a break and have a little peace and quiet. But if your ears are open, you can hear the music in the first … more

BY ANDREW TAYLOR-TROUTMAN, Guest Columnist | 12/27/19

A reflection on Pittsboro’s Confederate monument from the lens of a Civil War historian

The recent removal of Chatham County’s Confederate monument in Pittsboro struck me profoundly since I had visited the monument on October 20, only a month before this took place. As a passionate … more

BY NILS SKUDRA, Guest Columnist | 12/27/19

Letters: Building a better South

to the editor: I grew up here. I left Chatham County when I graduated from Northwood to make my way through the wider world, and have since returned home to be closer to family. I have been all … more

BY DWAYNE WALLS, JR., Pittsboro | 12/27/19

Here’s what I want for this Christmas

They say (whoever “they” are...but whoever “they” are, they say a lot) that as you get older memory is the first thing to go. I forget what’s second. But while I can still remember, I … more

BY BOB WACHS, Columnist | 12/27/19

Answer to columnist’s query comes from Sweden

In a “Randall Reflects” from March about what I called the “questionable influence of ‘Instagram influencers,’” and in which I bemoaned (and who, I ask, doesn’t like to bemoan?) the … more

BY RANDALL RIGSBEE, News + Record Staff | 12/27/19