America has a crisis in leadership. That sentence has to be the greatest understatement of this century. But not only do we have a leadership crisis on the national level, we have a crisis in leadership on other levels; in our elected representatives in the state legislature and in business and civic groups who are responsible for strategic planning for […]

The countdown to the November 2020 election has begun. Candidates for local, state and national positions in government have been hard at work soliciting your vote. Some of these candidates have a clear agenda from which the voter can see. Other candidates have questionable agendas and their own reasons why they are running. With this in mind, here is a […]

A look at servant leadership “I guess this is my Jesuit upbringing. It comes from the bible where there are many parts, but one body, where when one suffers, we all suffer. I mean it’s a fundamental, a very human value.” – Governor Gavin Newson In the April 16, 2020 online edition of the Forbes publication, contributor, William F. Meehan […]

What is the price of a life? One million dollars? Ten million? What do you think? Today, we are faced with the incredible reality which forces us to decide just how valuable our lives are in comparison to the lives of other people living in our community, in our state, in our nation and around the world. A pandemic has […]

“When good men and women can’t speak the truth, when facts are inconvenient, when integrity and character no longer matter, when presidential ego and self-preservation are more important than national security – then there is nothing left to stop the triumph of evil.” These are the words of Retired Navy Admiral William McRaven, in an op-ed for the Washington Post. […]

Marion County Commissioners, get your house in order. Yes, those words seem harsh. The harsh truth is, if change is not forthcoming in the way you handle internal differences and cannot learn to get along for the good of the taxpayers of this county, then the taxpayers must implement change at the ballot box. In the interest of fairness, two […]

Christmas time is here! As I write this, snow is melting on the ground and the sun is shining bright. The ground is pretty much bare, but that is pretty much the way it is around this time of year. One cannot normally expect a white Christmas, and it is a delight when it does arrive. The thought of a […]

Gratefulness is an attitude that comes from the heart. This time of year, gratitude arises as one anticipates the arrival of Thanksgiving, especially when family and friends come together to make the event memorable. We are so happy to be with people who truly matter to us! This year, the list of things to be thankful for is growing. Having […]

Members of Congress, do your jobs! Stop your fundraising efforts for re-election. Stop your partisan grandstanding displays on Capitol Hill. Stop your emotionally charged outbursts of staged outrage and go back to your offices, committee rooms and your respective Houses, employ your staff to research the issues and get to work! Earlier in this decade, my responsibility as a duly […]

It’s hard to believe that 50 years of the Hillsboro Arts & Grafts Fair was celebrated this past Saturday. I can remember when it first began (yes, I was 11 years old at the time). Fifty years can only happen because some people had a vision and then a lot of other people caught the vision and kept it going […]