I wonder if the people who wore those “I Stand for Change” T-shirts to Barack Obama’s appearance at E.C. Glass High School realized how literal that slogan would become.

ARRINGTON — Finally, Nelson County’s past has moved from the future into the present.

So much for Columbus.

In the end, Dirk Smillie wound up having to sell his new book, “Falwell, Inc.,” three times — once to a publisher and twice to the Rev. Jerry Falwell himself.

Columnist Darrell Laurant writes about Mangum, a local attorney, newspaper founder and civil-rights activist who died recently.

Calling all presidential candidates, yet again.

This was an ice cream social sans hosts.

Like all cities, Lynchburg resembles a large body of water — placid on the surface, lots of conflict just beneath.

Without question, muralist Dana Burford has left his mark on Lynchburg — in some places, more than once.

A Central Virginia man recalls photographing his way through China.

Baseball is, and always has been, a game of rituals. 

FOREST — An astute minister can find a psalm to fit every situation — even church vandalism.

Remembering Petrus Bosman.

Some people don’t take thunderstorms seriously. Those people were probably not living in Central Virginia in the summer of 1993.

APPOMATTOX — If you’ve ever had an article of clothing linger longer than you’d expected at the dry cleaner’s, you can probably sympathize with Joe Williams. He just retrieved a coat after four years of trying — and it still had stains on it.

Like those whining cicadas that emerge every few summers to assault our eardums, the political ads are coming. Prepare yourself — it’s a presidential year.
The vanguard has already crawled into our TV sets, in fact, and the onslaught is right around the corner. This year, as an added bonus, we’ll get baloney in high-def.

Spying can be fun.

If this keeps up, Desmond Doss might pass Carter Glass and the Rev. Jerry Falwell as Lynchburg’s most famous citizen.

April Holt didn’t realize how much she missed the color green.

Sam Morrison just makes some of us feel more secure.

Hardly anyone starts out in life with the goal of becoming a college president. Biddy Martin certainly didn’t.

I’ve said it before in this space, but I think it bears repeating: If you want to know what makes the United States of America unique, just look in your telephone book.

Darrell makes room for Lila Rosenthal to tell a story that celebrates being American.

This wasn’t Kevin McFarland’s father’s City Stadium — not exactly. But it was close enough.

Circumstances took Brett Wilson out of the farm, but … well, you know the old saying.

LAKE GEORGE, NY — Thomas Jefferson, a man who obviously got around, once visited this Adirondack jewel and called it “The Queen of American Lakes.”

High school and college graduation season is over now, and I must admit I’m relieved.

Getting treatment for cancer at Centra’s new center is anything but a warehouse experience.

One of the responses I received to the column that ran Monday was this: “There is more cancer today than 100 years ago because cancer is a disease of old age.

Here’s a combination of statistics to ponder. Americans who have died of cancer since Sept. 11, 2001? More than three million.  Americans who have been killed by foreign terrorists on U.S. soil over the same time period? Zero.