If the members of the board of directors of Oakwood Country Club aren’t careful, they could well have Lynchburg’s version of World War III on their hands with their property at ground zero.

The 2008 presidential election season has been historic. Never before has a black American candidate and a woman sparred so intensely over the Democratic nomination with the black American winning and being nominated to head the Democratic ticket.

Transparency and openness in government are two concepts that seem foreign to some current and former members of the Appomattox Town Council.

After several near brushes with the wrecking ball over the past 20 years, the old school on Phelps Road in Madison Heights has appealed to yet another offer for new life. It’s an offer with the potential to get the building — or a renovated portion of it — back on the tax rolls of Amherst County.

Could the town of Appomattox and Lynchburg work together on a regional tourism program?

What is it about disasters that bring out the stupid in so many people? And at the same time, spotlights the hypocrisy so rampant in the upper echelons of American politics and culture.

If Thomas Jefferson were alive today, he would probably be hiding his face in shame at the recent behavior of officials at the University of Virginia, the school he founded in Charlottesville and based on Enlightment principles.

Lynchburg’s refund to the state in lieu of cuts in state services comes as the latest blow to Virginia’s financially stressed localities. While the move was prompted in part by deep cuts to the state budget, it should also alert legislators again that the state is failing to provide for its share of local services.

If I were John McCain, this is what I’d do. Maybe he’s already done it.

I would call President Bush, meet with him at the White House, and tell him: “Nothing personal, George, but I’ve got to start bashing you.”

Earlier this summer, I got into a conversation with a store clerk and asked him what he did over the July 4th weekend.

“I just kicked back,” he said. “I got out all my guns and went out on the back deck, and my buddy and I spent an afternoon shooting at targets with Obama’s picture on them.”

You would think every candidate for public office, especially one as important as a seat in the United States Senate, would want voters to have every available opportunity to become aware of and educated about the campaign.

Each of the 30,000 inmates in Virginia’s prison system gets two 8-ounce servings of milk a day. What a drag on the state’s taxpayers, you say.

Oddly enough for someone who made his fortune in wireless communications, Mark Warner always seems wired

Sure, I enjoy a beer or two now and then, and sometimes a glass of red wine at the end of the day. There was a time when I enjoyed more than that—notably my years in college. Somehow, though, this never became anything that affected my personal life, my job, or my health.

Liberty University Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr.’s decision to close The Plaza to parking for the Aug. 20 Barack Obama town-hall forum at E.C. Glass High School set off a storm of protests in the community.