All too often, the phrase “local history” used to be synonymous with “boring.” I think that’s changing.

“Democracy used to be a good thing,” former North Carolina Senator Jessie Helms once declared, “but lately it has gotten into the wrong hands.”

In the midst of the gentle rain falling on downtown Lynchburg Tuesday night came that “giant sucking sound” that Ross Perot loved to talk about. In this case, it was the sound of the energy being sucked out of the local Republican Party.

At the city GOP headquarters in a renovated building on Commerce Street, by the flickering light of a large TV screen, the mood was one of resignation.

We tend to treat politics like sports events in our society. Election Day reminds us that there’s an important difference.

On the eve of the sixth annual “Historic Ghosts of Lynchburg” walking tour organized by the Lynchburg Historic Foundation, foundation director Sally Schneider admitted to being somewhat haunted by the weather forecast.

According to Beth Brown, there are those who simply can’t let go of the Civil War.

There is this weird symmetry between Ernie Pyle and Gary Morrison. And in the end, Morrison couldn’t resist it.

These days, Royal Jones is surrounded by things she finds painful to look at.

Azar Nafisi’s focus has always been the human heart, not the human head.

I grew up with — and, obviously, survived — the 18-year-old drinking age.

We hear it all the time, in political speeches, graduation speeches and sermons: One person can make a difference.
Sometimes, it even turns out to be true. Meet Danielle Copeland.
Part of Copeland’s job as a public defender for the City of Lynchburg is to steer her clients, if possible, into alternative sentencing programs. And since a high percentage of those convicted of crimes also have substance abuse issues, the Arise residential treatment center in Forest was one of the aces in her deck.

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.

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.