IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury My late father, T. J. Newbury, was a grand story teller. Friends and neighbors in Early, Texas, gave him high marks for joke-telling, and so do I. Usually, hearty “ho-ho’s” erupted when the punch line was unleashed, but on the rare occasions when silence hung heavy and listeners looked blankly as if ghosts had been
Read moreBy NANCY PATRICK Not often heard today, the word “integrity” has disappeared from most people’s vocabulary. Everyone seems to know what courage, honesty, sincerity, responsibility, and reliability mean; however, the word “integrity” seems even more abstract than those qualities. Definitions of the word include “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness; the state of wholeness
Read moreBy JIM NICHOLS Buried within this true, but weird, anecdote, is a fact that hardly anyone ponders: “How many rolls of toilet paper does it take to completely wrap a human being—head, body, arms, and legs?” One of my enriching academic experiences was to break away from the science building occasionally and audit university classes in other disciplines. One extended
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McMURRY UNIVERSITY NEWS RELEASEAlaisha Montanez McMurry University announced today (July 14) the unanimous approval of a Board of Trustees resolution eliminating Tipi Village as a homecoming activity. Recently, the University began to examine Tipi Village and how the activity could be perceived by some to be dishonoring American Indian tribes rather than the original intention of bringing honor to their
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Operation Blue Jeans, the annual back-to-school drive sponsored by Christian Service Center is under way through early September. The program works as follows: 1. Elementary school students will receive two pairs of jeans, five pairs of socks and five pairs of underwear 2. Middle school students will receive two pairs of khaki pants and two polo style shirts, five pairs
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By LORETTA FULTON “Racism is a sin. It is a sin against God.” With those strong words, Kelvin Kelley set the tone for a press conference announcing the formation of the Abilene African-American Council of Leaders. The press conference was held Monday at North Second and Mulberry streets in front of Station 1 Venue, a former fire station that has
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Pioneer Drive Baptist Church made it official Sunday, July 12, after a vote of the congregation. Dr. John Whitten is the new senior pastor, replacing Stan Allcorn, who is retiring at the end of August. A search committee had recommended Whitten, who had been serving as pastor of The Gathering at the Church, in May, pending a vote of the
Read moreBy DANNY MINTON I recently finished watching Ronald Reagan in the movie “Hellcats of the Navy,” where he plays the captain of a submarine during World War II. Early on, he must make a decision concerning a sailor who is in the water 100 yards from the submarine while an enemy ship is closing in on his sub. What does
Read moreIDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury It still lurks in my mind’s “crannies,” jumping to the forefront of my thoughts more often than I’d like. It was a single sentence–uttered by someone whose name I don’t know–imparting an important truth usually requiring paragraphs, chapters or even volumes. It was uttered in a large room where a few dozen people were scattered,
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Spirit Of Abilene 