Opinion

When this newspaper published its first edition in 1867 the Civil War had ended but its worst battles and consequences were still fresh on local minds.

Though the Union Army prevailed, there were really no winners. Just about every American family, regardless of geography or loyalty, could claim a killed or wounded soldier. Some claimed several. Some lost generations.
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By Laura Geiger

A we celebrate Barnesville’s newspaper’s 150th anniversary, all of us here at the paper look back at the events which we and our predecessors have reported as accurately and as fairly as we could.
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By Mike Ruffin

When a mass shooting occurs in the United States—and it happens all too often, doesn’t it?—lots of politicians will say, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families,” or something like that.

This practice has become controversial in some quarters, which raises the question, “What’s wrong with thinking about and praying for victims, communities, and families in the wake of a massacre?” And the answer is, “Nothing.” Anybody with half a heart is going to think about the people affected by such a tragedy. Anybody with a smidgen of faith is going to pray for them.
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By Walter Geiger

I laughed out loud when I learned Bobby Burnette was to be buried with his phone. He also took along in his casket a moon pie, some emu oil which he drank twice daily and, in a nod to his diabetes, a diet Dr. Pepper.

He wanted a flashlight but the family decided against that.

“If you get a call from him, you might want to think twice about answering it,” Judge Kathy Martin quipped in telling us her brother took his phone with him to the grave.
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