Editor’s Note: I published this call to action on The Banner’s Facebook page on Saturday, September 6, 2025 after two young men died in a truck-train collision on Harris Road, raising the death toll to three in the past three weeks at that intersection. more

Picking up from the previous week’s edition... (Sign #4) more

I spent Labor Day thinking about Mrs. Boaz’s walnut tree. She gave me my first ever paying job. I was six years old. I picked up walnuts one afternoon for 17 straight hours. It seems like there were maybe eight thousand walnuts spread out all over that big yard…. more

I didn’t grow up with Jimmy King, and it’s a good thing I didn’t because I probably wouldn’t be alive today based on stories I’ve been told by the few childhood friends of his who lived to tell about his escapades. Things like burying people up to their neck and turning beetles loose on them or forcing boys to lie on the sidewalk so he could see how many of them he could jump over with his bicycle. more

I am not a soccer guy. And that is not a knock against the sport. I just grew up playing baseball, football, and basketball. It was all we had in McKenzie, Tennessee, back when Ike was running the country. more

Recently, I’ve been sharing Ed Sheeran’s song “Save Myself” with clients who are struggling to give themselves permission to take care of themselves and letting go of helping people who aren’t interested in changing. more

We are knee deep into another August. I haven’t “gone back to school” in years. But you let it get a week or two into the dog days of August and my heart kinda sags. Like it did back WHEN I was going back to school every year. more

Listen, I’m not the guy to point out when something gets out of whack. We’ve got real writers for that. And I’m not angry, or about to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge over this. But I do have a bit of a burr under my saddle this morning. more

...Picking up from last week’s edition. more

I was driving up to Tennessee yesterday when an old gospel song you probably won’t remember came blasting over the airwaves, “Everybody’s gonna have religion in glory, Everybody’s gonna be singing that story….” more

Patrick had an easy smile and a winning way about him. He was easy to like. But his Achilles heel was his gullibility. Not that being gullible is a bad thing. As a matter of fact, it can often be an endearing quality. more

“Be home by supper” wasn’t some kind of catchy pastoral phrase back in the days of front porches and lemonade laden afternoons. more

I sometimes feel sorry for people who live in large cities. Actually, I feel sorry for them most of the time, because they’ll never get to experience what the small town I live in just experienced. more

No attempt at humor today. I’m sitting in a hospital waiting room. Waiting. Time has slowed to a lazy snail’s pace. Minutes have crept into hours. Morning has crawled into afternoon. It is open heart surgery. And the patient is the only brother I have left. more

When used effectively, “stop” is one of the most powerful four-letter words at our disposal. more

I don’t know if you grew up close to a rival town. But if you did, I have a story for you today. more

My mother’s voice came to me in a dream. “David, wake up.” more

LaRenda Bradfield called to tell me our 60th high school reunion is going to be in late September. I pondered on that for half a second. Late September is three months away! That might be too long for some of us…. more

PEOPLE WITH AN ADDICTION ARE some of the kindest, meanest, most truthful, most deceitful, gentlest, cruelest, quietest, loudest, hardest working, laziest, most giving, most selfish, most loving, most heartless, most caring, most uncaring, most humble, most prideful people on the planet, which simply means they are the extreme versions of ourselves because we all can have any and all of those traits at any given time. more

Do you think Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) was talking about a full moon when they wrote “Bad Moon Rising?” I can see how a full moon would inspire someone to write a cautionary tale. more