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Last Week, In Case You Missed It: March 19, 2011

March 19, 2011 By Chuck Briese Leave a Comment

It has been a week of contrasts, a week full of merriment and anticipation  and celebration cast against the shadow of worldwide drama and tragedy. We had the green beer and Guinness and the older lady at the office gleefully pinching folks. We had the onset of March Madness, where everyone, including our President, suddenly becomes a fan of college basketball, and carefully or carelessly fills out a bracket in anticipation of the coming weekend’s games. And this was the week when Rebecca Black became a YouTube sensation.

We also had the continuing tragedy unfolding in northern Japan, where nearly 500,000 people have been left homeless, another 20,000 folks are either missing or confirmed dead. And we have just begun the long-anticipated military action in Libya, to combat a dictatorial regime so consumed with maintaining power that they think nothing of slaughtering their own people to do so.

It’s OK to celebrate. To drink responsibly with your friends. To root on a team whose players you’d never heard of before. And to laugh out loud. But maybe we should just take a moment to be thankful that we don’t have to start our lives all over, wondering if the air we breathe or the food we eat is laced with microscopic radioactive material, wondering happened to our family and friends. And be thankful that we live in a country where, no matter how frustrated we might be with our government, we can rest assured that we won’t have to face the full force of our military if we dare to disagree with our leaders. Be thankful just for a moment, and then go back to your broken bracket.

Let’s take a look at what we covered this week in Oak Ridge Now:

With Japan’s nuclear fears broadcast round-the-clock, we gave you a handy reading list that points you to everything you might want to know about this tragedy, and it’s far-reaching implications. We also outlined the current worst-case scenario for the Fukushima Daiichi plant – it won’t have a direct effect on the U.S.

Closer to home, we kept track of what was going on this past week in the Texas Legislature. Budget cuts for public school funding dominated the news this week. Thousands of parents, educators, and students marched on the capitol to protest the pending cuts. And, of course, our elected leaders are pre-emptively trying to shift the blame for those cuts, with Governor Rick Perry saying, “The lieutenant governor, the speaker and their colleagues aren’t going to hire or fire one teacher, as best I can tell,” he said. “That is a local decision that will be made at the local districts.” Sure. After you cut billions from their funding. Don’t forget to reserve some money for the new social studies textbooks that downplay the historic role of that shifty Thomas Jefferson.

After graduating from public school, let’s hope our students are well-armed for college. In fact, let’s make then really well-armed, as legislators heard from both sides of a debate to allow students to carry licensed concealed handguns on Texas college campuses. I cannot wait for the first legislator to disavow any culpability after the first gun-related campus violence occurs.

We ran a Texas Tribune interview with the president of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards. The group is feeling pressure right now from both the Texas Legislature and the U.S. Congress. Finally, my favorite story involved a Houston man’s quest to draft Tommy Lee Jones, of Men In Black and No Country For Old Men, to run as a Democrat for U.S. Senator in 2012.

Even closer to home, our Oak Ridge High School Color Guard came in first place for the fourth performance in a row, and Linda McBride thought about what her friend Christie Mercer Sumstad, an ORHS grad who passed away last month, would have made of the event.

The latest of our In The Spotlight interviews brought you a look at Taylor Dye, an Oak Ridge High School football player who has learned to live with dyslexia.

Right now baseball, softball, soccer, golf and track teams are all involved in District 14-5A competition. The baseball team opened District play with a loss to College Park, but that was after excelling in a tournament in Austin, capping it with a big win over the host team. Meanwhile, the sophomore baseball team fared better.

The Lady Highlander softball team split a pair, taking an exciting extra-inning affair from Atascocita, and the getting walloped by a very good squad from The Woodlands. Finally, the ORHS girls soccer team accomplished something for the first time since entering the ranks of division 5A: they fought to a tie with The Woodlands.

In maybe our most well-written piece this week, Teresa Strasser looks at Charlie Sheen’s and Tiger Mom Amy Chua’s obsession with WINNING! “In a world filled with participation trophies and a cloying, bogus focus on “self-esteem” that isn’t earned, there’s something satiating about this warrior attitude. Winners take all, so do warlocks, so do little girls who play the crap out of the piano.” It’s a very good read. Duh.

In Lost in Suburbia, Tracy Beckerman recounts her dog’s flirtations with other dogs around the neighborhood. Will E Sanders talks about a friend who has yet to comprehend time zone differences. And in Unknown Soldiers we tell the story of Sergeant Rusty Dunagan, who lost both legs and an arm in an explosion.

Dave Ramsey attempts to answer the classic question, “How do you find a balance between home and work?” [note to self: read this one again]. And Margo Howard wades into the sticky issue of a 17 year old girl in love with her 29 year old co-worker at a pizza joint. Once again, thank you, Lord, for blessing me with only boys.

Bill O’Reilly speculated on the possibility of Charlie Sheen as a cable news star. “I’m tired of pretending like I’m not a total bitchin’ rock star from Mars. And people can’t figure me out; they can’t process me. I don’t expect them to. You can’t process me with a normal brain.” Face it, we’d all tune in to watch him interview presidential candidates.

Mark Shields looks at Newt Gingrich’s recent rationalization of his affairs and failed marriages. “His “patriotism made me do it” defense is as nervy as it is imaginative, although it might have been more believable if he had been caught cheating with Betsy Ross and/or the Daughters of the American Revolution.”

John Stossel argues that the high prices of illicit drugs are responsible for a crisis in the black community. Yes, you read that right. And Will Durst looks back on the union-busting activities in Wisconsin. “As is their way, the GOP might once again have overreached and awakened a sleeping giant. Today, we are all Cheeseheads. Or as JFK might have said, “Ich bin ein kaasekopf.”

Finally, in this St. Patty’s Day week, we present you with five recipes, three of which involve Bailey’s Irish Creme as an ingredient. All this and our daily editorial cartoons, this week in Oak Ridge Now.

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Last Week, In Case You Missed It: March 12, 2011

March 12, 2011 By Chuck Briese Leave a Comment

We’ve done a number of In the Spotlight profiles of Oak Ridge High School students in Oak Ridge Now, and it amazes me how often we spotlight someone who really has their act together. When I was 17, the only things I thought about were girls, leaving home, girls, frisbee golf, and girls.

We as a society expect high school kids, only a few years removed from The Disney Channel and the children’s clothing section, to somehow decide what they want to do with the rest of their life, and where the best place would be to prepare for it. We expect them to have this nailed only a couple of years after they learned to drive. Sure, many of them don’t have a solid plan — my wife and I have five so far that fit into that category, and the sixth is careening precipitously down that same path.

And then we meet people like Laurin Engle, who knows she’s going to Baylor, knows she’s going to major in Sports Management, and knows she’ll have to put her soccer days behind her. She’s passionate and articulate and actually enjoys her calculus class. Unreal. I read every story in Oak Ridge Now, many of them at least twice, and these are the ones I enjoy the most.

In other stories, we told you about the continued success of the Oak Ridge Color Guard, who is racking up win after win in their various competitions, and is heading to a national competition next month. They are scheduled to perform at 9:52 pm tonight, as they host their own 78-unit competition.

Not to be outdone, Oak Ridge baseball and softball teams both had good weeks. The Lady War Eagle softball team topped College Park, went 4-1 in a weekend tournament, and then got by Conroe. The boys started out in an early season funk in the Wharton tournament, but then crushed traditional 5A TAPPS powerhouse Houston Christian 12-0. They then started off this weekend’s Pflugerville tournament with a win over Killeen Ellison. And the ORHS girls track and field teams also continued to make strong showings at area meets.

In other local happenings, I probably offended some folks by incorporating a Cymbalta reference and Neil Diamond‘s Brother Love’s Travelin’ Salvation Show into an article about Alana Lane Baptist Church’s upcoming Revival. But I assure you, my intentions were all good.

Across the State of Texas, we looked at legislation designed to further protect high school athletes from the effects of concussions. A bill was filed to outlaw texting and driving across the state. And our Tea Party friends want state legislators to know they’re keeping an eye on them. “The people that were elected, they understand there will be no new taxes or they won’t have a job next round.”

Our features this week included Teresa Strasser wondering why other babies are mellower than hers. “It means that baby just sits on your lap at baby music class while my kid rummages through random diaper bags, climbs on a bench, helps himself to anyone’s juice, pulls off his socks, gums the side of a tambourine and attempts to escape out the front door before the wheels on the bus have even gone round and round.”

Lost in Suburbia finds Tracy Beckerman trying to remain a cool mom. “I wanted to connect with my daughter and prove that even though I was from another generation, I was not from another planet, and I did actually know the difference between Eminem and M&M’s.”

Unknown Soldiers tells the story of a Marine killed only last month in Afghanistan. “We said ‘I love you’ 20 times before hanging up on that last phone call because I wouldn’t say goodbye,” his wife said, “I have a feeling that he knew.”

Will E Sanders bemoans receiving yet another wallet as a gift. “After all, it is not like the three dollars I have in there are working my wallet double time or causing it to bust at the seams.” He needs my wallet, made by Rawlings and still smells like a baseball glove. Dave Ramsey encourages a couple to forget about the down payment on a house – get out of debt first.

Dear Margo tackles a complicated adoption dilemma and a man whose wife insists her dogs sleep with them in bed. Margo says, “I suggest giving it a try, to show good faith, and if they do actually interfere with your sleep, perhaps your wife will return your good faith effort.” Are you kidding me? She also addresses a woman who thinks there might be some tomfoolery between her husband and her sister. Ewww.

We previewed St. Patrick’s Day with a recipe for Lucky You Mint Pie. It says that the green food coloring is optional. Really?

Peter Funt examined the escalating costs of attending spring training games in Arizona. Tina Dupuy looks at her fellow potential jurors, waiting to be selected for jury duty. “It was like their outfits were trying to increase their chances of being dismissed. “You’re looking for someone who is impartial and has common sense. As you can see from my corduroy cut offs and Megadeth t-shirt – clearly that’s not me.”

Will Durst has advice for some of the emerging Middle East freedom fighters: “Democracy for one means democracy for all. It’s a take-it-or-leave-it enterprise. All men are created equal. And women. None of this wife- walking-five-paces-behind her-husband-while-dressed-as-a-grieving-beekeeper stuff.”  Mark Shields says he cannot believe that Mike Huckabee actually thought President Obama grew up in Kenya.

Bill O’Reilly is a union member. His grandparents were, too. But that doesn’t mean he disagrees with the union-busting actions in Wisconsin. John Stossel thinks those “green jobs” President Obama and friends talk about aren’t there. They’re not going to be there. They’re a myth. An illusion. And the ones that are there will cost way too much to create.

All that this week, along with our daily editorial cartoons, this week in Oak Ridge Now.

 

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Last Week, In Case You Missed It: March 5, 2011

March 5, 2011 By Chuck Briese Leave a Comment

I can only imagine what it would have been like to have been Barbara Finley last Tuesday night, walking out on to the ball field where you watched your son play countless games.

Barbara’s son, Shaun, was called home by God earlier than anyone could have expected last year. And there she was on the infield, on the night Shaun’s #24 jersey was to be retired in a ceremony before the Oak Ridge varsity game. Seeing the War Eagle players and coaches lining up to give her a hug, listening to Doug Sarant recount the moments that painted a picture of Shaun’s life. Probably overcome with a wild mix of emotions: the grief and happiness and solemn pride in knowing that all of these people, on the field and in and around the stands, were here to celebrate the life of her son, and vow to never forget one of Oak Ridge’s own.

I can only imagine how she must have felt. I do know, however, that I would be glad that my son was raised in a community such as ours, chock full of the people who are there for us in both the good times and the bad, and who understand that the individual triumphs and trials of the players and their families are so much more important than the score at the end of the game.

Ann Allison provided a touching recap of Shaun Finley Night, and we covered a good deal more in Oak Ridge Now this week.

The War Eagles lost to Klein Collins Tuesday night, but that was sandwiched between a Craig Biggio sighting at the War Eagle Invitational Tournament and this week’s Wharton Invitational Tournament, which they opened with a 15-2 pounding of Cy Springs.

We also told you about the Oak Ridge Color Guard, whose road got a little more difficult when their fine performance at Houston regionals moved them up a competition class at the upcoming Winter Guard Nationals. I am sure they are up for the challenge.

On the larger stage, we provided a handy dandy update on the relationship status we have with various countries in the Middle East. We republished a ProPublica investigation of morgues and coroners and medical examiners that have landed the wrong people in jail. If only there were more Horatio Caines and Gil Grissoms to go around, because they never seem to make these mistakes on CSI. And if you know anyone that works in a refinery, you might have them read our Center for Public Integrity story on the regulatory mess that has helped lead to an increasing number of worker injuries and deaths. Then again, they probably already know.

Here’s one that’s interesting maybe only to me: 22 percent of Americans believe that recently enacted health care reform has been repealed, and another 26 percent are unsure or unwilling to say. Read much?

Around the great State of Texas, no legislation has yet been signed into law, but our faithful legislators are plowing through their respective agendas. Smoking cessation programs are likely to be slashed by 80%, but the long-term costs associated with health care associated with a larger number of smokers in the state may cause that plan to backfire. Lawmakers are also discussing how to write laws that properly define bullying and some appropriate penalties. They would be wise to provide the funding though, to prevent it from occurring in the first place, like the Safe School Ambassadors program in place at York and Oak Ridge High School.

The Texas Department of Public Safety issued yet another warning aimed at students planning to go to Mexico on Spring Break: Don’t Go. Not “Don’t Be Stupid When You Go” or “Don’t Drink Too Much When You Go” or “Don’t Go Off With Locals Like Natalee Holloway Apparently Did”, just “Don’t Go”, period. We’ll see if anyone heeds the warning.

Texas school districts, faced with looming budget cuts, are now able to consider applying for federal Race to the Top funding. Of course, there’s a catch. There’s always a catch. School districts that accept the funding must implement federally-mandated curriculum standards. They may eventually have to give students national assessment tests in addition to TAKS-like state tests. Is it worth the money? The answer, as always is probably, “It depends.”

In our weekly features, Dave Ramsey says, “There’s no higher calling on the planet than motherhood. We’ve lost that in our culture, and we’re suffering dearly for it.”  Unknown Soldiers features Major General David Blackledge, who swallowed his pride and asked for help for his post-traumatic stress disorder after suffering injuries in two separate attacks in Iraq.

In the best-feature-that-nobody-reads department, Tracy Beckerman recounts her ski encounter with a tree. “I had actually not skied for a while, and over the course of the month, had somehow come under the delusion that I had improved over the break.  I had gone through something similar years ago when I’d had kids and had convinced myself that childbirth would be much less painful the second time around.  Faster?  Yes.  Les painful?  Not so much.”

Will E Sanders won a ham at a raffle, and really doesn’t know what to do with it. “This happens to me every time I win meat, which is surprisingly often believe it or not (it’s the second raffle ham that I’ve won this year). I never have a place to keep large chunks of meat. I almost wish hams were redeemable for cash, but mostly because it would give “bringing home the bacon” an all new meaning.”

Margo Howard addresses a sister who poured Riesling in the soup at her teetotaling parents’ house, and a grandmother who regularly steals money from her children and grandchildren. Really. Ingrid Hoffmann, the lovely host of Simply Delicioso on the Cooking Channel, has some spring dessert tips, including recipes for Tropical Dessert Bars, Chocolate Flan Cake, Passion Fruit Cheesecake and Caribbean Pineapple-Lime Ice Cream. Save some for me.

I think our opinions section was strong this week: Bill O’Reilly led off with his view on the legislative fight in Wisconsin pitting public sector unions against the State. Chuck Norris has similar concerns: “The fact is that teachers union-sponsored protests spreading the land are not primarily about the teachers or the students. They are about the unions and feds maintaining their Mafia-style rule over education and our kids and preventing people from choosing educational alternatives.”

Peter Funt suggests that Congress should use care when trimming the budget of the U.S. Postal Service: “Like the cop on the corner, whose job I’d also argue is worth preserving, the mail carrier is for many Americans an anchor in a stormy world.” Michael Reagan weighed in on the duplication of programs funded by Congress. “Uncle Sam hosts 47 job-training programs, 44 of which do the same things. The federal government also runs 80 programs for what it calls the “transportation disadvantaged.” Count ‘em: 80 — paid for by your tax dollars.”

The Academy Award for Best Picture won by “The King’s Speech” led John Stossel to recount his personal issues with stuttering. I was just as surprised as you. Our own Doug Sarant looked back at second grade, the girl he sat next to in class, and dealing with his ADD. Finally the Supreme Court ruled this week that the disgusting protests conducted by the Westboro Baptist Church at military funerals are protected by the First Amendment. As much as it hurts us to say, they probably made the right decision.

Nonetheless, those loathsome folks from Westboro highlighted our editorial cartoons this week, along with Libya, Sarah Palin, our deficit reduction time bomb, and everyone’s favorite subject of the moment, Charlie Sheen. All that this week in Oak Ridge Now. Read it. Like it. Tell your friends about it.

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Last Week, In Case You Missed It: February 26, 2011

February 26, 2011 By Chuck Briese Leave a Comment

How is it that someone has ruled a country for 42 years and there is still no consensus on exactly how to spell Moammar Gaddafi’s name? Qadhafi? Khadafi? Gadhafi? Khadafy? Qaddafi? Khaddafi? Muammar or Moammar? According to Wikipedia, my source for pretty much everything, the U.S. Department of State uses “Mu’ammar Al-Qadhafi“, although the White House chooses to use “Muammar el-Qaddafi”. The New York Times uses Muammar el-Qaddafi. The Associated Press, CNN, and Fox News use “Moammar Gadhafi”. Well, at least there is something they can agree upon.

We actually didn’t have a whole lot on the self-proclaimed “King of Kings” this week, but we did have a lot of other stuff this week in Oak Ridge Now:

This week we spotlighted Oak Ridge High School cheerleader Serena Bufton-VonArb, who has friends throughout South Montgomery County. “No matter what side of the freeway we are from, we share the same talent and have the same passion for cheerleading. I know these girls will be lifelong friends to me.”

The War Eagle basketball team ended their season with a loss to Klein Forest in the playoffs. Coach Stewart said, “I am very proud of how we continued to play and fight through all of our adversity this season. I have said before that this is the most resilient group of young men that we have had.” The ORHS girls soccer team has also fought through disappointment of late. Coach Collins says, “e still have about one minute out of 80 of head scratching plays that cost us goals and games.”

Baseball season is here, and Doug Sarant promises to document the highs and lows with his Politically Correct Yet Honest ORHS Baseball Blog. [Some of my conversation with Doug yesterday: "You can't say 'jagoff". "How about dickhead?' "Okay"]

The Oak Ridge High School Color Guard grabbed first place at the Winter Guard Nationals, and they will be heading to beautiful Dayton in April to perform there. Congratulation to them, and good luck in Ohio. ORHS Interact put on a Birthday Party for Dr. Seuss, and the ORHS PTO held its annual Texas Hold ‘Em poker party to raise funds for Operation Graduation. For those of you who don’t know, Operation Graduation is a drug and alcohol-free party held on ORHS graduation night, designed to keep our graduates from becoming grim statistics.

Our weekly recap of local news started us off on Sunday looking back at the appearance of the DEA in Bender’s Landing. With our Texas legislative session in full swing, we had a number of stories coming out of Austin.

The chances are increasing that legislators, loathe to raise taxes, could look at expanded gambling as a source of additional revenue. After all, how much Texas money goes into those nasty casinos in Louisiana? We can do it bigger and better, and reap all the rewards. Polling shows that the vast majority Texans favor this idea, so let’s stop worrying about voter ID and get on with something that actually benefits our daily lives. In no time we can see Night Ranger and Jeff Foxworthy playing the Beau Rivage Galveston.

In other state budget news, Texans want lawmakers to cut the budget, but we don’t agree on the specifics. “We really want to slash the budget, but not anything in it,” says pollster Daron Shaw, a professor of government at UT.  We also looked at the touchy subject of whether or not schools spend too much money on administrative personnel. the venerable Dan Patrick says, “As the old saying goes,” he said, “when I start seeing districts’ firing assistant football coaches, then I’ll really know that they’ll have a lean budget.”

We ran an article about how proposed cuts in mental health funding would move the burden of treating the mentally to local Texas jails. Already, the Harris County Jail, a facility the size of two football fields, houses 10,000 inmates, 2,400 of which are taking psychotropic medications.

One proposed way to reduce the state’s health care costs would be to create programs to distribute sterile syringes to injecting drug users. How would that save money? The average lifetime cost of treating a person with HIV/AIDS is currently estimated to be $380,000. Lifetime costs of treatment for hepatitis C can exceed $300,000. Texas has the fourth-highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the nation, with an estimated 63,000 Texans currently living with HIV, and at least 300,000 with hepatitis C.

Texas has joined other states in asking to operate the mandated Medicaid program as they see fit. That’s not likely to happen. Finally, a half-dozen men who spent decades behind bars, convicted of crimes they did not commit, pleaded with lawmakers to improve the reliability of eyewitness identifications used in court. All of them were sent to prison based largely on the testimony of witnesses who incorrectly fingered them in photographs and lineups.

Remember the foreclosure prevention program of a couple of years ago? it was going to save millions of homeowners from the brink of foreclosure. That didn’t work. Why? The loan industry that helped bring on the problem is largely in charge of trying to fix it. Dafna Linzer, a Canadian living in the U.S. for 12 years, details the questionable correct answers on the U.S. citizenship test she recently passed.

If you haven’t discovered our Lost in Suburbia feature yet, give it a read, as it is guaranteed to draw a laugh or two every time. This week Tracy Beckerman recounts the horror a awaking one morning with a zit in the middle of your forehead. “Greetings,” said my daughter, giving me the Vulcan hand wave.  “Do you come in peace?”

Teresa Strasser can now root for Natalie Portman to win an Oscar, because Princess Amidala is soon to join the ranks of motherhood. “Motherhood is such an equalizer that even the Black Swan will likely get cankles, varicose veins, bleeding gums, gas, leg cramps and insomnia. No way can she assign the hemorrhoids or any of the rest of it to a personal assistant or publicist. That baby will have to come out of her one way or the other.”

My wife was not at all impressed with the Usual Eccentric’s woeful tale of walking around all day with his zipper down. “At some point, you must have noticed, and yet you spoke not a word. You probably just giggled like a schoolgirl after I walked away with a “get-a-load-of-this-guy-over-here” look on your face. Yeah, that’s real mature, butthead!”

Unknown Soldiers told the story of a mom who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to equal a feat that her son, killed later in Afghanistan, once accomplished. “Come hell or high water, I was going to do it myself,”

Dave Ramsey answered a query about a son putting away money for a dad who cannot seem to manage his own, and Dear Margo featured a man who is worried that his best friend and his girlfriend are seeing the same therapist, and a woman who just wants to see her grandchildren. Not just the ones her kids want her to see.

In our opinions section, we wished everyone a Happy President’s Day. No matter how we feel about the Executive Branch, the governments in the Middle East should cause us all to pause for a moment. “There is not another country that is in existence now or has ever been that can point to such a long line of greatly admired leaders such as Washington, Lincoln or even Truman who were elected into office and never tried to stay longer than their official term.”

Bill O’Reilly examined a politically incorrect gaffe by Michael Bloomberg, and Mark Shields profiled Mitt Romney as a guy who can’t seem to take a firm stand on a position: “Mitt Romney is smart, handsome, accomplished, rich, personable and articulate. That’s what he is. What we don’t yet know is who he is.” John Stossel wonders why we a legally prevented from betting on the Academy Awards. Chuck Norris sees teachers’ unions and the federal government as a detriment to our children’s education, explaining that we have gone from spending $4,300 per student in 1971 to more than $9,000 today (adjusted for inflation), and there’s not a lot to show for it. Finally, Will Durst looks at the 112th Congress, and wonders if they’ll ever reach a budget agreement. “President Obama released HIS budget plan, which calls for tens of billions of dollars of program cuts mixed with tax increases. The Republicans countered with THEIR plan specifying nine figures of cuts only, and Ron Paul, well, he just wants to invade China, give them a proper thrashing and take all our money back.”

It was indeed a busy week. All that, along with our editorial cartoons, in one week of Oak Ridge Now. Read us. Like us. Share our articles on Facebook.

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Last Week, In Case You Missed It: February 19, 2011

February 19, 2011 By Chuck Briese Leave a Comment

This week saw Valentine’s Day pass, along with what is becoming the annual sight of men lining up in a tent in the Kroger parking lot to purchase flowers, cards and candy all from one convenient location. It also marks the debut of this year’s Easter candy, because after all, that’s only like two months away, and we need to start loading up on marshmallow chicks now. So bite into one of those Cadbury eggs, and take a look at what you might have missed this past week in Oak Ridge Now:

Lost In Suburbia’s Tracy Beckerman offered some helpful suggestions of what not to get your man for Valentine’s Day. I thought the whole X-Ray sunglasses thing had potential, though. She later acknowledged that her thigh-high boots, cropped cardigans and miniskirts were probably not optimal for winter weather.  Teresa Strasser reflected upon the weight of responsibility associated with being a mom: “One sloppy baby-proofing job and my boy is guzzling bleach and chomping fistfuls of Ambien thinking, “These Skittles are kind of lame. I’m tired. Nighty-night forever.”

In our other regular features, Dear Margo addressed how to deal with Too-Much-Information-Guy, and Dave Ramsey talks about why it’s not a good idea to borrow money from family members: “If you really want to ruin family events, have debt to your parents.” Our weekly Unknown Soldiers features describes how two families came together after the deaths of their sons, who were friends at the US Naval Academy. “We were so lucky to get to know them and be a part of their lives,” one sister said. “One is rare enough, but to have two, both brothers to you, is on a whole other level.”

Our recipe of the week featured chocolate almond bark, in observance of Health Heart Month and National Almond Day (February 16th). You may have missed the almond celebrations and parades going on throughout the U.S. this week on the nightly news.

Every good gardener in this area knows that you start pruning your fruit trees and bushes after Valentine’s Day, and we showed you how to do that.

Want to be in one of the milk mustache ads? You could, as the “got milk?” folks are looking for high school seniors in their annual Scholar Athlete Milk Mustache of the Year (SAMMY) program. Scholarships are also available via Build-A-Bear’s Huggable Heroes program for student volunteers. Deadlines for both are rapidly approaching.

In Texas news, there is still a lot of political posturing going on around the $830 million the federal government would like to provide for education in our state. Hopefully, Governor Perry will stop playing political chicken on this one and do what’s right for our school kids. And although the good Governor doesn’t want to touch the Rainy Day Fund to help balance the state budget, that pending decision will still loom large in the coming months.

We in Texas love to be the best at everything, and we show many categories where Texas is number one, as compared to other states. This includes executions, percentage of uninsured children, amount of carbon dioxide emissions, and the amount of hazardous waste generation. Take that, California! We are, sadly, number 50 in per capita spending on mental health, workers’ compensation coverage, percent of women receiving prenatal care in first trimester, and percent of population 25 and older with a high school diploma. That is bound to bode well for the future.

More census data is becoming available, the latest detailing the racial makeup of our population. Montgomery County had the fifth highest rate of population growth (of Texas counties) from 2000-2010, up 55%. That included a whopping 155% growth in the population of those of Hispanic origin.

You probably didn’t know that there is a Texas law that prevents breweries that sell their own product on-site from also selling their beer at Kroger and other locations. As you can well expect, some Texas brewpub owners are trying to change that.

In our national news section this week we presented the story of “Ghost Soldiers” – men and women in the Army’s Civil Affairs division, charged with helping to restore electricity, building water systems and spreading good will in Iraq and Afghanistan. Though Civil Affairs soldiers only make up about 5 percent of the Army’s reserve forces, they account for 23 percent of the combat fatalities among reservists.

The big Oak Ridge High School news saw the War Eagle cheerleaders do well in a national competition at Disney World. The boys soccer team lost a heartbreaker to The Woodlands, and the Oak Ridge Band announced their annual golf tournament, raising funds for band scholarships.

In our opinions section, Bill O’Reilly explains how Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama are very much alike in one respect: their convictions. Mark Shields exhorts the President to not focus too much on Egypt, because “the economy is only the issue in American presidential politics”. John Stossel talks about seasteading. Really? Seasteading? Living on the ocean simply to escape the clutches of government control? Good luck with that. Finally, Chuck Norris and Barbara Bush team up to speak about education priorities. My favorite quote from this one: “I don’t think government can do everything at all. Parents, grandparents, neighbors, churches, everybody … we’ve got to get ourselves geared up and not be lazy parents and not be lazy neighbors, but we’ve got to help children.”

All that, along with our editorial cartoons, in one week of Oak Ridge Now. Read us. Like us. Share our articles on Facebook.

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Last Week, In Case You Missed It: February 12, 2011

February 12, 2011 By Chuck Briese Leave a Comment

It was an historic week in Egypt, the Packers won the Super Bowl, Gabrielle Giffords started to speak, Christina Aguilera mangled the National Anthem, and Lindsay Lohan thought that channeling Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct would be a good look for a court appearance. But we really covered none of that in Oak Ridge Now this week, save for our editorial cartoons. Here’s what we did cover:

We published two In The Spotlight interviews this week, the first with Oak Ridge High School’s Chris Steinley (who might look good with a milk mustache), and the second featuring Ryan Anthony, who talked extensively about his passion for Young Life, and the opportunities it provides for high school kids on our community.

We had two Unknown Soldiers features, the first reflecting upon the life and death of Pfc. Sam Huff, and the other providing a glimpse of family members who serve together in the armed forces. Teresa Strasser also weighed in twice this week, talking about the guilt that comes from putting your baby on formula, and the appreciation she has for her perfectly average baby. In Lost in Suburbia, Tracy Beckerman details her conversation with the garage door police.

In our other regular features, Dear Margo addressed having a wedding with feuding parents and stepparents (the correct answer should have been, “elope somewhere in the Caribbean, and forget about everyone else”). She also answered a reader who wondered if it would be cruel to tell her 80-year old father how much she hated he and her stepmother  for the past 25 years. Hint: let it go.

Someone wrote to Dave Ramsey and asked, essentially, “My girlfriend has run up a lot of debt, is considering filing for bankruptcy, and wants to move in with me. I’m wondering of this is a good idea”. Dave urged caution. Will E Sanders recounted his adventure with the cable guy, we posted a recipe for Valentine’s Day cookies, and showed you how to grow an indoor herb garden.

Texas lawmakers have been keeping busy, filing bills to make sexting illegal, and regulating the practice of sending students to court for misbehavior in class. Governor Rick Perry wants them to also consider working to create a way college students can get a degree in Texas for $10,000. Provided, of course, that the student is a citizen with a valid birth certificate whose parents haven’t yet been deported or turned away at the polls because they didn’t have a valid voter ID.

In the “stuff that may only be interesting to me” department, we had a story on the last words of some folks who have been executed in Texas over the past 30 years. Future executions might be in jeopardy, though, as at least one of the drugs in our lethal injection cocktail is now only manufactured by liberal Europeans, who take a dim view of our death penalty. Finally, we recapped local news, including a fatal accident on Rayford, and a peek at which restaurants failed their health inspections.

We took a look at the growing number of wind farms along the Texas Gulf coast, and we looked back on all the big talk of the federal government forcing banks to modify mortgages. Sadly, it looks like talk may have been all it was.

In sports, the Oak Ridge High School boys basketball team continued to fight through adversity, clinching a playoff spot with a win over Lufkin. The Lady War Eagle soccer team ran into some problems, and our favorite girls basketball team played their last home game.

Tom Purcell recalled his David Cassidy haircut from the 70′s, and after reading that, I couldn’t get the Partridge Family’s “I Think I Love You” out of my head all day. It’s a curse, I tell you. A curse. Bill O’Reilly talked about interviewing the President (you can’t just open with “Yo Barack, how you doin’?”), John Stossel railed on federal regulation, and Mark Shields explains why the Redskins’ Daniel Snyder is the worst professional sports owner known to man.

All that in one week of Oak Ridge Now. Read us. Like us. Share our articles on Facebook.

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Last Week, In Case You Missed It: February 5, 2011

February 5, 2011 By Chuck Briese Leave a Comment

What was it you missed if you didnt keep up with Oak Ridge Now this past week? Here’s a sample:

We added three, count ‘em, three new regular features this week. Renowned and plain-speaking money management guy Dave Ramsey tackles inexpensive dates, and whether or not you should hire someone to mow your lawn. Teresa Strasser wonders why other pregnant ladies don’t seem to acknowledge her, and contemplates her new stretch marks. And my favorite new feature, The Unknown Soldiers, tells the stories of the men and women who serve our country and sometimes give their lives to protect our freedoms.

In our other regular features, Dear Margo weighed in on a husband providing comfort to his sisters-in-law and another who wants to catch up with an old friend (they’re “just friends”) from college on a business trip. Husbands – who needs ‘em? In Lost in Suburbia, Tracy Beckerman writes about her squirrel-chasing dog: “Neither sleep nor hunger will tear him from his post unless of course he needs a nap or hears the sound of food accidentally dropping on the kitchen floor.”

Locally, Oak Ridge High School’s fine arts department put on their version of Rogers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! Ann Allison says if you missed it, you missed a gem of a show.

In a week where most of Texas learned more about the phrase, “wintry mix”, lots of stuff went on in Austin and around the state. Wednesday many of us dealt with blackouts at home and at work. the Texas Department of Public Safety advised people that traveling to Mexico, in particular border areas, might be a bad idea. Um, duh. We learned that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services keep a database of kids that abuse other kids, and the effects it might have on said children and their potential foster and adoptive parents. Some family physicians are worried about plans for Medicaid payment reform as the state looks to slash Medicaid-related expenses. We looked back on the 150th anniversary of Texas’ decision to secede from the Union. Some Texas legislators want to force more folks to use the promising-but-really-buggy federal E-Verify system to prevent the hiring of illegal aliens. And in a preview of a longer interview with the Texas Tribune, Rob Eissler objects to giving school districts the task of enforcing immigration policies.

In local sports news, it was a good, if not cold, week: we profiled the start of the Lady War Eagle soccer season, and the ladies managed a 1-1 tie against College Park. The boys soccer team split a pair, beating Channelview, but dropped a game to College Park. The depleted boys basketball team took the lead with three seconds remaining to beat Atascocita. The Lady War Eagles took it on the chin earlier this season, the beat Conroe 62-54 to get back on track. Finally the York Lady Eagles concluded their season in style, with a massive 52-15 win over Knox.

Tom Purcell provides examples of presidential humor from late-night comedians. Wil Durst insists that, especially this week, denial is not just a river in Egypt. Bill O’Reilly wonders how President Obama really intends to “Win the Future.” John Stossel thinks that this federal budget balancing stuff is not all that difficult. Some people are rethinking excluding over-the-counter medication from Flexible Spending Account usage. We question the need for average folks to have the ability purchase a 30-round gun magazine. Finally, Michael Reagan, in a harrowing piece, talks about human trafficking going on in Texas today, and the work that Arrow Child & Family Ministries is doing to combat it.

And finally, we have more Super Bowl recipes, including a cheeseburger bowl dip and some cocoa-almond popcorn. All of that and our popular daily editorial cartoons this week in Oak Ridge Now.

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Last Week, In Case You Missed It: January 29, 2011

January 29, 2011 By Chuck Briese Leave a Comment

What was it you missed if you didnt keep up with Oak Ridge Now this past week? Here’s a sample:

In an effort to become more well-rounded and less dependent upon the musings of middle-aged men, we debuted a couple of new features this week. The first, Dear Margo, is written by Margo Howard, who is Ann Landers’ daughter. She takes up her mom’s role of giving sound advice to those in sticky situations. The next, Lost in Suburbia, is a weekly column by Tracy Beckerman, who was recently named, “Top Blogger” by Lifetime Television’s The Balancing Act, and who is trying to hold on to just a little bit of her cool, pre-mom self.

On the local front, the Oak Ridge High School cheerleaders racked up another win in the Cheer Power Wild West School State Championship, and they’ll be headed to Disney World for the UCA National competition next in February. The ORHS fine arts department is putting on a presentation of Rogers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! January 27-19. No, Mrs. Partridge isn’t in this one, but it stands on its own nonetheless.

In Texas news, our state legislators are in full swing, finding ways to spend or not to spend our tax dollars. Pre-K programs could be on the chopping block, hospitals are worried about budget cuts, and some faith-based groups prayed outside that Capitol that the Texas Legislature would think of the neediest among us when wielding the budget ax. Lawmakers filed a bunch of anti-immigration bills, and the DPS is offering amnesty (if you’re a US citizen or legal resident) for those who owe the state traffic ticket fees. Texas keeps using more coal and wind power and less natural gas for electricity, and finally, polls show that a potential 2012 race between President Obama and Governor Perry would be a dead heat.

In sports, our ORHS boys beat Kingwood on the hard court, but couldn’t keep up with College Park. The War Eagle boys soccer season has kicked off and looks promising for a team dependent upon both freshmen and seniors.

In the funny department, Tom Purcell sticks to his guns with some examples of language that has now become politically incorrect, Will E Sanders is also concerned with modern wordplay, and Will Durst detailed the rules of his State of the Union Drinking Game.

On a more serious note, while Gabby Giffords is recovering in Houston, the same therapy she is receiving isn’t covered by the insurance carried by Iraq and Afghanistan war vets, many of whom also have experienced brain trauma. Tina Dupuy weighs in on the ability for government to create jobs and on Til Debt Do We Part. John Stossel and Peter Funt have their own ideas about the President’s State of the Union address. Bill O’Reilly wonders where all the charitable donations to rebuild Haiti went, Mark Shields remembers Sargent Shriver, and we wonder if we are all living beyond our means.

Finally, Scott Hescht returns with some insight from Ricky Williams, The YMCA wants to help you keep those New Year’s resolutions, and we help you break them with recipes for Rocky Road Squares and Easy Double Chocolate Chip Brownies. All of that and our popular daily editorial cartoons this week in Oak Ridge Now.

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