Opinion

Vote values

Let me introduce myself. My name is Charlie Edmonson — Christian, husband, father, grandfather. I have been married to Kathy for 39 years. I have lived in Bryson, Texas most of those years. I have two grown sons, Steve and Cash and also four grandchildren. 

Some may know me as The Gingerbread Man, formally of the Gingerbread House in Bryson. I am also Precinct Chairman for Precinct 5 of the Jack County Republican Party. Now, that we’ve been introduced I will get to the point of my letter.

It’s enough to make grown men cry. This goes for grown women, too, as well as others licensed to drive in this land of the free and the home of roads under construction. (Okay, throw in the unlicensed drivers, too.)

Weeping may be the least we can do. Health professionals confirm that gnashing of teeth and grabbing for flying insects that aren’t there--as well as unintelligible babbling--are symptoms on a lengthening list.  

Summer has flown by. It’s hard to write about the end of summer nearing as I sit here with the mercury topping out at 102 degrees Tuesday afternoon, but back to school time is here.

The lazy days of summer are gone and everything is gearing up for the fall frenzy.

Two-a-days started Monday in Jacksboro with football players taking part in two morning practices. 

The band kids started practicing last week. 

The Jacksboro Lions Club packed the bus and as this paper hits the newsstands, the Jacksboro Back to School Fair will be underway.

Professional historians have consistently in the past 30 years listed the following five as “Great” presidents:

George Washington (federalist), Abraham Lincoln (republican), Thomas Jefferson (democrat), Franklin Roosevelt (democrat) and Woodrow Wilson (democrat).

Near greats have been: Theodore Roosevelt (republican), Harry Truman (democrat), Ronald Reagan (republican) and Lyndon Johnson (democrat).

We’re in it now — the dog days of summer.

It’s that time of year when we avoid the outdoors for fear of death. It’s the time when it takes a while to cool off after spending any amount of time outside after 10 a.m.

Why is it called the dog days of summer?

According to National Geographic, the dog days refer to the dog star, Sirius, and its position in the heavens.

To the Greeks and Romans, the “dog days” occurred when Sirius appeared to rise just before the sun in late July.

A few friends from 50 years ago still remember our wedding day--August 12, 1966. The occasion is a conversation starter when we gather.

Brenda and I smile, our memories quickly rekindled by unlikely occurrences at the ceremony.

Friends and kin remember it for obvious reasons. It rained hard in Alpine, TX, that day. Gullies gushed through the arid land, where ranchers joke about occasional six-inch rains--when drops land six inches apart. During the storm, lightning danced across the sky, one bolt striking First Methodist Church….

Oil and natural gas became a part of the Republican convention in Cleveland when Oklahoma oilman Harold Hamm told delegates that Donald Trump wants to make the U.S. energy independent.

It has been rumored that Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources in Oklahoma City, will be appointed to Secretary of Energy if Trump is elected. 

Following the sacred deer, the first people emerge from the serpent-filled underwater world in the west. Lighting their way with torches, they walk east toward what they came to call Dawn Mountain. Once they reach the high ground, the deer that willingly led them from the abyss beneficently sacrifices itself. 

When the deer falls, its carcass suddenly blooms with peyote buttons. The vision-producing plant even grows from the tips of the deer’s antlers. Eating the deer, the people become gods, and the world begins.

Nothing short of Uncle Mort’s enrollment in a ballerina class would have equaled the shocking “PS” on last year’s Christmas card.

My mother was the ultimate list maker. On Saturday mornings, with her extra cup of coffee and a stenographer’s pad (spiral at the top), she made THE LIST. We all were all to keep working until it was done. It wasn’t a big list, but it did get the work done quickly so the afternoon could be spent doing what we wanted: watching television, reading, doing homework, or ironing.