Bylined newspaper columns, especially with pictures of the writer, are personal columns. Jim’s Jottings is one of those. Regular readers (last week’s) may remember I said that would be the last you’d read of THE Open House. I lied. I didn’t mean to, but to write this column, which is intended to promote sympathy, The […]
Think short, write short, hold on to your readers During my decades of owning a half dozen weekly newspapers, I urged writing ‘short.? I’d tell new reporters, ‘get in, get out and go to the obituaries.? They didn’t do it. Journalism professors, and all other breeds of academes, think thesis. Make it long to prove […]
? Does the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) have as many American speaking news readers and commentators as ABC, Fox, CBS and NBC has Britishers? England’s Christiana Amanpor is being promoted here lately. ? Do couples really have ‘Cialis? moments? You’ve seen the commercials. ? Seriously reader, don’t you wonder sometimes how much money organizations like […]
I live on an increasingly popular, formerly gravel, now blacktopped rural road (or so it was when we moved here in 1971). However, rural it isn’t now. In the past five years over 300 homes have been built in/on/off a 2-mile stretch of my once-quiet street. Increased traffic brings an increasing assortment of people, which […]
Throughout most of my adult life, and that’s over 50 years, I’ve had good thoughts about Michigan’s utility companies. They’ve been good at what they do – supply communications, fuel and electricity. Consumers Energy, Detroit Edison and AT&T. They’ve been almost like family, there when we need them. I’ve never met a utility worker, those […]
Many years ago I asked Lake Orion’s eminent guru and handyman Bud Schaar to hook up a building to the town’s sewers. Some weeks went by with no action. I called Bud to ask why. He said, ‘I’m like the government. First you have to name a committee then appropriate some funds.? He started right […]
Perhaps it was the advent of an approaching birthday, but for some reason I looked up some of my old columns. Goodness gracious, I’ve been writing a personal weekly column for nearly 49 years. I started with a sports column September 2, 1954 while covering the St. Johns High School Redwings for the Clinton County […]
Last March, the Waco, Texas Environmental Quality office received a complaint. It was alleged that David Cousins leased out a hunting cabin and allowed hunters to defecate in the woods. It was also alleged there is no restroom, and Mr. Cousins is planning to extend plumbing into a creek next to the cabin. The complaint […]
For about two-thirds of a year there’s no such thing as a good tasting tomato in Michigan markets. Oh, they look good. Red, ripe and round, except for the Romas. But for a person who compares tomatoes with luxury cars, the Romas, vine ripened and greenhouse grown tomatoes are the junkyard Edsels of tomatoes. Oh, […]
I’m among the dullest knives in the drawer, but I didn’t need our electrical supplier to tell me how hot the last 30 days were. I got even hotter when I saw their most recent bill was $90 more than the same period in 2009. Edison explained: ‘Average temperatures for this billing were nine degrees […]