Shelby Says: It’s never too early for Christmas joy

It’s no secret that I love decorating for Christmas. Anyone who has walked by The Citizen offices has seen our little historic Ortonville village in one of our windows, and Santa and all nine of his reindeer in the other window. One of my highlights of the season is seeing little kids walking by with […]

Shelby Says: Daylight doesn’t need saving

Now that daylight saving time is over and it gets dark at 5 p.m. every day, I have to say I don’t like daylight saving time. I know why it was created, which was to get more use out of daylight in general, but I’m not a big sunlight person to begin with. I like […]

Clouds continue to hang over Michigan’s government transparency laws

BY WES SMITH View Newspaper Group Publisher and Michigan Press Association President When there was a change in leadership in Michigan’s legislature earlier this year, hope rose again in the hearts of citizens who want a more transparent state government. Maybe, it was thought by those citizens, the time has finally come for Michigan to […]

Shelby Says: To read or not to read

I recently made a ‘to-be-read’ jar, full of pieces of paper with the titles of the books I currently own, but haven’t read. I didn’t count them as I was writing them down, but I can say I have a log of all of my books (probably around 500 at this point) and I’ve read […]

Shelby Says: ‘Tis the season

Now that the chilly weather is here and October is well underway, I’m happy to say I am an autumn person. When people ask me my favorite time of year, I always say ‘holiday season’ which starts in October with Halloween and goes through Christmas in December. I’ve always dressed up for Halloween with enthusiasm, […]

Shelby Says: Memories of a high school graduate

I recently had my 10-year high school reunion. 26 of us class of 2013 Richmond High School graduates sat around the park near where we all grew up with over a dozen yearbooks, talking about things that happened over our school years and laughing about some funny memories. I thought I’d share a few of […]

Shelby Says: Life is a mystery

I’ve recently been obsessed with a free, online, daily game called Murdle. It’s a daily mystery puzzle, and anyone who knows me knows I love mystery. As a kid, my favorite cartoon was Scooby Doo. I’ve dressed up for Halloween as both Velma and Daphne multiple times. I saw both the live action movies in […]

School days, school days, I followed the rules those days.

School days, school days, I followed the rules those days.

This week sure as heck feels like a “back to school” week. Which makes sense, of course, because most kids are back to school after their summer breaks. When I write “feels like” back to school time, I mean my internal clock/calendar registers in my brain, “summer is over, back to the books.” There is […]