When it comes to power, I see the ladies

EDITOR’S CORNER Isaw the late Barbara Bush exactly once in her life. She never knew it, but I saw her. It was early in the season on a perfect spring day in Houston’s Minute Maid Park.

Some classified ads and cold buttermilk

SPOILIN’ THE BROTH Neighbor Grover sez Walt Disney didn’t die; he’s in suspended animation. Some classic classified ads have run in various newspapers hither and yon over time. Of course, none of the following appeared in The Reporter.

It’s coming

EDITORIAL It seems like we’ve all been talking for years about the anticipated revitalization of US 79 through downtown Rockdale with a number of projects simmering on burners, front, back and middle. The talk is going to turn into action, hopefully by this fall. It’s going to be fantastic.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Thanks for public alert on newsprint tariff Dear editor, I really appreciate your letting us know about the tariff on newsprint (Reporter, April 12). It’s a small thing, but important.

10 percent want to be forced to like it

EDITOR’S CORNER Did you see the interesting news last week about Facebook? No, not Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook CEO, testifying before Congress.

How do court reporters keep a straight face?

SPOILIN’ THE BROTH Neighbor Grover sez old musicians never die, they just decompose. For many years, a popular column in the Texas Bar Journal was written by U.S. District Judge Jerry Buchmeyer who collected funny things said in court—Q’s and A’s between lawyers and witnesses.

Not ‘tariff-ic’

EDITORIAL Tariffs have been in the news lately but this isn’t about the big-name ones, steel and aluminum. First, let’s be clear what a tariff is. It’s a tax on something. It’s not necessarily meant to be a revenue producer, although it obviously generates some.

What a time Time had 82 years ago

EDITOR’S CORNER My friend Phyllis “Okie From Just North of Muskogee” Denman brought me two old magazines she unearthed last week. One is a 1952 edition of Household, a magazine I didn’t recognize. But the other is the May 11, 1936, issue of Time.

A good reason artists should sign their work

SPOILIN’ THE BROTH Neighbor Grover sez old accountants never die, they just lose their balance. Picasso, as art lovers know, had his style periods, but his genius was never doubted.

Thoughts from a vacation to East Texas

He told me to tell you that Iwas on vacation more or less last week. We spent some time in one of my happy places (East Texas). We drank coffee out of Marshall Pottery mugs at the Joe Pine Coffee shop, ate hot links at J.B’s in Pittsburg, spent the night in Mt.