Feels strange around here without Mike

The walls around this office are filled with awards that Mike Brown is responsible for winning, but he’s no longer here and it already feels very strange even though he’s only been gone since last Friday. I’m not sure how to act.

Volunteers needed for early response team

Since we lost the hospitals in December 2018 your county government has worked hard to improve our medical care in the county. Several good things have happened. We now have clinics in Thorndale, Rockdale and Cameron.

Looking back... Through The Reporter Files

100 YEARS AGO... In regular meeting of the commissioners court of Milam County, $8,000 of jail bonds and $15,000 courthouse bonds were redeemed and canceled by the court. They represented the last indebtedness against the jail and courthouse.

Watch your tongue

It’s an old youth pastor illustration but it is true and it’s good. What you do is you take a tube of toothpaste and you squirt some toothpaste on a plate and then you ask people to put the toothpaste back into the tube. You really can’t do it is the point, and so it is with our words, right?

Beautiful psalms for a worried spirit

As Christians, we are called to trust in God every day, but putting your total trust in Him can be hard some days. We are continually battling our fears, worries, and anxieties. The more we worry, the more it can hurt our physical, mental and emotional health.

Brilliant, loyal editor and friend: God speed

We grew old together, Mike Brown and I. Of course, I was 15 years his senior when I hired him in 1974, so I grew really old. I’ve seen his full head of dark, curly hair gradually add salt and finally turn white. My eternal flattop just sheds a lot, taking root in my ears. So it goes.

The last one: Till we meet again

Well, here it is, the last column after 46 years working at The Reporter. I’ve always known this day was coming and, amazingly, I’ve always known what I was going to say.

Top 10 things I like about the pandemic

I’m trying to find a silver lining in all this pandemic business, and I think I’ve succeeded. It started with a shift in my attitude about small things like hand washing. I must admit that before the coronavirus I sometimes shirked my responsibilities in the hand-washing department.

Looking back...

100 YEARS AGO... Probably the most disastrous fire in the history of Cameron occurred when the Cameron compress was completely destroyed by fire, thought to have been of incendiary origin.

God is with you

I’ve got a friend who I love a lot and he told me the other day that most of his life he has felt like the third monkey trying to get on the Ark. I relate to that struggle. No matter who you are, life is full of “stuff” and stuff happens. Job 5:7 tells us, “man is born for trouble.