The First Amendment is not in Kansas anymore. It died in the Jayhawk State this week. Newspaper co-owner dies after police raid.

Bob will always exemplify the can-do spirit of American entrepreneurship and community leadership. He did so much for Highland County. More than most of us will ever know. Godspeed, my friend. You will be missed. Thank you for every word of encouragement.

Yes, laughter is the best medicine. While this column may lack depth (what do you want for nothing, a rubber biscuit?), I'll close with this: Here's to four more years for Turd Ferguson; we all need the jocularity. Thanks, Joe, and the Cackler. Good health to the POTUS.

On Independence Day, July 4, let us not forget to think about the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence and the prices many paid for their respective commitments to forming a new nation.

Since at least March 2013, Hillsboro city officials have been made aware that the city's lodging (motel) tax was improperly levied. Since 2013, Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins has told anyone who would listen that this tax should not have been levied.  So has The Highland County Press.

There happens to be a little hole-in-the-wall joint in Adams County – in Winchester, to be precise – that does barbecue as well as anyone else in our neck of the woods. It's called Smokin' J's BBQ, located on S.R. 136 near the center of Winchester. In fact, Smokin' J's BBQ is on par with the famous Jack's Bar-B-Que at 416 Broadway in Nashville. Yes, the Ryan clan has been to both.

A tip of the cap (or mortarboard) goes to Washington Schools Superintendent Tom Bailey, Board of Education members Jennifer Lynch, Mark Chrisman, Kenneth Upthegrove, Zach Camp and Dennis Garrison and the faculty and administration. The new graduates will come to appreciate all you've done through the years. I'm guessing their parents also appreciated a formal and dignified commencement ceremony for the class of 2023 – a great example of how it should be done.

This past week’s mail brought a couple of interesting items. First off, while I was anticipating the arrival of a new gas cap for my wife’s Jeep Compass to correct an emissions issue, the package that arrived felt more like a hardcover book than a Jeep gas cap. Much to my surprise, I received a copy of Dr. Robert T. Sharp’s new book, “The Bull in the Darkness and the One-Eyed Dog,” a followup to his well-received classic, “No Dogs in Heaven? Scenes from the Life of a Country Veterinarian.”

If any of us needed to hear that word more than the others, it was me. There is parental value in saying "no" to some of the whims of your children. They will thank you for it later in life. Happy Mother's Day to all good mothers everywhere.

A 4-year-old girl is being punished – both financially and inherently – for the sole reason that she had the audacity to be conceived out of wedlock in a brief relationship that proved compromising for the first family. For that, her existence does not register with the Bidens. 

Recent public meetings have had ample debate regarding the disbursement of what are taxpayers' dollars. That is not necessarily a bad thing.

Special thanks is extended to two area residents – Bob Hodson and Jim Lukens – for recently sharing a bit of local history with The Highland County Press.

Buc-ee's are located in Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee, with new locations planned for Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Virginia, and Wisconsin. There's land available for development along the Appalachian Highway (Route 32) in Ohio. Who knows? Maybe the Buckeye State is in Buc-ee's future. Just south of Beaver in Pike County would seem appropriate.

In true Iron Man Mark Purdy fashion, let's delve into one of those infamous "Better Mail Than Jail" columns on this cold, late January day. The HCP mailbag news begins on a positive note with a recent handwritten letter from our friend Bob Hodson. Bob wrote that he was going through some files and found a 2011 column I'd written about the passing of Country Music DJ Radio Hall of Fame member Chuck Collier.

"I have always had a deep faith in God and through all of this, I have asked Him to guide me all the way. I have been reminded over and over again of the greatness of God. Not my will, but His. He was my God before all this started, and He will be my God throughout Eternity. Again, thank you all." – Betty Bishop, April 2022