A number of years ago, a small copperhead crawled into the garage of our then neighbors, Ebie and Marilyn Vaughn, and slithered behind some boxes.

We are like the Waffle House — we’re open 24/7. When people don’t know who else to call, they call the police.

Storms fascinate me.   When we lived in Russellville, Arkansas, I often sat on our front porch and watched thunderstorms come across Mount Nebo, several miles in the distance

When I interviewed for the police chief’s position in 2006, then City Manager Craig Meadows gave me a list of things that he wanted the police department to accomplish. At the top of the list was to get the police department nationally accredited through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, or CALEA.

Freshman Rep. Mark Brody of Union County and his fellow Republicans in the state Legislature have plans for a host of new private schools that would siphon students away from public schools. And they want taxpayers to foot the bill.