Cecil Wright wants to keep serving his country. The Army always is looking for a few good men. And Wright has a long, honorable record as a master sergeant assigned to the Army National Guard in Bartonville.

Don't sell her short. She might be different from you and me – she was the 1984 runner up in the Miss Alaska contest, and I wasn't – but just because she is different, doesn't mean you should dismiss her. I don't think jokes about her being another Spiro Agnew or Dan Quayle are going to fly. As I recall, those two guys were on the tickets that won.

It is embarrassing at times when people ask me what I do for a living and I tell them that I work for a newspaper.

The date hit, a palpable sensation. It struck the back of my head, traveled down my spine and landed with a discernible thud in my stomach.

We just finished celebrating Labor Day, and it had me wondering just exactly what we were supposed to be celebrating, and if we all celebrated the same thing.

While researching the first ladies, I began wondering about the 43 sitting presidents and what kind of lives they had lived, so I went digging. There are 137 named and known mistresses of presidents.

It feels as if one of my family’s best friends is moving far, far away – so far away we will be unable to reach them through phone or e-mail. I’m speaking of the Patterson family from “For Better or For Worse,” which this week neatly wrapped up its 28-year story line by revealing when the grandfather would die, what the next grandchild would be named, and the future of all its main characters.

I generally feel a little tentative when writing about my cat. That’s because a former editor – a dog person to the tip of his wet nose – would bark at me, “Another cat column!”

Last spring, Chinese basketball star Yao Ming suffered a stress fracture to his left foot, prematurely ending his season with the NBA’s Houston Rockets.

Sales of homeopathic products have grown dramatically in recent years. However, few consumers likely understand exactly what they’re buying.

Franklin Roosevelt of course had Missy LeHand, who had been his secretary as his mistress. I discovered he had had an affair with his wife’s secretary, Lucy Page Mercer. Eleanor made him end the liason with the threat of divorce, but Mercer was with him when he died. Franklin Roosevelt also had an affair with Crown Princess Marta of Norway – when did he find time to run the country, one wonders?

Through some eight decades of determined scholarship, I have made a strenuous effort to become as thoroughly acquainted with all the moral codes of civilized society and all codes of honor adopted by law to regulate human behavior as possible.

I like my words like old pennies, worn down, slick from handling but still the most basic of coins. Trouble is, these days a lot of people like their words to be like those big, shiny “commemorative coins” they sell on television. They’re shiny, alright, but they cost more than they’re worth.

OMG! Did you hear Bristol Palin is pregnant? Five months along! Her mom says she’s gonna keep the kid and marry the guy.