Just as I tore past them, hurrying – always hurrying – into the small general store, I heard the old man speak to the younger one sitting beside him. Both were relaxing in folding aluminum lawn chairs.

It was a long time before we got cell phones, and then only to be able to reach each other when one was on the lake and the other at home. And that’s only possible when the one on the boat bothers to have his turned on.

McKay Hatch’s No Cussing Club was all over the news recently. McKay is now a freshman at South Pasadena High School in South Pasadena, Calif. Last year, McKay got his fill of his peers’ cursing and swearing, and he decided he couldn’t take it any more.

For two people who think so much alike, sometimes The Wife and I don’t always define things the same way. Last weekend was a good example.

I have come across some errors in the official records that I feel need to be addressed before we go any farther on the Cole family we've been researching for the past few weeks. I had given you some deed information on Richard Cole, the earliest ancestor we have found so far for one Cole family, who purchased land in Coweta in 1829 and 1832. The first record was accurate except possibly for the county of residence of the seller, Lazarus Tilman. The second deed contained a serious error in location.

Republicans show more optimism about race relations than do Democrats.

A June 2007 Gallup Poll asked Republicans and Democrats to rate relations between blacks and whites. Among Democrats, 67 percent said relations were “somewhat good” or “very good,” while 77 percent of Republicans gave those answers.

One of the difficulties that church leaders face is defining “success.” For the most part, success in the church is defined in the same way that it is in society.

The sound bite presidential campaign of Barack Obama — working to transform itself into the sound bite presidency of Barack Obama — delivers a puzzling judgment on the Iraq war. It is that the war, to quote Obama, has “made the American people less safe.”

Do any of the prospective nominees of either party deserve respect from the American people? The answer partially depends on your knowledge, values and respect for the U.S Constitution.

With my first session in the General Assembly now complete, I am pleased to report that we passed many of the important pieces of legislation that I have outlined for you earlier and those are now on the way to the governor’s desk for signature.

Certain events imprint the mind with images time cannot erase. People of one generation recall where they were when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. People of another remember where they were when John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Upfront, I’ll tell you: This is a column that somebody out there – maybe more than one somebody – needs to read.

The hot topic of the 1984 McKay Elementary School Science Fair, at least in the mind of a charming, fourth grade boy with the initials M.B., was acid rain. He had read about this in an issue of National Geographic, which came to his home faithfully thanks to a gift from his Grampy.

For the anthem last Sunday, our chancel choir sang, “I Love To Tell the Story.” As I was singing with them, I looked out over the congregation and noticed that a number of people were mouthing the words along with us. Clearly, it was a favorite of many, however old-fashioned it was. So, as we got down to the final chorus, God led me to just invite the congregation to sing along and they did with such gusto that they clapped at the end!

Less than a week ago, a couple of us were forming plans to “do” one more lunch together, as sister and brothers in a unique family. We’ve tried to do this annually, but this time we waited too long.

We're going to temporarily suspend our study of the Cole families in Coweta and Meriwether to announce an upcoming event in Fayette some of you may wish to attend.

It was a quiet Saturday night for the first time in nearly nine months.

In early July of last year, my son’s home burned. He, his wife, and the children escaped the blaze in the early hours of the morning, but, in spite of the fact that firefighters were on the scene immediately, most of what they owned was lost.

The emerging theme is regulation, as in, don’t we need more of it? Democrats certainly think we do.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s plan to overhaul the regulatory structure for financial institutions gives Democrats a vested interest in disliking it, or appearing to anyway, on account of its birthplace — the Bush administration.

Dad wouldn’t allow any animals to live in our house when we were growing up. He didn’t want anything else to feed or clean up after.

There was a real irony in the recent intervention by the Federal Reserve System to provide the money that enabled the firm of JPMorgan Chase to buy Bear Stearns before it went bankrupt.

The psychology of victimhood and the politics of envy are powerful political tools and we see them being exploited this political season.

Pope Benedict XVI last week baptized a man into the Catholic Church. The man, Magdi Allam, had converted from another faith. There is nothing unusual about that. People convert from non-faith to faith, or from one religion to another, or within faiths to different denominations all the time. However, this conversion was different.

Our work at the Capitol is coming to an end for this legislative session and I happy to report that we have already accomplished many of the goals we set forth in January.

When Ferrol Sams, one of the most beloved writers of Southern literature, was inducted into his native Georgia’s Writers of Hall of Fame, he did not let the moment pass without taking the opportunity to underscore one of life’s most enduring truths.

Romans 15:13 says, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

When Carol responded to my e-mail message late last summer, we swapped autobiographies, compared memories of our early childhoods in Harrisburg, Pa., and marveled at how easy it is sometimes to find people from your past.

[A rebuttal letter follows this column.]

A Column of Opinion — I’ve voted Republican for a quarter century, but I’m wishing I had some choices other than loony Democrats and hardcore “looking out for number one” Libertarians.

Latest exhibit: Senate Bill 458. Here is where ideological theory got pounded by political reality.

And its aftermath demonstrates how our GOP leaders — including senators Ronnie Chance (R-Tyrone) and Mitch Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg), who are hard at work covering their posteriors before elections later this year — just don’t get it.

As if a housing crisis, rising energy costs and a soft labor market weren’t enough to cause economic anxiety for the average American, now consumers are feeling the pinch of rapidly escalating food costs.

In his Big Speech defending his 20-year membership in a church headed by a racist, anti-Semitic, sexist, conspiracy-believing pastor, Democratic candidate Barack Obama says America needs a frank “talk” about race.

As Hillary Clinton starts to fade away, or so it appears, John McCain faces both new obstacles and opportunities in his quest for the White House. The question is, will he be “helped” in the same way Bob Dole was in 1996?