One of my favorite all-time lines from a movie is from 1967’s Cool Hand Luke, starring Paul Newman: “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” The Federal Reserve...

You can look around almost all small towns and see empty spaces, closed buildings, stores that that have gone out of business. It’s a scar on the community that doesn’t...

The lady in front of me was digging in her purse for change with a baby on one hip when I walked up to the checkout. My first thought was that I was in a big hurry, and...

Welcome. Welcome to Texas. Welcome to East Texas. Welcome to Cherokee County. I have been amazed the last few years at the number of people choosing to move to our...

When someone who owes a debt doesn’t pay, the lender will usually take action – by phone, letter, or even a court case – to collect the money they are owed. In some cases,...

I’ve been asked to write about the Coca-Cola bottling company in Jacksonville. To do justice to the story about the family business, I must first begin with my...

As I write this article, I doubt that the majority of our readers will be getting on a commercial jet today and we certainly wouldn’t expect that...

The recent discovery of a financial discrepancy in the Cherokee County tax office got me to thinking. How common is embezzlement, theft, corruption or “misappropriation” of...

Editor’s note: In reference to the Sept. 18-24 Banned Books Week, Jacksonville Library Director Trina Stidham answers several questions about the local library and the...

There’s been a lot of improvements in public education over the past several years. One of the great improvements is how many school districts are now teaching basic money...

Our recent annual Christmas in July event, benefiting the Cherokee County Rainbow Room, ended with a very generous supply of clothing, diapers and...

In recent days, a number of the public schools in Cherokee County have embarked on a new school year, with New Summerfield the first to start on Aug. 8, and Rusk schools...

News-making events are nothing new to Alto and what occurred last week with the UIL is just another in a long line of unfortunate luck that has...

The technology-driven NASDAQ just finished its worst 6 months to start to a year ever. The S&P 500 Index finished its worst start of a year since 1970. Does this mean...

Abortion. This word by itself has brought so much controversy among today's Americans. In a recent turn of events, Roe V. Wade was overturned by...