He loved serving the community of Oxford

He’d been shot, stabbed, survived numerous accidents and hemorrhagic fever, and in the end lifelong Oxford resident and 25-year Oxford policeman, Stephen Gordon Burnham died peacefully in a hospital bed, Feb. 13, 2009. He was 56 years old. According to his wife of 12-years, Janet, ‘Gordy? as he was known by some, had battled non-Hodgkin […]

He loved serving the local community

He’d been shot, stabbed, survived numerous accidents and the Dengue Fever, and in the end lifelong Oxford resident and 25-year Oxford policeman, Stephen Gordon Burnham died peacefully in a hospital bed, Feb. 13, 2009. He was 56-years old. According to his wife of 12-years, Janet, ‘Gordy? as he was known by some, had battled non-Hodgkin […]

Oxford School administration in a pitiful state-of-mind

As I write, my mind is racing. It wants to break loose with a razor sharp attack. It wants to stingingly write something from the hip, laying waste to those with closed minds. But, the new Zen-Don who sits on my right shoulder whispered into my ear. “Be a part of the solution. The solution […]

Hey, I’m just like Oprah!

In 1986, the world’s population was around 4.932 billion. Twenty years later, it has ballooned. There are now between 6 billion and 6.6 billion of us bipedal humanoids traversing the earth. This, despite that fact that in 1986 the Soviet Union’s nuclear power plant in Cherynobl sprung a leak. Twenty years. The more things change, […]

Silence Dogood, schools and The Leader

In recent weeks a scuttlebutt of sorts has run its course through town . . . be it that as it was, the straw which broke the proverbial camel’s hump, was an e-column your humble scribe penned. (Note to readers, you’ll notice other columns to click onto, two are columns I wrote, Can’t Ride the […]

Friday is ‘Saint? Sean’s Day

John Theodore Rush — aka Sean — is either blessed or cursed. Son Sean’s birthday is March 17 — affectionately called Saint Sean’s Day by Clan Rush. By the way, those not familiar with Celtic (K-eltic) takes on English spellings, the name Sean is not pronounced Seen nor Scene. It’s Sean, excuse me . . […]

Can’t ride the pine at election time

As I sit at the computer and stare aimlessly into space, my throat is kinda dry. Through my mind’s eye I see a shriveled up tumbleweed rolling across a dusty street. And, although I feel like Gary Cooper at high noon, I hear the theme song from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, playing. There’s […]

‘Dear Don . . . Good GRIEF!?

In this modern age of high-tech electronic gizmos, I actually get feedback on my wonderful, literate and always grammatically correct columns. Before e-mail got big, I wrote in a vacuum — only to receive comments if somebody was REALLY mad. And, they must have been upset, because they would have to take the time to […]

Detroit Zoo closure gets the kids in gear

Once in a while as a parent — okay, as a dad — your kids do something that really makes you puff out your chest and brim with sin — I mean pride. (Pride is still a sin, isn’t it, even if you are of Irish lineage?) * * * A couple of Sundays ago […]

String, pencil & tack marketing

I recently read about ‘low tech marketing’s prince,? postcards. And, I got to pondering that bit of marketing prose, in relations to low-tech marketing’s king — community newspapers. There is no doubt, postcards are a great part of any marketing strategy employed by small businessfolk. Heck, we use them. We send out about 40,000 a […]