Columnists
MUGGED ON MY BIRTHDAY!
Last month, I celebrated my 79th birthday. My wife and son tried to find me the perfect gift. But I am a very difficult person to shop for. I know this because my mother started telling me this when I was three years old. To help them, I Googled “Gifts for men in their 80s.” I…
Read MoreIf You Don’t Have A Photo to Prove It . . .
Photos courtesy Andy Chandler Combat photographer Dickey Chappelle advised journalists that: If you can’t prove it happened with a picture, it didn’t happen. Fall is a fun time to be a photographer; it’s as if nature is a canvas backdrop for a cornucopia of colors. It was into that backdrop that I found myself at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Ill. The rolling hills and fall foliage during Lincoln’s time…
Read MorePurdue Senior Trio Finish Atop Boilermaker Record Book
Photos courtesy Purdue Athletics In addition to helping Purdue end a 44-year Final Four drought during their careers, Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn depart as the highest scoring senior trio in Boilermaker men’s basketball history. Smith (1,932 points), Loyer (1,829) and Kaufman-Renn (1,655) combined for 5,416 points to finish eighth, 11th and 19th on the…
Read MoreBen Goldsmith’s Brother Was Aptly Named
From Time to Thyme By Paula Dun When I began working on this column, I I thought it was just going to be about a bizarre tale I found in the April 26, 1906 Hamilton County Times involving a former Noblesville resident, Benjamin “Ben” Goldsmith. As I did the background research, however, I realized he…
Read MoreLast Soldier Killed in Civil War Was Hoosier
Photos courtesy Andy Chandler Portland, Indiana. May 2025. Ask most people when the Civil War ended; they’ll tell you it was when General Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox on April 9, 1865. History buffs like an effect as great as the cause, complete with brave men. The last of the chivalry ends with two gentlemen meeting in a parlor. However, the Civil War didn’t end with a dramatic crescendo and curtain call of…
Read MoreAsk Rusty – Help! My Monthly Payment is Less
Dear Rusty: My last Social Security payment decreased by about $400, so I went to my online SS account and found a November 2025 letter explaining that my 2024 tax return showed a greatly enlarged AGI (Adjusted Gross Income). Thus, SSA decided to withdraw monies, as of Jan 2026, from my bank account because I’d owed far more monies to them! The…
Read MoreTrio Leave Huge Shoes to Fill for Purdue Basketball
Braden Smith may not have repeated as the Big Ten Conference Player of the Year or become the first two-time winner of the Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s best point guard. However, the Indiana Mr. Basketball from Westfield did claim consensus first-team All-America honors. After earning first-team All-America citations from the United States Basketball…
Read MoreLittle Beds of Flowers, Little Cans of Paint
From Time to Thyme By Paula Dunn I’ve had the phrase, “spring cleaning,” rattling around in my head ever since I mentioned it in a column a couple of weeks ago. Our attitudes toward that practice sure have changed over the years. These days we tend to take a rather casual approach to spring cleaning. Thanks…
Read MoreBranna Takes Wrong Kind of Trip
What’s black and blue and hurts all over? Well, that would be my face, neck, shoulder and left wrist! It may be spring break, but my trip wasn’t to the Bahamas. It was to the ER. Yes, late Saturday night, I became a statistic. Falls are a leading cause of injury-related death and hospitalization, particularly among…
Read MoreGETTING A LEG UP
My wife walks faster than I do. If I hadn’t broken into a full gallop down the aisle the day we got married, she’d have beaten me to the justice of the peace by a nose. I’ve mentioned this before in this column, but things have gotten much worse and far more embarrassing When we…
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