Columnists - The Durango Herald

My Grandpa’s garden put baseball in the dugout

As a kid, my memories of a backyard garden are somewhat vague, and honestly, none too pleasant. For me, summer was meant for baseball. Every day in June and July, the script was a...

DATE: Aug 5, 2017 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

Williamson: 75th anniversary of the invasion of Guadalcanal, Aug. 7, 1942

Martin Clemens, a British district officer on Guadalcanal, a large island northeast of Australia, had taken to the hills with his native scouts when the Japanese first arrived in June 1942, ...

DATE: Aug 5, 2017 | CATEGORY: From our Congressman

Schultz: Forced to choose, a veteran gives up on America

PAINESVILLE, Ohio – So many small moments at a rally for immigrants in this northeast Ohio town drove home the growing magnitude of the community’s loss. Children born in America,...

DATE: Aug 5, 2017 | CATEGORY: From our Congressman

Westendorff: Coordinated fire response effective and extraordinary

A little more than a month and nearly 2 inches of rain later, the Lightner Creek Fire that erupted with frightening speed on June 28 is quickly becoming a distant memory, and that is good ne...

DATE: Aug 5, 2017 | CATEGORY: From the Chair

Schultheis: Where is our century’s Gen. Smedley Butler?

On Sept. 1, 1933, a bagman for some of America’s biggest bankers and business executives met with retired Marine Maj. Gen. Smedley Darlington Butler in a Newark, New Jersey, hotel room. The ...

DATE: Aug 5, 2017 | CATEGORY: From our Congressman

Abusive adoptive mother has no right to daughter’s money

DEAR ABBY: I need your advice. I am 41 years old and was adopted at birth. I was raised by an unloving woman who was emotionally, verbally and physically abusive. I persevered, worked ha...

DATE: Aug 5, 2017 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

When is it OK to return to a site of disaster?

Bad things can happen to good places. Like New Orleans, a city forever changed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Or Alabama’s Gulf Coast, peppered by oil pellets after the Deepwater H...

DATE: Aug 4, 2017 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Have you considered adding more purpose to your giving?

As my days seem to get busier at a steady rate, I find myself asking more frequently, “What is the purpose of what I am doing right now?” Answering this question from time to tim...

DATE: Aug 4, 2017 | CATEGORY: Creating Community

Patient Advocates can help with veterans’ needs

The Veterans’ Complaint Hotline is now live. President Donald Trump’s campaign promise of enacting a veterans’ complaint hotline has officially launched. The phone number is (855) 948-2311. ...

DATE: Aug 4, 2017 | CATEGORY: Serving Veterans

How to fish with a Wild Bunch

I used to refer to my daughter’s children as the “World’s Cutest and Smartest Grandchildren.” However, I was called to task by other grandparents who thought their grandchildren were the “Wo...

DATE: Aug 4, 2017 | CATEGORY: Flies & Lies

This summer, this moment in time for Verlena

I caught up with Verlena Collentine recently to check in and see how she’s doing. She is the woman who has terminal ovarian cancer and has stopped all medical intervention as of ...

DATE: Aug 4, 2017 | CATEGORY: Authentic Aging

Sometimes, autopsies aren’t what people want

Sarah Traynor, 7 years old and mildly autistic, was found hanging by a jump rope attached to the top bar of a swing set in her backyard. The Supreme Court of Victoria at Melbourn...

DATE: Aug 4, 2017 | CATEGORY: Coroner's Report