THE SHELBY INDEPENDENT

By Chuck Thompson | The Sunday Column OPINION — There’s only so many “types” of people in politics. When I look at a local elected official or candidate I always see them as a local version of someone else in history. I’ll look at one person and say well there’s the Bill Clinton or the Ronald Reagan, The Julius Caesar or the John Adams of Cleveland County. Oh, look, there’s the Andrew Jackson of the school board; there’s the Kennedy, Carter, Taft, Hoover or the Honorius (an i

By Chuck Thompson | The Shelby Independent OPINION — In the wake of a legal letter written by the county, earlier this week the county held a tour of the long-anticipated new Justice Center, the largest and most expensive project ever conceived and constructed by Cleveland County government. However, in its intent to rein in public scrutiny, after having the panel of a local political show first try to cover for an embarrassing reveal of information, the county then published

By Chuck Thompson | The Sunday Column OPINION – After the Civil War (a name that incorrectly identifies this pivotal historical event), many of the former Confederate Generals waged a war of ink and paper against each other, many in Northern newspapers, accusing one another of treason (of all things), incompetence, and several other personal traits that go beyond the full measure of battlefield decisions. If only these 19th Century Southern celebrities, who held the populace’

By Chuck Thompson | Shelby Independent Christine Hayes waves as others throw candy from the Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church wagon float during the Lattimore 4th of July parade OPINION – Lattimore is the small-town place to be. It really is. The 4th of July in Lattimore felt like one of those movie towns. It almost didn’t seem real – but it was, it is. Having just been less than two weeks out since I had a heart attack, I wanted to go to the parade but knew I had to take it easy

By Chuck Thompson | Opinion (Not the Sunday Column) OPINION – I’ve covered about a dozen different counties and a plethora of city and town councils in my career, but Thursday night was the first time I left any governing body public meeting so angry that I sent them a bill for my mileage and my time. They don’t have to pay it, it’s only a request, but I sent them one. (see photo below) I can promise you that the city has probably spent $48 on a lot of dumber and more pointl

By Chuck Thompson | The Sunday Column OPINION / HUMOR – There’s a reason you always see people smiling, it’s friendly / warming, healthy and contagious. People are more likely to buy a product or vote for a person that smiles than not. Miss America contestants don’t smile because they want to; they smile because it makes a difference to the judges and the audience. Smiling can also be comical, depending on the situation. In the movie Elf, staring Will Ferrell, his character

By Chuck Thompson | The Sunday Column OPINION / HUMOR – Pants and politics go hand-in-hand. They do. It’s true. Pants and politics go “hand-in-hand,” even though you wear them on your legs; I guess one could say they sometimes can help get a leg up on the competition, and other times they’ll have you tripping over your own feet, so to speak. There’s so many sayings / puns / metaphors associated with pants: Caught with your pants down Keep your pants on. Fly by

OPINION – I’ll go ahead and tell you now, this will be this last new Sunday Column for the year; next week’s will be a rerun, because like everyone else, I need time off for the holidays, too. I don’t have a staff of employees to fall back on. For 98.5% of the work, it's only me. Even if it’s a wire news story, or not, or my amazingly talented freelancer Lauren Becatti, who has contributed a few news article to build her portfolio, has quite simply been a big help and I hope