September 2023

A couple of weeks ago, as you are reading this, one of our female members of Congress found herself in an embarrassing situation. I will state first thing that I am not condemning her for her actions. I have not always been a pillar of respectability myself. In my younger years, and especially in the middle age crazy days/years, I did some rather sketchy things I would not now care to relate. When one is young and the hormones are flowing and the passions run high, one does not always make good decisions. I know for a certainty that I didn’t. But it mattered little to the rest of the world, as I was only another leaf on the tree of mankind. I have often thought in the last couple of decades that candidates should be subjected to focused emotional and psychological tests before being allowed to run for public office. And I do not assume that even these would clean up the sandbox, because sometimes those who find themselves in important positions of responsibility sometimes allow it to influence their self images and ego adversely. It is not a new thing. The old Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith, in the 1830s while struggling to place followers in positions of responsibility, put it quite eloquently. “We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.” He went on to say how they would try as they exercised that authority they would seek to enlarge it sometimes two fold. I am sure we have all seen that happen in our lives - at work or at other community functions. Our forefathers stated that we all have the basic rights to “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” The first two are givens, but the third need to be governed, as that pursuit can affect others around us; sometimes slightly, sometimes severely. I think I noticed that Pam Lowe mentioned sometime back that Arkansas Governor Sanders was trying t

For your reading enjoyment, we continue to publish Rambling Vines by the late Marylea Vines as she recalls events and names of Corning folks from many years ago. We are currently in the year 1989 Talk about a spectacle… I bet that a lot of people get a “charge” out of watching me “walk” Putter.