Archive : Observer Columnists

The woman in the wheelchair across the room writhed in pain, tears dripping onto her faded blue dress. Her husband wearily patted her shoulder, his face lined with worry for her. We had come to the emergency room with my 83-year old father who had begun...

WINNER: Hilliard High School’s football team, the Flashes, which FINALLY won a game this season. Breaking a five-game losing streak, Hilliard finally managed to prevail 14-6 over Oakleaf, who I’ve never even heard of before. Nevertheless,...

It was just two years ago that the punditocracy was writing obituaries for the Republican party. And indeed, the GOP was in disarray. Democrats held solid majorities in the House and Senate, and had just won the White House. Tuesday night, the pendulum...

There are some folks who think you can say you are a member of a political party and attack your own party’s candidates during an election. I disagree. We have a multiparty system in this country. Not a two-party system as some would say, for anyone...

For years, driving across the Matthews Bridge, I’d look down at the old Ford assembly plant and think about what a great location it has on the river, and wondered how it appeared inside. The photographer in me had always wanted to have an opportunity...

I don’t believe that there is a separation of church and state. If you are a member of church and you vote, you know what I mean. I have been visiting various churches for several weeks with a candidate who I am hoping will be elected to office in a...

WINNER: Pickleball! Although it sounds like a disgusting type of cuisine, it’s apparently sort of a scaled-up version of ping pong. It is played on tennis courts, but uses hard racquets (wood or graphite) and a hard plastic ball with holes to reduce...

I am tired of men like Dick Brown, Mike Corrigan, Ronnie Fussell, Kevin Hyde, Stephen Joost, Art Shad and especially the President of the City Council, Jack Webb pretending that they are Republicans and voting like Nancy Pelosi. Let me say this publicly...

WINNER: BRAAAIIIIINNNNSSSS!!!! At least, according to a bunch of zombies gathered at the Jacksonville Landing on Sunday in observance of World Zombie Day. Hoardes of people dressed as zombies, as well as others who came as zombie “hunters”...

UNLIKELY WINNER: Toll roads. Yes, you read that right! Marty Lanahan, current chair of the Florida Transportation Commission, raised eyebrows and ire on Tuesday by seriously proposing the idea of bringing toll roads back to Jacksonville, which ousted...