‘Because the newspaper was essential to my people’

BY SEAN DIETRICH

I miss the newspaper. Before the internet. I’m talking physical newspapers. The kind you unfold.

I miss the morning routine of it all. Walk to the end of the driveway, barefoot, pre-sunrise. Messy hair. Morning breath. Unsheath the newsprint from its plastic. Soy-based ink on your fingers. That low-grade, wood-pulpy newsprint smell.

Also, I miss the design of a newspaper. A newspaper is a work of organizational art. The broadsheet layout, headlines, dropheads, bylines, datelines, section numbers, and… (Continued on A3).

I miss shaking open the paper with a grand gesture, organizing each section on my table, reading pages in a specific order: Funnies first. Sports next. Then, senseless acts of politics.

I miss the corny car-dealership ads. And the ultra-serious advice columns, with headlines like: “Help, my daughter says I wear ‘granny panties,’ what should I do?”

I miss the Far Side.

I miss low-quality photography, op-ed columns written by the extremely self-righteous, crossword puzzles, the classified section, and the “errata” section—I doubt people even know what that is anymore.

I used to deliver newspapers with my mother. Our lives revolved around newspapers. We have hurled—seriously—tens of thousands of papers in our lifetimes.

We serviced the majority of the continental United States in Mama’s little Nissan Altima with a heater that smelled like recently produced cat poop.

At two in the morning, sitting in her front seat, we rolled each copy into a giant enchilada, shoving each paper into a plastic wrapper, while drinking enough coffee to concern a cardiologist.

We delivered to expansive neighborhoods, subdivisions, business districts, apartment complexes, 2000-story beach condos, newspaper machines, hotels, you name it.

But do you know what my favorite part was?

My favorite part of the delivery process came toward the end of our shift. It would be sunrise. Old folks would be standing in driveways, awaiting delivery. The newspaper was THAT important to them.

Mister Oleson stood at his mailbox while his Shih Tzu, Buddha, sniffed each blade of grass before ceremoniously peeing on it.

Mrs. Reynolds, my old Sunday school teacher, waited at the end of her driveway, wearing a mumu, hair in rollers, arms crossed, angrily tapping her foot, scowling, and just generally scaring the crap out of anyone within eyeshot.

And there was this deep feeling, even at my young age, that what we were doing mattered. Delivering the paper mattered.

Because the newspaper was essential to my people. It sort of made us a community. It kept us all on the same page, so to speak.

After all, EVERYONE read the paper. And I think that’s what I liked about it most. People weren’t as divided as they are today.

It didn’t matter if you were Catholic or Protestant. Democrat or Republican. Black, white, brown, or otherwise. University of Alabama fan, or the other kind. Truck-stop waitress or corporate CEO. Steelworker or financial advisor. Gated community resident or trailer trash, like me. Male or female. Old or young. Everyone read the paper. It was OUR newspaper. We all owned a piece of it. Because, hey, we were all in this together.

Sure, we disagreed about what was in our paper. Absolutely, we didn’t always feel warm and fuzzy toward each other. We were vicious opponents sometimes. But you know what? We all did the same crossword puzzles. We all read the same TV-guide schedules. We all clipped the same coupons.

The internet can never replace that for me.

To read more of Sean’s columns, see seandietrick.com 

Editor’s NOTE: I agree with Dietrich’s column – I miss the printed page and seeing people read the newspaper.

My wife and I spent our careers working at newspapers big and small. I’ve worked through the entire process, from writing a story to sending pages to the press on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis for decades. And yes, it was exhilarating, especially when there was a hot story.  

And now, while the news continues to generate headlines in a different form, the days of printed newspapers are over. I wish they weren’t, but it’s true. 

I’ve seen too much of the inside track of this industry, so I know there will come a time, perhaps sooner than later, when there will be no more print and online editions, especially in rural America, certainly Eastern NC.

Last week, dozens of communities in the Midwest and West lost their newspapers after an Illinois-based publisher announced it would abruptly close because of financial problems.

News Media Corp., which owns local newspapers across five states, said it will close 14 operations in Wyoming, seven in Illinois, five in Arizona, four in South Dakota and one in Nebraska. This is a trend I’ve seen in other places.

There are many reasons for this but it doesn’t change the truth – unless you live in a big city, your community will either become a news desert or be served by local online publications, such as the Albemarle Observer, because the legacy news business is in transition with its methods and means of doing business are outdated, no matter where you live. 

Thanks for supporting the Albemarle Observer. Please continue to sign up for a FREE subscription, donate to the cause and advertise. Editor Miles Layton can be reached at mileslayton1969@gmail.com   

The Tale of 2 North Carolinas

BY BRIAN HAMILTON

The report card for North Carolina’s economy is terrific — if you live in Raleigh, Durham, Wilmington, or Charlotte.

I came up in Connecticut, where there are two distinctly different economies and actually two pretty distinct sets of people. In the bottom of Connecticut, you’ve basically got the New Yorkers, who live in Fairfield County. It is pretty much the land of milk and honey, populated with the preppy bourgeois and the smarty pants. There is low unemployment and high opportunity.

In the rest of Connecticut, where I am from, things are different. There is not much opportunity and a largely sagging economy. The old manufacturing plants where my family members once worked are almost all gone. In fact, there has been a net loss of population over the past two decades. It is hard to believe that such a dramatic contrast exists in a state that only takes an hour to cross.

In some ways, it’s equally surprising to experience that same divide more than once in a single lifetime. For example, I came to North Carolina in 1988 to go to school. What I have found is that there is an even more dramatic difference between the haves and the have-nots in North Carolina than there was in Connecticut. If you live in the Triangle area (where I live), or in an area like Mecklenburg County, you are likely to experience strong public schools and good jobs with good wages. Much more importantly, there is a true opportunity for self-advancement. 

Take for example, the Triangle area (home to booming cities like Raleigh, Cary, Durham, Chapel Hill, Wake Forest, Apex, and Morrisville). If you are an entrepreneur, there are dozens of entrepreneurial support groups that can assist you in developing your business. There are also at least three excellent universities that support the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Simply, if you’re trying to rise, I cannot think of a better place to do it than in the Triangle area, even compared to any other part of the country I have visited.

Look at schools and public education. The average SAT score of a kid who graduates from Apex High School is about 1300. Meanwhile, at Beverly Hills High School (yes, the rich place in California), the average SAT score is about 1360. Not much of a difference at all. The point is that the range of difference in education between our metro areas and the most affluent areas of the country is actually very small (note that I am not including parts of urban areas that still face serious economic challenges).

Now, let’s look at the other North Carolina — the areas where not everything is so hunky-dory. The contrast is striking. These areas are home to good, hardworking people who are striving but who do not have nearly the same level of opportunity. They remind me of my hometown of Milford, Connecticut, where solid Americans are often left behind.

One clear example of the disparities within North Carolina can be seen somewhere like Vance County. Currently, the high school graduation rate in Vance County is about 77.1%. That’s significantly lower than Wake County’s 91.4% rate, highlighting the stark educational disparities between neighboring communities in North Carolina. We are not talking about areas that are hours apart. The business formation rate in Vance County is also considerably lower than what we see in Wake County. When you combine fewer businesses with lower graduation rates, you begin to understand how limited the opportunities are in some parts of our state. 

The point is that there are two distinct North Carolinas, but we tend to blend them all into one. One is doing fine; the other, not so much. And, the recent population growth (or the lack of it) makes the point crystal clear. Mecklenburg and Wake counties, home to Charlotte and Raleigh, have added over 190,000 residents between 2020 and 2024. Meanwhile, counties like Hertford and Northampton have lost population, with declines of around 12% and 5% respectively. The politicians like to take credit for the aggregate North Carolina numbers, but they ignore the reality that these different realities exist within the same state.

So, what do we do? As a state blessed with tremendous resources, we’ve got to start helping the areas of the state that are falling behind. And, this does not really mean more government spending or raising taxes in counties that can’t afford them. What is needed is a collaboration of good-hearted individuals and organizations to come together to help the areas of the state that need a hand. This means creating a stronger bridge between the resources in our more developed areas and the people in the other areas who need the help. We’ve done this successfully at both the Brian Hamilton Foundation and Inmates to Entrepreneurs, an organization that I started with Reverend Robert Harris back in 1992, and I believe it’s a model worth expanding.

Let’s create a volunteer-driven, zero-taxpayer-dollar network to bring resources directly to the counties and communities that need them most. Let’s get North Carolina corporations to fund high-impact programs that teach kids about entrepreneurship, work skills, and financial literacy. And let’s activate a statewide movement of volunteers to help kids in school, especially in places where they don’t have the support they need.

There’s precedent for this. Programs like Reading Partners and Big Brothers Big Sisters have already proven that volunteer-driven mentoring works.  So let’s do it here, at scale, and with a focus on real economic empowerment. If we teach kids how to start businesses, balance budgets and think like job creators, we give them the tools to transform their own lives and their communities.

There is no good argument I’ve ever heard for handing things out to people, but the truth is that we do not have a level playing field here in North Carolina. Not even close. A kid growing up in Lumberton, North Carolina, should have the same opportunity as my kids do. The opportunity to be an entrepreneur. The opportunity to get a good education. The opportunity to rise.  

Editor’s NOTE — Column comes from Carolina Journal — Brian Hamilton is a nationally recognized entrepreneur and the chairman of LiveSwitch. He is the founder of Inmates to Entrepreneurs, where he serves as the leading voice on the power of ownership to transform lives. He is well known for being the founder of Sageworks (now Abrigo), one of the country’s first fintech companies. He is also the star of Free Enterprise, an award-winning show on ABC based on Inmates to Entrepreneurs.

ARE YOU BITTER OVER ANYTHING, AND IS IT WORTH IT?

BY KEITH THROCKMORTON

Mark 11:25 (KJV) “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

Ephesians 4:31-32 (KJV) “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

What is bitterness? “Anger and disappointment at being treated unfairly; resentment.” Do we allow bitterness to consume our lives and poison our souls? Do we allow bitterness to grow within us, resulting in consequences that we regret?  Bitterness often leads to vengeance.  Vengeance definition: “punishment inflicted or retribution exacted for an injury or wrong.”  

Comparatively, a grudge is a strong feeling of anger and dislike for someone you feel has mistreated you, especially a strong sense of anger and dislike for someone who you feel has treated you poorly, especially one that lasts for a long time.  How far can living with bitterness go?  What can be the outcome? 

Time-traveling to the past, recalling a violent homicide we investigated.  One morning, the victim had driven out of his parking space at his residence, which was a high-rise condominium complex.  He proceeded slowly through the parking lot to the main roadway.  

As witnesses watched, he was bumped twice in the rear by the perpetrator.  When the victim stopped, the perpetrator exited his vehicle, approached the victim, and shot him, emptying two clips of 9MM rounds into his head in the middle of the parking lot.  A description of the perpetrator and his vehicle was provided, and an arrest was made shortly thereafter.  

The perpetrator confessed and explained in his statement that the victim had been his supervisor nine years earlier at a local variety store that had long since closed.  The victim had fired the perpetrator for reasons he did not feel were justified.  His hate for the victim grew, and the bitterness and then grudge that he carried became so strong that he murdered the victim most violently with witnesses present.  Of note, the perpetrator had no other criminal record.  The perpetrator’s long-standing bitterness and grudge festered, resulting in his loss of freedom. 

I could present many other examples of crimes, stemming from the bitterness and desire for vengeance I developed during my years in law enforcement.  All too often, it is hard to forget and forgive.  We focus on yesterday and not today.  We allow the yesterdays and grudges to fester (a negative feeling or a problem becomes worse or more intense – the longer you hold on to it, the worse it gets) within us.  Then, we focus on “payback” instead of God’s word. 

Holding grudges and bitterness can cause the following problems: 

1) Make you more pessimistic.  Studies revealed that participants who held on to grudges had more difficulty completing a fitness test because they evaluated hills as steeper than those who let go of grudges.  According to the researchers, holding a grudge may physically burden some people.

2) Isolate yourself from others: Another study found that social isolation predicted less forgiving behavior — in other words, more grudge-holding.  In short, if you already tend to keep others at arm’s length, holding a grudge may serve a self-protecting function at the cost of closeness with others.

3) Increase your risk of cognitive decline: According to an additional study, people who held on to higher levels of hostility — characterized by cynicism and mistrust of others — experienced a more cognitive decline over ten years than people who routinely practiced self-forgiveness.

4) Negatively affects your mental health: Holding a grudge may increase your chances of experiencing anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions, according to further research.

5) Add to your overall stress: Holding on to grudges can increase your stress levels, contributing to high blood pressure, heart problems, lowered immunity, and inflammation.  But according to research, using forgiveness as a coping mechanism may help counteract the adverse health effects of long-term stress. 

The answer to not holding a grudge and bitterness is practicing forgiveness.  Forgiveness can lead to healthier relationships, improved mental health, and less anxiety, stress, and hostility.  Additionally, individuals may experience fewer symptoms of depression, lower blood pressure, a more robust immune system, improved heart health, and enhanced self-esteem.  In addition, it may minimize the temptation of or involvement in criminal activity.

Hebrews 12:14-15 (KJV) “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;”

James 1:19-20 (KJV) “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:”  God is our avenger.  We must believe that He has the answers for us.  Allow this burden to be His, and trust His righteousness.  The Holy Scriptures, found in the Bible, are our answers to the challenges of everyday life.

Keith Throckmorton, Fairfax County Police (Retired, Chaplain, Virginia State Police Alumni and NC Sheriffs’ Association), Hertford, NC

Guardianship

BY PAT THROCKMORTON

There have been countless attempts throughout the last several decades to depict what a defender is to the public.  The Bodyguard with Whitney Houston and Kevin Kostner quickly comes to mind.  Frank Farmer (Kevin Costner), a former Secret Service agent, takes on the job of bodyguard to a singing superstar Rachel Marron (Whitney Houston).  

Then there is the made-for-TV series The Guardian, starring Simon Baker, Alan Rosenberg, Raphael Sbarge, and Dabney Coleman.  It’s the story of the young, clever, and ambitious corporate lawyer, Nick Fallin (Simon Baker), sentenced to 1500 hours of community service as a guardian ad litem for troubled children.

And then, there is The Lord’s Prayer which I learned by rote from the King James Version of the Bible when I was a mere child.  Most anyone my age (born in the 1940s) can quote these verses verbatim.  “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed by thy name.  Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.  Amen.”  These are Jesus’ Words recorded in St. Matthew 6:9-13 KJV.

A guardian is a defender, protector, or keeper.  Read Psalm 23 KJV: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.  He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”

Most all commentaries point to this as “the model prayer” as the way Jesus taught His disciples to pray.  Remember: we are His disciples, and The Lord’s Prayer is like a shroud covering us from head to toe.  It is a blanket of protection – our guardianship from above.

Some years ago, my husband, Keith, and I volunteered as guardians ad litem for our court district.  At the time, this was considered NC’s 1st Congressional District, although recently, it has been revamped (re-mapped).  This area encompassed six counties: Gates, Chowan, Perquimans, Pasquotank, Currituck, and Camden, here in Northeastern North Carolina.  Land maps show this is a vast area of many square miles.  

We were the guardians or the voice for abused and neglected children to which the courts assigned us.  We were trained to serve abused and neglected children by advocating for their best interests in court.  We conducted independent investigations to determine the facts, needs of the child, and the resources appropriate to meet the needs of these children.

One of the early guardianship cases in the Bible is that of Pharaoh’s daughter and the babe, Moses.  The mother hid Moses in a papyrus basket (coated with tar and pitch to make it waterproof) in the reeds along the bank of the Nile.  Pharaoh’s earlier decree was that every son born would be cast into the river and every daughter allowed to live.  And his sister, Mirium, stood watch.   

You know the rest of the story:  Moses was discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter.  Quickly, Miriam offered the baby’s mother as a nursemaid, wherein she took on the role of guardian.  “When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son.  She named him Moses, saying, ‘I drew him out of the water.’”  Exodus 4:10 NIV.

An anecdote to the Moses story is this.  I did not own a clothes dryer when my two daughters were two and five.  Thus, all laundry was piled into the old oblong wicker basket for transport, then hung on the clothesline to dry.  I heard the two laughing and playing outside from the kitchen window when suddenly, all became extremely quiet.  I ran out, calling them by name: “Michele!?  Andrea!?” repeatedly.

I looked toward the end of the driveway and located their presence.  They were just steps away from the farm pond across the street!  I sprinted to them, visibly shaken, and asked Michele what she was doing with her baby sister.  “She’s Moses,” Michele said proudly, pointing to Andrea sitting on a towel in the wicker basket.  “I am putting her in the bulrushes to save her from the evil king!”  That was one Sunday School lesson that was taken literally!

Over time, that role with the two little girls was reversed, as Andrea, the youngest, became the guardian of Michele, the oldest, as she entered hospice care at the end of her life.

Guardian Angels are the topic of another commentary but hear this: “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.”  Psalm91:11 NIV.

A retired nurse, Pat Throckmorton is a published author, columnist and resident of Hertford.