Guest Opinion | Thursday, January 27,2005

When will Obama find his voice on Iraq?

When U.S. Sen. Barack Obama was in Springfield last weekend for a town meeting with military veterans about the sorry state of veterans’ benefits, he missed a good chan

Guest Opinion | Thursday, January 13,2005

Tear down this barricade

By Fletcher Farrar

To Ted Smith, East Jackson Street is more than a street -- it's the backbone of the neighborhood he's lived in for 57 years. Abraham Lincoln lived on Jackson, 20 blocks west of here, so it's the back

Guest Opinion | Thursday, December 30,2004

He stood for the best in journalism

By Fletcher Farrar

My first memory of Bob Reid is the poverty series. In the early 1970s, Reid was managing editor at the Southern Illinoisan newspaper in Carbondale, and I was a staff reporter. The publisher had

Guest Opinion | Thursday, December 16,2004

Cairo deserves better

By Fletcher Farrar

Every morning about 2 o'clock, the "train they call the City of New Orleans" rolls south through Cairo with its indomitable "Good morning, America, how are you?" "Not so good" might be the repl

Guest Opinion | Thursday, December 2,2004

How to avoid the Great Backlash

By Fletcher Farrar

The next time you get discouraged about Illinois politics, take a look at Kansas. Or South Dakota, where U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin spent the week before Election Day campaigning for the doomed Tom

Guest Opinion | Thursday, November 18,2004

Soar, losers

By Fletcher Farrar

As the death toll rises in Iraq, thoughts turn to the next strategy for stopping this war. The easiest way would have been to elect John Kerry, but that didn't work. It might not have worked ev

Guest Opinion | Thursday, November 4,2004

The difference between homelessness and the homeless

By Fletcher Farrar

It didn't take long in the homeless shelter for me to realize I am among exceptionally gifted people. Funny. Smart. Kind. Troubled, too. But many seem no more troubled than a lot of other peopl

Guest Opinion | Thursday, October 21,2004

Springfield’s unknown congressman

By Fletcher Farrar

As a career Quad Cities TV anchor with a three-year stint on CNN, Andrea Zinga, 54, had scheduled the press conference with a suitable TV backdrop. She would announce her 10-point education pla

Guest Opinion | Thursday, October 7,2004

Protect Illinois wilderness

By Fletcher Farrar

A green carpet of moss at the campground welcomed the two of us to the trailhead. We crossed a dry creek bed and followed the sign for the White Pine Trail. Past a green swamp, then up easy slo

Guest Opinion | Thursday, September 23,2004

Community by design

By Fletcher Farrar

The weekend was full of neighborhood moments. Friday evening we walked from our house a couple of blocks, past children skipping rope on the sidewalk, for walleye sandwiches at Suzie-Q's. We ra