Columns

By John BillMartinJohnbillmartin44@gmail.comStaff Writer There are some basic truths about life that little children have learned, some of them the hard way, such as: No matter how hard you try, you cannot baptize a cat.When your mom is mad at your dad, don’t let her brush your hair.

Do present day parents require their kids to make the bed every day? I researched this question and couldn’t find the answer. But given the evolution of parenting styles I suspect many do not. Modern parenting provides more freedom of choice to kids that when I was young.

By John Bill MartinJohnbillmartin44@gmail.comStaff WriterI have never been blonde. I did join my Holdenville Wolverine basketball buddies once when we all died our hair green to try to district Raymond Owens, a 6-8 phenom who played for Bowlegs.

I always enjoy the newsletter from Old Surety Life. The latest issue had a couple of great items.A group of small children were asked: “What does love mean?” Here are some of their replies:“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t paint her toenails anymore.

When you die, there are at least 10 things God WON’T ask you:1. God won’t ask you what kind of car you drove. He’ll ask how many people you drove who didn’t have transportation.2. God won’t ask the square footage of your house. He’ll ask how many people did you welcome into your home.3.

More Marijuana?The push to make medical marijuana legal in Oklahoma was not as much about helping people in pain as it was about making recreational marijuana 100% legal.The fact that more than 400,000 Oklahomans have medical marijuana licenses is proof of that.

So, when did these Father’s Day celebrations get started and how? Well, the first one came forth on June 19, 1910. The same year my own father was born. Men scoffed at this new day. “It’s just a trick to get people to spend money on yet another holiday,” said my dad.

It’s easy to lump today’s teenagers into one cell-phone crazy, foul-mouthed, selfish, rude and poorly attired group. After all, that’s the image that is projected to those of us with fond memories of when children (of all ages) did what they were told. Period!

You hear people called many things in these days. However, one of the few things you seldom hear any man called is a gentleman. I suppose that is because there are so few of them in this day and time.

Memorial Day is here. A time to remember and honor those heroes who paid the ultimate price to defend our country. There are many heroes in our area. And I salute all of them. But today I want to talk about a particular one. One you may not have known of or remember. A boy from Lula.