Columns/Editorials

The songs that make me cry I once read that there were only two appropriate times for grown man to cry - at the birth of his first child and at the end of the movie “Rudy.” While those are both very f...

The area has two football stadium turf projects slated for this summer-Jon Alder has one planned as well as Marysville. Both initiatives began about two years ago, JA started with a community group co...

In defense of Dungeons and Dragons For those of us who are paid to be storytellers, like myself and others at the Journal-Tribune, do we practice storytelling recreationally? Some people write fiction...

Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information...

Recently our newspaper received a letter to the editor from a Marysville High School student. The correspondence got me thinking about a letter I wrote to my local paper as a teen. I was a junior at T...

Ever wonder why February is the only month with 28 days? The makeup of the calendar goes back to the days of the Roman Empire when Julius Caesar was emperor, and has evolved over the centuries to toda...

A town stalled in time I did not spend the first six years of my life in Marysville. Those years were spent in Kettering, one of several neighborhoods surrounding Dayton. It was a nice enough place. L...

The non-call by referees in the NFL playoff game a few weeks ago between the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Rams has created a firestorm of criticism. If you recall, on a pass play very near the e...

A week of firsts at the Journal-Tribune I have worked at this newspaper for 28 years and last week produced two “firsts” for me in terms of the business. The severe weather that closed out the week no...

The founder of this newspaper, my grandfather Bruce B. Gaumer, was a proud Democrat all of his life, but I know he is turning over in his grave at what his former party ha become today. It is becoming...

Learning to code Everyone should be worried about what they’ll do for a living if they lose their job or if their career field looks gloomy, and that includes journalists. Unfortunately for some, spec...

My grandmother, Mary “Sis” Gaumer Behrens, lived to be 85 years old, dying on May 1, 2002. Her life was full of trials and tribulations, many of which she shared with me over the years. One story of n...

Video has blame to go around I have been fascinated this week as folks on the left and folks on the right have further entrenched themselves over a video. Actually, it is multiple videos. The first vi...

Creating controversy where there is none One of the biggest problems facing society today is fact that it’s hard for people with non-extreme opinions to have their voices heard. The only way you get a...

Tomorrow’s front page With this column, I am going to do something I have never attempted on the editorial page. I’m going to promote a story we haven’t printed yet. It is a story about the issue of s...

Even though the Christmas shopping season is over, the efforts to shop locally still mean something to a small business and this community. Last week we ran a story about longtime community sporting g...

A millennial’s view of a holiday classic “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” was a decent movie, but it’s not one of my favorites. The movie was solid, but the pacing was awkward. The jokes were s...

French riots show a population pushed too far I think we should be looking at the “yellow vest” protests in France very closely. From what I can understand, the yellow vests are a group of protestors ...

We recently finished our third year hosting a Reader Advisory Board. The idea behind forming the board was that every month we would join community members in a conversation to talk about how and why ...

The blessing of Christmas Vacation Recently, I have read a lot about Christmas movies. People make lists of favorites, debate what is or isn’t a classic, even whether it is or isn’t a Christmas movie ...

With Thanksgiving concluded and the month of December beginning tomorrow, the thoughts on the minds of many people turn to Christmas. In fact, from all indications, the spirit of the yuletide is alrea...

Most holidays center on children Most holidays are for kids. Depending on who you are, you are either confused by that statement or it’s the most obvious thing in the world. Yesterday, as I was relaxi...

The Dairy Queen has been a staple in Marysville for more than 50 years. When the Cooper twins and their family owned it, they would close for a winter break during and after the holidays to get away f...

For many, Thanksgiving has traditionally been a day for traveling to grandma’s house for a big family dinner and get-together (or for grandma, staying home and fixing the meal), watching the Macy’s Th...

“Candy-monium” - a parade gone bad Several years ago after viewing a Marysville Homecoming parade, I wrote a column essentially saying that someone was going to get killed. I’m back to make that claim...

Identifying the media There needs to be a distinction made as to what people see as “the media.” As a reporter for the Journal-Tribune, I cover small-town news in a rural county. Along with my coworke...

Sunday, Nov. 11, is Veterans Day a holiday established to honor all veterans, alive or deceased. It was originally called Armistice Day to commemorate the end of World War I. At the 11th hour on the 1...

Tuesday is Election Day, an important one at all levels, local, state and nation. Many voters have already cast their ballots with early voting, however a large number will go to the polls Tuesday. Al...

On Tuesday, Nov. 6, citizens will complete voting on several important issue and candidate races. Of the issues, the most notable locally are the two involving the Marysville School District. The Jour...

Support local shoppers There is a coffee house in Mt. Sterling. I have been there a couple times. The shop has good coffee and cookies, but I do not stop on a regular basis. It’s not that I wouldn’t o...