Before you sit down to your bountiful Thanksgiving dinner please go to your window, gaze beyond your yard or city street, and ponder about your 32,500 fellow Missourians who will not have a hot meal or a roof over their heads on this blessed day.

During October, I was deployed to Uganda on a training exercise for the U.S. Army Reserve. As part of a larger multi-nation military exercise for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, our unit’s main function was the movement of personnel and equipment over a long distance. In this column, I want to share a little bit of what my deployment was like.

Sloppy rain slapped the windshield of the minivan as I drove my almost 3-year-old daughter to dance class. It was the kind of rain that didn’t know if it was splat or snow, so it picked something in between – splow. And it had been splowing all day.

One of the most famous images of the 20th century was created by artist Norman Rockwell during World War II.  The illustration, captioned “Freedom From Want,” shows a family gathered around a table preparing to carve the turkey and enjoy Thanksgiving dinner together.

When I think of Thanksgiving, the first image that pops into my head is my grandparents’ farm – their retirement retreat – in Harrison County.

Getting behind the wheel of a vehicle while intoxicated is one of the most dangerous acts imaginable because of the high probability for disastrous consequences.

During the latter part of the 19th and the early part of the 20th century a great number of Scandinavians immigrated to the United States. Many homesteaded in the northern tier of states where the climate was similar to what they had already become accustomed, but other areas also proved attractive.

Brent Schondelmeyer, a trustee of the Mid-Continent Public Library system, says the doors may be closed at U.S. 24 and Spring Street, but the $3.75 million renovation wll bring new life to the busy branch. Temporary quarters open Monday.

Everywhere we go, every television news show, radio and most publications are bombarding us with the downside of the economy, health care and global warming (or is it now “climate change”?).

This administration and Congress have done more to destroy this country than a great depression and two world wars could accomplish in 70 years.