Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for Nov.19, 2012 – A Thankful Thanksgiving

The Thanksgiving week is upon us and hopefully everyone will take the time to really sit down and count their blessings. The holidays can be a maddening time and the true meaning of everything can get lost in the fray – especially when people are trying to cook dinner, appease relatives and prepare enough food […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for Nov. 12, 2012–The Bridge To Nowhere Is Really A Bridge To My House

The Bridge To Nowhere Is Really A Bridge To My House It’s sad, it’s so sad It’s a sad, sad situation And it’s getting more and more absurd It’s sad, so sad Why can’t we talk it over Always seems to me That sorry seems to be the hardest word. Elton John and Bernie Taupin […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk For Oct. 29, 2012

Red Cross Says Have a Happy and Safe Halloween Take Steps to Keep Everyone Safe While Trick or Treating Halloween is just around the corner and youngsters will soon be out trick-or-treating. As they get ready to collect their Halloween treats, the American Red Cross has tips to make this a fun and safe Halloween. […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk For Oct. 22, 2012

“The Opiate of Exceptionalism” In article of this same title in the New York Times, Scott Shane writes about the bland platitudes, nostrums, and feel-good hymns to American greatness that are spewed forth from campaign rostrums. Why, he asks, can’t politicians give the Americans the facts and the hard truth about their country? The problems of poverty, […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for Oct. 15, 2012

Let’s Talk A Little Football It was a good weekend for Mississippi football, this weekend. Ole Miss appears to be headed in the right direction, with a big win over Auburn. It snapped a 16-game SEC losing streak and the feel around town is that the Rebels, with a little good fortune, could be headed […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk For Oct. 8, 2012

I would like to welcome Allen Baswell and Kristin Mamrack to the Real Story team.  Add their talents to the now-famous – or, perhaps, infamous – Whit Harrington, and I believe that The Real Story is becoming a more formidable news organization. That has been our goal from the beginning, and the past few months […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for Oct. 1, 2012

The Fall of the Oktibbeha School System With another local school system being taken over by the State of Mississippi, it is an every present reminder that even our local school systems have to be on guard about its own future.   With that mind, The Real Story spoke with our school superintendent, Dr. Martha Liddell, […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk For Sept. 10, 2012

  Brenda Caradine and Tennessee Williams: A Love Affair Rarely does a person become so committed to a cause that their name becomes synonymous with their passion, but that is the case with our own Brenda Caradine. Her love and devotion for Columbus’ playwright extraordinaire, Tennessee Williams, is unparalleled and that affection has turned into […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for Sept. 3, 2012

Sharon Applewhite: A Mother Faces the Reality of Her Daughter’s Untimely Death The death of a loved one is the 2,000 pound specter that sits in everyone’s room and hovers in the psyche of all humanity.  Though no one really wants to talk about it, it is there. Ever-present and looming, like a bad dream or […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for August 20, 2012

The LINK and Why Industry Matters Severstal, Paccar, Stark Aerospace, KiOR – the list goes on. To the average citizen, these names often become just a blur, but over the past several years, Lowndes County has become home to many major corporations. And whether or not the community as a whole understands the extent of […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for July 30, 2012

The Art of Stealing Innocence James Holmes. There you go. That is his name. That was the last time you will read it in this article and it should be the last time you hear or see it, period, but it won’t.  It will be in our collective consciousness for years. It will be drawn […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for July 23, 2012

One Year Later I met my old lover On the street last night She seemed so glad to see me I just smiled And we talked about some old times And we drank ourselves some beers Still crazy after all these years Oh, still crazy after all these years– Paul Simon As crazy as it […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for July 16, 2012

Around and Around We Go…AGAIN! You can’t fix stupid– Ron White The problem with the arrogant is that they never grasp the concept that everyone knows that they are foolish. Their view of themselves is so grandiose, that they strut in public like proud peacocks, when, in reality, the world sees them like the poor […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for July 9, 2012

Some Good News!  Columbus Welcomes Colonel James R. Sears Jr. On Wednesday, June 27, 2012 Wing Change of Command was Columbus and the Columbus Air Force base at its best. In spite of temperatures in the high 90s, a large crowd of civilian and Air Force personnel gathered on the base to watch the ceremony […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for July 2, 2012

Hot Fun in the Summer Time (The CCVB and CMSD) That’s when I had most of my fun, back high high high high there Them summer days, those summer days— Sly and the Family Stone Summer is here.  The weather is hot and we have all settled in for a calm, enjoyable summertime of love […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for June 25, 2012

And that Government of the People, by the People, for the People, Shall Not Perish from the Earth—Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address What seems like lofty words should be the cornerstone of every American’s belief in the government. The concept of democracy is built around a government led by the people, and the people should be […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for June 18, 2012

Caledonia, Caledonia, Wherefore Art Thou Caledonia? Ain’t No Sunshine- Bill Withers In an eight-day span in which Councilmen Kabir Karriem and Joe Mickens pulled a power play on the Columbus City Council in regard to both redistricting and repaving and Leroy and Harry (no last names needed) argued about 19th century politics over a 21st […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for June 11, 2012

Welcome to the Party that Never Was — The CMSD Announces Dr. Liddell as the New Superintendent “There’ll be peace in the valley for me some way, There’ll be peace in the valley for me. I pray no more sorrow and sadness or trouble will be, There’ll be peace in the valley for me.” Tommy […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for June 4, 2012

Thank You to the Staff of The Real Story After four months of publishing print editions, I am proud to say that I could never have asked for a better team.  We are often imitated, but never duplicated.  In just 17 issues, we have set standards that would make companies years older envious.  This could […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for May 28, 2012

Remember Memorial Day Like Your Life Depends On It – Because, It Does.                             In America every man is free                          To take care of his home and his family     […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for April 23, 2012

See #5 Today’s lesson, boys and girls, is about meeting etiquette.  As the months have progressed, The Real Story has witnessed Robert’s Rules of Order being bludgeoned, on more than one occasion.  So, here are some simple instructions from the website http://www.robertsrules.org/: Guidelines Obtain the floor (the right to speak) by being the first to […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for April 16, 2012

Liberal vs. Conservative Brains A recent article in the Washington Post discusses the differences in the way conservatives and liberals think.  They don’t simply view the issues differently, but have a completely different psychological makeup, the author argues.  Liberals tend to have an open view of the world in which they are willing to consider […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for April 9, 2012

The buzz that permeates Lowndes County, has reached a fever pitch, lately.  As The Real Story approaches its 10th issue, there is never a shortage of stories to address.  Since our inception as a website, on October 19, 2011, we have covered an incredible number of issues and events. However, our greatest accomplishment has been […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for April 2, 2012

This week will be a big week for local government.  The County will be meeting this morning, while the Caledonia Board of Aldermen and the Columbus City Council will be holding their respective meetings, tomorrow night.  The Real Story has tried, over the past few months, to post the agendas for local government meetings, to […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for March 26, 2012

The recent apparent collapse of the City over providing paving to a private business on Gardner Blvd and the antics of the Columbus Convention & Visitors Bureau (CCVB) are, unfortunately, classic examples of our hard-earned tax dollars at work. If these organizations were to hold their meetings jointly, the result would be a huge savings […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for March 19, 2012

For Those Few People Who Still Don’t Get It   On March 7th, The Real Story broke the news of how Von’s Exotic Hair Salon received free paving work, performed by city workers and at taxpayers’ expense. Despite the fact that this story created quite a stir throughout the community, some people just don’t get […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for March 5, 2012

The following is a message from Columbus Police Chief Selvain McQueen that was released Sunday (March 4, 2012) morning: Raising the bar A vital measure of the health of a law enforcement agency is its capacity to learn lessons from previous events, good or bad, and feed these into continuous improvements in service delivery. There […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for February 27, 2012

Just some random musings for the morning: Why is it that only movies I have never heard of win at the Oscars? Who is the “real” Republican Candidate for 2012? Is gas really going to be $5.00 a gallon? Why is gas so expensive in Lowndes County? Why do we only talk about the school […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for February 20, 2012: We’ve Come a Long Way, But the Best is Yet to Come!

Sometime on Friday, February 17, 2012, the “little old website that could” received its 100,000th view, all-time!  It’s hard to believe that, in such a short time we have had so much web activity, but it is true.  Add that to the fact that we have printed two editions of our paper and anyone can […]

Monday Morning Water Cooler Talk for February 13, 2012: An Anything-but Pleasant Saturday Morning Meeting

Saturday’s Town Hall meeting in Caledonia pitted the age-old question of cold beer sales and the ability to keep the community family friendly.  However, Saturday’s meeting came with twists, turns and at least one back-door switcheroo, where one Alderman had a change of heart between the private board room and the open forum.  The meeting […]