OPINIONS/EDITORIALS

Here's a non-news "flash."
Summer begins on Sunday the 21st, just three days away.
After several 90-plus days -- some of which actually hit or surpassed 100 degrees -- I would have sworn that summer had already arrived.
My hope is that once summer is here, it doesn't get any hotter.
But I also hope it will bring some or all of those "spring showers" that managed to almost completely bypass many of us this year.

I happily admit I'm old.
I mean, it's not like the grey hair on my head doesn't give it away ... or the old-man sounds I make when getting up from a chair.
And, no, I'm not saying I have one foot in the grave, but I certainly appreciate that this body I'm carrying around has decades of experience.
And, some of those experiences take me back to the classroom -- which is a prescient thought considering I spent the majority of last week at high school graduations.

If you read my column last week, you know we started pulling back the layers on Louisburg's upcoming budget. This follow-up goes a bit deeper into the weeds of municipal finance, so if last week's numbers felt like a lot, you might want to pour yourself a fresh cup of coffee before we look at what's happening beneath our streets.
The response from local residents after that first piece confirmed a shared, deep-seated anxiety: regular citizens are tired of watching their cost of living rise while our core infrastructure is quietly pushed to the brink.

Dear editor: On June 3, 2026, my life was nearly taken away. It was about 12 noon. Rarely, do I drive at such a busy time; the first of the month. Workers getting paid, older drivers who receive Social Security are also out and about paying in-person bills. Some in their 70's and 80's don't know the technology to pay online.
As for me, I normally wait until the hustle and bustle is over; this was not an ordinary day. We had been cleaning a storage house and it had taken longer than expected, even though we started at the crack of dawn.