Whether your child is a ghost, goblin, Spiderman or fairy princess this Halloween, please make safety your first priority.  I scoured the web for the best tips and compiled a list of the most useful information from my favorite sites, here are things you might remind your children before heading out:

Once in a while, amidst the hustle and bustle of day to day social networking, someone rises out of the fray who is decidedly special and worthy of deeper scrutiny. You know, when someone you’ve only recently met shoots straight to the top of your this-person’s-really-going-to-go-places list. The person who recently topped my whole family’s list is a young, Poplar Bluff native named Donnie Magruder.

Last week, semo.net offered to pay local writers to submit articles for the semo.net web site. Since that time, semo.net has negotiated with five different individuals to create content for their local portal which boasts well over 10,000 visitors per day. In and effort to further increase content, semo.net is providing an outlet for local High School Journalism Departments to post articles. Articles can cover school issues, student profiles, sports events and editorials. The by line of the article will include both the school as well as the individual writer(s). Please encourage your local High School Journalism Department's educator to contact semo.net about this offer at articles@semo.net.

All of us have heard, at some time in our lives, the distinctive honking of a flight of Canadian Geese passing overhead.  Far above us, in strict formation, they are headed North in the spring for breeding and nesting, and South in the fall to escape the harsh winters in the northern United States and Canada.

After seeing the trailer for Bill Maher’s new movie, Religulous, my initial reaction was similar to the way I feel when someone messes with my kids: protective; defensive. First, I didn’t want to see the movie at all, but then I decided to go and just see where Mr. Maher was heading with this. I know that Maher is a comedian, an equal opportunity mocker, so I assumed that my spiritual convictions were going to be irreverently trampled underfoot.

I’m no scholar, but I appreciate people who speak well. My dad was an eloquent speaker, gifted with the ability to frame his thoughts with well-chosen words. It’s not that he was so highly educated whereby he gained such a command of the English language. He simply valued the power of language and its importance in every day communication. Growing up, I watched my dad engage people in conversation about any given subject, from the seemingly mundane to the hot button issues of the day, with wit and passion. He had an opinion and could clearly convey it. He wrote letters to editors and articles for newspapers about issues he wished to weigh in on, many of which I have