What makes veterans different? Why do they remember their service days, years, decades, and life times later? Why do you meet a retired person in their 70’s who has held a job ...

Although none of my slugabed co-workers would know it, the sidewalk directly in front of The Paper’s office on S. Sterling Street in downtown Morganton is pretty much the perfect spot to watch the …

Barring improbable circumstances, the Confederate monument on the Historic Courthouse Square is not going to be moved. Our five Burke County Commissioners have made it plain they have zero interest …

The last time the entire Poteat clan was gathered together under one roof was Christmas Day, 2021. Hopefully, we will all be together today, and tomorrow, and Monday. Since their long ago graduations …

Freedom High School junior, Henry Beall, talks with Mr. Timothy Fossett, Burke County’s teacher of the year in 2009, and former Marine, about book bans, teaching...

Monday, Sept. 4, was Labor Day — a day duly celebrated with cook-outs and pool parties, and as little labor as possible. But Sept. 4 was also significant for another reason. The day marked the …

Every workday morning, at least one member of The Paper’s staff is asked a key question by the curmudgeonly old editor when they stagger through the door and head sleepily to their desks for work: …

As you may remember from a column I wrote a couple of months ago, I have stopped wasting my time perusing Facebook or making posts to the social media site. I do still have the separate Facebook …

My Old Man was not one to say, “I love you.” He showed his love for his wife and his sons in a million different ways and at a million different times, but the words only seldom crossed his lips. …

Fido showed up at the Poteat house in Drexel in the summer of 1961, just a few weeks before I was to start first grade at Drexel Primary School. He wore no collar, he was obviously quite the duke’s …

As they enter into the dangerous ground of middle age, some men choose to have an affair or two, others purchase flashy sports cars, and more than a few opt for ridiculous-looking toupees that more …

Gonna be a hot one today. 95 or so. Gonna be a hot one Sunday. 95 or so again. Probably gonna be hot all next week. Probably gonna be hot all next month. After all, it will be August in North …

TO THE EDITOR: This letter is the Burke Coalition for Reconciliation’s response to Rep. Hugh Blackwell’s July 15 column advising students to learn lessons in civil discourse from Dr. Martin …

As watershed manager of the Northern Basin of the Catawba River, Grant Buckner has a lot of ground – and water – to cover. From its headwaters in the hills south of Old Fort to the dam that …

Sharley Mendoza is in many ways a living embodiment of The American Dream. Mendoza, was born in Guatemala and immigrated to North Carolina at the age of 4. A 2015 graduate of Patton High School, she …

It’s formally called Generative Pre-trained Transformer. Some call it Generative Artificial Intelligence.  Most of us just refer to it as AI. Call it what you might. It does not change the …

I first visited Burke County many years ago as a young lawyer, sent here on a legal project by the law firm I then worked with in Charlotte. As I drove north up Highway 18 to Morganton, I was struck …

The 79th anniversary of D-Day, which occurred on June 6, 1944, passed quietly this week. Indeed, World War II seems to be fading from the national consciousness as the conflict retreats further into …

An Assassination at Rutherford College Beneath this arresting headline, the newspaper story: “The unusually quiet little village of Rutherford College, 10 miles east of Morganton, was the scene of …

If you’re prone to speaking ill of today’s young people, don’t start spouting that negativity in front of Draughn High School’s reigning super-sub, 83-year-old Linda Huffman, ‘cause she …

No species of wildlife in western North Carolina – or the entire western world, for that matter – is as reviled, misunderstood, and put-upon as snakes. That may be why I feel such an affinity for …

Hamilton vs. Burr. Montagues vs. Capulets. Hatfields vs. McCoys. Burke County Commissioners vs. Burke County Board of Education. OK. Perhaps we exaggerate. But only slightly so. For about as long as …

My dad was not exactly a “back to nature” kind of guy. His idea of outdoor recreation was sitting on the front porch, in his jockeys and white wife-beater T-shirt, smoking an unfiltered Camel, …

Although I had seen photos of the new “Dignity of Work” monument in front of the Burke County Museum of History, I was not prepared for the emotional impact it would have on me when I first …

Photos of the newly placed “Dignity of Work” monument in front of the Burke County Museum of History simply do not do justice to the power of its art.The monument, which stands a massive 24 feet …