Today's Opinions

For nearly 150 years now, our nation has set aside a day to remember those who paid the ultimate price to protect our freedom.

It is perhaps fitting that Memorial Day, which traces its roots to the Civil War, was itself the source of conflict for so many years.  It is believed to have begun in the South, when Confederate widows decorated not only the graves of their loved ones but also those of Union soldiers, knowing their families were grieving as well.

The recent events in Cleveland at first left me perplexed.

Ariel Castro held three women captive, one for at least 10 years, and his neighbors never knew it nor suspected it.

Castro allegedly fathered a child with one of his captives, made the woman give birth in a kiddie pool and not one neighbor heard a thing.

Residents who lived in the neighborhood never suspected a thing from the bus driver/musician who played baseball with children at local parks.

While visiting the cemetery you may notice the headstones marking certain graves have coins on them left by previous visitors to the grave. These coins have distinct meaning when left on the headstones of those who have served or have given their life while serving in America’s military and these meanings vary depending on the denomination of coin.