BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE PUNGO — My wife strapped the five year old into her booster in the backseat of the truck, and she headed back into the house while I waited for the 12 year old. She would be delivered to… Continue Reading
BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE PUNGO — The recent temporary closure of Princess Anne Area Library for renovations means, among other things, that a lot of folks may wonder where to find copies of The Independent News. The library is a very popular… Continue Reading
BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE PUNGO — Their country cousins traveled to take a young man off to college, and so my wife and girls took on the task of keeping the animals going, walking the path from our home to theirs, where… Continue Reading
BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE PUNGO — The day before our nation celebrated independence from the Crown, I got an urgent email that seemed to be from the president of a university where I teach. Except maybe I should mention this email came… Continue Reading
BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE PUNGO — Early last month, I saw an online ad attacking Bobby Hanig, chairperson of the Currituck County, N.C., Board of Commissioners, while he was still seeking the Republican nomination to be the North Carolina State Representatives… Continue Reading
BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE PUNGO — It started on a Sunday with a basket of unmatched socks, as all great tragedies do. My wife set it in the living room and instructed the kids to pair them. We have three girls, two… Continue Reading
BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE PUNGO — Bobby Vaughan and I spoke well before Veterans Day, when I was working on a story that involved the Farmer Veteran Coalition’s efforts to build strong roots in Virginia, connecting veterans to agriculture. I’d hoped to… Continue Reading
BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE PUNGO — The words we use matter, and there is a word I care about that is unfairly maligned in our increasingly partisan discourse. That word is rhetoric, misused by opponents of certain ideas as shorthand for what… Continue Reading
BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE PUNGO — Farmer, writer and artist Rick Friday, whose cartoons appear in The Independent News, made national news last year after a cartoon criticizing salaries of Big Ag executives angered an advertiser of Farm News, which canned him.… Continue Reading
BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE VIRGINIA BEACH — Dr. Kenneth Chandler, deputy city manager in Virginia Beach, spoke with students from eighth through 12th grades last month during the annual African American Male Summit at Princess Anne High School. The event had been… Continue Reading