Today's News

When Rob Witwer looks at a mountain, he doesn't see an obstacle — he sees an opportunity.

"No matter how big of a challenge you have, it starts with a single step," said Witwer, an avid climber and hiker. "If you look at a mountain, it seems so large and so insurmountable — you can't conceive of how you're going to get to the top. It's the same thing with a public policy challenge."

The Courier wants to recognize the fathers and sons among our readers by printing pairs of pictures in the June 11 edition. Send digital images to news@evergreenco.com, and look for the pictures in paper preceding Fathers Day.

Black shoe polish, a lighter, nylons, spit or faucet water, a freezer, cotton balls, wax. I was running late, so I just grabbed two clean socks and wrapped them around a worn can of Kiwi and a half-empty lighter. I placed them all in my jacket pocket. I could feel the soft lump pressing against my side as I drove to my parents’ house.

He would soon be graduating and going off to college. I was 14 years old when my parents brought him home from the hospital as a baby. He is now the same age I was when I first entered basic training.

The 2008 legislative session is in the books, so it’s time to take a look at a few key policy areas and grade our work.

On education, the legislature gets a B+. 2008 was a banner year for education reformers, led by a coalition of Republicans and inner-city Democrats. This combination of reform-minded legislators proved to be the catalyst for several key bills putting the interests of kids ahead of special interests.