Editorials

KNOCK, KNOCK… I’M WITH THE GOVERNMENT AND I’M HE RE TO HELP

Thursday, January 15, 2026

The Texas March primaries are close enough now that you can almost envision campaign signs just outside the right-of-ways, waving in the wind. Here’s a growing truth about local primaries in places like ours, one also becoming a larger statewide trend: The primary is the election.

Rural Texas and the Coming AI Land Rush

Suzanne Bellsnyder

Thursday, January 15, 2026

Out across rural Texas, new development rarely arrives with a parade.It shows up quietly at first. A transmission survey stake in a neighbor’s pasture. A landman knocking on doors. A closed-door meeting at city hall about “economic development opportunities.

The Front Yard as It Used to Be

News Staff

Thursday, January 15, 2026

TUMBLEWEED SMITHIn the early 1970s, seniors at Big Spring High School had end of school annual signing parties in our front yard. It was shady, had decorative boulders and lush green grass that was like carpet. The lawn was the pride of the neighborhood. It is not like that today.

2 Cents Worth

Carol Greenway-holland

Thursday, January 15, 2026

Thanks to Patricia that helps put out the Double Mountain Chronicle every week, you are going to get my column. I didn’t hit the right button somewhere, so she helped me out!!!!!I can’t believe it’s January and having this kind of weather. Joe got out and tilled his garden one day.

Not too late to relate

Sue Jane Sullivan

Thursday, January 15, 2026

“We were on a family trip, and we were on a flight—on Delta, from here to somewhere—and we were all sitting in the back of the airplane together.

NEW LAWS TAKING EFFECT IN NEW YEAR

Gary Borders, Texas Press Association

Thursday, January 8, 2026

A spate of new laws took effect on Jan. 1, The Dallas Morning News reported. Here’s a brief summary of the most notable new laws now in force:• County sheriff’s offices are now required to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after the passage of Senate Bill 8.

GRIEVANCES AND THE REDRESSING OF

Jeff Hurt - Editor

Thursday, January 8, 2026

Many DMC readers choose to begin their weekly local news ritual on the editorial page. I know this because they have told me and explained why they do it.

“What would happen to school funding if property taxes were eliminated?”

News Staff

Thursday, January 8, 2026

If property taxes were eliminated and the state and federal funding did not cover the lost revenue for schools; it would be a burden for a lot of smaller schools to remain open.

Brush Up & Show Up: Rural Voices Matter in the March Primary Election

Suzanne Bellsnyder

Thursday, January 8, 2026

In much of rural Texas, elections are effectively decided in March. By the time the November election rolls around, the field is narrowed, the outcome is possibly set, and the real choice is long past.

2025: THE YEAR NO ONE WAS LOOKING

Jeff Hurt - Editor

Thursday, January 1, 2026

Looking back on 2025, the year began, appropriately enough, with a good deal of swearing. In early January, newly appointed Sheriff John Patrick Dickson took his oath of office, a reminder that local government often runs less on certainty than it does on contingency.