Rick Thames was 26 years old and a new reporter for the Fayetteville Observer when he moved to Raleigh in the summer of 1979 to cover the Jeffrey MacDonald murder trial.

Now, after a remarkable career in journalism, including stops as Editor at the Wichita Eagle and the Charlotte Observer, Rick sits down with me to recall those weeks that summer when he had a front row seat for the murder trial of Jeffrey MacDonald.

He remembers it all, saying the moment the jury announced their verdict of guilty was one of the most explosive moments he had ever seen.

Rick tells his thoughts about the trial, the evidence and the very questions he asked MacDonald one day at lunch that summer.

The three birthdays I remember most are when I became a teenage, when I turned 16 got my drivers' license and when I became a legal adult at 21.

Now, many years later, I find that i am still excited about the future, wanting to know what is next. Yes, there are challenges and much depends on my good health continuing, but that has always been true.

None of us are as young as once were, but none of us are as old as we hope to be.

It is in climbing many of the highest peaks in the world that Clark Wright, a long-time attorney from New Bern, North Carolina, says he "feels closer to God and a real sense of peace and contentment".

Fresh from his latest journey in the Andes mountains of Peru, he talks about his love of outdoors and how it has shaped his life and career.

He speaks of his family, his law practice of 43 years, and at the age of 68, the challenges that lie ahead.

"How it feels to be a proud new U.S. citizen on the Fourth of July" is the title of a new opinion piece in the Washington Post today, July 4, 2025. It is written by Emil Stern, now a screenwriter in Los Angeles.

I read his writing in its entirety... it is that meaningful.

Then, some thoughts back to July 4, 1826, the day when Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died.

Finally, on July 4, 1076, forty-nine years ago today. President Ford welcomes the Tall Ships and the nation to New York harbor in a bi-partisan celebration of the 200-year anniversary of out country's birth.

This is the story of a 17-year-old girl who is in a tragic car accident, while sitting in the back seat and what happens to the rest of her life.

Tara Stone suffers from a traumatic and severe brain injury when she is thrown from the car, going over 100 miles per hour.

In a coma for months, she finally awakes to a life of no real awareness, an inability to speak or control her own body, but a life of making all who see her feel better. She is a blessing to all who meet her.

Her parents, Ray and Carolyn Stone, are the supreme example of unconditional love for their daughter as they take care of her and see her every day at the hospitals and eventual nursing homes where she lives the rest of her life.

Tara beats the odds and lives until she is 43, 27 years longer than the doctors originally thought possible.

This story is one of grit, resilience, deep faith and forgiveness.

Friday, June 20 - the first day of summer

In Wilmington for a CLE program, the first person I see is my friend Dick Horgan, who had told me about a week ago, the medicine was not working any longer for him. But here he was, a little thinner, but smiling with a bottle of mimosa for everyone.

We talked for hours about life, the practice of law and the challenges of young people as some of the people there were young parents. Then there was the lawyer, age 77, who presently has 13 capital murder cases. He does not turn any away.

On Saturday, the next day, I was sitting on a pier overlooking the ocean, having lunch with a number of people, including an old friend and judge, who laughed and talked with me about our mutual friend, Senator Robert Morgan.

For two days, the first days of summer, I spent it with friends talking about the past, present and future, remembering the words of Albert Camus...

"In the depth of winter, I learned there lay within me an invincible summer."

Good morning, we are pausing new podcasts for two weeks until a new one on Monday, June 23. Meanwhile have a great couple of weeks.

Jim

Dick Horgan wanted to come east, away from his home state of California, so he received a four-year scholarship to Yale, and never looked back.

A lawyer with a large firm in Manhattan, handling major civil cases in federal courts, he cashed in when he turned 50, and with his wife, moved to the coastal city of Wilmington, North Carolina, reinvented his life and career, practicing estate law and teaching adult Sunday School for just over 30 years.

But that is not why his podcast is so good. Dick is an incorrigible optimist, full of hope, faith and a lover of the good life he has lived. You cannot listen or see him without some of that rubbing off on you.

He is now in the twilight of his time, as he told me recently over the phone..."Jim. the medicine is not working, but I have lived a wonderful life."

This podcast was one of the first I did, on May 22, 2023. I want to publish it one more time...on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube or wherever you get your podcast.