Dave Greiling

SUNSET — State Rep. Paul Ray and his Democratic challenger, Brad Asay, will debate the issues at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Sunset Junior High School, 1610 N. 250 West.

Kristen Hebestreet knows some things — like farms, rural communities and the people who live there. That’s one reason she’s excited about being our new correspondent covering Morgan County.

Kristen is an Ogden native and an experienced newspaper journalist. She has three bachelor’s degrees — anthropology and communications from the University of Utah and English from Weber State University. Plus, she said she’s “one test short” of a master’s in English.

She also has 17 years of experience as a reporter, most of it in the Appalachia area of the southeast, working at newspapers in Bristol, Va., and in Kingsport and Johnson City, Tenn.

Earlier this week, a newsroom colleague lamenting the general lack of civility in the political arena asked: Can’t we just disagree and discuss issues rationally and calmly?

Unfortunately, the answer to his question appears to be no, we can’t. I agree with his observation and think it’s only getting worse, not better.

And to take it a step further, it’s not just in the political arena.

I cleaned out some personal files last weekend and ran across a number of old columns that I wrote earlier in my career.

The term “free speech” was thrown around a lot in the whole Chick-fil-A uproar.

For those of you who missed it: Company CEO Dan Cathy, in an interview, expressed opposition to same-sex marriage. That annoyed those who favor same-sex marriage and they began talking about a boycott. That, in turn, annoyed those who supported Cathy and they declared Wednesday Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, which resulted in large crowds showing their support at the company’s stores.

In the midst of all this, there was some throat clearing and harrumphing about free speech and people — basically whoever the speaker didn’t agree with — trying to trample the other side’s right to free speech.

There’s only one sure thing rule about All Star teams: Somebody is going to feel left out.