Bill Maxwell
The South no longer matches its myths
CHAPEL HILL -- Many Americans who do not follow politics closely believe that the South remains a monolithic region largely populated by backwoods, benighted bigots in pickups with gun racks and Confederate emblems who vote for Democrats and by obsequious blacks living in shotgun shacks who would rather die than vote for a Republican.

Margo Hammond
A festival for all tastes and ages
Author talks, musical and theater performances and free books for children will be featured at the Times Festival of Reading on Nov. 8 at the Eckerd College campus in St. Petersburg. The event, now in its sixth year, is free.

Tim Nickens
What hasn't been said in the race
Very odd, this governor's race.

Editorials

Preparation pays
Lessons learned from Andrew in 1992 prompted Floridians to take the threat of Hurricane Georges seriously.

Will Bush stand up to the NRA?
Jeb Bush is being disingenuous when he says he supports closing the gun-show loophole by legislation, not by constitutional amendment. He knows full well that for two decades the National Rifle Association has been able to block virtually all gun-control measures that have come before the Florida Legislature, including the very proposal he now says he would support.

Another assault on the Internet
On the very day the Starr report, oozing with salacious details about President Clinton's sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, was being released to the World Wide Web, a telecommunications subcommittee in the House was holding hearings on ways to punish the purveyors of such speech.

Letters
Politicians don't fear alienated public
In her Sept. 20 column Spinning in circles, Margo Hammond wrote that the public's estrangement from politics will force politicians to clean up their act.

Martin Dyckman
Since 'Buckley,' much money under the bridge
In 1976, a wealthy senator named James Buckley helped persuade the Supreme Court that it was unconstitutional for Congress to limit what he could spend, of his own money or that of his contributors, to elect him. Some people hail Buckley vs. Valeo as a landmark victory for freedom of speech.

Robyn E. Blumner
The EPA stands between minorities and jobs
The law of unintended consequences has taken root at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A policy directive designed to prevent environmental racism has had the effect of protecting minorities right out of well-paying jobs.

Don Addis
Again, this time with feeling
I think I got it figured out.

Deborah Hardin Wagner
Mr. Maxwell hears it all
For a man with such well-anchored opinions and an even-keeled personality, Times columnist Bill Maxwell sure has one heckuva roller-coaster life. One day he's on a pedestal. The next, on someone's hit list.