News & Observer | newsobserver.com | Columns by Ruth Sheehan (2008)

Ruth Sheehan

Ruth Sheehan has been a metro columnist for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., since 2002. Her columns appear Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You may reach her at ruth.sheehan@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4828.



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A knife, a car theft and fear

OK, I'll admit it. This break-in caught my attention because it happened in my neighborhood.

Updated: Jul. 11, 2008 1:22 AM | Full story

Beautiful blend of old, young

Dewayne Vaughn, 12, and his partner, Sally Slack, 83, murmured intently, strategizing his next shot.

Updated: Jul. 9, 2008 1:43 AM | Full story

You kind of had to be there

Jesse Helms, rest his soul, was one of those public figures hard to understand if you weren't born in North Carolina.

Updated: Jul. 7, 2008 5:13 AM | Full story

N.C. boy knew how to celebrate

Sheehan:Glenn McDuffie may have spent the past 25 or 30 years in Houston, but he's still a Carolina boy — born in a mill house at Cannon Mills and raised on Packard Avenue in Kannapolis, just up the street from some of the world's greatest race car drivers.

Updated: Jul. 4, 2008 4:08 AM | Full story

Sobering lesson for family

Sheehan:To say that Lisa Lewis was intent on getting her twin sons a quality education is an understatement.

Updated: Jul. 2, 2008 5:02 AM | Full story

Hard news for a 5-year-old

Ruth Sheehan:If I had read the obituary without knowing how well it captured Kamryn Bailey, it still would have broken my heart.

Updated: Jun. 30, 2008 4:13 AM | Full story

Finally, a bright spot

Sheehan:There was a rare moment of hope for Phil Wiggins and hundreds of other patients with severe and persistent mental illness caught in the state's clampdown on one-on-one care when mental health "reforms" crashed.

Updated: Jun. 27, 2008 4:55 AM | Full story

Presumed illegal -- it's scary

Sheehan:At the Hispanic Family Center off Raleigh's Brentwood Road, the nation's roiling debate over immigration is far from abstract.

Updated: Jun. 25, 2008 2:24 AM | Full story

Orphan's future on hold

Sheehan:Every June, I can't wait for the valedictorians' special edition. I read it avidly, pondering how kids rise to the top.

Updated: Jun. 20, 2008 2:25 AM | Full story

A true labor of love

Sheehan:To think: This chapel, this remarkable gem of architectural history, almost fell to a wrecking ball -- to make way for a dozen or so parking spaces and a little bit of greenery on a downtown lot.

Updated: Jun. 18, 2008 2:43 AM | Full story

Change fails this patient

Sheehan:Over the past several weeks, big changes have occurred in the state's mental health system.

Updated: Jun. 16, 2008 5:40 AM | Full story

No debt, but calls a threat

Sheehan:Brian Hocutt first heard from this jerk "Ron Collins" back in January.

Updated: Jun. 13, 2008 2:42 AM | Full story

She'll get her cats elsewhere

Sheehan:By any objective standard, Page Cox is an animal lover.

Updated: Jun. 11, 2008 2:41 AM | Full story

Where was Sean Paddock's father?

Sheehan:At the trial of Lynn Paddock, accused of abusing and finally murdering her adopted 4-year-old son Sean, the stories of her surviving children have been horrifying, unbearable.

Updated: Jun. 9, 2008 4:36 AM | Full story

Humana relents on red tape

Sheehan:After five months of refusing to acknowledge Medicaid coverage for Doug Phillippi, a 47-year-old Carrboro man incapacitated by Lou Gehrig's disease, Humana insurance company did an about-face on Tuesday.

Updated: Jun. 6, 2008 5:10 AM | Full story

D.J. was just a good kid

Sheehan:Denise Mangum Coates and her fiance were cooking dinner when they heard a gunshot outside.

Updated: Jun. 11, 2008 9:05 AM | Full story

Humana needs a heart

Sheehan:I wish I could tell you that the insurance company Humana has a heart.

Updated: Jun. 2, 2008 5:28 AM | Full story

Till death do we all part

Sheehan:It just so happens I celebrated my 14th wedding anniversary this week, so that explains my intense interest in Keron Lamont Wilkins and his three -- possibly seven -- wives.

Updated: May. 30, 2008 2:43 AM | Full story

Gehrig's disease, then ...

Sheehan:Doug Phillippi of Carrboro, a talented artist and musician, suffers from Lou Gehrig's disease, which stops the body -- and leaves the mind trapped but intact.

Updated: May. 28, 2008 5:02 AM | Full story

One vet takes up the cause

Sheehan:Lynn Hughes thought he knew just about all there was to know about veterans. First and foremost, he's a Bronze Star winner in the Vietnam War. Second, Hughes is the host of a community-access TV show in Rocky Mount called Veteran's Corner.

Updated: May. 26, 2008 4:19 AM | Full story

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