Visiting Hot Springs, North Carolina

Visiting Hot Springs, North Carolina A Day Away by Mike Steely I’ll bet you didn’t know that the French Broad River, which joins the Holston River in Knoxville to become the Tennessee River, gets some of its water from a very strange source. In the mountains of North...

Do You Want to Be a County Historian?

Do You Want to Be a County Historian? By Jedidiah McKeehan How would you like to be the resident historian for your county? There might be an opening! Tennessee Code Annotated section 5-18-101 states, “The legislative body of each county shall appoint some person of...

Groupthink

Politics is downstream from culture. Andrew Breitbart By Dr. Jim Ferguson I’ve never been a fan of comics. Perhaps the only exception is the single-cell comics of Gary Larson. I loved Larson’s caricatures and creatures, and his witty and pithy observations. And I...

Critical thinking

Critical thinking By Joe Rector Critical thinking is defined as “the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment.” This skill is taught in schools today, but the explanation of it, and the assignments that are paired with the term make...

Turkeys and Thanksgiving

Turkeys and Thanksgiving By Ralphine Major They are a common sight in our rural community. Almost daily, small flocks of wild turkeys can be seen roaming in pasture fields and yards. Months ago, a particular flock had several little ones that got hemmed up inside our...

What generation?

What generation? By Tom Mattingly In this business, people are always asking intriguing questions, whether it’s on the street, in restaurants, via E-mail, or on the telephone. It’s the stuff of which memories are made. A whole host of memories revolves around Sunday...