The last days of East Towne Mall

  By Mike Steely I took my wife and grandson to East Towne Mall recently, just after the owners announced it was closing at the end of January. Belk, the only big-box store left there, had announced it is closing this month and that store was packed with shoppers...

You can’t get there from here, II

By Mike Steely If you love to get out and go driving, especially while there is still some autumn foliage, there are a few places in our region that you can go… but can’t get anywhere beyond there. Until the Foothills Parkway segment was completed from Townsend to...

Visiting Jellico, Tennessee’s ‘First’ Town

By Mike Steely The little town of Jellico is, in a way, the “first” town in Tennessee. That’s true in a way if you’re headed south on I-75 from the northern states. The town, which is my birth place, straddles the Kentucky border and was once the “Beer Drinking...

Do you say ‘You all’ or ‘Y’all’?

By Mike Steely I was driving back from shopping recently and saw an Allstate billboard that said “Round here it’s Y’Allstate.” That got me to thinking about how our accents have changed over the years. While we may be used to the local accents you don’t have to travel...

Cas Walker subject of new book, presentation

By Mike Steely Those of you too young or too new to our area may probably wonder what’s all the hubbub about that old man, Cas Walker? For those of us from this area old enough to remember black and white television and 45 rpm records, the old man  was an icon on...