by Amanda E. West | Jul 9, 2026 | Feature, Shelbyville
HER MOTHER had reluctantly signed the papers. Twenty-four days after Jennifer Clever turned 18, she was on her way to Fort Dix in Burlington County, New Jersey. As a native of Dunkirk on the southern shores of Lake Erie in Western New York, Fort Dix was over 400 miles...
by Amanda E. West | Jul 9, 2026 | Feature, Shelbyville
DUSTIN MASON looked up from his Game Boy. Bolts of lightning flashed across the square television screen, followed by rumbles of thunder. The timer was counting down on his Pokémon game, but he didn’t mind. This United States Marine Corps commercial was his favorite....
by Amanda E. West | Jun 11, 2026 | Feature, Shelbyville
TOWERING TREES hugged both sides of the narrow driveway as gravel crunched beneath the tires of my minivan. Each time I traveled Old Nashville Dirt Road, I had admired this two-story farmhouse with its wraparound porch and brick chimney poking through the center of...
by Amanda E. West | Jun 11, 2026 | Feature, Shelbyville
“When your pawpaw, Willie B. Davis, was younger, he used to make moonshine.” Michelle leaned closer, looking puzzled. “Are you serious, Nanny?” “Back in them days, ‘fore he worked at the highway department here in Bedford County, your pawpaw was what they used to call...
by Amanda E. West | May 14, 2026 | Feature, Shelbyville
IT’S ONE of the busiest days of the year — the Saturday before Thanksgiving. In kitchens all across Shelbyville, steam will rise from the fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies cooling on the counter. Apples will be cored and sliced, then sprinkled with cinnamon and...
by Amanda E. West | May 14, 2026 | Feature, Shelbyville
IN 1997, Susan Haynes had spent a decade working for Union Planters Bank, and though her husband, Andy, had a dependable job, one question kept circling inside his brain — “What if I started my own business?” “When Andy approached me in 1997 with the desire to go...
