by Wesley Bryant | May 11, 2024 | Stories
SUMMER IS coming. And surely your home will sit empty for a week in this heat. The playful cheers of the kids on summer break go missing for a week that was planned for a year. The dishes sit in the cabinets, waiting for their family to come back home. The doormat...
by Tina Neeley | May 11, 2024 | Stories
AS TRAFFIC came and went along Madison Street, a two-lane main street through the heart of Shelbyville in 1975, late model, pre-owned cars lined the lot of Ernie Cook & Son Motors. Once you’d located your dream car among the selections (family car, convertible,...
by Tina Neeley | May 11, 2024 | Stories
THERE WAS always a place for them. In Jessica O’Neal’s childhood home, their names were all different, but the loving spirit they brought with them was the same. They were children and teenagers with disabilities, abandoned or taken from abusive situations, who needed...
by Wesley Bryant | Apr 13, 2024 | Stories
THE ECONOMIC Policy Institute reports that for every dollar spent at a locally owned business, 68 cents of it stays in the local economy. Compare this to 32 cents staying in a local community when spending money at a chain store. The University of Florida conducted an...
by Tina Neeley | Apr 13, 2024 | Stories
WHEN YOU step into Merle Norman Cosmetic Studio on the Shelbyville square, you enter more than a cosmetics and gift shop. You step into the legacy of Merle Norman, a visionary cosmetician who, against the stark backdrop of the Great Depression in 1931, embarked on a...
by Tina Neeley | Apr 13, 2024 | Stories
THE HUM of the heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) unit had become the summer’s soundtrack, a constant drone against the chirping crickets and the distant rumble of lawnmowers. But lately, the familiar tune had taken on a sour note. The thermostat...
