By MELISSA STOVER / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard The Barren Fork Greenway will celebrate its official grand opening Saturday as the first phase of the eagerly anticipated project is complete.Although many people are already enjoying the benefits of the greenway, there are still some exciting things to come, according to McMinnville Parks and…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Instant replay led to charges against a local man this week after he was caught on tape committing the very crime he denied minutes earlier.The suspect, Courtney D. Martin, 18, is charged with criminal littering for tossing a bag containing a powdery substance out the…

By JAMES CLARK / Editor for the Southern Standard (McMinnville, Tenn.) Trace Adkins wasn’t scheduled to take the stage for another eight hours, but that didn’t stop fans from filling the grandstands in anticipation.They wanted to make sure they had prime seats saved when one of country music’s fastest-rising stars performed at the Warren County…

For contributing to a better understanding of public education, Southern Standard reporter Will Stewart was honored last week with a 2003 Award for Excellence in Education Reporting by the Tennessee School Boards Association.Specifically, Stewart was honored in the award’s non-daily newspaper, news reporting category for an article he wrote last fall detailing how Warren County…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard A burglar awoke to find police standing over him this week after he fell asleep on the floor of the business he broke into the night before.The suspect, Justin C. Nunley, 19, says it was a case of mistaken location as he claimed he actually…

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON / News Editor for the Southern Standard Main Street’s Carla King, with daughter Emily, 6, and granddaughter Kellie Cornett, 3, pose in all their 1950s bobby-sox finery next to one of the great classic cars at the Drive-in Cruise-in car show Saturday night. (Charles W. Johnson photo) If you like to…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard MURPHY The homemade bomb found in a deputy’s mailbox Saturday had the explosive potential of a stick of dynamite.“We’re taking this very seriously,” said Sheriff Jackie Matheny concerning the pipe bomb found in deputy Kevin Murphy’s mailbox. “They say it was the equivalent to a…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard TACKETT Almost 13 years following the shooting which left local mechanic Paul Walker permanently paralyzed, a longtime suspect has been arrested.A sealed indictment charging especially aggravated robbery was served Tuesday morning on Roger Dale Tackett in his cell at Warren County Jail. He was being…

If fun, happy, sing-a-long songs are what you desire, look no further – Sly’s Alter Ego will fill that void. The band’s ability to craft amazing stick-in-your-head songs, rivaled only by their infectious live show, is beyond belief. Kyle Simmons, bass/vocals, Jeff White, guitar/bgv, and Steve Lunsford, drums, won’t leave you in a lurch when…

By Jim Glenn With all that’s happened in the world lately and all the threats of terrorism, we get a lot of questions in the McMinnville Social Security office about how individuals request and qualify for a Social Security number. Is there enough security involved and can we control the system to limit illegal access…