By AMY SATTERWHITE A photo of a rendering of East Main Street highlights one of many improvement concepts for the Main Street McMinnville downtown revitalization project. Concrete is starting to be placed and the possibility for a new road seems to be in sight for the first part of the downtown revitalization project. Over the…

Amy Satterwhite photo McMinnville Electric System welcomes the McMinnville Lowe’s store as a new green power switch customer. Green power switch, offered by the Tennessee Valley Authority and MES, is a renewable energy program that allows consumers to purchase electricity generated from clean sources such as wind, solar power and methane gas. TVA provides green…

By Margaret hobbs Holden Nunley plays a tune on a flute he purchased at the Tullahoma Intertribal Powwow for friends, from left, John Dinwiddie and Chris Smith. The boys are fourth-graders at Morrison School. North America Indians have held powwows for hundreds of years, dancing in a circle around a drum for celebrations, fellowship, renewal…

Joseph and Crystal Holland are pictured with their 9-month-old daughter Jasmine. Like many soldiers, Spc. Joseph Holland has left family behind as his unit heads for the Middle East. But Holland’s departure is unique in that he leaves behind a 9-month-old daughter. “I’m going to miss basically the first two years of her life,” Holland…

This dancer prepares to demonstrate the men’s fancy dance, featuring two brightly colored bustles filled with feathers and tassels. The dance involves very intricate footwork with lots of spins and body movements.

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON Helen Elkins is pictured at Pilcher pipe organ she has played for almost seven decades at McMinnville’s First Presbyterian Church on Main Street. Helen Elkins’ nimble fingers have been filling the First Presbyterian Church with the rich and vibrant sound of its beautifully preserved Pilcher pipe organ for more than 68…

Amy Satterwhite photo Robert Ditmore, pictured with wife Connie, has been called to overseas military duty before. He says this deployment with the Army is a bit different than his previous experience with the Navy. Staff Sgt. Robert Ditmore joined the National Guard because it was something different, and more importantly, local. Ditmore, who is…

Warren County native and McMinnville resident Sgt. 1st Class Curtis Strode isn’t a member of the McMinnville National Guard unit, but will be deploying as a member of the state-wide 278th. A member of the Howitzer Battery, 3/278th ACR in Sparta, Strode, who has several years of active service with the U.S. Army and the…

McMinnville resident Brad Cantrell, front, and his fellow soldiers had cramped living quarters during training in California. They had four weeks of intensive training there, sandwiched between their training at Camp Shelby.

Duane Sherrill photo Police investigate the Monday evening wreck which injured the car’s passengers Joshua Rogers and Leona Tate. The Rogers car hit the side of the pickup driven by Ernan Resendis after the truck pulled in front of them making a turn off the bypass onto Old Smithville Road. A third vehicle driven by…