By JAMES CLARK / Editor for the Southern Standard Megan Larson, left, and Brandy Reep talk on the WCPI radio show “Viewpoints” about dealing with the holidays while their husbands are deployed in Iraq with the National Guard. (James Clark photo) If our local National Guardsmen were home for Christmas, it was only in a…

By AMY SATTERWHITE / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Connie Ditmore, spouse of deployed soldier Staff Sgt. Robert Ditmore, is encouraging remembrance for soldiers this holiday season. She and a group of others have organized a New Year’s Eve candlelight vigil at the National Guard Armory from 6 to 8 p.m. One big thing…

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON / News Editor for the Southern Standard The good news about Warren County’s unemployment rate and potential growth in industrial jobs in a recent Southern Standard article has piqued the interest of many people in the county and generated some questions as to whether the figures paint an accurate picture of…

By AMY SATTERWHITE / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Wayne Wolford describes some of the changes at Rocket Ball Park, which he and a group of others are attempting to improve. City officials are investing $10,000 into the park. (Amy Satterwhite photo) Come this spring, crowds may come to favor the ill-fated Rocket Ball…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Two years after liquor by the drink was legalized in McMinnville, the result has been neither gloom and doom, nor an invigorated local economy as predicted by the opponents and proponents of liquor.Only three establishments have taken advantage of liquor by the drink as Applebee’s,…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Roadblocks will be held in Warren County over the New Year’s holiday as part of a statewide crackdown on drunk drivers.According to the Tennessee Department of Safety, alcohol played a part in 57 of the fatal crashes during last year’s holiday observance counting Christmas and…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Deputy Jason Walker surveys the damage to a vehicle driven by Mandy Sweeton which was struck as she was making a turn onto Jacksboro Highway. Sweeton’s 5-year-old child was seriously injured in the crash and was airlifted from the scene. (Duane Sherrill p A 5-year-old…

McMinnville resident and Warren County native Judy Carol Pegg, 58, died unexpectedly Dec. 21 at River Park Hospital.A convenience store clerk with Raceway Market and Shell Food Mart and a former employee of Findlay Industries, she was the daughter of the late Edward and Cynthia Templeton Pegg; and sister, Willie Sandra Pegg.She is survived by…

McMinnville resident and Warren County native John Thomas Horn Jr., 70, died Dec. 21 at River Park Hospital.An employee of BRC, he served in the National Guard and was a member of the Baptist Church.The son of John Thomas and Lela Mae Horn Sr., he is survived by his wife, Susie Simmons Horn; and stepson,…

McMinnville resident Dorothy Anne Welcome, 62, died Dec. 21 at her home after an extended illness.A homemaker and a member of the Baptist Church, she was the daughter of the late Howard Arthur and Franceis Winifred Young.She is survived by her husband, John H. Welcome; children and spouses, Kimberly and Ray Miller of Doyle, John…