Rock Island resident and Loudon native E.R. (Roy) Cornett, 90, was born Oct. 7, 1915 and died April 7 at River Park Hospital following an extended illness. A retired steamfitter and plumber with Tennessee Valley Authority and a member of the Rock Island Presbyterian Church and Rock Island Masonic Lodge No. 452, he was a…

McMinnville resident and Anderson County native Carolyn Jean Dixon, 59, was born April 5, 1947 and died April 7 at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville following an extended illness. A former employee of Aquatech and a member of the Baptist Church, she was the daughter of Annie Sue Byrd Evens Drinnon of Knoxville and the…

NASHVILLE (AP) Meteorologists predict the possibility of more dangerous weather in Tennessee during the next two weeks. Frank Strait, a meteorologist with AccuWeather, said that severe weather is a possibility twice in the next week. “In the near future, you will probably see severe weather outbreaks again on Wednesday and another one probably a week…

Charlie Johnson What words can I come up with for today?s column? There are words for what I?m feeling right now: sorrow, sadness, loss, shock, dismay. But no words can really describe the feeling of seeing our county in ruins, of learning of those good people who lost their lives in Friday?s storms. In the…

Cokie & Steven Roberts “Terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible.” That’s how Sen. Bill Frist described the problems he’d face trying to run for president while running the Senate. His comment to the Associated Press was an explanation for why he’s leaving public office at the end of this year, but his own words serve as a…

Thomas Vaughn The debate over the war in Iraq is heating up ??and rightly so.?Three months after the latest Iraqi elections, Iraqi leaders continue to bicker among themselves, while the fighting, carnage and chaos continue apace.? So do U.S. and allied casualties. Over two thousand Americans have died fighting in Iraq in the past three…

By Paul K. McMasters We take our television viewing seriously here in the United States. The average number of TV sets per household is 2.62, and 98.2 percent of all households have at least one set. Adults watch at least five hours a day. Our children are TV watchers, too. Average viewing among 2- to…

By DUANE SHERRILL Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Local banks have been scammed out of thousands of dollars in the past couple weeks by a check counterfeiting ring which has managed to pass 19 fake checks. ?We are looking for four Hispanic males who have passed these checks, each for hundreds of dollars apiece,…

By JAMES CLARK Editor for the Southern Standard With early voting beginning this Wednesday, politics is in the air. And to help local voters make up their mind just in time for the early voting period, the Southern Standard is sponsoring its second political debate in conjunction with the Noon Exchange Club and WCPI 91.3…

By DUANE SHERRILL Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Crystal Martin looks for family pictures in the debris of what was once her four-bedroom trailer on Foster Road. Martin and her three young children were not home at the time of the tornado. However, her mother-in-law and an elderly friend who lived next door were…