Smithville resident Avis Novella Ray, 92, died Dec. 16 at her home. A retired Smithville Shirt Factory employee and a 44-year member of New Union the Baptist Church, she was the daughter of the late James and Florance Edna Jones Dunham, and was also preceded in death by son Gordon Lee Ray. She is survived…

By Cokie & Steven Roberts Cheektowaga, N.Y.; Thibodaux, La.; Pflugerville, Texas; Presque Isle, Maine; Westerville, Ohio; Marysville, Wash.; Redding, Calif.; Stokesdale, N.C.; Bapchule, Ariz.; Oxford, Ala. These are the hometowns of 10 American troops killed recently in Iraq, 10 of almost 3,000 fatalities. And there will be many more. The good folks of Pflugerville and…

By William Rusher Unless you are just in from Mars, you can hardly have escaped noticing the nationwide campaign to eliminate all references to Christmas from the public square. Not only is government allegedly forbidden, under the First Amendment, to countenance the erection of Christmas trees, let alone creches, on public property. Even purely private…

By Duane Sherrill OK, seeing it?s like 70 degrees outside, feeling more like swimming weather than the yuletide season, and seeing everyone else is likely writing a column about Christmas, I won?t saddle you with another of my soap box sermons on how Christmas has been perverted by commercialism. Instead, I?m going to write about…

Editorial – Our Viewpoint Bridgestone officials deserve a great deal of thanks for their recent $6,000 donation that allows the Governor?s Books from Birth program to remain active in Warren County. The program got its origins here as Dolly Parton?s Imagination Library. It was adopted statewide by Gov. Phil Bredesen in July 2004. While the…

By Mark Halcomb I have thought about writing a ?Be Careful? article about tractor safety each time we have had a terrible accident. There have been several over the past year or so. Too many. But I never knew what to say that would help; that would prevent another terrible accident. And I feared of…

Many people would be surprised to learn that a familiar symbol of love at Christmas, mistletoe, is actually a parasite to trees such as the Oak and Apple. The mystery of mistletoe can be traced to origins in Celtic and Scandinavian culture which emigrated to America. Transferred by birds through their digestive tracts, mistletoe grows…

Even as farmers across Wisconsin leave the agricultural industry, the volume of crops they produce keeps growing dramatically, according to a report. There are 50,000 fewer farmers and 23 percent less farmland in Wisconsin than in 1970, but yields of milk, corn and soybeans are up more than 80 percent over that period, the report…

Producers who experienced losses in certain counties of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas due to hurricanes Katrina, Ophelia, Rita, or Wilma in 2005, may qualify for disaster assistance for production losses, crop damage, tree losses, and related clean up. ?This program is applicable to the following Tennessee counties:…