By DUANE SHERRILL With a new state law requiring clerks to ID anyone buying beer ‘ no matter their apparent age ‘ some clerks have expressed concern about what constitutes a legal ID. ‘We strongly suggest some type of government-issued identification,’ said Michael Cawthon of the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission. ‘It is really up to…

By LISA HOBBS Jackie LeDuc and Band will be bringing a unique blend of rock and Christian contemporary to the Main Street Live summer concert series stage this Friday night. Every week, Main Street McMinnville brings something different to the Main Street Live summer concert series. This week’s installment will rock with a contemporary Christian…

By DUANE SHERRILL Three men were arrested over the weekend on methamphetamine charges when lawmen raided a house on Moss Drive. The suspects, Josh Thompson, James Hale and Travis R. Taylor, are each charged with manufacture of meth for their various roles in the alleged meth-production conspiracy. They waived their rights to preliminary hearing during…

By JAMES CLARK Being born in the 1920s has its advantages when it comes to classic cars. Three longtime friends ‘ George Beaver, Doug Moyers, and Max Hyder, decided to gather Monday on Spring Street and watch cars with The Great Race zip by. ‘I can identify them pretty well up to World War II,’…

MEMPHIS (AP) ‘ It took a while for Mary Winkler to open up to her legal team, but once she did, attorneys Steve Farese and Lesile Ballin found a more sympathetic victim than they’d expected. From there, the so-called legal ‘dream team’ built their defense highlighting talk of abuse for the woman accused of killing…

By DENNIS STANLEY Are you ready, Smithville? It’s time to ‘pick up the fiddle and rosin up the bow.’ Despite high temperatures and high gasoline prices, Smithville will undergo its annual transformation from a rural, sleepy community into a major metropolitan-like area for two days this weekend for the 36th annual Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree and…

Jeremy Stephens is the defending Smithville Jamboree Fiddle-Off champion. The rich Smithville Jamboree tradition continues this weekend. For story, see page 2-A.

By DUANE SHERRILL The former second in command in Van Buren County has been charged with carrying a briefcase of drugs into a meeting with the district attorney ‘ a meeting which ended with his arrest and seizure of his marijuana. However, that arrest is only half the trouble for William W. ‘Wil’ Simons, as…

By LISA HOBBS During a recent Finance Committee meeting, McMinnville officials discussed adding 3 cents to the already 7-cent tax increase placed in the 2007-2008 budget. The increase would fund the $50,000 needed for preliminary work of phase two of the Downtown Economic Revitalization Project. While discussing the proposal, they also heard about the return…

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON Great Race participants from Crowley, La., wave to the crowd gathered on Spring Street as they drive by Monday in their 1928 Ford Model A Speedster. An impressive crowd of local residents greeted Great Race participants as they roared, purred or puttered into downtown McMinnville Monday afternoon, bringing an amazing array…