By JAMES CLARK Back-to-school time has arrived. Students in denial need to look no further than Bobby Ray Elementary, which began classes Monday. ‘It’s been smooth, very smooth,’ said Bobby Ray principal Beverly Ramsey about the first week of school. So far, Bobby Ray has 555 students and enrollment is still growing. However, Ramsey said…

By DUANE SHERRILL On the run for eight months, accused rapist Kinsley Omar Fisk has made the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Top 10 Most Wanted list. He is now the focus of a nationwide manhunt with a bounty on his head. Fisk, 20, is charged with aggravated rape and aggravated burglary for his part in…

Ramonia Dafodean Jones Hillis, 77, of McMinnville died Wednesday, Aug. 1 at Raintree Manor Nursing Center. Born on Jan. 7, 1930 in DeKalb County, she was a retired employee of Genesco and ARA Food Service, and a member of Locust Street Church of God. Mrs. Hillis was preceded in death by parents Oscar and Ardelia…

FAIRHOPE, Ala. (AP) ‘ A minister’s wife who disappeared from a religious conference in Louisiana, only to be located four months later living in New York, knows she made a ‘serious mistake’ by leaving and has returned home to Alabama to be with her two children, her lawyer said Thursday. Mary Elizabeth Byrne Smith, 30,…

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ‘ Divers searched the Mississippi River for bodies still trapped beneath the twisted debris of a collapsed bridge Thursday, as finger-pointing began over a report two years ago that found the bridge was ‘structurally deficient.’ The official death count from Wednesday evening’s collapse stood at four, but Police Chief Tim Dolan said more…

NASHVILLE (AP) ‘ The federal government cut Tennessee’s bridge repair and replacement fund by $12 million this year, but state officials still believe they have enough money to keep bridges safe. Paul Degges, chief engineer at the Tennessee Department of Transportation, said Thursday the state spends about $50 million a year on bridge repair and…

By Kathryn Lopez Democrats missed a real opportunity during the July 23 CNN/YouTube debate to declare themselves proudly pro-choice. Not on abortion, but on education. During the unconventional debate, Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., could have done it easily. He’s been an advocate for giving poor families the same opportunities wealthy families have: moving kids out…

By Gene Lyons For all its emotional appeal, this column has always opposed wasting time and energy on the impeachment of President Bush. That’s not to say one couldn’t draw up a list of impeachable offenses, from taking the nation to war on false premises to countenancing such outrages against the Constitution as warrantless wiretaps,…

Letter to the Editor To the editor: I write to ‘SHOUT’ my support for proper and proportional funding for the Warren County High School band. Duane Sherrill’s July 25 column on band funding, written from the heart and personal experience, was very truthful and it refreshingly brought attention to what we, as a community, have…

Letter to the Editor To the Editor: The unbalanced budget is just a sign of unbalanced thinking in McMinnville city government. Here are a few things I have noticed that I don’t agree with: ‘ A 25-cent tax increase last year. ‘ A 7-cent increase this year. ‘ The state legislature just passed an income…