I rarely address criticisms of stories we run in the paper, as I think it is a useless endeavor, since critics have generally already made of their minds on an issue and have already taken to their bully pulpit, rallying their like-minded buddies to their way of thinking.

How many newspaper employees does it take to fix a vending machine?

When do you take down your Christmas tree(s)?

In an instant I found myself being thrown from the rollercoaster. My arms flailed as I was flung from the speeding wooden sled. I reached out to grab the rail but grasped nothing but air. I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out. My life passed before me (admittedly a fairly boring v…

The ladies were in crisis, the Valentine Day party was drawing nigh;

At first, the odor seemed to only hit my nostrils here and there. It was a whiff of something off, something different, something foul.

“Look out! He’s going to crash!” a man yelled out, pointing to the sky as the small plane swooped over the top of the building, clearing the mall by mere feet.

John stands outside his parent’s house and watches Nicki through the kitchen window.

There comes a time when things must change. Not for the mere sake of change but because it has come time to do it. Such is the case for the name of my column – “That New Guy”.

After some serious thought after the past week of baseless and vile attacks on my character, motives, and family, I’ve decided to use this piece I wrote a couple years ago on September 11th instead of my originally planned one. The prompt was something to the effect of “Tell us about how you…

It’s a little early for a celebration, but I think starting early is appropriate (assuming we celebrate over a Zoom call or observe social distancing while doing so). It’s not so much that I am ready to ring in the pending new year as much as I am eager to say goodbye to this one. It’s been …

Do you ever look back on past Christmases and think to yourself, “Wow, I had some cool toys when I was a kid?”

Since moving back to Tennessee, I’ve seen many bumper stickers, memes, and flippant comments being shared by Tullahomans about assimilation. Things like “I want YOU to speak English” or “go back to where you came from.”

Voting is the beating heart of our republic, and every eligible, legal American citizen should have the opportunity to participate in our electoral system. That is a given. But this precious liberty is undermined when election integrity is not taken seriously and protections to defend it are…

Younger parents were much less likely than older parents to say they planned to vaccinate their children and themselves against COVID-19, according to a research letter published online in medRxiv by authors at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Childr…

There are a number of national trends which, in addition to the impact of the pandemic, indicate development in small towns will accelerate over the course of the coming decade. As a forward, according to a recent article published by the Brookings Institute pre-pandemic, the previous census…

It’s wide open now. There’s no stopping it. Christmas is coming, COVID or no. Black Friday may have been more of a Gray Friday this year with less of the press of flesh at the retail stores due to the need for social distancing but there was still a frenzy when it came to getting those once-…

My parents immigrated to the US during the Brain Drain of the 50s-70s when a large amount of physicians were recruited by the US to move here to fill a void in the medical profession. I say this so that you all understand one very specific thing: My parents came here with college degrees, a …

This month is Diabetes Awareness Month, where multiple organizations like the American Diabetes Association and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) spend time bringing awareness and attention to the disease.

“My baby! Where’s my baby!” a mother screamed as she frantically searched for her child amongst the chaos that was unfolding before me. Her cries became white noise, joining with the other frightened yells of other parents.

In the 1890s, William Joseph Couch and his wife, Ella Laughlin Couch moved to Tullahoma from Bedford County to open a grocery store. Their incentive for this move was because the trains had started coming through Tullahoma, and the passenger trains did not have food cars in the early days. A…

Tullahoma completed the two-year process of participating in the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development’s Tennessee Downtowns program earlier this year. TNECD provides the program to communities that want to pursue the Main Street approach to downtown revitalization. Acco…

Their hands were clasped as they gazed upon me. With each tandem step, they crept closer and closer. My breath was coming out in pants. My steps quickened. My heart was racing. What would come of me?

Election years can be stressful for many. An election year during a global pandemic? We are all stressed, but it is going to be ok, and I will tell you why. If you’ve followed my column, you know that I frequently reference the eleven signs that a community will succeed outlined in the book …

You’ll see no “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline in The Tullahoma News. It was 72 years ago that the Chicago Daily Tribune incorrectly called the 1948 presidential election in favor of New York Governor Thomas Dewey, only to find out they made a boo-boo. Harry S. Truman had won the election. Th…

Lutey was a carpenter, who loved to fish. Every weekend he would be out on “Fire Lake,” fishing in all kinds of weather. Come rain or shine, snow or hurricane, he would brave the elements and troll the waters for a fish worthy of being caught. Next to reeling in a ten pound bass, he loved ni…

What creeps you out? I think all of us have little things that make our skin crawl by a mere mention, fears that sometimes become irrational.

Yellow birches lined the road to the cemetery, planted no doubt by old man Conway, before death claimed two of his sons. Their stones were in the far corner, Maggie remembered, Robert and Theodore, dead in their twenties. She and Sammy played hide-and-seek there, in those sunshine days of ch…

“What are you doing in the laundry basket!” my wife shrieked from the darkness as I found my backside ensnared in the unforgiving wicker. “Get out of there, right now! What’s wrong with you? Are you crazy?”

When did clowns go from being those quirky costumed comedians who entertained children on shows like the Bozo Show - which I watched religiously every Saturday morning as a child – to being creepy versions like on Stephen King’s “It,” where the evil clown pulls a child down into the storm drain?

Several years ago a friend of mine by the name of David would take a midnight stroll across the levee at “Fire Lake.” He was an avid nature lover. If he wasn’t stargazing, he was photographing wild life around its rocky shore.

“I have a great idea,” I said one day several years ago while trying to come up with a new idea for a regular column that would further my fame and perhaps earn me a raise.

“All will come to know, all will come to see,” the lady spoke.

“Boom! Le Champion!” I exclaimed as I raised my hands in victory as I was announced as the first place winner of this year’s Best Humor Column in the state by the Tennessee Press Association.

I’m wearing my newest acquisition from Goodwill as I write this column – a nice Under Amour short-sleeve shirt, good as new, that cost me all of three bucks. Some guy probably paid $60 for it new in a store.

“Did you hear about Ray Knowis stepping down as mayor,” one of the ladies who works in the building said to me as I walked through their department this past week. “What’s up with that?”

“If angels walk the earth, they come in from of children, and that’s how an angel once appeared to me.”

Despite being a macho man now, I wasn’t always the demigod you see before you today. Actually, it was quite the contrary. I was the biggest sissy you’ve ever seen, practically scared of my own shadow. Yes, a guy who writes murder mysteries – meant to be read by lamp or candlelight light on a…

Editor’s note: To encourage aspiring writers, The News is beginning Writer’s Corner where readers are encouraged to submit their short stories for publication. The short stories should be under 700 words and their publication is left solely to the discretion of the editor. Submit your story …

It’s an all-out war – a bubonic showdown against an entire species. That’s right, I’ve declared war on mice. I’m going scorched the Earth against the beady-eyed little devils.

Editor’s note: To encourage aspiring writers, The News is beginning Writer’s Corner where readers are encouraged to submit their short stories for publication. The short stories should be under 700 words and their publication is left solely to the discretion of the editor. Submit your story …

As you may have noticed, we recently began a section in the paper called “Writer’s Corner,” which lets aspiring writers showcase short stories in the pages of The Tullahoma News. It’s open to anyone who would like to see their writing published, and we hope it encourages those in the communi…

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the way of life in Tennessee, our country and across the world. In recent months, stay-at-home orders, mask wearing and social distancing measures have created a “new normal,” and all of us have put activities on hold to reduce the spread of the virus. But…

Sometimes, as I’m icing my back and joints so I can walk the next day, I think it’s about time to call it quits when it comes to sports. Many guys my age have already retired from competitive sports, with the exception of golf, for the sake of their bodies. Some of them have scars on their k…