story by stephanie johns • photos by jesse walker

Newborn’s Johnston Family Farm, popular locally for their milk, shifts production focus to cheese; products becoming nationally known through Fogo de Chao

Pre-Veterans Day ceremony held to honor servicemen and women of Morgan County community

story by stephanie johns
photos by jesse walker

MCHS Bulldog senior player Michael Gray’s influence on the Morgan football team

story by nick nunn
photos by jesse walker

To see Michael Gray on the field, you’d never think that anything could make him seem out of place, but he appears to be slightly out of his element sitting in the office of the field house at Morgan County High School.
Naturally reticent, Michael passes his hands over one another as he responds to questions and provocations, but he’ll smile and start to open up a little when he is talking about his favorite subject: football.

photos by jesse walker

Festivals kick off the season

The Rutledge area really kicked off autumn last weekend with two area Fall Festivals–one at Hard Labor Creek State Park and another in downtown Rutledge.
The state park festival last Saturday included marshmellow roasting and hayrides. Meanwhile, the downtown Rutledge annual Spooky Fall Fest invited local children to dress in their Halloween finest–kind of a pre-Halloween dry run–and participate in a costume contest, Trunk-or-Treat and much more.
And Morgan County’s Fire Station 2, located on Brooks Road in Madison also held a festival as pictured on the front page.
Needless to say, fall’s here, whether or not we’re ready for it.

Printed in the October 25, 2012 edition

what keeps us coming back to the fair

To arrive at the fair as soon as it opens its gates is a strange thing.
The sun, still well above the horizon, casts long, dreary shadows from the rides, coated with the rust of years gone by, onto the trampled grounds.
Amongst the rusty dinosaurs, you find yourself almost alone, except for the vendors, hiding in their booths, needing no darkened back-alley before offering you their wares.
“Just a dollar.”
They’ll offer you something for nothing and try every trick in the book to get you to bite.
They sense the desperation (maybe only their own by now, but they can’t tell anymore), point you out, and try to elicit an emotion.
Guilt? Pride? Arrogance? – Whatever will work.
But then, almost unnaturally, something strange happens, and, in any other situation, it would have the opposite effect.
The sun goes down.
All of a sudden, the rust is gone. The artificial lights take the night over, and everything becomes almost magical; less than real.
That’s the fair of our childhood; that’s the fair we remember.
That’s why we come every year and bring our children as soon as they’re old enough to ride the little airplane or the roller coaster at the “Oriental Palace.”
That’s why we went when we were still teenagers, when there was something about being out in the night with a little controlled danger and the chance of getting into a little trouble – whatever kind was your type at the time.
But most importantly, the fair reminds us how we should look at life sometimes: with tired, squinted eyes, willing to overlook the rust and the age of everything that surrounds us for just a little while.
Maybe for just one night a year.

Printed in the October 18, 2012 edition

story by nick nunn
photos by jesse walker and josiah connelly

Hot time at the Madison Chili Cook-off Saturday