Today's News

The Supreme Court of the United States has issued a landmark decision, ruling for the first time that individual American citizens have the right to keep and bear arms. The ruling came when the Supreme Court struck down the ban on personal ownership of firearms in Washington, D. C. The ban had been in place since it was adopted by the City Council 32 years ago.

I hope everybody had a nice 4th of July. The weather wasn’t perfect, but at least it didn’t rain on anybody’s parade on Friday.

My Fourth included mowing the lawn, something I neglected to do the previous Saturday. I spent that Saturday at Sedalia’s Bluegrass Festival, something I particularly enjoy. Then it rained enough the following Sunday afternoon to give me an excuse to put it off. By the 4th it was bad enough that I figured I had better mow before my neighbors decided to use the sound of fireworks to cover the sound of gunshots.

Helping area students

I remember my first day of school.

I eagerly clutched onto my new book bag that contained my new crayons, pencils, paper, glue, ruler, scissors and erasers and climbed onto the school bus in anticipation of an exciting year. These were the days before we were expected to bring soap, paper towels, tissues and wet wipes to school, so I didn?t have to think about those things. All I could think about was getting to school and meeting new friends and impressing my teachers.

For 20-year-old Jed Mabry of Bedford, the past five weeks have been an opportunity for him to literally dig into history.

Mabry, a history major at Liberty University, is excited to take back what he's learned from his time at the 20th annual Summer Field School in Historical Archaeology at Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest.

The nine students participating this year wrapped up their work July 4. While Mabry was local, the others came from all over the country, including the states of Virginia, Michigan, Oregon, Alabama, Ohio, Pennsylvania and

Georgia.