Other than Billy

It seems every week that news of the sheriff headlines the Standard. It also seems that is all people talk about. When I deliver papers on Wednesday in Elkton, I am often mobbed by people wanting to buy papers as I put them in the racks (not that I'm complaining) and get asked the question: "What's he done this week?"

While we are glad people are interested in the news of the county, we don't want other news to be overlooked because they are not as — for lack of a better word — sensational.

In this week's paper we had stories that are very important for readers to read and pay attention to; these stories include:

• Investors are looking into purchasing delinquent tax bills. For the taxpayers this could mean a greater expense and possibly foreclosure.

• Last Friday morning, an earthquake with an magnitude 5.2 shook the area. Shocks were felt from Kansas to Georgia. The county is in the process of updating its earthquake plan with the state emergency management office.

• Sharon Grove residents are at odds over flowers and mementos being removed from graves in Gant Cemetery. In a meeting Tuesday night about 50 residents showed up to express their disdain for the artifacts being removed from the cemetery. Signs are posted in the cemetery mandating that items will be removed twice a year; some are mad because flowers and saddles were removed from the top of the headstones, despite not being mentioned in the rules. Some residents requested that commitee member, Nelda Snead, resign her post on the cemetery board.

• The debate over a day care in downtown Guthrie continued during a special-called meeting of the city's board of adjustments. The board will hand down its final decision during a meeting at 1 p.m., May 2.

This was only a few of the other hard-hitting news items in this week's paper. Of course we had our ususal lighter fare in the form of a column from Ryan Craig, Larry Craig and Good Old Toby Hightower plus society items and students excelling in school.

All news is important, unfortunately it sometimes gets obscured by other events that are a little more Hollywood-ish.

Posted by Stephanie