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A mostly forgotten medical first on June 14, 1965
June 14th of 2025 marks the 60th anniversary of a little-known medical miracle involving one of my cousins. Robert Lindsey Pennell, son of one my grandmother’s sisters (first cousin once removed) was from Hickory, was just shy of 25 years old and was early into serving a three-to-five year prison sentence related to a burglary.…
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Ella V. Costner: Poet, nurse, veteran, storyteller, bootlegger
In the spring of 2015 I participated in a GoSmokies group hike near the Cosby Campground that included a stop at a cemetery that includes the grave of Ella V. Costner, known as the “Poet Laureate of the Smokies.” I had never heard of her, but I took a photo of her headstone. What I…
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Tennessee schools have a book ban cheat sheet of nearly 400 titles
A list of some 390 books banned earlier this school year by school officials in one Tennessee county is being used as a “cheat sheet” by other school districts to vet their assessment of which books to ban. The list originated in Wilson County, which includes the towns of Mt. Juliet and Lebanon in Middle…