City Beat

         WHILE I was looking through some old photos to use with this week’s “Scrapbook” on local cruisin’ in our city’s past (pages 4 and 5 of print and online editions) I came across the photo of two young women serving as “car hops” at the old Perry’s Drive-In at 22nd and Cantrell streets…

           Downtown Decatur stores of the past are some of my favorite subjects to feature in our “Scrapbook” series on pages 4 and 5 of the print and online editions.       When I became editor and publisher of the Decatur Tribune in 1969, downtown was alive with countless storefronts, major department, hardware and furniture stores,…

              The last print edition of  the Decatur Tribune  that is printed each year is always an extra special one for me. That’s because the announcement that I had purchased the Decatur Tribune, and would be its new editor, was published on Dec. 24, 1969 — 54 years ago last Sunday.      This week,…

        Last week, Decatur Police Chief Shane Brandel released information on the Police Department’s Distracted Driving Enforcement which focused on illegal cell phone use.      “This issue has become a serious problem for traffic safety across the nation and is a major concern of the citizens in our community, as voiced in the surveys…

               I don’t know about you, but, for me, the Christmas season is especially refreshing this year. I love listening to the traditional Christmas songs with strong messages relating to the birth of Jesus Christ.      Also, the songs like “White Christmas” and the “Frosty The Snowman” never get old to me…

                     Dec. 7th marks the 82nd anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which plunged this nation into World War II.      This week’s “Scrapbook” feature on pages 4-6 of the print and online editions takes another look at that “Day of Infamy” and the impact on our community and…

           It’s been six decades since President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas which means anyone who has personal recollections of that Nov. 22, 1963 day, is today in their sixties in age, or beyond. For those of us who were alive on that day, and were old enough to remember what…

           There was an era in Decatur high school sports when our city was a mecca for championship-caliber basketball teams known, and feared, across the state.      Decatur High School, which became Stephen Decatur High School in the late 1950s, was always competing at a high level in basketball and won a lot of…