As long as I can remember, there were newspapers in our house. The Tennessean was the morning paper, and the Nashville Banner was the afternoon paper. My first memory of any newspaper is looking at the comics. The Sunday version was best because it was in color.
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Later, back in Tullahoma, Dad would buy a Banner before he left the store to come home, then read it that night. If he forgot to get one, or if they were all sold out, he might swipe Grandaddy Stone's on the way home. Grandaddy had his Banner delivered to his mailbox on Sear's Roebuck Road, just down the road from 3-Way Market.
Our grandparents read newspapers. They were smart people. I wanted to be smart like them, and I connected reading to knowing more, and eventually, getting smarter.
In Junior high, our bus got to school early. One of the places we were allowed to hang around was the library. I figured out where the newspapers were kept, and looked forward to reading the Tennessean. They kept them on a stick, in a rack close to the librarian's desk. It looked something like this.
Mrs. Frisby and Mrs. Pedigo, were the Librarians. They got there early too. One of the first things they did was put the day's newspapers on the sticks. If it wasn't done yet, I would take yesterday's paper off the stick, and put today's Tennessean on there. Reading the paper was a good way to start the day. This was my habit all through junior high.
For many years, the newspaper was the primary way people looked for a job. I can think of several times as an adult and looking at the job postings. There was a process of cutting it out, or copying it all down, and then mailing a resume, and following up.
Local papers, The Tullahoma News, and the Manchester Times, had great sports sections. We looked forward reading about our teams, and maybe seeing our friends names, and our name in there. Little League, Babe Ruth and High school sports were covered well. There were lots of pictures, and plenty of game summaries. They knew how to sell papers, and it was a win-win for everyone.
I recall a line from a story Jan Tavlin wrote in the Manchester Times when I was a Junior in High school. We had just played Tullahoma at our home field in Manchester. Growing up playing ball in Tullahoma, these guys knew me too well. Jan Tavlin wrote, "Leon Williams connected with a waist high Steve Stone fastball, and sent the ball into the Duck River." Leon knew how to swing a baseball bat, and Mr. Tavlin had a way with words. I can still see in my mind Leon turning on that pitch.
Weldon Payne had a weekly article in the local papers too. I looked forward to reading whatever he wrote. We became friends at Motlow a few years later, when I took some of his classes.
February 20, 1998, was the last Nashville Banner. It had been in print for 122 years. The Tennessean stopped home delivery in our area about five years ago. They now have an online subscription, and you can still find a few paper copies for sale around town.
Even the local papers have scaled way back. Their on-line sites give you three or four free articles a month, then you have to pay.
Today, I get the morning news after I get to work. Once things settle down, and I have a few minutes, I read the news online. There are a variety of sites I look at daily...
Coffee County Lannom Library has an on line searchable archive for local papers. The link below takes you to the Tullahoma News and Guardian 1946-2013. they have 165,533 pages available. Put your name in the Advanced search bar and see what pops up.
https://tullahoma.advantage-preservation.com/search?st=2602&t=0&i=f&d=01/01/1800-12/31/2021&bcn=1 The amount of news and information available today is mind boggling. Two of the links above are from England, another from Australia. Their perspective of our news is oftentimes better and offers more details than our own national media.
Even with all this news, it's safe to say we don't laugh and smile as much as we used to. We are missing small local stories that don't make the big headlines. And stories that take more that a Twitter limit of characters.
We are missing something by not slowing down, and reading a good news paper. The sound of those turning pages, and the pure joy of reading the comics survives only in yesterday's memories.