Over the next few days leading up to Christmas, Tribune columnist Loretta Gillespie will be sharing Christmas tips with our readers. They will include recipes, craft projects, unique home decorating ideas and more.
Our countdown has included a feast for the palette, for the eyes, and now we will bring...
“Blessing of the Lost Girls” is J. A. (Judith Ann) Jance’s latest book. As the title indicates, this novel is about missing and murdered Native American women. Few people realize the problem of these missing and murdered women. While a work of fiction, the fact is many missing and...
The Protestant Church is in greater need of reformation today than the Roman Catholic Church was in the 16th century. Absolutely true!
“The Emperor's New Clothes” is a Danish fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen and first published in 1837. The phrase “the emperor has no clothes” is often...
I recently went to see singer Jackson Browne perform at the Alabama Theatre in downtown Birmingham, and a curious thing happened. After the first song, he looked around and said, “I remember this theatre. What a nice place to play music.” It’s a nice place to do most anything....
Obamacare or the “Affordable Care Act” continues to be highly debated four years after being signed into law. Conservatives present it as the poster child of liberal big government overreach. Liberals defend it as the reason they see for government to exist, to protect those with less, and to...
In an era where social media platforms amplify voices, it is imperative to exercise discernment between constructive dialog and counterproductive complaining. As evidenced by the recently concluded Oktoberfest in Cullman, which witnessed unprecedented attendance, the potent synergy of organizations such as Cullman Parks, Recreation & Sports Tourism, the City...
CULTIVATE CULLMAN: The Countywide Arts & Gardening Celebration, which includes “Culinary Cullman” and musicians with Cullman County roots, grew from a seed of an idea to a big, beautiful, flowering thing faster than kudzu after an Alabama summer rainstorm. (Date for the 2024 CULTIVATE CULLMAN Arts & Gardening Show...
For the last several years, I’ve enjoyed leading an April-in-Alabama history walking tour through Cullman. Like Martina McBride sang, “word gets around in a small, small town,” and I’ve been fortunate to attract some positive, fun buzz and good-sized crowds.
To keep it interesting for any repeats and myself, I...
Right-thinking, fact-driven Americans have hit their high-water mark, frustrated with the liberal news media fabricating stories about conservatives. Every day, since the Nov. 8, 2016 election (almost three years ago), liberal Democrats and members of the counterfeit media have worked around the clock fabricating, packaging and pounding this president...
March 3, 2020 the citizens of Cullman County have an incredible opportunity to set the course for their future. Voting to support the proposed 1-cent sales tax has the potential to provide approximately $10 million of additional funding for Cullman County and Cullman City Schools. Said funding will be...
Georgia Peach Heuchera, or ‘Coral Bells’ perform well in Southern humidity. / Loretta Gillespie
This charming little plant will soon become part of a heuchera collection, if you are anything like me. I started off with Plum Pudding and then had to have every new color the breeders developed.
Georgia Peach...
Can you imagine being without “city water” or electricity?
Without either of those utilities readily available, life would be difficult, and our local economy would be almost nonexistent.
Certainly, the poultry industry wouldn’t be what it is in our area today.
We can’t imagine being without electricity and “city water,” and one...
“But when he, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth.”
John 16:13 NIV
Personal trainers are a wonderful asset in a person’s life. Almost everyone would love to have one. They work with individuals on a one-on-one basis to help them develop strong and physically...
Our Congressional Representatives and Senators were called back last week and briefed before the fall session starts. They will have to decide whether to support Obama’s call for a military attack on Syria. I shudder when I think about this whole process. I remember that just before the invasion...
Ross Harrison, left, with Carol Berry, right (Brittany Howell for The Cullman Tribune)
This week on Community with Carol, I continued my interview with Ross Harrison, the PTO president at Sacred Heart School. The history that Sacred Heart has in our community was too much for one interview. (See part...
The apparent employment of chemical weapons in Syria should remind us that, while weapons of mass destruction exist, there is a serious danger that they will be used.
That danger is highlighted by an article in the September/October 2013 issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Written by two...
Anyone know who wrote this song? No cheating! Listen and you can hear the way his other songs sound...
"I Feel for You" is a song written by Prince that originally appeared on his 1979 self-titled album. The most successful and best-known version was recorded by R&B singer Chaka Khan,...
It may not have sounded like it on the surface, but Gov. Kay Ivey recently made one of her most encouraging comments yet about Medicaid expansion. “It would be irresponsible,” Ivey told reporters Tuesday, “to think about expanding Medicaid just for the sake of expanding Medicaid without having a...
Carol Berry, left; Kelsey Rice, right (Photo courtesy of Carol Berry)
“Community with Carol” recently sat down with Kelsey Rice to talk about the local nonprofit, Hope Horses, Inc. Kelsey is a beautiful, soft-spoken young lady with a true love for what she does. As Kelsey began to speak...
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Recent heavy rains put the spotlight on one of the most common yet difficult to resolve environmental concerns – untreated or partially treated sewage leaking into our rivers, lakes and streams. Inflow of rainwater through cracked pipes or faulty manhole covers and infiltration of groundwater through...
Dennis Lahane’s latest book “Small Mercies” is set in Boston in 1974, just weeks away from court-ordered school desegregation. The novel is set in a time of anger, hatred and bigotry, and the language reflects that. I will not be quoting any passages. The story is gripping, but brace yourself for the vulgarity.
There is a tremendous amount...
To the Editor:
First let me introduce myself. I am The Town of Colony Councilman Melvin Hammond (Finance) and have been a councilman for two and a half years.
This is in support of Mayor (Donnis) Leeth.
The other candidate, Curtis Johnson, is running for this office, but the following reasons (are)...
When it comes to writing, I have always enjoyed getting things done. I love the feeling that comes when I have completed a piece and feel satisfied by the result. Everyone has something that provides that little release. You are proud of whatever it is that you have accomplished...
MONTGOMERY - Final passage of a five-year farm bill by Congress today (Dec. 12, 2018) was welcome news for Alabama farmers eager to prepare for the 2019 crop year.
The House of Representatives approved the bipartisan legislation by a 369-47 vote, following Senate passage on Tuesday by an 87-13 vote....
Over the next several days leading up to Christmas, Tribune columnist Loretta Gillespie will be sharing Christmas tips with our readers. They will include recipes, craft projects, unique home decorating ideas and more.
Most people start out with good intentions about holiday spending, but by the time Christmas Eve gets...
As we approach Christmas, I would like to send a heartfelt wish of good luck to all of you parents out there with young children. You’ll need it. If this is your first time to have Christmas when Santa Claus magically delivers all of the gifts to your house,...
“Love & Saffron” was written by Kim Fay, who is from Washington state. Her previous books are “Communion: A Culinary Journey through Viet Nam,” which was a Gourmand World Cookbook Award winner and “The Map of Lost Memories,” an Edgar Award finalist for Best First Novel. “Love and Saffron” is an epistolary (a...
On Saturday, Nov. 4, the citizens of Cullman County will honor their military veterans at a daylong event at Cullman Regional Airport in Vinemont. Full details on the entire event can be found at www.cullmanveteransday.com. Parking and admission are free.
This year, the focus of the entire event is on...
“Shhh” in a Cullman County library was likely first heard in the home of Colonel John Cullmann, the county’s founder. The Colonel was known for having a sizeable collection of books written in his native German, and others in English, the language of his adopted country.
Shhh happens in libraries.
Shhh...
Holly Pond outstanding students were recently honored by Holly Pond Civitan Club: Taylor Simmons, Caleb Knedlik, Josie Harbison, Makayla Fields, Andre McCaffrey, Kaytlin Abbott, Yahir Quintero, Aubrey Paige Hudspeth, Evan Rainey, Korey Butler, Molley Barnett, Jose Aguilar, Saylah Daugherty and Alana Phillips.
Good morning Tribune readers and families. Aren’t these...
Here’s a question for you: Why do we, as humans, feel the need to go completely overboard when it comes to everything to do with our children? Somewhere along the way, it seems we have forgotten the joy in simplicity. From over-the-top gender reveals to lavish birthday parties and...
I am the former activities director for Westminster Assisted Living. The reason I am writing you is to provide feedback regarding the CHS Band. My daughter is a clarinet player in both marching and symphonic bands for Cullman High School. She also has chronic asthma and sees a pulmonary...
Mark Wilson, M.D., health officer, Jefferson County Department of Health
Ray L. Watts, M.D., president, University of Alabama at Birmingham
As parts of Alabama’s safer-at-home measures relax Monday, May 11, health experts — including public health officials and world-renowned UAB infectious disease doctors and researchers — urge extreme caution.
According to...
As the director of the state agency charged with safeguarding Alabama’s environment, I have great respect for and deep appreciation of our state’s wonderful natural resources and rich biodiversity of species and habitats, including many that are unique to Alabama. Protecting human health and those environmental treasures is precisely...
Father's Day is the day that we come together to honor and appreciate the extraordinary fathers in our lives. From the moment we take our first breath, fathers assume a pivotal role in shaping our lives. They become our protectors, mentors and providers. Whether biological, adoptive or a father...
This is the true story of heartache, physical, sexual and alcohol abuse, love, hate, financial burdens and finally, finding joy, happiness and hope.
We trust that you will understand why the names and some of the circumstances had to be changed to protect the privacy and safety of some of...
Moving forward...
CullmanSense was launched on Dec. 31, 2010 as a daily e-publication and quickly grew into Cullman's only Monday print publication in less than one year.
On April 1, 2016, CullmanSense acquired The Cullman Tribune, Alabama’s oldest continuously published weekly newspaper.
For the last year, CullmanSense has been the online presence...
Since the early part of 2020, Covid-19 has been a major element in our daily lives. It’s rare to speak to a neighbor, coworker, family member or church member that hasn’t lost someone to the Covid-19 virus. Altogether, the U.S. has had 80 million documented cases with over 984,000...
The following is an opinion piece submitted to The Tribune by U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Alabama. The opinions expressed are Aderholt's.
Our beliefs, our ideals and our very way of being are almost entirely rooted in the way we were raised. The values that are instilled in us by our...
Over the next several days leading up to Christmas, Tribune columnist Loretta Gillespie will be sharing Christmas tips with our readers. They will include recipes, craft projects, unique home decorating ideas and more.
With just days left until Santa arrives it’s time we started decking the halls. With fresh greenery...
On any given day, there are tens of thousands of people being trafficked into and within the U.S. A large percentage of the victims are minors, often young females, who are brutally forced to perform commercial acts of sex or labor against their will.
January is National Human Trafficking Awareness...
Brooke Astor was known as “The Queen of New York.” Her beloved country house, “Holly Hill,” in Briarcliff, New York is the regal setting for “The Winners Circle Birthday Party.” The Westchester County estate has more than 10,000 square feet, including 24 rooms, 13 bedrooms and both indoor and...
Recent changes in the newspaper landscape in Alabama have us wanting to share some good news about newspapers. Alabama newspapers are alive and printing.
Like most every industry in the world, our industry is experiencing changes that some have characterized as the end of newspapers.
Nothing could be further from the...
“Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be…”
- Robert Browning
“The JOYrontologist” recommends: If you only read one book about joyous aging in your one precious life, let it be “BETTER WITH AGE: The Psychology of Successful Aging” by Dr. Alan D. Castel.
BETTER WITH AGE should not only...
With any issue, finding the right balance is the key to success. The prison/criminal justice system issue is no different.
The purpose of prisons, in my view, is to keep the public safe! And, provide the opportunity for inmate rehabilitation when possible. We have to be careful with that one.
Innocent...
Why I am voting for Donald Trump:
Trump’s company of $10 billion has a larger budget than 15 other U.S. states’ budgets that are managed by governors and state legislatures.
Trump is one of only two candidates in the race who has ever actually balanced a budget (the other being John...
ODE TO UNITING
(Dedicated to John Lennon and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
I have a dream and I’m inviting
All to end the fighting and begin uniting.
Imagine a dream of no more dividing, black and whiting;
A bit of history rewriting, one world uniting.
I have a dream of hate subsiding...
When I say my goal is to protect RSA, (Retirement System of Alabama), I am speaking of preventing changing the retirement of Alabama’s public employees from a defined benefit plan to 401k type retirement plans, which are at the whim of Wall Street.
I led the fight in the legislature...
Carol Berry with Angie Young (Brittany Howell for The Cullman Tribune)
For the Christmas edition of Community with Carol, I wanted to showcase Hope for the Homeless, a division of Cullman’s Little Pantry. The Little Pantry was installed in April 2017, but this division is brand new. Angie Young is...
Cullman County desperately needs to vote to keep an appointed superintendent in the next election for Cullman County Schools.
I have heard so many people say they don’t have a voice or vote at all with what happens in the school system. We have a county school board where everyone...
“The JOYrontologist” is saluting joy-seeking explorers this Columbus Day holiday. As we raise flutes of Prosecco and chow down on veal pizza (recipe below), I’m thinking not only of the great, Italian navigator, Cristoforo Columbo, and his Spanish “GoFundMe” campaigns but also of the many and diverse, bold, determined...
Plagiarism—quite possibly the dirtiest word in academics and journalism. Oxford Languages defines plagiarism as “the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own.” In other words, it’s theft and continues to pose a real problem.
In journalism, plagiarism can be the theft of...
You’ve probably heard something like this before: another national ranking, another instance when Alabama ranked dead last.
But I promise you, this one is different, and by the end of this column, I’ll explain how.
A couple of years ago, University of Arizona journalism professor David Cuillier set out to measure...
ODE TO BRAND YOU
If you were a brand,
Would you be fresh and sweet as Krispy Kreme,
Or aged and mellow like a sip of Jim Beam?
You might be calm like NyQuil or rowdy like Harley-Davidson,
Or hot as Tabasco or warming like Lipton.
Whatever your message, one thing is true,
No brand is...
CULLMAN – Ten years waiting for the announcement that there would be another movie. Waiting a month and a half after purchasing tickets for the day to arrive. Three hours waiting in line to grab a seat. Waiting through thirty minutes of previews. But when the timeless opening theme...
The 1870s founders of Cullman County in the “Hill Country” of north Alabama traditionally celebrated the area’s birth year as 1873. So, 2023 is our 150th birthday celebration even though the town was legally established in 1875 and Cullman County in 1877.
Cullman County offers you these 150, fun and...
As a sewist and quilter with over 15 years of experience, I have been called several times to adopt another quilter's "stash". A stash in the quilter community is a collection of material, trims, patterns, findings, even equipment and furniture, collected over a sewing career. It is incredibly intimate...
The collector’s edition of “WUNDERGARTEN,” the folktale I set in 1870s Colonial Cullman, was birthed this week. (Signed copies available at Leldon’s in the Cullman Warehouse District by April 25, in time for Mother’s Day gifts.) Saluting the forested hills of north Alabama, it has an engraved wood binder,...
"And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them." Luke 2:20
The Shepherds
Out in the fields the shepherds kept, their flocks beneath the sky.
The angel came and so afraid,
the shepherds questioned why.
Fear not,
the angel said,
I...
Iraq veteran and commander of Cullman VFW Post 2214, Brian Monk, and wife, Rachel Monk, president of the VFW Auxiliary, pick different dates and locations every year to collect Buddy Poppy donations for the VFW. The money raised goes back to helping veterans in need.
We set up at Warehouse...
The Dripping Springs Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution presented Good Citizens Awards to Owen Griffith Lovell, of Cullman High School, Jefferson Lee Wayne Boyett, of Cold Springs High School, Taylor Lee Dover, of Fairview High School, Dawson Foust, of Holly Pond High School, Hannah Nicole Sumner,...
Bones and Barrels is one of the most underrated trail races you will find. Zombie Trail Races, a local running company, hosts seven of these races annually. The Bones and Barrels Endurance Beer Mile 5K took place at Palomino RV Resort in Cullman on March 16.
From my perspective and to...
Image credit: Prime Magazine
There is just no good answer to the age-old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
Many have tried to come up with some comforting and reasonable sounding answer, but there really isn’t one. You can come up with all the platitudes you wish, heartfelt...
ODE TO SUMMER
My longtime favorite season is summer.
Though fall, spring nor winter is a bummer.
At 70, this thought’s not a newcomer;
It came decades ago with my first frozen rummer.
“Summer afternoon” according to American-born British writer, Henry James, are the two most-beautiful words in the...
It was a horrible, sickening phone call. Within a few seconds, my hopes and dreams were crushed like someone stepping on a Coke can. And to think my mom did it!
Let me elaborate. Growing up, I was a comic book kid. Beginning about the age of 8, I began...
I would like to let your community know they have a coroner they should be thankful for. After losing my wife Ruth of 38 years in an auto accident, I was contacted by Mr. Jeremy Kilpatrick. He was most helpful in guiding me through what was needed. He went...
FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY -
The Department of the Army issued orders today to COL S. Claus, recalling him to active duty, with a report date of 24 Dec 16.
A reservist, with 1,742 years of service, this airborne soldier specializes in vertical delivery of high-value items. He is airborne and...
