Gary McCurdy is the go-to preacher for Thompson Funeral Home of Piedmont. Owners Jim and Tammy Thompson refer those without a preacher to McCurdy, a minister at the Lebanon Church of Christ at Knighton’s Crossroads on County Road 6, just north of Piedmont.

This season, when the stadium lights at Alexandria High School stadium shine down on the football team, Ethan Turner will be on the field with a smile. He has spent the last three years on the sidelines of the sport he loves because he had leukemia, which is now in remission.

The city of Piedmont has come together in full force to support one of their beloved police officers. Kevin Blue, 51, of Alexandria, was recently diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain cancer.

The family of the late Col. Joel Denney laid him to rest among many of the nation’s finest members of the military, those buried at Arlington Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

Brian Ingram and Matthew McCurdy grew up only miles apart, Ingram in Jacksonville and McCurdy in Spring Garden. They saw each fairly often, Brian’s father, Russell, is the cousin of Matthew’s father, Gary, which made the boys second cousins. Family reunions and frequent gatherings allowed the cousins to often play together.

Community pride is often measured by the outstanding quality of a school system. One of those most excited about the eminent opening of Alexandria Middle School is the architect, a parent with five children who attend Alexandria schools. His feelings are paralleled by a thrilled principal.

Jacksonville State University officials raised undergraduate tuition by 5 percent on Tuesday to avoid a $2.7 million deficit in the next fiscal year.

The Jacksonville Tree Commission is taking donations to help with re-treeing the tornado-damaged areas of the city. Members Richard Lindblom, Truman Norred, and Janice Cain are heading the program.

Mike Wingo left the comfort of his home in Greenville, S.C., and the responsibility of running a business there to be a mobile ministry center chaplain coordinator in Jacksonville as part of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association response to a call for help after last month’s tornado ripped through Calhoun County and Jacksonville.

The tables were turned – at least the breakfast table – one day last week as the community served the staff and volunteers of Samaritan’s Purse who have been in Jacksonville since a tornado ravaged the city March 19.

The product you hold in your hands is really not something new. It’s a merging of two of the state’s best weekly newspapers into a more powerful newspaper.

By combining The Jacksonville News and The Piedmont Journal into The News Journal, we are making a better product for our readers.

It’s hard to believe I’ve been at Consolidated Publishing since May 10, 2006. In that time I’ve served as a reporter at the Jacksonville News and publisher of Jacksonville, The Piedmont Journal and The Cleburne News.

In those 11-plus years I’ve seen many changes. All have been good for the readers and the publications. Now we are about to embark on another change that I know will help the subscribers of The Jacksonville News and The Piedmont Journal.