Local News

At 7 a.m. Thursday, parents and their children were lined up outside Southside Elementary as the sun began to peak over the nearby tree line and welcome them to the first day of school. It was quiet, a cool 72 degrees, and the mood was relaxed.

School faculty watched out the front doors, waiting for 7:15 a.m. – the time when the doors would open and the kids could be directed to the classrooms they’d come to know very well over the next year.

The work of CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for children) may be the best kept secret in Shelby County, but Beverly Hilger wishes it weren't.

Hilger is the director of CASA for Shelby and Spencer counties. CASA volunteers work with children who have been placed out of their homes because of abuse or neglect. Their work saves the state hundreds of thousands of dollars every year, Hilger said.

Monthly rent and water bill: $420

Cleaning gloves and bleach: $20

Scrubbing the bathtub clean only to have it once again fill up with raw sewage five minutes later: Disgusting.

If something smells off at Wesley Apartments, check the plumbing.

"We're living in poop," said resident Kristy Griffith. "There's no other way of saying it."

For the last two weeks, Griffith said toilets have been burping and bathtubs have been backing up with sewage in many of the C-apartments at Wesley Apartments off of Midland Trail.

While Congress is busy debating major health care reform in Washington, some Shelby County residents have become part of what they call a grassroots effort to make their thoughts known. Joy Tabler is making phone calls to Congressmen and collecting signatures this week opposing proposed cuts to Medicare and its funding of in-home health care. Tabler is the patient care liaison for Caretenders, a home health care provider on Alpine Drive. She said home health care keeps patients in their homes and out of expensive health care facilities, such as hospi