Features

Hundreds flocked to a Black History event Feb. 10 at Stratton Center, but as far as bringing that history out for people to study, there is still much work to be done.

Today we conclude a list of prominent individuals who each have been discussed in 100 previous columns.

Each has contributed in his or her own way to the development of Shelby County, but this is not to be seen as a compilation of all the important – or the most important – contributors.

Shelby County has been around nearly 221 years, and this is simply an alphabetical skimming of those who made it what it is today – which includes how it became my home.

McMakin, Major Ben (1912-1945)

Writers hate it when they miss an opportunity to write a timely story, and that is what happened to me last fall. I had done some research on the 100th anniversary of the opening of Lincoln Institute in October 1912, and planned to write a story about it. However, in the midst of selling one book, nudging a literary agent along on a second and writing a third, I dropped the ball.

This is the 100th column that I have written for The Sentinel-News during the past six years, and during that time I have introduced readers to a long list of characters in Shelby County’s history.

I thought it might be an appropriate time to look back over that list and revisit those individuals’ contributions to Shelby County’s development in the past 221 years.

A new specialty plate that will be on sale Monday promotes family values and even carries the national motto.

But the ROCK Cares, In God We Trust special plate, with its American flag and patriotic red, white and blue colors, should not be confused with the Unbridled Spirit In God We Trust plate that was released by the Transportation Cabinet in 2011.

It seems timely to return from the wars and focus once again on Shelby County.

I have reviewed my 6 years of columns, almost 100, in The Sentinel-News, and picked out a few local individuals who have stuck out in the history and development of Shelby County.

This is not a listing of the all the prominent individuals in our county’s history, although many are included. It is merely a selection from those about whom I have written and whose contributions have made a difference.

Shelby County School Board member Brenda Jackson said she was ready to applaud the student who was going to be recognized by the state for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Citizenship Award.

“And then I realized that he [Superintendent James Neihof] was talking about me,” she said of a moment during a recent meeting. “It was really kind of funny, I was ready to clap for the student.”

You can count this accomplishment in many ways: 178 days, 2,184 miles, 25 bears, 8 rattlesnakes, 2 copperheads, 1 porcupine, and one monumental feeling were some of the things Dustin Abild covered, discovered and gained when he completed his hike along the Appalachian Trail last fall.

Starting out April 17 from Springer Mountain in northern Georgia, Abild journeyed on foot across 14 states, finishing Oct.11 on Mount Katahdin in northern Maine – a trek that took him just shy of 6 months.

One of the leading causes of a headache is tension in the muscles of the neck. And in this time of layoffs, foreclosures and shrinking retirement funds, who among us is without stress?

Spinal manipulation, the primary art of the chiropractor, has been shown to be effective in easing the problem of tension headaches. Results of a Duke University study released in 2001 showed that spinal manipulation created an almost immediate improvement in headaches that originated in the neck.