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You know, I really love living in rural America. I’ve toyed with moving to the big city at times, seriously considering job offers in larger cities but always staying put, mostly for family reasons. If I were to leave I’d miss good BBQ, the swap shop on morning radio and running into sixteen people I know every time I go to the Piggly Wiggly. I’d also have to get a real home security system instead of my neighbor Marie and I’d have to call a wrecker instead of asking a passerby to “pull me in” with his truck and chain. Life is a little slower here. It’s pretty simple and much more intimate. Everybody knows everybody, and we are easily entertained. To give you a taste of what kind of news we publish around here, I'm going to share with you a clip from my hometown newspaper. Here’s a little background first.

The town I grew up in has about 7200 people, and the newspaper includes sections of news from various parts of the county that aren’t really towns. Instead they are clusters of folks who make up little communities often named for the people who live there, like Parkerville. Each week volunteers write up the news from their little community or neighborhood and submit it to the paper for publication. If you want to know who Cousin Minnie visited while she was in Chicago, just pick up the paper. If you want to see who got arrested for getting drunk and getting into a fight at the Last Stop Tavern, just pick up the paper. Back page, section 1. And if you want to enter the Thanksgiving Turkey Gobbler Giveaway, check out the paper.

Mama saves up several weeks worth of hometown newspapers and brings them to me every now and then. I usually read most of them at one sitting, and it never fails to turn up some real gems. My favorite is this one from mid November. Hand to God, I have changed NOTHING in this article.

On the way home from town on Saturday night, my son R. hit a cow on Jonesboro Road. He had just topped the hill we used to call Kirkindial, and there in the middle of the road was a big black cow. He could not avoid the animal. He hit it, it flew up and then down in front of his truck so his truck then hit it again. The truck has major damage to the front end. Police were called, and they moved the cow off of the road and into the ditch. We went back early Saturday to see if there were any markings that would identify the owner. There was a bright orange tag on the cow. I went to town to get film and when we got back, the cow was gone. We think we know whom the cow belongs to but without proof, he is just without a vehicle since he only had liability insurance. I just think if you are going to have cattle, you should be responsible for them. I am just thankful he had a full-sized truck. If a car would of hit it, there would have been serious injuries to the occupants. On that note, I am going to say that’s all for this week.

So while some of y’all are reading about murders and car jackings in your town, we’re worried about unmarked and unruly cattle. I just love it. And please don’t think it’s boring around here. You should read on the back page about the guy who got arrested for peeing off the side of the riverboat casino. Oh, and Friday is the deadline for donating recipes to the special recipe section. Copies only. Original recipes cannot be returned.