Barrow News-Journal

1 day ago | mainstreetnews.com | Loran Smith

BY LORAN SMITHThis is a place which has experienced considerable highlights through the years but remains one of those small towns with an appreciation for the past but faced with the challenge of remaining viable and keeping its traditional lifestyle intact. Elberton has a better opportunity than most such towns in that its vein of granite, the city’s economic lifeblood, is 35 miles long, six miles wide and two to three miles deep. It will sustain several generations henceforth.

3 days ago | mainstreetnews.com | Tim Henderson

Like many moderate-income workers, public school teachers Julia and Scott Whitnall didn’t think they’d become homeowners in their early 30s. Especially in California. “We never felt homeownership was in our cards. But we did it!” Julia Whitnall said. “We’re extremely happy.”The couple moved May 16 to a $509,000 two-bedroom house in Ripon, east of San Francisco in the Central Valley region. It wasn’t easy.

3 days ago | mainstreetnews.com | Loran Smith

\With the finals of the French Open coming up this weekend, I will arise on Saturday and embark to my basement office and salute the tricolor on my wall, insert a tape of accordion music into a cassette deck, open a bottle of Bordeaux, and placate my emotions with a flurry of sentimental reminiscing. I will close my eyes and listen for the Maurice Chevalier's suave voice singing, "I love Paris in the springtime." It will never leave my consciousness. I mimic him (or try) in the shower.

3 days ago | mainstreetnews.com | Morgan Ervin

In an emotional appeal to the Winder City Council, representatives for D.R. Horton and the Margaret Martin Robinson Trust said Tuesday that the city's failure to follow through on zoning commitments has left them with land of diminished value, stalling development and placing emotional strain on a family with deep ties to the community. The dispute centers on a 146.87-acre parcel at 982 City Pond Road.

4 days ago | mainstreetnews.com | Loran Smith

This is a place which has experienced considerable highlights through the years but remains one of those small towns with an appreciation for the past but faced with the challenge of remaining viable and keeping its traditional lifestyle intact. Elberton has a better opportunity than most such towns in that its vein of granite, the city’s economic lifeblood, is 35 miles long, six miles wide and two to three miles deep. It will sustain several generations henceforth.