Columns

The Corbin Tourism and Convention Commission recently sponsored its annual Burger Week, which has proven to be a success each year. I’m all for honoring beef. I love a good steak and a good burger probably a little more so than the next guy. However, I would love to see someone organize a Wing Week too. Local restaurants could have a week-long special on wings. You could have a contest with two categories of winners like they do with the Williamsburg Chili Cookoff. You could have a judge’s choice award and a people’s choice award. A secret panel of judges could anonymously go around to all the participating restaurants, sample the wings and...

In 1996, Greg Norman entered the final round of the Masters Golf tournament with six-shot lead over his closest competitor, Nick Faldo. When the day started, nearly everyone expected Norman to pull out the win and probably in big fashion. This wasn’t meant to be. Norman struggled and ended with a final round 78. Faldo shot a final round 67 and got the five-shot win. It was painful to watch. You really had to feel sorry for Norman. Going into the final round of this year’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in New York, Wyndham Clark began the day with a six-stroke lead. By the time my dad and I tuned into the final round...

That’s What I Thought by Diane Taylor Roberts Thirty Years Ago I made several really good friends while attending Cumberland College in the late 70’s and I am still friends with all of them today.  I had lost touch with one dear friend, Carolyn Bargo Bowman.  We were such good friends in college, we graduated, then I moved to Tennessee and we lost contact with one another.  By chance we met in Williamsburg again in 2024.  True friendships are timeless.  Decades can pass, yet when you reunite, the conversation flows and you pick up right where you left off. It is the beautiful realization that some bonds are never broken...

Last Friday morning, I got on Facebook and was devastated to learn Jack Walker had died. Mr. Walker was a cherished member of our local band community, and the news hit me hard. Mr. Walker was a prominent figure in the band world who impacted generations of students. He was someone I had a great deal of respect and appreciation for. He believed in me when I was in high school band. He encouraged me when I was doing well and reassured me when I felt like I wasn’t. He fought for me because he believed in me. I remember one time he told me I was a great musician, and hearing...

May was a terrible, lousy month on many fronts for me personally with one vehicle death and two pet deaths just for starters. Our Mazda, for all intents and purposes, died. I can’t justify a $10,000 repair bill on a SUV with nearly 94,000 miles, but that is another column for another day. Some of you may remember how a few weeks ago, I wrote about the death of one of our cats, Gizmo. Approximately three weeks later, Gizmo’s sister, Gadget, started acting sick so we took her to the veterinary hospital in Richmond. She did not seem real bad. The vet’s office told us she was in her end stage. She was...

By: John Curtis White The MLB season has been off to a very exciting start such as the Braves bouncing back after a tough 2025 season, the Rays coming out to be one of the best teams after 2 under .500 seasons, and the White Sox being above .500. However some players are off to a great start. Here are the 2026 MLB all stars based on how players have performed so far in the 2026 season. First, I would like to list some people who I believe have made a really good argument for the all star spot but are just off the list. First, Arron Judge I believe deserves a...

While the old nine-hole Pineville golf course was the first one I ever played as a high schooler in the 1980s, the first 18-hole course I ever played was General Burnside Island Golf Course in General Burnside State Park. Burnside was the third golf course I ever played behind the old Pineville golf course and Indian Springs Country Club in Knox County, which is a nine-hole course still in use today. Compared to Pineville or Indian Springs, I remember Burnside seemed huge when I first played it. The then 14-year-old or so me found having 18 different holes on a course cool to play. This was the first course I had ever...

By: John Curtis White This season the MLB has had some divisions where 1st place is basically guaranteed to win the division. Also, there are some where it is more contested. Here are the MLB divisions that are over in my opinion. First, the NL East. Here are some reasons that I believe that the NL East is over. Right now, the Braves have a 9.5 game lead on the Phillies who are in 2nd place. Even though the Phillies are getting hot going 7-3 in their last 10 games, the Braves have gone 8-2 in their last 10 games. Another reason that I believe the division is over right now...

I can still remember the first golf course I ever played. I was either in eighth grade or a freshman in high school when I first took up playing golf. My dad started playing golf about one year prior to this. I would see him out in the yard practicing and then I started practicing myself. The first course I ever played was this little public course in Pineville. I don’t remember if it was part of the state park system at the time. It was this pretty short fun little course. Almost everyone walked this course because it was a short distance. I think the longest hole on the course was hole number...

My dad, Mike White, finally got one of his Christmas presents earlier this month. For Christmas, I had gotten us two tickets to see “Elvis! The Concert of Kings,” show at Renfro Valley. The show features three different Elvis impersonators representing his early days, the era of the famous 1968 Elvis comeback special, and the era of Elvis’ Las Vegas residency years. If you liked Elvis, or his music, then this was a pretty good concert to see. I only wish our cousin, Terry Profitt, was still with us. He died approximately five years ago. Terry was a huge Elvis fan. It did not matter if it was the music, Elvis’ movies or...