Columns

The Whitley County Fair and the recent deaths of two local residents will be three of the topics for this week’s column. Williamsburg Dry Cleaners owner Pat Michael Marple died on July 15 at the age of 79. Most people in Williamsburg knew Pat from his time owning and operating Williamsburg Dry Cleaners for over have a century. Pat’s father, Pat Marple Sr. founded Williamsburg Dry Cleaners in the late 1930s. I did a story about the younger Pat and Williamsburg Dry Cleaners in 2001. The business never charged to clean an American Flag or a Christian Flag. It was a practice’s Pat Marple Sr. started and one his son continued. One interesting thing...

After a year with the News Journal, it’s time for me to say goodbye and return to the classroom. This news may come as a surprise to some of you, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time. As I sit here writing this, I can’t help but think about the people who will be reading it. One of my favorite parts of this job was getting to know the people behind the stories. I’ve always said Corbin feels like home to me, even if technically it isn’t. I was born and raised in London, but after interning with the News Journal in 2023 and completing both of my student...

By John Curtis White As of right now, the All-Star Game has just concluded and the AL ended up winning 4-0 with Cody Bellinger winning MVP. There are also a lot of things left to happen in the season, one of which is the trade deadline, which is only 15 days away. Most players who are going to get traded either cost too much and their team has to make budget cuts or just want to get out of wherever they are. Here are 3 key players who I believe will get traded.    First, I think Louis Arraez will get traded. This season Arraez has been one of the best...

On my first day at the News Journal, my Nana, for reasons I truly cannot imagine, thought I worked at Waffle House. She told a few of our relatives as much, which prompted my brother to send a me a confused text. When I got back to the house that evening, she opened the door smiling and asked if I was making people breakfast. I do not remember exactly what she said when I told her, “No, Nana, I’m working at the newspaper,” but knowing her, she probably laughed at herself and said something like, “Oh, flitter.” I am glad she could still laugh in moments like that. She was...

To this day, I can still remember the words of my friend, Rev. Keith Decker, when I was in the ring taking pictures of the mule pull at the Whitley County Fair several years ago. “I want you to know I was praying for you real hard,” Keith told me after I had gotten out the way more than once that morning from a team of mules, which had tried to break loose. If you were going to have somebody praying for your safety, Keith, who founded Cedaridge Ministries, was a good one to have in your corner. For those unfamiliar with mule pulls, these events involve teams of mules working to...

A few weeks back, I went to take pictures at a WWE NXT event at The Corbin Arena. I have not watched wrestling in a few years, and I had never heard of any of the wrestlers, but I still had a good time. I grew up watching wrestling. While my mom’s mother despised it, my dad’s mother was the exact opposite. She loved wrestling. You did NOT try to tell her it wasn’t real. (She was one of THOSE wrestling fans…LOL.) Back then wrestling tried to maintain what has affectionately been dubbed “kayfabe.” In other words, wrestling did its best to maintain the illusion its story line was real. Every Saturday afternoon, Grannie would...

As anyone, who has played much golf in their life can attest to, golf is a sport, which can help you forget about your real-world problems for a while. This may come in the form of having a really great day where you are hitting nearly every fairway and green in regulation and you have your putter going. For most of us hackers though, it is usually because trying to hit the dang little white ball is so frustrating sometimes, you just forget about everything else. Either way, you are usually not thinking about the mortgage, your high cholesterol or the stress of your job for a while when you are...

By: John Curtis White We are now officially over halfway through the 2026 MLB season. Some players are having breakout years, and I believe that if the awards were right now they would win an award. These are the early MLB awards in my opinion for the 2026 MLB season. First, the MVP and Silver Slugger race. The MVP and Silver Slugger race right now is not very contested in both the National League (NL) and the American League (AL). Here are my winners for the award. In the NL, I believe that Shohei Ohtani will win the award. First, Ohtani has been dominant both on the mound and at the plate....

The Jan. 20 Main Street blaze in Williamsburg, which destroyed four buildings, will have a legacy downtown beyond just the fire. Initially, it appeared much of the buildings could probably be rebuilt. However, Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison recently announced all four structures will have to be demolished due to the extent of the damage. While it is theoretically possible to save the buildings, it would triple the building costs. As someone, who worked in downtown Williamsburg on Second Street across from Croley Funeral Home for 25 years, I got emotional when I heard these buildings were burning in January and again after I saw the aftermath. I walked by them nearly every day...

By John Curtis White We are now officially about half way through the 2026 MLB season and a lot of things have happened. The Braves and Rays have come back after having tough 2025 seasons, the Dodgers remain amazing, some stars have fallen off, while others have come out of nowhere. Here are some players who were either great last year and not great this year, or players who were injured or not great last year but really great this year. First, Ronald Acuna Jr. has been underwhelming this year. Last year Acuna Jr., playing in only 95 games (coming back from ACL tear) was amazing. He hit 21 home runs...