Courthouse Mountain resident Oliver Utz’s history in Madison County goes back more than eight decades. The locally well-known figure can give first-hand accounts of big Madison events through the years – as a boy he even attended then-President Herbert Hoover’s 1929 speech at what is now called Hoover Ridge. He stopped by The Madison County Eagle’s office recently to share another little bit of history – he found some interesting postcards from the early- and mid-1900s.

When you log on to Madison County veterinarian Patrick Comyn’s Web site, English isn’t the only option. Those who speak German or Italian (and eventually, Spanish and French) can easily view an area of his business’ Web site in their native language.

With New Year’s resolutions at the front of everyone’s minds, health-conscious residents are flooding area fitness centers. “I’ve had quite a few people come in and sign up in the last two weeks,” Madison-based Body Expressions owner Dave Jenkins told The Eagle this past week.

It started as a friendly competition among the staff at Madison Primary School to see who could lose the most weight before spring break. The end result transformed Novum resident Denise Webb’s life.

When Syria resident Jean Link was a child, she was a mess.Every morning her mother would dress her in some type of lacey outfit and by the end of the day it was all ripped and dirty from playing outside, she said. “I really wanted to be a boy. For Christmas I asked for a race car set, a train set and boys underwear,” Link said of her “tom boy” childhood.

Running four miles home every day after practice – for basketball, football or track, depending on the season – wasn’t glamorous, but it helped make 78-year-old Pratts resident David Pollok into who he is today.