Thumbs up to the Madison County Library’s Children’s Book Festival this past Saturday. Sure, the youngsters enjoyed seeing the magician’s impressive tricks or taking a ride on the Madison County Sheriff’s Office’s barrel train. But the 150 Madison County children that attended were able to choose from 2,000 brand new free books to take home to keep. These were all donated by patrons of the library.

This refers to the recent Eagle story regarding the National Park Service’s proposed new parking lots on Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) land at Old Rag. Despite written requests, the service has refused to reveal the design of its proposed new parking lots, and where they would be located. Although it acknowledges that there are protected wetlands at the site, it also refuses to reveal just where the wetlands are. Nor has it made the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report on the subject available to the public.

With the recent death of Michael Jackson, a lot of attention has been refocused on his music. What is your favorite Michael Jackson or Jackson Five song? Do you think he deserves the same lofty American musical icon status given to Elvis, Frank Sinatra and others?

Any recipes for grits will be appreciated. And could someone please enlighten me about Virginia white lightning?

In the spring of 1977, [Julia Williams] drove a banana-colored Datsun up the driveway of Grymes Memorial School to her appointment with Headmaster Joseph Y. Rowe. She was applying for the first grade position and had years of teaching experience, along with a master’s degree to recommend her.