With all the news circulating the world today--the many different news outlets and informational avenues--we, many times, find it hard to believe them all. As the world started changing over the last several years, most all of us have found that news has been hard to swallow.
(Editor’s Note: We have a special treat for readers this week — a response from Jimmy Brumley to Liba Payne Peters’ guest column back in July. We’ve chosen to combine his response and her followup remarks into a “co-guest column.” We are grateful to Jimmy and Liba for sharing their memories with us.)
HAMILTON — Journal-Record long-time reader Brenda Jackson said she enjoyed reading about Fannie Sisson's birthday party in 1950. “She was my great-grandmother, and I attended that party,” Jackson said. “I was 4 years old. She was a force of nature. Thanks!”
Sisson’s article was printed in the July 23, 2025, issue of the newspaper.
We asked Jackson to share more, and she continued, “I was 6 when she died. I do remember her, and I grew up with her children. She was big and loud. And I think she ruled the roost wherever she went.
HAMILTON — Journal-Record long-time reader Brenda Jackson said she enjoyed reading about Fannie Sisson's birthday party in 1950. “She was my great-grandmother, and I attended that party,” Jackson said. “I was 4 years old. She was a force of nature. Thanks!”
Sisson’s article was printed in the July 23, 2025, issue of the newspaper.
We asked Jackson to share more, and she continued, “I was 6 when she died. I do remember her, and I grew up with her children. She was big and loud. And I think she ruled the roost wherever she went.
Few things in life are certain, but one thing that is certain is that our lives change. When the 2025-2026 school year starts on Aug. 7, it will be the first time since 1988 that school will start without me.
For the last several years, I have often said I knew I was exactly where God intended me to be, but it was in spite of myself. I never had a grand plan. It was always God’s plan, and He led me every step of the way.
Four friends and I traveled to the beach on July 12th. After arriving at Panama City and getting settled in our cabin, we strolled to the sandy shoreline and had a ball splashing in the water and feeling the sand beneath our feet. We didn’t have to pack our luggage for our trip, and there was no need to make reservations. We didn’t need road maps. We all just turned right on Memory Lane, and we were off and running.
I’ve been blessed beyond measure to serve the community that helped raise me, to give back to the school that gave me so much, learn how much good other schools have to offer, re-establish roots in a county I love and to help guide the next generation toward healthier and sustainable futures.
SNAP-Ed has allowed me to turn a personal passion into a purpose, and I’m honored to be part of something that allows me to make a difference for others and give God the Glory for it.
No one wants to think of school when the heat of summer is encouraging pool time and ice cream on the porch, but there are small things you can do to help your student be a step ahead when the school year begins.
Summer learning loss is the loss of academic knowledge students acquire throughout the school year. Multiple studies have shown this to be a real phenomenon that most commonly affects math and literacy.
My hometown is the place where my life began, where my roots dig deep in the dirt--the dirt that makes me happy the minute I step my foot on the ground.
It’s the memories, connections and friendships that draw me to a time when life was filled with carefree laughter, love and hope. The deep ties bind me with an unbreakable hold for this town--the only place in the world where people remember my family and my growing-up years.
In July of 2017, my husband, Jason, and I decided to move to Marion County. For me, it was a move "back home." Jason grew up in Pickens County. So for him, it was a move to my roots. When I started looking for a job, I applied at several places. I started with what was familiar.
I grew up, starting in 4-H as young as they would allow. Even though a lot had changed over the years with Extension, I was still very familiar with it because of my 4-H experiences.
During their recent presentation to the Hamilton City Council, members of the Hamilton Aggie Schools Foundation Board were also asked by city councilor W. Ross Reed if they knew of any long-term projects for the schools they could share.
Board chair Melissa Hughey said one focus is the arts. She said the schools have discovered when they put in more arts, the kids behave better, attendance is better and there aren’t as many discipline problems.
I just returned from an exciting field trip to a place I hope to never visit again... or at least I hope to never stay at. And I’m calling it a field trip for this column, but it was actually a great tour of the new Marion County Detention Center (aka the jail) with our super sheriff Kevin Williams and a couple of my co-workers.
We’d all hoped to go, but last minute scheduling changes prevented Luke (sports editor) from joining us. But P.J. (editor) and Erin (ad manager) did get to go, and I’m glad we were able to share the experience.
With the arrival of warmer temperatures, I eagerly anticipate longer days and spending time a little more leisurely. One of my favorite things to do is to grab an icy glass of lemonade and a great book to while away a few hours outside.
No matter if I am sitting on a beach listening to the waves crash and dipping my toes in the sand or gently rocking on my front porch while petting one of my pups, a great book is the thing that pushes me into true relaxation.
By Kathryn “Chazz” Hirschfeld
Staff writer
May is National Foster Care Month and as director of the Marion County Department of Human Resources, I cannot let the month pass without sharing the importance of foster care.
This year’s theme is “Engaging Youth, Building Supports, Strengthening Opportunities.”
The campaign recognizes the important role people from all aspects of child welfare play in supporting children, youth and families. The theme highlights the need to create a child welfare system that authentically engages and supports young people who are preparing to leave foster care.
Over two thousand years ago, a miracle occurred that changed the world and those within it. A stopwatch to eternity has positioned us to look toward the heavens for His great and fabulous return.
We know Him as Mary’s Baby born in a manger, the Only Begotten Son of God, the Anointed One, the Good Shepherd, the Dayspring from on High, the Son of Man, the Promise, the Prince of Peace, Emanuel, the Tender Plant out of Jesse, the Redeemer, the Prince of Mercy, the Lily of the Valley, the True Vine, the Son of David and King of Kings.
You may not realize it, but one of the biggest businesses in not only Hamilton, but Northwest Alabama, is Northwest Gas, also known as the Northwest Alabama Gas District.
The “speak softly but carry a big stick” company is ran by a board of directors composed of the member municipalities who had the foresight to create the gas company seven decades ago.
It wasn’t easy. It’s been tough. It’s taken a lot of good decisions by a lot of great board members, managers and employees to create what the entire area benefits from today.
So, the subject of littering came up recently and Hamilton Ordinance Official Neil West had stopped by our office on a different matter, but while he was here, I asked him to share a few thoughts.
“I see litter. I see garbage. And it breaks my heart,” he said. “There are ordinances against littering from vehicles, including items that are blown out of the cars by the wind. There are ordinances against illegal dumping.”
When asked if he thought fines would help, Neil said he believed fines could help, but you’d have to catch the person in the act.
By Marvie Marchbanks, guest columnist
As we all get older, we begin to lose family and friends. We’re not made to be here forever, even though Social Security benefits have been discovered recently being paid to some folks well into their hundreds in age and even one 150-year-old. It hurts when we lose them, as it should. No longer do you get to talk to them, fellowship with them, enjoy their company.
Warren Davis, George Malone and Charles Patrick, part of “The Monotones,” in 1957 recorded a song they had written. Their song asked a question, “Who Wrote the Book of Love?” Also called “Book of Love,” the doo-wop song would be a hit and is still familiar to many in 2025.
With so much said, sung, written and recorded, the idea and curiosity about love might lead us to ask the same question. Who did write the book of love?
Matthew 6:25-26 states, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
“Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
With a theme of “Building Tomorrow’s Future,” many state, city and local school boards are being recognized in the month of January for all their efforts on behalf of students and communities across the nation.
In Marion County, we are so fortunate to have two great school boards, the Winfield City Board of Education and the Marion County Board of Education.
We applaud each board member and thank them for all their years of dedication and service for our youth during their many years in school, which is often one of the most definitive periods of their entire lives.
Who hoo! New Year’s Day 2025! It feels great to write that number! 2025! It’s a quarter of a century down in the 2000s! Congratulations everyone on making it through an- other year to another new year.
Last year, I wrote a column about my friend Chris Brogan’s “My 3 Words” concept. Each year, he and his business partner, Rob Hatch, host an annual webinar event to “explore the process of selecting three words to guide your actions through the coming year.”
Chris has noted, “It’s something I’ve
Mrs. Missouri Isabelle Webster, probably Marion County’s oldest resident, will be 102 years young on New Year’s Day.
If you make friends like Mrs. Webster does, you pile up a lot of them in 102 years, and it was obvious that a lot of folks like Mrs. Webster from the many who came and went during the time the reporter was talking to her one day this week.
Mrs. Webster has had a full life. It began 102 years ago in Fayette County, just south of Bobo near what was then called Stewart’s Creek. Her parents were Mr. and Mrs. Joe
Stewart. Mrs. Webster, who
A dream come true. This is the way the pupils and the teachers of the Hamilton Elementary School speak when they are asked about their recently completed library.
The library, an up to date one with books to suit every grade level in school, has been talked about and dreamed about for a long time by the faculty, parents and children of this school.
I have an old friend who has long since passed away from this life we have come to appreciate under the face of the sun. Over 30 years have passed, but I remember his continence and his smile and his strong character lines emerging from beneath the full white beard and mustache expanding ear to ear. Those were lines most of us call scars. And he had a receding hair line at the top of his crown, obviously due to wearing his favorite seasonal hat each year.
Friday night, Nov. 30, was a gala evening for the postal employees of the Hamilton Post Office and their guests. On that night, a surprise banquet was given for Mr. Cliff Mills, a retiring rural mail carrier. Mr. Mills was seated at the head table with special guests, his daughter and her family, and was honored by a program featuring all his fellow rural carriers and Mr. Buren Hughes.
Ho, ho, ho! I couldn’t be more thrilled at this moment to bring you a very special column which includes some of the favorite Christmas songs of our entire staff!
We’re going to start with our Enchanting Emma and then work our way through in the order in which these were given to me. I’ll come back at the end to close and note my own.
While you read, you might find a few of your favorite Christmas songs listed, or even discover some new ones to enjoy.
Recently the Hamilton City Council recognized two different youth sports teams, with both teams being greeted by applause and having their photos taken with the council members on Nov. 18.
The first team to appear was the Hamilton Aggies Boys’ Cross Country Team, which won the 2024 AHSAA State Championship on Nov. 9. The news of the win first appeared in the Journal-Record on Nov. 20, with a front page photo and more photos and information inside the edition.
Hamilton Mayor Bob Page said he was excited to have the XC team at the meeting.
Many months ago, a kind gentleman came to our rescue here at the Journal Record and was able to make our “older technology-type” phone system work when it failed on us.
It probably helped that this was the same gentleman who’d installed the system decades ago (I won’t say how many). The system is Northstar.
I’ve worked in other offices with this same phone system, and when there were problems, we were told there was nothing we could do.
Thanksgiving is upon us. The forgotten holiday. More and more, people are skipping straight from Halloween to Christmas. Take the holiday candies for example. Halloween has Reese’s Peanut Butter pumpkins. Christmas has Reese’s Peanut Butter trees. Thanksgiving… nothing! Notta! Zilch! You couldn't find a Reese’s Peanut Butter turkey should you look in every Walmart invented.
Questions came at me faster than I could answer them. I usually don’t mind radio interviews because I don’t have to comb my hair for them. I look much better on the radio than I do in person. But this one caught me off guard. I stumbled over words as if I had been to the library liquor bar.
I met him on a job site. He arrived before me. He was standing with his back to me, looking off into a valley of trees and yellow fields designed to swell my eyes and make me fight for oxygen. I didn’t want to startle him, so I spoke as I got closer.
“Mornin’! Sorry I’m running late.”
“All good,” he replied. “Just been standing here enjoying this view.”
“Pretty, ain't it?”
“Man, I love Autumn,” he stated.
“Is that your wife?”
“Who?”
“Autumn.”
I knew it was coming before I got there. I’m a sucker for this stuff. These folks are drawn to me. Maybe I’m drawn to them. Either way, they find me more often than fire ants when I wear flip-flops. No matter how I find myself in these situations, I have always believed that it was not by accident.
Brilliant native fondly recalls the ‘Ville’
By Russell Estes
Guest columnist
