Wes Swietek

Val Pope was tasked with filming history. And like many World War II veterans, his unique story is not widely known. But efforts that span two continents are making sure he and others killed in the waning days of the war are remembered. Pope’s father, Elbert C. Pope, was a pharmacist at Moore’s Drug Store […]

The interest in the oldest still operating restaurants in the region continues amid our readers. As discussed in last week’s column, Frosty Freeze in Franklin is the clear front-runner with a history dating back to 1956. Reader Evan Brown offered that, expanding the search a little, Dovie’s Restaurant in Tompkinsville has been serving its iconic […]

Driving into rural Hart County recently to report on today’s front-page story about the old growth forest, we travelled down Chuck-A-Luck Road. Quite a name. Of course I had to figure out what exactly Chuck-A-Luck was … TrendingBG man arraigned in fatal Dolphie’s incidentHigh-tech research firm moving to Bowling GreenA quick internet search revealed that Chuck-A-Luck […]

OFF CHUCK-A-LUCK ROAD, HART COUNTY — Acres of poplars and soaring red and white oaks, a century or more old, surround a small wooden cabin overlooking a hilltop pasture in this part of rural Hart County. A winding gravel road is the only access point to the cabin. The small structure and the 152 acres […]

While I have accumulated several copies of old Daily News editions, the oldest one I have seen is one archived on the newspapers.com website. It dates from April 25, 1902. Aside from some differences to today’s newspapers (such as that most articles list no author) the paper contained the standard mix of news, opinions and information […]

After having written thousands of articles for newspapers from Illinois to Georgia, and Tennessee to Kentucky, I sometimes get asked which one was the most memorable. A few come to mind, but one in particular was the subject of a recent discussion. In March of 2019, I wrote a three-part series titled “The Murders and […]

When does fall get here? Summer has its perks, but after another day of sweating from simply walking from the car to the grocery store, I’ll admit the yearning for fall is strong. We got a glimpse of fall weather the last few days, which makes the craving for full-on fall even stronger. There are […]

When does fall get here? Summer has its perks, but after another day of sweating from simply walking from the car to the grocery store, I’ll admit the yearning for fall is strong. We got a glimpse of fall weather the last few days, which makes the craving for full-on fall even stronger. There are […]

In my early days in the newspaper business, it struck me that there was a lot of morbid terminology associated with the business: •The morgue (a place where past issues of newspapers were kept); •Cutlines (what most people would call a photo caption); TrendingHotel-turned-WKU student housing unveiledSLIDE SHOW: BikeWalkBG hosts community bike ride along Greenway•Deadlines (the bane […]

Recently our friend James Snider of the Simpson County Historical Society shared a picture of a plaque from the Honey Krust bakery that was donated to the Society. The “Honor Roll” plaque salutes employees serving in the military and is almost certainly from the World War II era. But there was no other information about […]