Sounds like a good time!  Rick writes in…

This past Friday-Sunday over 100 cub scouts and parents from Decatur’s Pack 175 visited Turtle Island Preserve near Boone NC. Wonderful time spent connecting with nature, living off the grid, tending livestock, blacksmithing, learning about indigenous plants and their medicinal value . . . and many other simple life lessons.

http://www.turtleislandpreserve.com/

Check out this most excellent article on Saporta Report by Decatur-based freelance writer Michelle Hiskey about how Intown Ace Hardware plans to adapt to a commercial landscape with a Walmart just around the corner at Suburban Plaza.  Here’s a snippet…

Across the road from the planned development, Tony Powers keeps the keen eye and taste that has made his family business – Intown Ace Hardware – survive and succeed. As the world gets more homogeneous, his answer is a more diverse identity.

“I never thought I would have a hardware store with two lines of perfume and seven lines of organic candles,” he said. “Costume jewelry is also hot. I never thought this would be who we are.”

Photo courtesy of Intown Ace Hardware’s website