Community Blogs
Read blogs posts annistonstar.com Community Bloggers.
Behind The Star by Bob Davis
The Bitter End by Ben Cunningham
Chris on Tech by Chris Williams
The Church Lady by Jan Case
Clip2Save by Theresa Shadrix
Community Connections by Anna-Marie Moorer
Faith and Family by John Bagwell
Garden Goings On by Paula Barnett-Ellis and Sherry Blanton
Kaleidoscopic by Brian Robinson
Mileage by Mercy Pilkington
Munford Mixer by Jami Van Brocklin
Musings by Debra Parker Thomas
Prevention Works! by Julie Hope
Savory Servings by RaDonna Ridner-Thurman
Tri Talk by Brooke Nelson
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Blogs
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Recent Blog Posts
Dejar de ser flaco by Vanda7
Aug 21, 2012 | 
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En realidad para muchos es bueno, pero para un hombre ser demasiado flaco es malo. No luces poderoso, no impresionas a las chicas. Por lo tanto, debes comenzar a trabajar de forma constante haciendo pesas y con las rutinas adecuadas, para poder llegar a tener el cuerpo que siempre has soñado. | 6 | 
Kudzu takes over by Ben_CunninghamAug 21, 2012 |
I stopped by Cooter Brown's Rib Shack in Jacksonville last night, for the last few minutes of Back Forty Beer 's tap takeover. The restaurant had added Back Forty's Kudzu Porter to its row of tap handles for the evening (the Gadsden brewery's Naked Pig Pale Ale, Freckle Belly IPA and Truck Sto... | 6 |
Another round by Ben_Cunningham
Aug 20, 2012 |
A lot can change in four years. At the end of 2008, I said goodbye to Pitcher This , the column and blog I'd started the year before about beer. For most of the time I spent writing about beer back then, there were no breweries bottling beer in Alabama. Today there are at least nine. People ... | 7 | 
Hummingbirds by SherryBlantonAug 20, 2012 |
There is a battle raging under our kitchen window. A small group of hummingbirds seem to be waging a war to have dibs on the feeder. I have read that hummingbirds are a bit territorial and can be aggressive with each other when it comes to sharing the feeder. For many years for that very reason ... | 14 |
Applying The Cure by JohnBagwell
Aug 18, 2012 |
Imagine a person with symptoms they have been dealing with their entire life. Every year, they are more and more miserable. Something is making them severely sick, but they refuse to go to a doctor. They never really know what is wrong, but they do their best to treat their symptoms their ow... | 22 |
What's brewing by Ben_Cunningham
Aug 17, 2012 |
So, here’s the first entry at The Bitter End, my return to beer reportage for The Star. I’ll post a more complete introduction later, but right now there’s actual news to report. There are three beer events coming up in Calhoun County in the next few weeks, one of them in just a few days. Mo... | 7 | 
Iklan Internet Murah Efektif Berkualitas Indonesia. by ojelhtcAug 17, 2012 |
Iklan Internet Murah Efektif Berkualitas Indonesia Ada baiknya juga kalau kita lebih akrab berkenalan dahulu dengan SITTI sebagai Situs Iklan Internet Murah Efektif Berkualitas Indonesia ini. SITTI adalah Sebuah Start Up lokal Yang bergerak sebagai penyedia layanan di bidang pe... | 7 |
What book(s) influenced you? by StarEditorBobDavis
Aug 16, 2012 |
Since Mitt Romney selected Paul Ryan as his VP, the books of Ayn Rand have become a trending topic. That's because U.S. Rep. Ryan, R-Wisc., has famously and repeatedly cited Rand's works as highly influential in his development. In a 2005 speech Ryan said: "[T]he reason I got involved in publ... | 15 |
shamballa bracelet----cheap but impressive christmas gift by PCLinuxOS
Aug 14, 2012 |
Can't decide what to put on your christmas list?If you are looking for the cheap but impressive christmas gifts,it is something that you get what you pay for.But this does not hold true for gifts.Price alone does not justify its value.A gift conveying personal concern for the recipients can reall... | 7 |
A "Chick-fil-A Day" Post Script by JohnBagwell
Aug 11, 2012 |
With the Olympic games nearing an end, and the announcement of the Republican choice for Vice-President headlining the news, much of the furor of "Chick-fil-A Day" is over. There may be a few reverberations and after-shocks, but for the most part, the nation is looking ahead to the election. ... | 45 | Follow Us
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Today's Events
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Tuesday, 18, 2013
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Pond Spring- The Gener... 3:50 PM
Oxford Farmers market 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM
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Anniston Middle School
Editorial: The shattered world of Anniston Middle School
Jun 18, 2013 | 291 views | 
| 8 | | Anniston Middle School
Last month, after decades of debate, the Anniston Board of Education voted to close the school on Alabama 21 and move its students to other campuses as part of a system-wide reorganization and cost-cutting measure.
Last week, Superintendent Joan Frazier announced her retirement for June 2014, meaning someone else -- possibly from outside the system hierarchy -- will shepherd the system through the middle school’s closure.
And Tuesday, the state Board of Education included Anniston Middle on its list of “failing” schools that, as part of the Alabama Accountability Act, will allow parents zoned for AMS to receive tax credits if they transfer elsewhere.
For the Anniston Board of Education, the state board’s list of 78 “failing” schools represents two different headlines -- both significant. No other Anniston schools made the list. (For that matter, Anniston Middle was the only school in Calhoun County to be deemed “failing” by the state board.)
Anniston High School, whose dropout and graduation rates have long been serious civic concerns, and the system’s five elementary schools are free of both the stigma and the practicality of being considered “failing” institutions. We are glad that’s the case.
But the other headline didn’t bring a sigh of relief to a city desperate to use public education in its efforts to reinvent the city’s outlook on vital matters such as job creation, economic growth and crime reduction. A city without vibrant and well-supported public schools is a city that struggles to educate its children and sustain its future. A city without successful public schools is a city that faces stagnation and decline, not prosperity.
That is Anniston’s struggle today.
Our advice is to consider Anniston Middle School’s label as a “failing” school as part old news and part opportunity. Don’t overreact.
Instead, see Anniston Middle as what it is -- a school already destined for closure. That’s not a rationalization; it’s a fact. What’s important now is the system’s still-developing reorganization that, once completed, is expected to lessen the system’s fiscal concerns.
More important, still, is this community’s understanding that the education of the children within Anniston’s public schools must be a grade-A priority. It is not the priority solely of the city’s educators or its black community, whose children are overwhelmingly the majority of the city’s schools. It must be a priority for all who want Anniston to prosper.
Make no mistake: We are disappointed that the state considers Anniston Middle School a “failing” school. But we cannot lose focus on the larger, vital picture -- the reinvention of Anniston’s school system and the improvement of its public education. The ailments are well known. Repairing them with hard work and rational decisions is the key.
Fifteen-year-old Christel Trainer paints on the Dr. Francis museum. Photo: Anita Kilgore/The Jacksonville News
