PHOTOS SUBMITTED
You never know who you might come across in your travels. Last weekend, Newport Police Chief Maurice Shults and his wife were driving in Western North Carolina. They happened to stop at a flea market near Candler crossroads. There they found a bearded old timer with a pet squirrel. Chief Shults recognized him as "Cowboy" Coward from the original Ghost Town show from the 1970s in North Carolina. Later, Coward appeared in movies as a character actor. He was in the Deliverance film with Bert Reynolds playing a mean mountain man and looked the part.

Purple Martins flitted over greener pastures and trees ready to send out their spring canopy despite threats of a hard freeze early this week in our hometown.
On a recent stop at our neighbor across the street from the Plain Talk, I walked into Parks Dry Cleaners and saw a small white poodle on a cardboard box just behind the front counter. Gracie Lane's dog is named Jin but mostly called "Baby." The three-year-old poodle came from a friend at the Church of God Union Assembly. She's had it since it was a pup and brings it to work with her and owner Gary Parks doesn't mind. Just east on the next block my friend Gary Kyker also has his small dog with him every day at the garage. Gracie and I chatted awhile and found out she is married to Johnny Lane of Jefferson County. He works at the Mountain Loft, which is a timeshare resort business in Gatlinburg. About a year ago, Gracie joined Gary Parks because she had worked at Wellington Place assisted living center as a certified nursing assistant but injured her back. I asked if customers liked seeing Baby, and they do, often going behind the counter to pet her and talk with the poodle. She had on a pink shirt when I visited. The poodle also keeps seamstress Phyllis Seay company. The Lanes have a much larger dog, a German shepherd, which was adopted from the Newport Animal Shelter. Other members of the Lane family include son, Johnny Lane Jr., of New Market, and daughter, Mary Greene. She is married to Steven Green of Cosby. Gracie said, "We've been blessed" with both good family and pets.
The weather was rainy and cooler on Wednesday, our first day not printing as a tri-weekly newspaper, when I re-visited Parks Dry Cleaners. This day, Baby had on a black checked shirt and barked at me. We quickly became friends. In the back, Sandra Baker was pressing clothing. Gracie said that she and Gary operate the dry cleaning machine and she waits on customers. This is not new to her because I now remember she worked at the Newport Waffle House for several years during the 1990s with Crystal, Jennifer, Patty and other waitresses.
During our chat I found out that her uncle is Ike Fine, who was a neighbor to me decades ago. Gracie's parents are the late James and Mary Fine, of Newport. This was a large family of seven children. All the children are alive and well. You may know them: Patty Stuart, Pauline Cooper, Tammy Bell, James Lee, Ronnie, and Timmy. By dropping into Parks I got to meet Baby and employees.
Most readers that I've talked with like the tri-weekly printing schedule we started in April. One reader who was in the office last week particularly enjoys the crossword puzzles. Dick Pearson and his wife, Heidi, live off McGaha Chapel Road at Sundance Way. They came here about five years ago from Leesburg, Florida, which is near Orlando. At one time they lived in Soddy Daisy, near Chattanooga. How did they manage to find Newport? Late in his years, Dick took up horseback riding, and while riding in Florida met a bunch of riders from Jefferson County. Then there were all the hurricanes and overcrowding all of which gave the Pearsons a good reason to head to the shelter of the mountains in Cocke County. Among the riders in his group include Freddy James and Chucky Evans. "We are Tenn. Walking horse people," he said. They ride in Del Rio at Houston Valley and are planning a ride at Big South Fork later in April. The reason I talked to him about crossword puzzles is we needed his opinion on a new one the Plain Talk might start using on Sundays. He liked it and said it was challenging.
You saw the obituary last Monday for Tim Bennett, the Bybee truck driver stricken with cancer. I saw his widow, Lou Ann Bennett, at Wal-Mart later in the week. She said he had suffered the last days of his life and died the day before their wedding anniversary Mar. 31. The Plain Talk helped the family and friends with a benefit for him at the National Guard Armory.
In plain talk, new life begins in April and promises to continue, some life ends but not the spirit and support of friends.