James Vernon “Timex” Hoback, 43, an auto mechanic from Pilot, sits in a Charleston, WVa jail these days after admitting that he — as a member of the Pagan’s Motorcycle Club — helped two fellow club members from Roanoke smuggle C4 explosives and two hand grenades from Virginia to West Virginia for use in the [...]

Another boring NASCAR season came to an end last Sunday. Jimmie Johnson (yawn) won the championship for a record-setting fourth straight time.

NASCAR finished its latest season with declining TV ratings, declining attendance and declining interest in a sport that once claimed it would challenge the NFL for prime-time dominance.

Some blame the bland Johnson for the sport’s problems. Others blame the economy. While both may be contributing factors, NASCAR’s real problem lies within itself: the sport forgot its roots in an unrelenting quest for money.

The sport born in the moonshining hills of of the South got uppity and thought it was better than its past. It saw its future in corporate sponsors, private jets, polished, TV-ready cookie cutter drivers with no personalities and a cleaned-up image.

That’s not the NASCAR we grew up with and not the NASCAR that built the most loyal fan base in sports — a fan base that is deserting stock car racing in droves because NASCAR decided it didn’t need them any more.

When NASCAR made the decision to yank the traditional Labor Day race from Darlington and move it California, it was a slap in the face to the fans who built the sport. Attendance at the California track has declined to a point where some high school football games outdraw the races there.

NASCAR pinned its hopes on the bankability of Dale Earnhardt’s namesake son, but Dale Jr. appears to be buckling under the pressure. After complaining he couldn’t win at his father’s old racing organization, he moved to the powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports where he hasn’t won in 57 races. Junior didn’t make the chase. Hendrick’s other three cars finished the season first, second and third in the standings.

If NASCAR wants to survive it needs to abandon its pretentiousness and return to its roots but it may be too late. Southerners have a long memory.

Thousands upon thousands of area shoppers descend on malls and the big box store today for “Black Friday,” the start of the Christmas shopping glut and the traditional “busiest shopping day of the year.”

Amy and I will not be among the throngs. We don’t do Black Friday. The last time I was in the middle of the mess on the day after Thanksgiving was while on assignment shooting pictures for a newspaper. One of the photos appears above.

Even our area motorcycle dealer is in on the act: New River Valley Harley-Davidson opened at 6 a.m. with Black Friday discounts. I won’t be there. I’m under a wife-imposed moratorium on motorcycle accessories.

Amy and I will not be playing the consumer consumption game. The only gifts we will give each other and loved ones will be things we make: My photography and her arts & crafts. Any shopping we do will be local, not at malls or big boxes. Call it our contribution to the Sustain Floyd movement.

Or call it coming to our senses. Either way works for us.

As I explore the area where we live, often by motorcycle, I stop and just look out over the wonders that surround us.

Despite hard economic times, failures of our elected leaders at the local, state and national level and a national mood that seems too often coarse and decisive, we still have so much to be thankful for in this nation.

As Amy and I head off to spend Thanksgiving with my mother, we want to take a moment to say thanks to the friends we’ve made since coming to Floyd five years ago and the many others we made over the years and through this web site.

Happy Thanksgiving from us to you and our thanks for making all this worthwhile.

A doe watches warily in the morning fog. With firearms season in full swing in Floyd and nearby counties through Dec. 12, deer of both sexes are falling prey to hunters. But you still see as many deer dead alongside roads. I counted four along U.S. 221 between Floyd and Copper Hill the other day [...]