“ALL THE LATE NEWS FROM THE COURTHOUSE”
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This song was written by Darrell Haden about the Douglas County Courthouse during a certain period of time that many may remember. The song was banned on local radio stations for a while and raised more than a few eyebrows. Professor Haden generously shared this song with The Champion News. He passed away in 2014. It would be most interesting to hear how he would characterize our current National situation.
Walter Darrell Haden was born and reared within “hollerin’ ” distance of Smallett Cave. A graduate of Ava High School, he studied at Missouri University and at Southwest Missouri State College for his B.S. degree and at Northern Illinois University for his M.S. degree. He taught grade school one year in his home community, high school English nine years in Sterling-Rock Falls, Illinois, and college English for one year at Belmont College in Nashville, Tennessee. He has done graduate work beyond the M.S. degree at Illinois State Normal University, Purdue University, and at Vanderbilt University. He was a professor of English at the University of Tennessee at Martin until his retirement in 2006. His prose has appeared in the Tennessee Philological Journal, the White River Valley Historical Journal, the Secret Place, and the Douglas County Herald; his poetry in the Denver Post, the Chicago Tribune, Springfield (MO) Daily News, Colorado Springs Free Press, and Towers Magazine; his songs recorded and published by major companies in Nashville, Tennessee.
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