Just 20 years ago, in 1998, it seemed to me that there were a lot of wrecks and shootings going on.

Let us begin with something that brought joy to a lot of youngsters.

More than 200 children ages 12 and under competed in the Pee Wee Rodeo at Lambert Arena in Canoe. The photographs in The Atmore Advance showed a lot of very talented young cowboys/cowgirls.

An Atmore man was arrested after a shooting at a local nightclub. I would think that wouldn’t be a safe place anyway. I could be wrong, but I don’t think so.

The 18th annual Fiddlers Convention was being advertised to be held at the Escambia County High School Auditorium.

This has been a very successful venture for this group. Lots of people love the sound of a fiddle being played from classical music to bluegrass.

A man was critically injured when he tried to stop someone from breaking into his car. The owner of the car jumped onto the vehicle and was thrown off causing his injuries. The would-be thief got away, but it was just not his week. A few days later he led police on a high-speed chase on Interstate 65, ending up in Georgiana, where he was stopped by law enforcement officers. His week’s worth of running from the police and taking someone else’s vehicle left him in dire circumstances.

Two women were injured in a vehicle accident on Main Street.

Law officials were serving a warrant on a murder suspect and discovered a large cache of drugs and drug paraphernalia.

I read the strange case in The Atmore Advance of a woman talking a local funeral home into providing memorial services for a child who may never have existed. She came to the funeral home and told them a sad story of wanting to have a funeral memorial service for her baby. It was only after the obituary was sent to The Brewton Standard the suspicious circumstances made them question the whole story.

I can remember hearing about this story when I first came to work at the newspaper. Some people will do anything for a bit of attention.

The City of Atmore was awarded a $600,000 revitalization grant.

Atmore was on the look out for a storm that could become “Earl” when it formed.

An assault by her boyfriend left a woman in the ICU.