It’s fun to get letters, phone calls or comments about my columns from loyal readers. I recently had a note from longtime resident Norm Haven telling me that he reads and enjoys my weekly column. He ...

Childhood secrets are hiding in the dirt. Months after crops are harvested and fields stripped to bare brown, the slanted rays of morning or evening sunlight fire large circular patterns of crushed ...

Alex Sample took a childhood hobby and turned it into a business with an annual show that is now opening in its biggest venue to date — and he envisions even bigger things in the future. Sample’s ...

Rockhounds will find agate, minerals and rocks from around the world all close at home. The show offers an opportunity to look at agates from across the globe or buy and trade stones. Vendors provide ...

Howard Powell scales the mounds of rubble at the former Akro Agate factory site, occasionally bending over to pick up a glass marble that catches his eye. He never knows what he’ll find, and for ...

J. – Three boys lined up nervously yesterday morning on a concrete platform atop the sandy beach, each extracting his favorite shooting marble from a bag or pocket. The kids blew on their diamond-hard ...