WELCOMING WELCOMING Weather Mostly sunny High 70 Low 45 FORECAST A12 A5 Business A8 Calendar A2 Comics D3, D5 Deaths A4 Region A7 $3.00 TT Volume 153, Issue 116 A Lee Enterprises Newspaper Copyright 2024 Follow us online: Inside Legacy playground to be built in Steele Creek Park PAGE A7 HeraldCourier.com $3 Thursday, April 25, 2024 SW Virginia NE Tennessee The Birthplace of Country Music 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service 2018 Scripps Howard Award for Community Journalism Charlie strikes the rooftop at The Sessions Hotel PAGE A5 PREP SPORTS: Catching up with the local prep sports scene PAGE B1 CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY Associated Press TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. The group gathered inside the conference room, mostly women, fell silent as the audio recording began to play. The male voice, clearly agitated, railed against what he thought had been fraud that cost former President Don- ald Trump reelection four years ago. gonna pay for said the man, fi lling his message with exple- tives and suggesting his throat be slashed with a knife.
will take you out. Your family, your The call was directed at one of their own, a city clerk who oversaw elections in 2020 in her suburban Detroit com- munity. The former clerk, Tina Barton, played the recording of the call she had received to an audience that included several dozen local election clerks and a few law enforcement offi cials who had gathered recently inside an offi ce building conference room in northern Michigan. want you to understand this voice- mail is the same type of thing that seeing across the country, and it can fi nd you anywhere you are small community, large community, Mich- igan, Arizona. It can fi nd said Barton, who was overseeing elections in Rochester Hills when she received the voicemail a week after the 2020 presidential election.
The recent gathering in Traverse City, a picturesque community on the shores of Lake Michigan in a county that has twice voted for Trump, was part of a national eff ort to train local election workers on how they can respond to threats and work with law enforcement to counter them. As the nation barrels toward another highly charged presidential election, the threats to election offi ces that have been an alarming consequence of false claims about his 2020 loss loom as a perilous wildcard for thousands of local government workers who will oversee the indispensable in- frastructure of the democracy this fall. The constant threats and ha- rassment have contributed to an exodus of election offi cials across the country. Barton left her job in Rochester Hills shortly after the 2020 election and later became part of the newly formed Com- mittee for Safe and Secure Elections. Since joining, she has given nearly 100 Group helps election workers handle safety risks DAVID MCGEE BRISTOL HERALD COURIER BRISTOL, Va.
Now in its 20th year, The Crooked Road began as a dream for Todd Christensen and the late Joe Wil- son, who met one wintry day in 2003 at the Carter Fold in Maces Springs. The fold was already established as a popular regional music attraction, started by the late Janette Carter in 1975 to promote the legacy of the Carter Fam- ily and the music of this region. Today the Fold remains a prominent destina- tion along The Crooked Road, Heritage Music Trial. It extends over 300 miles across west- ern Virginia, with 10 primary destina- tions and 40 affi liates, promoting the music and cultural tourism. lot of people know, but the fi rst meeting was held at the Fold.
Janette cooked a big meal and they sat on the dance fl oor and dreamed up this vision for Southwest said Ty- ler Hughes, current executive director of The Crooked Road. His comments came Monday during a 20th anniversary celebration for The Crooked Road at the Birthplace of Coun- try Music Museum in Bristol Virginia. think a perfect example of Southwest Virginia a community coming together to solve the he said. EMILY BALL, BRISTOL HERALD COURIER Sen. Mark Warner speaks during a ceremony honoring 20 years of Heritage Music Trail, the Crooked Road, on Monday evening at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.
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