By Dave Parrish On Jan. 1, the Senate and House passed H.R. 8, legislation to avert the fiscal cliff. I bet you thought you had heard the last on the fiscal cliff. You may have even thought you knew what the debate was all about. Maybe not. Here is a summary of real estate-related provisions in the bill. Real estate tax extenders Mortgage cancellation relief is extended for one year to Jan. 1, 2014. Deducti ...

By Dr. Zachary B. Steele As most of you know, I am a father of two.  Before I get to some mental illness topics, I wanted to take a minute to talk about my oldest child. Her name is Janie.  She is a kindergartner at Paine Elementary. Janie loves to dance. She asks to dance in the living room every night after her bath.  You can find her sitting with the cheerleaders at the Husky basketball games.  She wants ...

By Robert G. Wilkerson, D.Min. Many people are living in fear today. Unemployment and home foreclosures have been extremely high. We have been fighting two wars against religious fanatics who are totally barbaric, and our nation has become the greatest debtor nation in the world. In the midst of all these fearful situations, Jesus Christ, God’s Son, has a Word for us. The Word is “Don’t worry.” Don’t Worry ...

By Scott Buttram, publisher Commentary- Yet again, the unthinkable has happened. This time it was the worst conceivable scenario. They were small children, babies really, who still take naps in the afternoon; still believe in the Easter Bunny; and still believe in Santa, whose visit is just around the corner. With bright and dancing eyes they viewed a world of wonderment before them. Then, in a flash, the u ...

By Chesley Payne For the Tribune Real Estate: A New "Sales Tax"? I am often contacted by people concerned about things they see and hear in the media. There is a lot of misinformation out there regarding a variety of topics. The most recent topic of concern is a new "sales tax" on the sale of real estate. Fortunately, the fear of a new tax is unfounded for most people, but, like some rumors, there is some f ...

By June Mathews Wow. It’s hard to believe a whole year has flown by, and another holiday season is upon us.  And with it come all the trimmings, many of which I could do without. I don’t mean to come off as a Scrooge; I dearly love Christmas and the Savior it celebrates. But the shopping, decorating, food preparation and party-going routine seems to be getting more overwhelming every year. Or is it just tha ...

By T. Joe Knight, Commissioner, District 4   The present Jefferson County Commission has reached the halfway point of our 4-year term.  The past two years have flown by at warp speed as we have undertaken the daunting task of trying to fix our very broken county.   Three weeks into our term and before the ink had dried on our organizational chart, we were advised that Judge Price had ruled the occ ...

By Robert G. Wilkerson, D.Min. If you could ask God one question and you knew He would give you an answer, what would you ask? Pollster George Barna surveyed a cross section of adults, asking that question. The number one response was, “I’d ask God why is there pain and suffering in the world?” Before we can hear an answer to that question, we need to understand what God’s word teaches about pain and suffer ...

By Chesley Payne People are often concerned and apprehensive when asked to sign a contract. This feeling is usually caused by the feeling that lawyers draft these documents with the intent to mislead or cause an unwary consumer to stumble into a trap. However, good contract drafting is meant to remove ambiguities or misunderstandings that could lead to trouble down the road. Contracts can and should be draf ...

Editor's Note: This was submitted to the Tribune by one of our readers. If you would like to send an Letter to the Editor, email news@trussvilletribune.com. We reserve the right to publish or not publish your submission based on its content and intent.   Submitted by: Phil Simmons, Trussville CHARACTER This description fits no one more than it does Hal Riddle.  I, for one, am proud to have him as head coach ...