Old-timers (and, let's face it, at age 63 I now qualify as such) will always tell you that things were "different" back in the old days – different meaning bigger, better, simpler, etc. Along those lines, I have to say that Main Street of Big Sandy, during the days of my youth (the late 1950s to mid-1970s) was a pretty interesting place, in ways that the modern version cannot quite live up to.

But before I go about making my point, let me quickly acknowledge a few ways in which "modern Main Street Big Sandy" has shown life in recent years: the Jeff Reichelt Library building and facility...