Rick Karle

It was 1988, and the 15-year-old boy sat on the roof of his house with a shotgun. He lived in one of the most dangerous towns in Alabama, and decided he had to do what he had to do.

It was 1988, and 5-year-old Brodie Croyle hugged his father's leg. The man approached John and Brodie Croyle, stamped out his cigarette and said, “Are you the people in charge?

“I'm thinking a lot about my future,” 18-year-old Eli Hairston told me, his voice steady and strong.

Life has led high school sweethearts Jake and Peyton Ganus along different paths -- Jake chasing football dream while Peyton turned to fashion. Now his proposal on a football field has her leading a multi-million dollar company, and their story remains decidedluy a family affair.

It was the summer of 2008, and he shuffled into the courtroom. His wrists and ankles were shackled, and he looked up at the judge with fear about what he would be told.

It was 27 years ago this month -- December of 1997 — and 9-year-old Megan Montgomery sat in her Hoover, Alabama, kitchen next to her 19-year-old sister Meredith and her mother Susann.

He shuffled by them, giving them a glance and a smile. The two plastic toy soldiers stood proudly as they peered out of Sabrina Rohr's glass kitchen cabinet.

186 Christmas cards. 186 unexpected and treasured messages from a woman who thought ahead.

It’s a good bet that Kelvin Croom will drive by Memory Hills Gardens Cemetery in Tuscaloosa this week. And he will feel a pain in his heart thinking about family members who made him proud.