Journal origins: Family tragedy and a traffic concern prompted Frank Gillispie to start this paper in 1986; founder dies at 78

It seems strange that a stoplight would spark the formation of a newspaper.But that is precisely why The Madison County Journal came into being in October of 1986.With neighbors complaining about the frequent sound of sirens at a busy intersection, Journal founder Frank Gillispie, who passed away last week at 78, battled to locate a traffic light at the precarious spot in southern Madison County, embarking on a journalistic trek that would affect many lives.In 1965, Gillispie's mother, Nancy Gillispie, was killed in a car accident on Old Hwy. 29 between Athens and Danielsville while coming home from working the night shift at an Athens plant.Twenty-three years later, Gillispie would think of her as he tried to find a remedy for driving hazards at the intersection at Hwy. 29, the Hwy. l06 Spur and Glenn Carrie Road.When the state Department of Transportation had completed widening Hwy. 29 to a four-lane road all the way to the Madison County line, they removed the intersection's c aution light, failing to reinstall it when the project was complete, he said."It didn't occur to me to start a newspaper, really," said Gillispie when interviewed in the early 2000s. "It occurred to me we needed a traffic light."Gillispie started a campaign, of sorts, for a traffic light, first by calling local papers and radio stations about the many wrecks that were occurring there. But he said he got little response.With the financial help of Helen Fortson, who owned and operated Fortson's Grocery at the intersection, and several other merchants who bought advertising, Gillispie composed a newsletter on his Commodore 64 computer in his bedroom.