The Union County Business & Professional Association will host its 28th Annual Prayer Breakfast at First Baptist Church in Maynardville on Good Friday, April 18, beginning at 8 a.m. Dale Keasling, retired CEO and Chairman of Home Federal Bank, is the keynote speaker.

Dale Keasling grew up on a farm in Greeneville, Tennessee. As a farmer he learned the value of work and the responsibility of serving animals and people. He took the principles he learned from farming first to serve in a cryptographic unit in the Air Force, stationed most of the time in New York where he worked with coded messages. The lessons learned from farming continued as he entered ETSU to earn a Bachelor's in accounting and his first job as an auditor for the Arthur Andersen & Co. accounting firm in Chattanooga. Next he joined one of his clients, Valley Fidelity Bank & Trust Co. in Knoxville as chief financial officer.

Plainview welcomed a new recorder in its regular March meeting. Pam Holbert resigned effective March 31. She, along with well known financial consultant Ann Dyer, trained Emily to take over on April 1. Emily is the current business owner of Butterblume Bakery (formerly Buttercup Bakery) in Maynardville. Ann Dyer, who is Emily's great aunt, taught Emily to bake. Ann’s mother , who was an amazing baker of German delights, was also a mentor to Emily. So changing the bakery to a German name for buttercup pays homage to them both.

The Union County tennis teams are off to a good start. Bad weather wiped out the match on March 5 at Clinton High School and caused the match at Cumberland Gap to be postponed to a later date. So UCHS opened on its home court against Knoxville’s Powell High School. The girls tennis team exhibited persistence as they slid by Powell in a 5-4 win. However, the boys team used skill and energy to ace the Powell team by a 9-0 victory. The match on March 11 against Career Magnet Academy of Knoxville at Tyson Park posted another victory for both UCHS teams.

KUB Fiber is now available to all Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB) customers in Union County. KUB officials, along with Union County Mayor Jason Bailey and other state dignitaries, gathered at Union County High School on March 21 to celebrate the availability of high-speed internet to all KUB customers in Union County. KUB serves the southern half of the county which includes Maynardville, Plainview and Luttrell and their suburbs, indicated in blue on the map pictured. There are some in this area where high-speed internet was not available until this KUB Fiber rollout.

Oakes Farm is in full swing with their first annual Tulip Festival, that started March 22 and runs through April 6 or longer according to how long the blooms last. While they are well known for their pumpkin patch, corn maze and lily festival, to celebrate their 25th year of family fun, they decided to try something different. When talking to the gentlemen who designed their corn maze and also had experience in designing tulips fields, they decided to give it a try.

“The New Testament is within the Old Testament Contained.-The Old Testament is within the New Testament Explained.”
One of the reasons we have so many varied interpretations of the Bible is because we do not understand how to interpret the Bible.
The Bible interprets itself.

My first article on this topic which appeared last month dealt with the 1950’s and 1960’s and America’s direct involvement in the Vietnam War. In last month‘s article I told of the position of President John Kennedy’s opposition to the USA being involved in a war with Vietnam and had started pulling advisors out of Vietnam. Another island country that President Kennedy wanted no war with was Cuba. The night that a bunch of Cuban refugees and a few mercenaries tried to engage Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, President Kennedy did not order our Air Force to provide air cover which led to the ill-fated failure of the invasion on April 17, 1961. I think President Kennedy heeded the outgoing President Eisenhower’s advice to keep the military industrial complex of the United States who wants conflict.

We are thrilled to announce a very special event to celebrate the legacy of Coach John Edds, with a dedication of our middle school baseball field in his honor. The ceremony will take place on April 3 at 5 p.m., and we invite all former players and community members to join us as we recognize the incredible contributions John made to the baseball program.

Richard Nixon left the White House for the last time as president of the United States on August 9, 1974. I was nine years old at the time, and I can remember his televised resignation speech on the prior evening. Just before his final exit, President Nixon made an impromptu speech to members of the White House staff that contained these words:

By Desiree Hensley

UNION COUNTY, Tenn. (March 26, 2025) – Walk 4 Water Union County is partnering with the Union County Farmers Market at Heritage Park for their third annual fundraiser this June.