Parasites do not have a positive reputation. I mean let’s face it; they live and feed on other living animals. They are considered cheaters, degenerates, thieves, evil things. And yet some of them do amazing amazingly complex things to earn a living, including brain surgery.
The Union County Memoir Class will begin Thursday, February 8 at 9:30 A.M. at the Union County Senior Center, 298 Main Street, behind the Union County Library, in Maynardville. We will meet on the second and fourth Thursdays at 9:30 A.M. The first class will be concerned with how-to-do's and discussion of story topics. We will begin writing stories February 22. If you have questions, please contact me: Shirley McMurtrie, 865-992-1056 or email my at follow8me@aol.com
What started as a hobby has become a family tradition for the Archers of Maynardville. That tradition launched them into the international spotlight last fall as the Archer and Son drag racing team made it to the IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Finals, where they placed in the final 13.
The team consists of Floyd Archer Sr., wife Connie Archer and son Floyd "Buddy" Archer Jr. Floyd owns the car, Buddy drives the car, and Connie works support to keep the log book, air up the tires and more.
It looks like the government shutdown, otherwise known as Schumer Shutdown, has come to an end (for now); however, Congress has only temporarily fixed the budget until February 8, 2018. The American people could potentially watch our military, border patrol agents, national park rangers and other government workers be auctioned off AGAIN so the Democrats can force tax payers to support illegal immigrants and their children. Why do the Democrats care so much about granting illegal immigrants amnesty, and what needs to happen next month to avoid another possible shutdown?
Sometimes we just never know what is around the bend! Recently, while driving a Union County road re-surveying historic properties, my friend, Fern Shumate Smyre, pointed out a little late 1800s dentist’s office on Nave Hill Church Road. It was listed in the 1978 survey of the Tennessee Historical Commission, and we were glad to see that it is still there. The dentist was Doctor Ewin Shumate, the eldest of nine children of Daniel and Louisa Shumate of Claiborne County. Dr. Shumate was born February 11, 1867 and died June 14, 1910. He is buried at Andersonville.
Yesterday, looking through my scrapbooks for something else, I came across one on the death of our 32nd president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, popularly known as “FDR.” I shouldn't have used the word, “popularly.” Some liked him, but many did not. I liked him. He was the president during my childhood years. “Hoover” had been a dirty word around my Dad. A stanch Democrat, he, among others, blamed Herbert Hoover for the Great Depression. Naturally, I followed in Dad's footsteps. I looked up to him. Isn't it the way it usually works?
On a cold winter day, what could be better than a hot blueberry muffin and a warm wool muffler to wrap around the neck when going outside to build a snowman? My mind travels to a muffin and muffler of my youth, but not the kinds just mentioned.
It is very hard to get people’s attention and even harder to keep it, especially with the written word. Our attention spans are very short, even more so in this information age, with multiple social media platforms clamoring for our participation constantly. Old time preachers used to harp against the evils of TV and how it was leading people away from the straight and narrow path.
When I was growing up during the Great Depression years, there was no cake mix, no Bisquick and no pancake mix. It was like my dad with his cigarettes; he rolled his own. We made our own. I don't have Mother's pancake recipe. Like I said before, she seldom used a recipe. Anyway, I was too young to watch and write down the measurements.
The Union County 4-H Hog Club headed to the state competition last weekend, a truckload of middle schoolers, high schoolers, and the hogs they spent the fall and winter raising. The Hog Club has been going strong since 2014, teaching students valuable skills from animal care to public speaking.
Folks like to complain about “kids these days” with their heads in their phones all the time, but would you believe that the impetus for starting the Hog Club was a teenager? Union County’s UT Extension Agent Shannon DeWitt said it started as a little bit of a love story.