It was the year 2000 when Chantay Collins first held Summer Reading at Maynardville Public Library. The program, aimed and keeping kids reading during the summer months, started with just 20 kids. This year, participants will top 300, and those kids have clocked more than 10,000 hours of reading so far.

“It’s just snowballed,” said Collins, who is the director of Maynardville Public Library. “We went from having it in the library to next door in the Senior Center because we have so many kids.”

Research can just be trying for years, but oh, the JOY when you finally find the answer. I don’t know how often folk trip into downtown Knoxville, but I find it increasingly difficult to find convenient parking. I think the convenient parking in downtown Knoxville is terribly expensive.

Does he need one of my kidneys? That was my first response when I heard that Aaron, a man I had only met a couple of times, was in kidney failure and was on the transplant list. Can God put something on your heart that quick?

Five years ago, Preservation Union County set out to restore historic Oak Grove School in Sharps Chapel. And now that labor of love is nearing completion as Preservation Union County board member Betty Bullen hopes to hold an open house at the completed building before the end of summer 2017.

The Luttrell community was shocked to learn that on Saturday morning, April 16, 1904, Lyde Hubbs and his son, Parlin Hubbs, were killed in a tragic collision of the hack, in which they were riding, and passenger train, No. 6. The train tracks were owned by a company called KCG & LRR, and train No. 6 was due to arrive in Knoxville at 9:10 am. Just as the hack reached the tracks the train slammed into the team of horses and both horses were killed instantly having been carried a considerable distance down the tracks.

Weight loss is a subject that seems to be in center headlines recently. The reason for this, is so many disease processes lead back to the foods and drinks that we consume daily.

True…we are genetically predisposed to certain illnesses, but overall what we consume and environmental factors play a huge role in our health.

The City of Plainview recognized three UCHS graduates for their outstanding achievement at the June meeting of the Board of Alderman. Mayor Gary Chandler and Vice Mayor Richard Phillips rewarded Seth Beeler, Samantha Sutton, and Destini Thomas with a plaque and a $500 scholarship.

Seth Beeler, a valedictorian, will attend UT Knoxville in the fall to major in pre-medicine. He plans to eventually study optometry. Seth participated in the UCHS Health Occupations Program and did his clinical internship with Dr. Tommy Louthan of Halls Vision Clinic.

Union County property owners will see their taxes drop in the 2017-2018 fiscal year, even though Union County Commission approved a budget June 12, with expenditures topping last year’s budget by more than $1.7 million. Union County Mayor Mike Williams said the tax decrease is probably attributable to the recent property reappraisal. The property tax rate will drop from $2.17 to $2.1399 for every $100 of taxable property.

That’s what the man at my door said two years ago. I'm your donor, God told me to give you a kidney. I had only seen this man a few times before he showed up at my door late one night.

Nine months before this night, I lost both kidneys due to vasculitis, an auto immune disease. I had been working for Union County School System and school had just started back. I was feeling sick and thought I had picked up a bug until I started passing blood in my urine. I went to the doctor and by the time we found out what was going on, it was too late. I had lost both kidneys.

Union County has many historic sites, and it will take years to even try to identify and mark all of them. It’s a work in progress. In 2016, with the help of Roads Superintendent David Cox, Preservation Union County has been able to get signs placed for three more sites: Ailor Mill, Union County’s only Hanging Site where Clarence Cox and John Stanley were hung on December 22, 1894, and Lost Creek School. Thank you Mr. Cox and your crew. I’ve previously written about these sites, but for our young people who may not have access to the Union County history books, I’ll write again.