I like beets. It seems the fresh ones can only be found in the summertime. No matter, the canned ones are good, too. This recipe calls for canned beets. I will save the fresh ones to where they can star alone. A great soup for a hot summer day.

By Steve Roark
Volunteer, Cumberland Gap National Park

March is considered a blustery month, with winds being kicked up by the seasonal changeover. And you probably haven’t thought about it since 8th grade science, but it might be interesting to review why we have wind at all.

Bonnie Heiskell Peters
Union County Historian since 1994
Bonnie Heiskell Peters was born on a farm in Union County in 1935. Her parents, Dempsy Valpo and Elsie Seymour Heiskell, had 12 children - 6 boys and 6 girls.

At the March County Commission meeting, Union County Mayor Jason Bailey presented a Certificate of Appreciation to Carol Pratt, who founded and led the Union County Arts Council for more than eight years, and for the council’s donation to the new UC Heritage Park.

The Booker Farm in Tater Valley was founded in 1902 by George and Sally Ann Booker. Their 13 children included Rev. Verlin Booker, who purchased the farm from his father. His son Gail Booker operated a Grade A dairy for many years. Now Gail’s daughter and son-in-law (Debbie and Dale Corum) operate the farm along with their family. In total, six generations have lived and farmed this land, raising Angus cattle and a small flock of chickens.

In the Senior High Division, contestants gave two speeches February 12 at the UT Ag Campus. The first speech was a prepared speech of the 4-H member’s chosen topic, but had to relate to 4-H. Next, the participants competed in the Extemporaneous Contest with an assigned topic and only two minutes to prepare.

Hardly a seat was vacant at the February Union County Commission meeting. Several citizens from Sharps Chapel attended. Four representatives from Friends of Sharps Chapel appeared before commission to make public comments regarding the organization and the factory chicken farm.
Jim Johnson related that the next meeting for the group would be March 8 at 5:30 p.m. at the Sharps Chapel Senior Center and more information would be available on the Sanford Project.

The Union County Board of Education recognized two school leadership groups and two state legislators at the February meeting. Dr. Kim Turner organized the Big Ridge Elementary Student Council as a way to grow school leaders. The council began small, but this year grew to have representatives for each grade level.

Luttrell Elementary School celebrated Read Across America/Dr. Seuss's birthday with some special readers on Wednesday, March 2.

Participants included Union County Mayor Dr. Jason Bailey, Luttrell Mayor Jerry Lawson, Prof. Dev. Coord. Sonja Saylor, District Coaches Stephanie Walker, Angela Mills, Jamie Beeler and Angie Roberson, and LES SRO Officer Marlena Shope.

Older Medicare patients with chronic low back pain and other medical problems who received spinal manipulation from a chiropractic physician had lower costs of care and shorter episodes of back pain than patients in other treatment groups. Patients who received a combination of chiropractic and medical care had the next lowest Medicare costs, and patients who received only medical care incurred the highest costs. – Weeks et al (2016), Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics