This past month each of 19 of our very own Union County 4-H members became the owners of 20 newly-hatched chicks.
These 4-H members are participating in Union County’s longest-running project group, Chick Chain, which dates back to the days of former agents Bill Morgan and Harold Julian.
This year, 4-H members had a choice of Black Sex Linked or Golden Comet chicks, which they will raise over the next few months into egg-laying hens. While these chicks sure are cute when they hatch, our 4-H kids will soon find out that this project is about much more than that.

As Erin Wilkerson sat across from Mike Williams in his Nashville office, she felt as if she had a voice as a leader of tomorrow. Little did she know that the experiences she had in 4-H, such as this one, would make her a leader of the next generation
She (now Erin Webb) is the leader of a Bioresource Science and Engineering Group at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and resides in Luttrell, Tennessee, with her husband and two sons. Webb was a Union County Delegate at the Tennessee 4-H State Congress in 1992.

After an extensive study of all available care for low back problems, the Federal Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (now the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality) recommended that low back pain sufferers choose the most conservative care first. And it recommended spinal manipulation as the only safe and effective, drugless form of initial professional treatment for acute low back problems in adults.

By Sherrie Wilson and Deborah Stroud
The marriage of James and Frances Russell is a genuinely sweet love story. They’ve shared many good times and endured some hard times along the way too. The glue that has held them together, especially through the difficult times, is love.
Love is an action—it is demonstrated in how we treat and respect others, it is nurtured by striving to live and love each other. It is patient and kind; it is not boastful or proud.

My doctor book says that Chicken Pox is a common, mild infectious disease of childhood. It also says that it is a rare disease in adults. That's what it says. The virus is spread from person to person by airborne droplets. Patients are highly infectious from about two days before the rash appears until about a week later. The rash consists of a mass of small, red, itchy spots that become fluid-filled blisters ina short time. After a few days, the blisters dry out and become scabs. That is, if you don't scratch them. Then you have a real mess.

This is a tribute I wrote for my sweet daddy, who recently passed away.
When I was first asked to write this by my family, I wondered how I was going to do it. Even though I am a writer, I couldn’t seem to find the words to do my daddy justice. So, I prayed about it. Then the Lord placed a memory and an image into my mind and heart.
The memory was of daddy and me practicing softball. That was some of our best father/daughter time. He wasn’t just training me on how to be a better ball player, but he was also teaching me important life lessons.

I look up at the sky and see white and dark clouds moving southeast like a herd of sheep being driven by the winds behind the weather front that passed over East Tennessee.
The frontal passage from the northwest brought in much colder temperatures. It was 36 degrees at 10 a.m. on this late November morning.
Our family got up early. Mama had breakfast ready at 6 a.m.
Today is a very important day in our way of life in 1958. It’s hog killing day.

I like carrots any way you fix them. I am always looking for something colorful for the relish tray. Here is a good candidate

Sometimes life can be like the mechanic that disassembled an entire car to find the rattle. It turns out the rattle was caused by a marble in the ashtray. To illustrate, let me share with you, Dear Reader, a grave tale.
My mother passed away in June 2004. One of her favorite flowers was the hydrangea. My sister Anna Mae chose one of Mother’s purple outfits for her burial, and the florist did a great job matching blue/purple hydrangeas for the arrangements.

A hero is a person, real or imaginary, noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose—especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life.
Our need for a hero is so strong that in the absence of a real person we will invent fictional characters to satisfy our need to be rescued. Sometimes we will elevate a gifted athlete, actor or other famous personality to hero status irrespective of any actual heroic sacrifice, simply because we need a hero.