Historic Union County

Spreading the good news of Union County

This is so good. Much different from usual brined cucumber salads. Add as much sweet onion as you like.
Peel cucumber and cut into thin slices. Slice peeled sweet onion into thin rounds. Combine in medium bowl. Set aside. In small bowl, combine sour cream, vinegar, salt and chives. Pour dressing over veggies. Toss gently to coat. Chill at least 2 hours and serve.

With the bitter sub-zero weather we had a few weeks ago, I’ve kept my eye open for a type of tree damage called frost crack, a long vertical split in the tree trunk. I didn’t find a fresh one but did find one or two cracks that had healed over.

By Marilyn Toppins
At the January Union County Commission meeting, Finance Director Melissa Brown told commissioners that Union County had no debt and repeated the statement three times at Union County Mayor Jason Bailey’s request. However, she explained that the Union County School Board still owes for the School Energy Saving Program and the wheel tax will be paying for the construction of Paulette Elementary through possibly 2028.

As Union County teachers, students and parents look forward to the new age of education in the community, there is a new leader ready to embark on the journey of additional educational opportunities in new facilities.
Greg Clay, born and raised in Tater Valley, looks forward to assisting the community in improvements and additions to Union County Public Schools (UCPS).

January 30 was the first day on the job for Greg Clay, the new Director of Union County Schools. At the regular meeting on January12, the Union County Board of Education approved a motion by Brad Griffey to accept a three-year contract as negotiated with a minor change to delete the word academic and broaden the scope of the four performance goals.

This past month, Union County 4-H members were hard at work preparing and rehearsing their speeches for the County Public Speaking Contest.
Competitors and their families gathered at Horace Maynard Middle School recently to hear a variety of speeches on everything from 4-H projects to historical figures and personal experiences.

In 1997, Paula Napier discovered that an elderly lady in the community was eating cat food when she ran out of money at the end of the month. Soon after, Paula started a food pantry in a little red building on Maynardville Hwy., and soon Kitty Lewis joined her.
At that time, they provided additional food for about 25 Union County residents. When Paula had to resign, Kitty took over the operation. The Food Pantry of Union County would continue to grow and soon moved to the Cedar Grove Community Center in 2004.

by Helina Bailey
Chances are, you’ve heard about people in Sharps Chapel who are worried about having to smell manure. I certainly have heard of them, and being that this is rural Tennessee, home to beautiful cattle farms and the like, I have no sympathy for them.

By James and Ellen Perry
Sunday January 15, everyone at the monthly business meeting at the Roy Acuff Museum and Union County Historical Society in Maynardville had our spirits uplifted after two years of covid restrictions, fuel prices through the roof and inflation soaring into outer space here in the good ole USA.

Chiropractors can help counteract the stress you face in daily life. Whether you spend long hours driving or you work an office job, stress can manifest in many ways that lead to headache pain. Chiropractors can also give you tips on posture, exercises, and relaxation techniques. Evaluating all possible causes of your headache pain helps us address the pain more effectively.

By Helina Bailey
“Once a Marine, always a Marine, right?” I asked the new barber at Janet’s Hair Salon. Eli Mikos sat across from his vintage barber chair and humbly responded, “Well, yeah.”
Though he sports a well-groomed beard, his clean face and mannerisms make it easy to tell that he once wore fatigues (or cammies).

Plainview is one step away from approval for a Family Dollar/Dollar Tree at Corryton Road and Tazewell Pike.
In January, Stewart Skeen, who oversees city codes enforcement, and Josh Collins, of the planning commission, met with the developer to ensure that all requirements were understood and being met. After that meeting, the developer submitted a detailed plat.

“File early and seek professional advice to file your 2023 IRS taxes” is a tip from Gail Corum, owner of Corum Bookkeeping & Tax Services.
Gail shared these and other important ideas with Union County Business & Professional Association Members at the meeting in January during lunch at Li’l Jo’s. She encouraged everyone to seek the advice of a professional, especially for completing tax forms for a business.

by Steve Roark
Groundhog Day is really another celebration of the birth of Christ, but few realize it because it has undergone a lot of change over the centuries.
February 2 used to be called Candlemas Day. a feast day commemorating when the Virgin Mary, in obedience to Jewish law, went to the Temple in Jerusalem both to be purified 40 days after the birth of her son, and to present her child to God as her firstborn. This is documented in Luke 2:22-38. It has been a celebration since the 4th century and was observed with lighted candles, hence the name “Candlemas.”

Food insecurity. We hear this term used on TV and read it in articles. There is a vague feeling about what the term means. It means not having access to sufficient food, or food of an adequate quality, to meet basic needs. A family with food insecurity may have some members who eat and others who go hungry. Parents, for instance, may feed their children first without much left for themselves. At least some of the time, food insecure people may not be sure where their next meal is coming from. They may only eat once a day. Or they do not have enough money to buy good, nutritious food.

An email I received quoted Robert Orben, “Old people shouldn’t eat healthy foods. They need all the preservatives they can get.”
I suppose this statement could be debated. Charlie Sampson, my maternal grandfather, was born in 1889 and lived to be ninety-seven. For a great part of his early life he undoubtedly ate food that was grown on the farm, most likely without aid of pesticides and preserved by home canning on a wooden cookstove. My great aunt Lidia Mincey lived to be ninety-three, and I’m sure she grew up under similar circumstances.

Cool weather is the best time for spice cookies. Something about that time of the year calls for the warming effect of spices. These are easy to make with a box of cake mix.

By Archie Wilson Jr.
It is a common belief across many ideologies that at some point in time there will be a last day. Even science acknowledges the inevitability of a last day for our planet; as the universe, or our sun will eventually destroy the earth in some manner, usually involving intense heat.
Go figure!
The point being we have a general consensus across the board that at sometime in the future the gig is up for us all. So what does the Bible say about that universally expected last day?

With part two of The Life of Hank Williams, we will go back to November of 1949 and the European tour to entertain United States Air Force servicemen in Germany.
The entertainers and management staff of the Grand Ole Opry, which totaled 29 people, loaded into a C-54 Skymaster of the US Air Force, which had been the official plane of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied Forces during WWII. He later became president of the United States for two terms during the 1950s.

I know many people who are not comfortable with their age. Not me. My age doesn’t bother me at all because I am thankful for the eras that I have experienced.
For one, I came of age in the 1980s. I loved the music and the styles. But, the first full decade I experienced was the 1970s. I started Kindergarten in 1970, so I spent all of my elementary school years in the ’70s.
What I remember most about that time were the fun fads.