Historic Union County

Spreading the good news of Union County

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

Do you own a small business in Union and surrounding counties? Do you have a farm or want to start farming? Then, please join us for meeting and dinner! Tennessee Department of Agriculture is presenting information related to business opportunities specific to rural Tennessee.

On Tennessee Tree Day 2022 we hope to engage 10,000 volunteers in planting 75,000 native trees in all 95 Tennessee counties, as well as counties in neighboring states, encompassing all watersheds that flow through Tennessee.  

Each year Tennessee Tree Day engages thousands of volunteers in a fun, meaningful, family-friendly, event that results in multi-generational benefits to our environment, communities and public health.

Sitting here and thinking about how some people start from humble beginnings and achieve great success in their path through life. I have found that most successful people come from rural parts of the country, grew up poor, but rich in family and friends.
The people that I have met who were successful were honest, straightforward in their dealings and had perseverance. They didn’t just give up at their first disappointment.

Have you ever been in a situation that started out pleasant and then it changed into something bad? I had that almost happen when I worked Baptist Hospital.
While I was in college, I worked there in the hematology lab. No, I wasn’t a lab technician. My job was to do the small stuff to so the lab techs had more time to perform tests. Also, I was cross trained in phlebotomy. It’s a fancy term for drawing blood. In the medical field, is also known as a “stick” or “sticking.”

I am always looking for ways to fix table grapes. Grape go well with almost any other fruit. I never thought about using table grapes in a salad until a group from church took a trip to Cumberland Falls in Kentucky. We ate lunch there. They serve the most delicious grape salad. This recipe is tasty, too.

1 Corinthians 15:19 KJV [19] If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
There once was a man who was a miserable man, and at first he didn’t even realize it. He was young and healthy and whatever pleasure he desired he joyously pursued it. He could eat or drink anything he wanted, seemingly without consequences. The world was his oyster, it appeared as if the possibilities were endless. Whatever pleasure he desired upon earth he had the finances to make it happen.

Mincey's Musings by Ronnie Mincey
I graduated from Lincoln Memorial University’s Ed.D. program in May of 2012. A sense of idealism seemed renewed in me as a result, and I felt a need to contribute something to the community in which I was raised and received my elementary and high school education. I decided to do three things to make myself a useful citizen.

No one window shops anymore. Few go downtown to walk the avenue admiring the new styles in the store windows. Their displays were changed often.

Here at Big Ridge we are about to get a new recruit ranger. His name is Josh Powell. Josh is a bright young man with a lot of ambition.
He grew up on a farm in Clinton not far from the Clinch River. He started his journey in state parks at Norris Dam State Park as a seasonal. He also worked for a summer a Cumberland Mountain State Park.

All jobs come with stress of some form during the day: deadlines, equipment breakdowns, something. And if you have the iconic “desk job” where you sit all day inside a building, those mental stresses are even more pronounced. Your lunch break should be a recharge time, but a lot of folks are working through lunch while swallowing a sandwich or doing non-restful things on their phone.

In todays world and economy, we can all agree that there is an intense need for education of agriculture among our youths. Luckily, in Union County, there are many volunteers and organizations working in the right direction to get the younger generations exposed to the world of ag.