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A great community newspaper
VOL. 7 NO. 9
March 3, 2012
IN THIS ISSUE Willow Ridge admissions coordinator Elaine Troutt, administrator Rebecca Mills and resident Patricia Inman decide on a new piece of art for the entrance area. Photos by C. Taylor
Water rescue!
With boating season gearing up, it’s time to clean up Norris Lake. Friends of Norris Lake, TVA, and volunteers from Union and surrounding counties will hold a River Rescue and Norris Lake Cleanup event March 31.
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See Cindy’s story on page 3
Sculpting in wood Richard Phillips is well known to residents of Plainview, where he serves as vice mayor and alderman. He is also an extremely talented woodcarver who has won awards for his work. Most recently he won first place for “Smokey,” the UT mascot, who is wearing an orange UT blanket, also hand-carved. But don’t mention whittling, because to Phillips that is a four-letter word. According to Phillips, carving is creative and involves making a project using various knives and gouges, and Phillips says he would rather carve than eat.
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See Down-Home Update on page 4
Hall of Records
Union County Courthouse can boast at least one truly historical room. Items in that room have never been lost and never been burnt. Register of Deeds Mary Beth Kitts, along with Ann Lutner and Renea Anderson, hold history in their hands on a daily basis. “In this office, we record all miscellaneous instruments,” said Kitts. “We record charters and have land records back to the beginning of Union County.”
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See Cindy’s story on page 2
A cloud of witnesses The question that started the whole conversation was whether ghosts are mentioned in the Bible. Apparently, everyone on all sides was willing to cede the point that was so obvious: the Holy Ghost, as a part of the pre-existing Trinity, present from before the beginning. But were there other ghosts? Spirits who existed separate from the earthly bodies they had once inhabited?
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See Lynn’s story on page 5
Index Business Community Down-Home Update Marvin West Lynn Hutton Kids
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4509 Doris Circle 37918 (865) 922-4136 news@ShopperNewsNow.com ads@ShopperNewsNow.com EDITOR Cindy Taylor brentcindyt@gmail.com ADVERTISING SALES Brandi Davis davisb@ShopperNewsNow.com Shopper-News is a member of KNS Media Group, published weekly at 4509 Doris Circle, Knoxville, TN, and distributed to 11,000 homes in Union County.
Willow Ridge welcomes spring By Cindy Taylor Residents and staff at Willow Ridge Care and Rehabilitation Center are gearing up for spring, both indoors and out. Rebecca Mills has served as administrator of the center for more than six years and is excited about an upcoming open house. “We have new floors in public areas, lobby, dining room and hallways,” said Mills. “We took down wallpaper, and textured and painted the walls in the halls and lobby.” There is also new lobby furniture, and new televisions for the lobby and dining room are on order.
“We want to welcome back our past residents and invite the community to come see our fresh new look,” said Mills. “We love serving the residents of Union County and want them to know they can come here for rehab after a surgery, injury or illness.” An open house is scheduled for 3-6 p.m. Thursday, March 22, at the center, located at 215 Richardson Way in Maynardville. The center will provide tours and refreshments for attendees. “We want to share this fresh new look with the community,” said Mills. “It’s part of our dedication in
In front of the new greenhouse are Willow Ridge residents Hank Sabom and Lorena DeVault holding trays that will soon sprout into vegetable plants for the garden. serving our residents and patients.” While much is happening indoors, the center is not neglecting the outdoor areas. The new greenhouse has sprouts pushing up through the dirt, the garden has been plowed, and tilling is scheduled for next week. Planting will soon follow once spring weather arrives. Derrick Merritt with Clean Cut Lawn Service handled the garden plowing, and staff members and their families will take care of the tilling. Residents Hank Sabom and Lorena DeVault
are looking forward to the garden. “When I was at home I had a garden and canned everything,” said DeVault. “I had a flower garden too.” “I grew up in the country, so I will really enjoy this garden,” said Sabom. “We’ll be planting corn, onions and lettuce next week if it doesn’t rain us out. We’ll have a bigger and better garden this year.” Willow Ridge Care and Rehabilitation Center is a skilled nursing center that provides short rehabilitation therapy and skilled nursing services for up to 77 residents and patients. The center has served Union County for 27 years since first opening its doors in 1984.
A disappearing legacy Myers shares war memories By Cindy Taylor World War II marked a distinct turning point in American history. As time passes, we lose more veterans of this war. Their numbers are quickly diminishing, and if we delay, our chance to thank them personally will be gone forever. Fortunately, Union County’s Jack Dyer is still alive and very much kicking. In spite of undergoing open heart surgery last year and having a pacemaker put in this year, Myers is recovering and happy to share his story. He wanted to enlist when he was only 17 because his brother did, but his father wouldn’t allow it. When he turned 18, he got his wish to join the Navy because he was drafted. “I was just a boatswain,”
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said Myers. “I was on a Landing Ship, Tank, (LST) and a bosun on a LCDP, which is a bit smaller. It’s similar but has a bow and can actually go all the way up onto a beach.” The boatswain works in a ship’s deck department as the foreman of the deck crew and must be highly skilled in all matters required for working on deck of a seagoing vessel. LST was the military designation for naval vessels created during World War II to support amphibious operations by carrying significant quantities of vehicles and cargo and landing troops directly onto an unimproved shore to be used for defending that coastline. Myers says his time on board ship wasn’t so bad, even though the food wasn’t that good – a lot of beans for breakfast and goat stew
Marjorie and Jack Myers hold a picture taken when Jack first joined the Navy in 1945. Photo by C. Taylor
for supper – and the quarters were tight. And when kamikaze planes flew over, it could be terrifying. A lot of American ships were destroyed by these pilots who were willing to crash their planes loaded with high explosives, even though it
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meant death. According to Myers, the occupation of Japan, when he served as an MP for 30 months, was the worst time in service for him, even more than the typhoon he rode out to get from the Philippines to Japan.
“I was on wheel watch steering the ship and had to ride out 200 mile-anhour winds,” said Myers. “I was in the Philippines when it came over the radio that Japan had surrendered. The last week To page A-2
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