Commong Threads 2010

Common Threads

A supplement focusing on the people of Sevier County n Sunday, February 14, 2010

Outdoors/Business

Jason Davis/The Mountain Press

Danny Longmire’s life is fishing, and he does it for fun and to make a living on Douglas Lake.

When it comes to fishing, Longmire head of the cast

By JASON DAVIS Sports Editor

the crowd of boats where no one seemed to be landing any fish, a slow smile began to “What are they hittin’?” the surface on Danny Longmire’s 59-year-old angler asked his face.

Reaching into his tackle Douglas Lake fishing pals as he arrived at the Nina Creek box, he extracted a brown and white lure, bucking the inlet. suggestion he’d been offered.

“They’re really hitting Keeping his voice low, he chartreuse flies with white gave the reasoning behind (skirts),” a fellow fisherman his selection. said.

“If everyone’s throwing the Casting a glance around

same thing, I like to give the fish a choice,” Longmire said.

Sure enough, within seconds of his fly hitting the frigid water, Longmire had the first keeper crappie in his livewell.

A backwoods Renaissance man of sorts, Longmire — a former truck driver and father of four boys — is a huge fan of the outdoors.

Whether he’s deer hunt-

ing, on a search for long-lost arrowheads on the banks of Douglas Lake or fishing off the bow of his trusty 1987 Bullet, Longmire is enjoying every moment he’s soaking in the sights and sounds Sevier County’s boundless natural resources.

“Looking at these mountains, out here on the water See Longmire, Page 2

Inside A working relationship Couple works hard making drug store a success Page 2

Ober or bust

Service with style Spencer a guy who works hard, with pizzazz Page 4

Diriwachter finds skiing a way of life Page 6

2 ◆ Common Threads

The Mountain Press ◆ Sunday, February 14, 2010

Jason Davis/The Mountain Press

Jason Davis/The Mountain Press

Longmire knows the ins and outs and hiding places on Douglas Lake as well as anybody.

Longmire 3From Page A1

— it just doesn’t get any better,” Longmire said, casting a glance at the Great Smoky Mountains while puttering along at low throttle moving to another fishing site.

A longtime admirer of Sevier County and Douglas Lake, the south Knoxville native took advantage of the influx of people brought into the region by the 1981 World’s Fair. Selling his Knoxville home and land, Longmire bought a home in Sevier County and has attacked the Douglas Lake fish population ever since.

“I grew up in south Knoxville, and I moved up here in ’81. The World’s Fair came in, and I had a chance to sell my house and move up here.

“I fished it when I was a kid, we came up here and fished, and the last 28 years I’ve been fishing it really regularly.”

Among Longmire’s favorite quarry are the lake’s crappie — white, black and hybrid.

He also fishes for sauger and walleye, especially in the colder part of the year.

“I get my meat this time of year,” he said. “And it usually lasts me all the way to the next winter.”

“I pretty much fish every day I can. If it’s real cold and windy, I’ll go down here on the river and just walk up and down the bank and fish.

It’s what keeps me going — fishing.”

As talented with the rod and reel as Robert Tino is with a canvas and brush, Longmire paints the shoreline with his effortless casts,

and often hits paydirt with his jigging style, literally coaxing crappie onto his hook.

“Used to I fish two or three bass tournaments a week, but I had a heart attack four years ago,” the angler said. “I just couldn’t take the heat, so I slowed down on all that. I fish three or four a year now.”

Raised in south Knoxville, Longmire honed his craft fishing the French Broad River.

“Sitting on the riverbank with a cane pole in my hand.

Back in them days you didn’t have all this modern equipment,” he said, casting a quick glance at his dashmounted fishfinder, which he often calls his television.

“We had a old wooden boat down there, and we’d run trot lines.”

But learning to fish with-

out the convenience of today has made Longmire that much more effective. Using his fishfinder and his natural intuitiveness, along with the knowledge of over 50 years of hunting down fish fillets for his dinner, Longmire has an uncanny ability to know where the fish are, and how to catch them.

And once he’s used his Pflueger reel to pull the keepers in, it’s lights out for the fish.

They’ve bought a one-way ticket to the frying pan.

“About every two weeks I eat a mess, and when I fry I’ve got to fry enough for my son that lives next door to me. He can smell ’em, I don’t even have to tell him.

He can be at work and call and ask me if I’m frying fish,” Longmire said with a grin.

Those sons — Doug, Kevin,

The 59-year-old Longmire loves to fry up what he catches, and he does the cooking in his house.

Chris and Billy — along with Danny and his wife, Debbie, have likely eaten a ton of fish from the Bullet’s livewell between them.

Danny insists he’s the chef at his house, and watching him fillet a crappie is a testament to his skills with a blade.

There’s no electric knife involved. It’s just Longmire, the fish and a well-worn manual filleting knife. He gave away the only electric one he ever had, which he was given as a gift.

“I hadn’t seen anybody fillet a fish like that in a long time,” a passerby said as Longmire sunk the blade into a 12-and-a-half-inch beauty, “and they were 80 years old.”

With about 12 fish filleted, Longmire dished on how to prepare the fish widely regarded as one of the tasti-

est freshwater delicacies.

“You need to soak those in salt water,” he said. “Regular table salt. Let them soak, and then work them a little bit, get the blood lines out of them. That’s what gives your fish bad taste right there — blood.

“Take a (plastic) grocery bag and put you some corn meal and salt and pepper in there, throw in a few fillets — three or four at a time — and shake it real good to coat them.

“Get your (canola) oil good and hot and put the fillets in and cook them for about three or four minutes on the first side, until its golden brown and turn it over for a few minutes.

“They make a good sandwich — it’s better than baloney.” n jdavis@themountainpress.com

Couple works hard making drug store a success

By JEFF FARRELL Staff writer SEVIERVILLE — The path to getting two Georgia Bulldogs to settle in Sevierville and run a neighborhood pharmacy involved a few twists and turns.

Jeff and Emily Pettis always figured on having a community pharmacy, just like they now have in Reams Drug Store on Middle Creek Road. Jeff had a dream of owning an old-fashioned pharmacy with a soda fountain, like Hodgson’s Pharmacy in Athens, Ga., where the two of them grew up.

In fact, they thought they had a plan set for the two of them to go to a drug store like that back near their home.

“A week before that was supposed to happen, the plans fell through,” he explained.

They were already here in Sevier County. Emily, a clinical pharmacist, was completing her residency and Jeff was working at a local pharmacy.

For a while, they didn’t know what they were going to do. Staying in East Tennessee wasn’t part of the original plan for two Peach State lovers.

“We sat down together and we prayed over it,” Jeff said.

Then Emily got a call: The owner of Reams was short-handed at the pharmacy.

Working there, seeing the type of business it was — and the soda and ice cream dished out at the Dawg House restaurant inside the pharmacy — she knew she’d found the type of place they were talking about. And it turned out the owner was looking to sell.

So they used the money they’d planned to use to buy a pharmacy close to the place where they grew up, and adopted a new home.

It was a big decision for

Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press

Jeff and Emily Pettis work closely together running Reams Drug Store in Sevierville. a couple who’d grown up in the same town. Ironically, they met while in high school, but on a college visit to Furman.

“We happened to park next to each other,” Emily said.

“We realized we had a lot of mutual friends, so we started hanging out,” Jeff added. “A couple of months later, we started dating each other.”

They both wound up going to the University of Georgia, where they were both in premed tracks.

They actually both made the decision to switch majors without talking to each other.

“We didn’t want to influence each other,” Emily

said.

Their pursuits are a little different. Emily is a clinical pharmacist at University of Tennessee Medical Center.

She helps doctors decide which medicines would best suit a patient and would interact best with the drugs they’re already taking.

Jeff is a retail pharmacist. He fills prescriptions, helps explain possible effects of drugs, checks them for interactions with other drugs his customers are taking, and runs the business.

He admits he got a little more than he anticipated when he started it.

“I didn’t envision a restaurant,” he said. He’s still

learning on the job how to manage the restaurant, but he’s settled in as a pharmacist, he said.

Reams can also provide vaccinations, something that some folks aren’t accustomed to getting outside a doctor’s office. And Jeff has just started one more business, along with partner Jim Deanda.

Smoky Mountain Home Infusions provides the supplies for patients who need intravenous application of medicine, but don’t have to be in a hospital to do it. The service had been available in Morristown and Knoxville, and Deanda approached Jeff about See Reams, Page 3

Common Threads â—† 3

Sunday, February 14, 2010 â—† The Mountain Press

Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press

Jeff Pettis usually handles the pharmacy, but also spends time running the restaurant end of the business.

reams

3From Page 2

offering it here, he said. “It’s cheaper for them, it’s cheaper for the insurance, and it’s just better to be at home,� he said.

Every second and fourth Friday, they also offer bingo in the morning — something that’s become a hit with many of their customers.

When they aren’t busy with all that ‌ well, they’re still busy.

They attend First Baptist Church of Sevierville, where Jeff plays the saxophone in their orchestra.

He serves on the Board of Directors for the Boys & Girls Club and Mountain Hope Good Shepherd Clinic. He completed the Leadership Tomorrow program, and Emily is in this year’s class.

And then there’s a daughter. Morgan will be 2 years old this April.

With all that they have on their schedules, she said, they know how important it is to make time for each other. “We know family is important, so we try to spend time together whenever we can. When I get off, a lot of times I bring Morgan here for that extra time with us. “It all seems to fall into place.�

When Emily is there, though, she’s often helping out behind the counter.

So, it also helps that the two of them still get along like newlyweds. “We do,� Emily said. “We really get along. We’re best friends.�

One of their biggest common interests remains Georgia football. They try to get home often, but especially during football season.

Morgan already knows how to cheer for the Dogs — especially when their friends try to get her to sing “Rocky Top.�

But while they still have many ties back in their native Georgia, they’ve also obviously built a lot of them over the years up here. “The people here have been great,� Jeff said. “It does feel a lot like home now.�

They’ve managed to balance their schedules pretty well to make sure the little girl always has her mommy or daddy around. When Emily gets off work, for example, she picks her up and they often go to the pharmacy. “She loves going to Daddy’s work,� Emily explained. “Well, she loves getting sodas and ice cream.�

Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press

Emily Pettis is a clinical pharmacist at UT Medical Center in addition to her duties at Reams.

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4 â—† Common Threads

The Mountain Press â—† Sunday, February 14, 2010

Spencer a guy who works hard, with style

Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press

Bob Spencer once did hair styles for Dolly Parton, but found he missed the interaction with people in a salon setting. He owns @272 in Gatlinburg.

By GAIL CRUTCHFIELD Community Editor GATLINBURG — Hard work isn’t something Bob Spencer backs away from.

As the oldest of five boys born to an Iowa business entrepreneur and homemaker, he was never one to rest on his laurels.

As a popular, local hair stylist, downtime isn’t all that easy to come by when most of the working day is spent on your feet.

But because it’s something he loves to do, and because of how he was raised, it’s no hardship for Spencer.

Spencer, owner of @272 in Gatlinburg, was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, and raised just north of there in Algona. “My dad was kind of a business entrepreneur,� he said. “We had livestock auctions. We had Dairy Queens. We had hotels, you name it.�

While they were entrepreneurs, Spencer said his father and uncles also liked to help people. “Him and his brothers would help people who might have been in financial trouble as a familyowned business,� Spencer said. “They’d kind of go in and buy it and rebuild it and then sell it back to them.�

The Spencer children would normally work in most of the businesses rather than participate in extracurricular activities at their school. “We were never told no, it’s just that you always were busy,� he said. So there was no competing in sports or drama club or anything like that. The family worked together as a family.�

A hair salon was never one of the businesses his father bought or one in which Spencer found a job on his own. That came about as an act of rebellion. “We had a supper club and one of the girls that worked for us was going to go to beauty school,�

Spencer said. “And I thought, well, that will be kind of fun. I had a scholarship to attend a commercial design (school) for interior design, and I don’t know, that just seemed like a 9 to 5 job and I didn’t want to do that. So I just jokingly said I think I’ll go to beauty school with the waitress that was quitting. My dad just hit the roof.�

Spencer said his dad told him “Absolutely not.� “So I did it,� he said.

Did his dad finally get

used to the idea of his son being a hair stylist? “Oh yeah, when he saw the money coming in. He sure did,� Spencer said. “He used to come in to the shop back in Missouri and visit with the ladies and joke. He was kind of the shop mascot.�

The family moved from Iowa to Missouri shortly after Spencer got his cosmetology license.

Spencer continued his work as a cosmetologist, enjoying it as an art form and even competing against other stylists. “It was still a way to be creative, but you had to be quick about it,� he said. “You had a certain amount of time that you had to do it. You had to be fast on your feet with it. Plus, I’m a people person. I don’t think we’ve ever had a business where the people that came into the building were a client.

You establish relationships.�

The competitions he participated in gave him even more freedom for his creativity and tested his ability to create an elaborate style in limited amount of time. “I was big into competitions on state and regional levels,� he said. “You had models you worked with. You did things in front of judges, on stages — daytime looks, makeup. You were allowed so many minutes to complete it.�

His favorite competition was his first, when he made the model resemble a peacock, taking second place.

The clothing his model wore represented the bird’s tail feathers, and he folded the hair into the shape of birds’ wings. “You had 30 minutes from top to bottom,� to complete the hair style, he said. The model could be dressed in her outfit and her hair in rollers, but nothing else.

The winner of that particular event, Spencer said, was another stylist at the salon where he worked. “She entered at the last minute and I helped her do her costume and stuff,� he said. “I can’t believe she won. I still laugh about that.�

However, he might have had the last laugh when years later he became the hair stylist for Dolly Parton.

Spencer made his way from Missouri to Tennessee with plans to give his father the opportunity to live out the rest of his days in the Smoky

Mountains. “We had family in South Carolina, so we visited here up until I was about age 12 or 14,�

Spencer said. “We came through once a year. My dad loved the mountains.�

When his father was dying, Spencer decided to try and help his father’s dream of living in the Smokies come true. He signed a contract on a house, closed out his business and prepared to move his parents to Sevier County.

Life, as it so often does, had other plans. “One of my brothers found out they were expecting their first child and he couldn’t leave the grandkids,� Spencer said. “By then I had already signed on the dotted line and committed. At least he had a place to come to off and on until he died.�

When Spencer got to Tennessee, he didn’t have a job lined up. “We opened a little place on Roaring Fork Road,� he said of himself and business partner Fred Amans. “It was hard to get started, so I worked odd jobs. I worked for overnight rental companies, waited tables.�

When Amans’ parents got sick and as his own father’s health declined, they decided to head back to Missouri to be closer to them. “So we closed up the house and went back to Missouri, and I actually did real estate for a few months,� Spencer said. “My dad said this is not where you’re supposed to be. You need to go back.

So we came back and started over.�

It was while they were operating a day spa in Pigeon Forge that the opportunity to work for Parton came up. “Somebody at Dollywood asked me if I would take on a new customer that was with Randy Parton in his closing show at the end of the night at the park,�

Spencer said. “And it just so happened to be Dolly’s baby sister Rachel.�

Through that association, Spencer said he became friends with the Parton family. “We went up to Nashville a lot and spent time with them and henceforth met Dolly,� he said. “We went to family functions and family dinners and stuff, and just kind of became part of the family.�

It was at one of those family functions where

Spencer met the superstar, but he said wasn’t intimidated. “I think the reason we got along so good is because she does what she does because she’s so phenomenal at it, and I do what I do because I enjoy it and I hope I’m good at it,� he said. “It’s kind of a joke, you do what you do and I do what I do. I don’t want to sing and you want to do hair.�

In general, Spencer said, he’s not a person who is star-struck, which probably served him well when he was asked step in while Parton’s regular hairdresser took a break. “She has a great hairdresser who still works for her, but she kind of needed a break,� Spencer said. Needing a change himself, Spencer committed to doing Parton’s hair for a year.

Doing her hair, however, didn’t mean fixing a wig, it meant fixing at least three.

He would learn ahead of time what event Parton would be attending and would be given a description of the outfits she could be wearing. “There were always three choices, always three hairstyles for one event,� Spencer said. “And then it was basically a try-on session.�

Some of the work he would do out of his home, shipping the wigs to Parton. The rest of the time was spent on the road. “Sometimes I would go to Nashville. We spent a lot of time out on the road. We spent some time in California, spent some time in England.�

After “a strong year� as Parton’s hair stylist, Spencer said he was ready to get back to the salon atmosphere. “As much as I enjoy her and her family, it probably wasn’t really my forte,� he said. “I like to be around a lot of people and it was such a limited amount of people that you could be around. And you were always in question about does this person want to know something about her.�

Coming back to Sevier County, however, wasn’t something he felt right about at that time, and he decided to go back to Missouri. “I figured after I’d been gone for a year, I didn’t have the right to come back and recall people that I had left,� he said. “So I want

back to Missouri, where the family was, and that didn’t work. I was there for four months and set up a salon and everything, and that just wasn’t home anymore. This had become home. This is where all my relationships were.

So I just put the house back up for sale ‌ and returned back here and started over right here in this building.�

That was eight to nine years ago and his clients were ready to sit in his chair. “I never advertised,� he said. “I ran into a few people going into the grocery store and stuff like that and they’d say, ‘Are you back?’ and I’d say ‘Yeah.’ Word just spread by mouth.�

He said it felt good that his former customers were willing to come back. “Not so much as maybe what I did for them was a really good thing, but we had a connection. We had obviously built a relationship that was important both ways.�

Trust is a big part of that relationship. Trust that Spencer knows what will make them look good and will not share any secrets spilled in the process. “That chair is like truth serum, I’ll tell you,� he said. “All you can do is listen. Listen and forget.

My dad taught me well in that category.�

As for giving his clients a look that’s best for them, Spencer likes to be the one in charge instead of someone giving point by point instructions on what should be done to their hair. “Oh no, that don’t work for me,� he said. “Unless the idea that they have I think is a good one and then we’ll talk about it and where we might be

able to change it to make it work. I pretty much know off hand, quickly, where we need to head with it, and I’m just kind of factual and straight up about why.�

He also likes to change their looks every so often. “Nobody gets to wear the same thing much more than six months.

Color, cut, it doesn’t happen in my chair. We cut it off and we grow it out, or we whittle if off and we keep working our way up and we go through all kinds of different changes before we get to the ultimate in short, then we work our way back.�

His clients, he said, seem to appreciate it. “They find it kind of fun,� he said. “I don’t really think we have anybody that comes in here that’s stuck with the same thing, they’ve pretty much been real open about change.�

Change, he said, is something he enjoys as well. “I like to change and move things. At home I like to tear walls out and put them in a different place. I like constant change.�

One thing he doesn’t like, he said, is computers. So you won’t find his profile on Facebook, MySpace or Twitter. “Oh I am so anti computer it’s not funny� he said. “I think that computer thing is the ruination of the world. People don’t know how to communicate with each other anymore. You know you can’t text somebody and know what their emotion is, versus if you were sitting across from them and asking them questions, talking to them, finding out what kind of day they had, what’s going on in their life.�

That’s what he does every day from his salon chair.

n gcrutchfield@themountainpress.com

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Sunday, February 14, 2010 ◆ The Mountain Press

Brewer finds his career’s on right track

By COBEY HITCHCOCK Sports Writer

Common Threads ◆ 5

at state, and a real good shot to win the region and sectional.

“And I believe our SEVIERVILLE — He girls team is going to be doesn’t have a lot of much, much stronger experience, but what he this year.” does have comes from Besides track, Brewer quality sources. is also an assistant Sevier County High with the football team School coach Jonathan coached by his father, Brewer will be entering just his third year at the Steve Brewer. Some helm of the Smoky Bears may think that coaching under a successful track team this spring, and long-tenured father but he’s been a major part in the development may be difficult, but to of a now successful pro- Jonathan Brewer, it’s been a blessing. gram.

“I don’t look at it as “Obviously, this is just my fourth year of coach- being in (his dad’s) ing, so I’ve still got a lot shadow,” said Brewer. “I don’t feel that at all. But to learn,” said Brewer, if I had to be in a shadwho spent his first ow, that’s a shadow I season as an assistant wouldn’t mind being in. track coach under Todd “I’m enjoying this time Loveday, current SCHS coaching with my dad, athletic director and former head track coach, and not many people get a chance to do that. Dad before taking charge of has been a head coach the program. “But I’ve since 1982, so he’s been got a lot of great examaround the block and he ples here in front of me knows what he’s doing. at Sevier County. A lot of these coaches have all He’s been a great mentor. I mean, just take been around for a very the father part out of it, long time, and it’s easy and who better is there to learn from guys like to learn from? He’s been that. I feel privileged to successful, he’s had be in this situation.” down years and he’s had Brewer credits Loveday for starting the to learn how to bounce back from those years. foundation of the track I’ve learned a lot from team that’s now bloshim.” somed into a state conCobey Hitchcock/The Mountain Press Brewer, who is still a tender.

Jonathan Brewer is short on experience, but long on desire and hardwork, as track coach at newlywed after marrying “Before Todd took Sevier County High. his college sweetheart over, kids just weren’t that interested in track,” Jessica last June, is a That’s about a six-month 2001 graduate of SCHS. said Brewer. “But when head start, and that’s a He went on to play he took over, he got great advantage.” football at Tusculum them interested and But SCHS track isn’t College for four seasons got the numbers up, just for football players. and that’s when we first and stayed on with the “We have kids whose school as a graduate started to see some No. 1 sport is track, and assistant coach for a seaimprovement with the they take it very serison before coming back track team. ously and take a lot of home to coach at Sevier “And since we’ve really pride in it,” said Brewer. started taking our train- County in 2006.

“We do too, and we owe Although he is still ing seriously, we’ve just the kids that ... to take seen more and more suc- young and admittedly it serious and give them has a lot to learn, he’s cess. We compete with our best too.” already found a coaching and beat the teams now Although he’s in an that used to blow us out philosophy that has proideal situation at the duced positive results. of the water. And every moment, Brewer said he “What I have learned, year, we have more kids would like to follow in even from my playing make it to the state his father’s footsteps and days, is that all kids are championships.” be a head football coach different,” said Brewer.

Last track season was someday, whether that “You can’t coach everythe most successful the be in Sevier County or body the same.

You’ve school has ever seen, someplace else. got to coach each kid with Jeremiah Foster “You never know what individually, because finishing second at state the Lord is going to do what motivates one in the 300-meter hurin your life, or where kid does nothing for dles and fourth in the he is going to lead you,” another kid. You’ve got 110-meter hurdles. The said Brewer. “I love to take time to get to boys’ relay teams were it here. This is where know your athletes and also well represented I went to school and let them know you care at state, as they have this is where I played. about them. And you’ve been for the past five My family is here, and got to learn what motiyears. Matt Spangler and I wouldn’t mind at all vates each one of them, Aaron Pippin made state File staying here. in the 100- and 200-me- because that’s the only Jonathan Brewer says he enjoys coaching alongside his dad, football “But you never know way you’re going to get ter events, Caleb Yates coach Steve Brewer. what opportunities are qualified for discuss and things done.” going to open, or where As an assistant on the Alexis Conner for the coaches is also the track ever 10-0 regular season you will feel led to go.

“It all started about football team, Brewer long jump. coach,’” said Brewer. mark) that we were just seven years ago when I’m enjoying where I’m at said he’s witnessed first- Dad went to a clinic The entire SCHS boys “We want our football faster than everybody right now, that’s for sure. hand the benefits athteam finished 12th in and heard a speaker guys to be as fast as pos- we played in our confer- But I would absolutely letes gain from the SCHS the state and narrowly ence. say, ‘you’re not serious sible, and I think it was love to be a head football track program, which missed a team trip to “I think a lot of that about your football pro- very evident this year coach somewhere, some is now an established Murfreesboro with an goes back to track, gram unless one of your (with the school’s firstday. I’ve got a lot to learn speed training program. upset bid that fell just because when a football before that happens, but short at sectionals — player is in track, they if the right opportunity a three-point loss to start working on their opens up in the future, I Maryville. speed in February as would definitely love to “That would have been opposed to most kids explore it.” a huge upset (against who start working on Maryville), because their speed in July. n chitchcock@themountainpress.com Sevier County traditionally hasn’t been very dominant in track,” said Brewer. “But the past few years we’ve turned it around, and people are starting to look out for us now.”

And if not for a dropped baton at regionals, the girls relay team could have advanced to state last season too.

“So, we’re just starting to see a lot of success from a whole lot of people,” said Brewer.

After such a successful season, Brewer said he isn’t worried about a dropoff this year. In fact, he expects even more success.

“I think we have a real chance to compete for a state championship this File year as a boys team,” Jonathan played for his dad at SCHS, and now coaches with him at the said Brewer. “I think same school. we have a real chance

6 â—† Common Threads

The Mountain Press â—† Sunday, February 14, 2010

Thomas Diriwachter is at home on a set of skis, whether teaching at Ober Gatlinburg or participating in the sport just for fun.

Cobey Hitchcock/The Mountain Press

Diriwachter finds skiing a way of life

By COBEY HITCHCOCK Sports Writer GATLINBURG — For most people, skiing is a hobby or a passion. For a few others, it’s a way of life.

Thomas Diriwachter of Sasenwil, Switzerland, is one of those few. In fact, he was practically born with skis already attached to his feet. “I grew up on a farm, and the only way to move around in Switzerland a lot of times was by skis,� said Diriwachter, the director of snow sports and a ski instructor for Ober Gatlinburg. “We went to school with skis on, and skiing was our main hobby.�

Diriwachter’s ski training and background is as old-school as it gets. In Switzerland, there is snow all year and much of the terrain is mountainous. “In our youth, we would walk up one hill for about 10 minutes and then ski down another for about 10 seconds,� he said. “That’s how we went to school, and that’s how we got trained. There were no ski lifts, but it was a good time. Everyone met on the slopes, and it was fun even though it was a lot of physical work. It was all part of the game, and we taught ourselves. “I didn’t even see my first ski lift until I was 15 years old.�

But from those rustic days on the farm, Diriwachter spent decades traveling the earth and pursuing his lifetime love of the snow sport. “I’ve been out West (in the United States) ..., and I’ve skied pretty much all over the world, all over Europe, in China and even in Israel,� said Diriwachter, who first

spent a ski season as an instructor at Ober Gatlinburg in 1967-68. “And my big passion has always been powder skiing.�

Diriwachter originally became a certified ski instructor in Switzerland, but his season spent at Ober Gatlinburg in the 1960s led to his return to the local ski attraction 12 years ago to assume his present duties.

These days, Diriwachter — along with his wife of 40 years, Ellen, of New York — splits each year between Gatlinburg and Switzerland, but both places are known as home to the couple. “People always ask me which place I like better, and I can’t ever really answer that question,� said Diriwachter. “I like both places. “The Smoky Mountains are a beautiful place to live. People are very friendly, we have a lot of friends here and we feel very much at home. My wife and I like it (in Gatlinburg) very much.�

Ski season ends in March at Ober, and that’s when Diriwachter returns to his Swiss home. But he always returns to the Smoky Mountains between June and August to prepare the slopes and make improvements for the next ski season at Ober.

But even though he returns for work, Diriwachter leaves plenty of time to play in the summer and fall months. “It’s great for riding bicycles in the Smoky Mountains,� said Diriwachter. “The scenery is just so beautiful. You can go along creeks, through the forests and over the hills. The hills are different here than the rocky moun-

Cobey Hitchcock/The Mountain Press

Mercedes Green, a student at G-P, is a former pupil of Diriwachter who now is among the best skiers in the state. tains in Switzerland. Here, there are a lot of very gentle hills. “I tell everyone looking to make a bike trip to come to East Tennessee first. It’s just ideal here. I’ve had many friends from Switzerland come here and just be

so amazed how much is offered here.�

Diriwachter, whose name translates to “Door watcher� because his ancestors from the middle ages used to guard the castle gates, said the current ski season at Ober is the best

he’s ever seen due to cold temperatures and high amounts of precipitation, allowing for a variety of skiing possibilities. “This winter we’ve had a little bit of every-

thing,� he said. “We’ve had many days of powder skiing because of all the natural snow, and snow conditions have been terrific this season with all eight slopes open all the time.�

n chitchcock@themountainpress.com

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A supplement focusing on the people of Sevier County n Sunday, February 21, 2010

Health/Community

Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press

Brackins wanted to work in municipal government, and he’s getting that chance with his job in Pigeon Forge.

His football days behind him, Brackins finds new career here

By DEREK HODGES Staff Writer PIGEON FORGE — You might say Eric Brackins’ life has been all about circles. It was a big circle that brought him back to his home county to work and raise his children. Another circle put him in an office in the same building where he attended fifth grade. The final circle comes in the form of a ring

— a national championship ring, that is.

Though he doesn’t wear it often and there are probably plenty of folks who deal with the assistant city manager of Pigeon Forge who never realize he has it, Brackins is one of the small club of people who can claim to own an NCAA football ring.

“I don’t like to wear it around a lot,” Brackins says.

“I don’t want to be ‘that guy’

whose just living off the football glory.”

While he may be humble about it, Brackins was actually a member of the 1997 Michigan Wolverines football team that won the Rose Bowl.

“That was an unbelievable experience,” says Brackins.

“I was redshirted that season because I hurt my ankle before our first game, but I still got to dress out and

practice with everybody else and everything.”

The Rose Bowl is a long way from the local youth football leagues where Brackins got his start, serving as something of a team mascot at the age of 4 for a team of older boys coached by father Randy Brackins, the chief of the Gatlinburg Police Department. As he got See brackins, Page 2

Inside A prescription for excellence Doctor finds rewards in volunteer work at Mountain Hope Page 2

Dollywood’s right hand man Ex-reporter Owens enjoys working with news media Page 3

Hail to the Chief McMahan puts own stamp on county’s jails Page 6

2 ◆ Common Threads

The Mountain Press ◆ Sunday, February 21, 2010

Doctor finds rewards in volunteer work at clinic

By STAN VOIT Editor SEVIERVILLE — There was a time not too long ago when Max Bayard was making his living teaching math and science to high school students in a Christian school. But after five years of that, and absent the kind of fulfillment he wanted, he switched careers.

Bayard headed off to medical school at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City. The people at Mountain Hope Good Shepherd Clinic in Sevierville are awfully glad he made a career switch.

Almost every Friday, Bayard travels to the clinic on Prince Street, accompanied by residents or medical students. Patients get to see mostly the residents or students, but Bayard is always there for consultation and advice.

Bayard suggested the partnership with Mountain Hope to the dean of the ETSU medical school and volunteered to make the trip down to ensure the program works.

“It’s extremely important,” Mountain Hope Director Mary Vance said. “It gives our patients increased access at no cost. Dr. Bayard is so wonderful.”

Bayard has a family practice in Johnson City and also teaches family medicine at the medical school. He has been a doctor since 1991.

ETSU is benefiting from the partnership with Mountain Hope. Six months ago when the visits to Sevierville began, Bayard and the students or residents found it rewarding, educational and another way to provide outreach to the communities served by the university.

ETSU wants its medical school graduates turned residents to see how things are in local communities. Mountain Hope serves working people of Sevier County who are uninsured mostly because they can’t afford it. Meeting and assisting those people is a way of outreach for the ETSU medical school.

There are six to 12 eligible students or residents on the list to accompany Bayard. He never has trouble finding volunteers. Like Connie Stoots, a third-year resident and, like Bayard, a former teacher.

“I look forward to it,” she said of her trips to Sevier County, indicating it’s the kind of medicine she’d like to practice once she’s on her own.

“Coming to Mountain Hope makes me feel better about what I want to do.”

Stoots taught special education and honors biology for 11 years before entering medical school at ETSU. On a typical Friday, Bayard stays in a conference room and gets directly involved in only about half of the cases seen that day. The residents will seek his counsel or tell him their diagnosis or drug therapy. Bayard also makes any decision to admit a patient to the hospital.

The patients at Mountain Hope tend to be those who have waited a long time before deciding to see a doctor or get medical treatment.

By the time they arrive at the clinic, they need intervention.

They pay what they can for the services. Vance recalled one regular patient who often brings lunch or vegetables to the staff and visitors to show his gratitude.

Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press

Dr. Max Bayard travels from Johnson City to Sevierville every Friday to assist at Mountain Hope Good Shepherd Clinic.

Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press

Dr. Bayard goes over a patient’s records with Connie Stoots, a resident physician who often accompanies Bayard on the trips to Sevierville.

Stoots and Bayard say the attitudes of the patients they see at Mountain Hope are better than what they see in traditional medical practices from patients who have insurance.

“Here we see a lot of working people who are not insured. There are no preconceived expectations from the patients.

Anything I do they are thankful for. Sometimes a patient who is insured has a preconceived expectation,” Stoots said.

Bayard says he can see the growing maturity of the residents and students who come with him to Mountain Hope.

The experience lets them get involved in a commu-

nity and appreciate the impact medical care can have on average people.

Bayard, who was married with three children when he decided to quit teaching and go to medical school, recalled years of being a Domino’s Pizza delivery guy to pay for college. His wife, who left teaching to become a nurse at the same time, worked at Domino’s on the days he didn’t, so his children would be cared for. It all became worth it with the fulfillment he now has in what he has chosen to do, and the outreach to Sevierville that he says is a highlight of his week.

Now there are six Bayard children.

brackins 3From Page 1

older, Eric Brackins started playing ball, though not before getting over a very real fear he had of the game.

“There was a time when I didn’t know if I wanted to play football because of the physical contact,” Brackins admits with a laugh. “It wasn’t that I was afraid of it, I just didn’t think I’d like it.”

He got over that fear, though, and played in community leagues until he was old enough to play in school. That meant sticking with Gatlinburg teams, even after his family moved to Pigeon Forge.

It was in that move that he attended a year in the old Pigeon Forge school in what is now City Hall.

“It’s kind of funny that I went to school here and now I have an office here,” Brackins says. “I can still remember where things were and what classes I had where.”

It was in school that Brackins got his first introduction to the Wolverines, through a friend who had a strange love of the distant team. Little did he know, Michigan would be among his final three options for college, having been recruited for his abilities on the football field by a number of schools.

After that redshirt championship season, Brackins played four years, often serving as a defensive starter. Two of those years he played with brother Phillip, who also came to wear the jersey of navy and maize.

“It was really cool to have both of us out on the field playing at that level,” Brackins says.

Brackins secured a degree on a course to be a teacher and was set to finish his final year of work toward certification when fate stepped in. He got a call from the Carolina Panthers letting him know they had picked him up as a free agent.

Of course, as it often does, fate took another turn before Brackins hit the field as a pro. One of the previous year’s top draft picks had been cut loose from St. Louis after having some issues there. The Panthers signed the other guy and let Brackins know he wouldn’t be needed in the linebacker’s position.

“I was kind of in limbo then,” Brackins says.

“Benny Hammonds invited me to come back and help coach some at my alma mater, GatlinburgPittman. That was fun because it gave me a chance to be back in the camaraderie of football.”

Still, it wasn’t exactly a career. Brackins realized the time might be right for him to explore a lifelong desire to get into municipal management.

“I had always had a desire to get into city government,” he explains.

“That comes from my dad. He would come home at night and tell us all about what had gone

Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press

Brackins proudly wears the 1997 national championship ring he earned while playing at the University of Michigan.

and things for jobs in the area.”

That eventually led him to a job as city manager for Norris, a post he held for two years.

“That was an enjoyable job, but it was tough, too,” Brackins says. “After two years, I just kind of decided it was probably not the right place for me.

I decided to move on.”

That’s when he got the offer for a job with the Tennessee Municipal League, a group that handles insurance issues for cities across the state.

He had decided to take the position when he found out about an opening for an assistant city manager in Pigeon Forge.

“That was sort of a dream come true because it meant we would be back in Sevier County, so I couldn’t pass that up,” Brackins says.

Since taking the post just about a year and a month ago, Brackins says he’s settled in well. A second son — Tate — came along since they moved here, and Brackins says he’s learned a lot about city administration since moving here.

“I really like being here,” he says. “I’ve been learning from (City Manager) Earlene Teaster. It’s good to be able to learn from her because she has such great experience. She understands a good community approach for city management.”

on and that just sounded so interesting to me. That interest just continued to grow.”

It also seemed the time was probably right to figure out what his future was with Stacy Streibig, the Sevier County girl he dated in high school, then offand-on in college.

“We figured we had made it this far, so we should probably stick together,” Brackins says with a smile. “If we survived a long-distance relationship, we figured we could make it.”

Brackins decided to make the distance shorter, moving to Louisville, Ky., to be near the woman he would soon propose to and get what to him is a more important ring: a wedding band. He took a job with the Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency that gave him his first real taste of what working for the public is like.

At the same time, he attended classes at the University of Louisville, eventually securing his master’s degree in public administration.

Soon, the couple had their first son, Samuel. As he grew, his parents knew they wanted him to be near the people and places that nurtured them as children.

“We started thinking we needed to get closer to home; closer to the grandparents and family,” Brackins says. “I started watching the newsletters

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Common Threads â—† 3

Sunday, February 21, 2010 â—† The Mountain Press

Ex-reporter Owens enjoys working with media

By DEREK HODGES Staff Writer PIGEON FORGE — If you’re read a newspaper article, seen a local television report or even glanced at a magazine spread about Dollywood in the last 11 years, chances are you’ve seen some of Pete Owens’ handiwork.

Owens is media relations manager for the Dollywood Company, which means that while likely millions of folks have admired his creations from television commercials to press releases, few know the behind-the-scenes staffer is responsible for much of what they know about the park.

While he spends his days now in the enviable job of working at a theme park and hanging out with Dolly Parton, Owens came to the business from somewhat less glamorous beginnings.

A midwestern boy, Owens got his first taste of the news business in high school when he worked in his high school’s television production studio. “That was a fairly rare thing at the time for a high school to have a facility like that,� Owens says. “I got some great experience and I really fell in love with that stuff.�

Owens simultaneously served as the student host for the local Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon.

It was between those two experiences that he decided on a career path: movie producer.

Unfortunately, as it turns out, most of the Hollywood movies are shot, well, not in Kansas. “My initial intention when I went to college was to go into film, but it became obvious there wasn’t a lot of film production going on in the area,� Owens jokes. “I ended up going into television news production more out of necessity than anything else. It became apparent that if I wanted to remain living in the Midwest and get a steady paycheck, the newsroom was my only option at the time.�

That career of chance took Owens through 15 years in newsrooms in Nebraska, Missouri and South Carolina before he ended up at WATE-TV in Knoxville. It was while he was working there that Owens’ fate took another turn. “It was kind of serendipitous when I heard about the job at Dollywood,� Owens explains. “My contract was up at (WATE) and I was trying to figure out what to do.�

That’s when a friend of Owens’ who had been the publicist at the theme park let him know she had moved on to take a job at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital. She urged Owens to apply for the job, but he balked.

It took several months of the seat’s staying open for her to finally convince him to talk to a Dollywood official – the current state Tourism Commissioner Susan Whitaker, who has a reputation for being fairly persuasive. Still, it took even her some time and a couple maneuvers before Owens was certain he could make a smooth transition from the news studio to theme park promotion. “I had just attended (journalism institution) the Pointer Institute and I was all jazzed up about TV. Coming from that world, it seemed like a completely different thing to do media relations,� Owens says. “As it turns out, it’s really not. We probably do more actual production here than I ever did at (WATE).�

Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press

A former news reporter, Pete Owens now feeds the media in his role at Dollywood.

After he took the gig, Owens says he still had to learn “an entirely new discipline,� moving from the role of reporter to source. “What’s been a really neat opportunity for me is learning the theme park industry,� Owens says. “I had always liked theme parks, but I was not an aficionado or anything like that. I spent every minute I could on the Internet for the first few months just learning everything I could about theme parks.

Now, I sit on the board of the National Roller Coaster Museum and the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attrations.�

In his personal life, Owens also fills a seat with another group of directors – those who help lead the East Tennessee Down Syndrome Awareness Group. It’s an organization Owens and his wife Cheryl got involved in after the birth of their second child, Rebekah.

Bekah, 8, as her

parents and big sister Farryn, 11, call her, was born just days after Owens took the job with Dollywood. In fact, it was during the first event with Dolly Parton that Owens staffed – the opening of Splash Country – that the family got the news Bekah might face some struggles in life. “I didn’t believe it when they first told me she had Down syndrome.

They did some testing and I got the phone call with the results dur-

Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press

Owens and his wife Cheryl are active in a Down syndrome awareness group. Their daughter Bekah, now 8, has Down syndrome. ing the Splash Country event, so that’s always been kind of an interesting memory for me,�

Owens says. “The only thing I knew about it at the time was the impressions I had from when I was a kid.�

Now, both the Owenses dedicate much of their time to educating parents whose children have also been given the diagnose on what to expect, something they didn’t get from doctors and nurses they dealt with at the

time. They’re also pushing both their girls to be everything they can be, no matter what handicaps others might see in them. “We’re not putting up a ceiling for either of them. We push Bekah just as hard as Farryn and we’re amazed at what she’s done. She’s really taught us a lot,�

Owens says. “We’re blessed to have both of them and I’m so proud of them.� n dhodges@themountainpress.com

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Vince Loveday E-911 Coordinator 245 Bruce St. P.O. Box 4572 Sevierville, TN 37864 428-5542 or 428-0310

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4 ◆ Common Threads

The Mountain Press ◆ Sunday, February 21, 2010

Franklin’s ‘Farmer Klemm’ keeps ’em laughing

By BOB MAYES Managing Editor PIGEON FORGE — During the second half of a recent performance at The Comedy Barn, Ron Jeffries sang a hand-clapping, footstopping rendition of “I’ve Been Everywhere.”

The Johnny Cash classic, at least in title, could have been describing 48-year-old Greg Franklin who, for the last three years, has been magician/comedian in residence at the Fee-Hedrick theater, portraying the goofy “Farmer Klemm.”

A native of Kannapolis, N.C., Franklin has been performing professionally since 16 when he landed a part in the Paul Osborne Merlin Rainbow Mystery Cavern Show just down the road at the site of what is now Lost Treasure Miniature Golf.

Since then, he starred in his own magic show produced by Dallas-based Osborne at amusement parks all over America. He has owned his own magic store near Orlando, created a villainous professional wrestling character named “The Fabulous Mister Franklin,” and was appearing at the Carolina Nights Dinner Theater in Maggie Valley before coming here.

Hold on a second, you say. Before we go any further, you say, what’s this about a villainous professional wrestling character?

Mister Franklin, who shares a hometown with the Dale Earnhardt clan — “my grandmother married into that family, so I guess I’m related to him 14 times removed,” he said with a laugh — prefers to talk about his present gig. But he will, if pressed, talk about his days in pro rasslin’.

“I was a big fan growing up,” Franklin said backstage after a recent performance.

“I was living in Orlando and owned a magic shop with some other magicians.

When that started to dry up, I invented Mister Franklin.

“I dressed the part, in tuxedo and tails. When my guy got into trouble, he would distract the referee, then I would get into the ring, produce a cane and hit our opponent over the head.

Then, when the referee came around, my guy would have knocked the other guy out.”

His wrestling persona complemented his real job as a magician, never reaching the high-paying, jet-setting Vince McMahonlevel. Rather, for 14 years, Franklin played venues that were normally within a three-hour drive of Kannapolis, which had again become his home base.

“I got to work with a lot of famous people, although, with the exception of Dusty Rhodes, they weren’t famous at that point,” Franklin said, mentioning the Hardy Boys, Hurricane

Franklin as Farmer Klemm really enjoys mixing it up with school children, as he gets to do from time to time.

Staff

Magician/comedian Greg Franklin’s career has come full circle. His role as Farmer Klemm at The Comedy Barn is a delight to audiences.

Harris and the Nasty Boys.

“I worked for a lot of independent organizations, where the wrestlers were still learning.”

Asked if he ever felt threatened, Franklin said, “Oh, yeah. Many, many times. There were times when I feared for my life.

When you do something (the fans) don’t like, they really get upset.”

That doesn’t seem to be the case in his present professional life.

Franklin, aka Farmer Klemm, is definitely a crowd favorite among fans of all ages. He works “the barn” before the evening shows, carrying a pet skunk (don’t worry, it’s not real), kibitizing with kids and adults, posing for pictures, signing autographs, recruiting children to help him with his act.

On this particular night, shortly after intermission, Farmer Klemm was introduced by emcee Clyde

Foley Cummins. Farmer Klemm rolled his “Wiz Kote Machine” machine onto stage and beckoned seven children from the audience to help him demonstrate amidst hi-jinx that had the entire audience howling.

Borrowing a shoe in desperate need of cleaning from one of his helpers, he put it into the Wiz Kote Machine, which promptly exploded. A few minutes later, after more comedy and a few magic words, the

youngster who had lost his shoe reached into a bag and — voila! — there it was, better than ever.

Farmer Klemm’s personna has characteristics of the late Jim Varney of “Ernest P. Worrell” fame.

“I admired him — and Minnie Pearl was another big favorite of mine,” Franklin, not Farmer Klemm, said. “My character is a goof.”

Is Farmer Klemm a comedian? Or is he a

Staff

magician?

“He’s an entertainer,” Franklin said.

Franklin waxed philosophical as he reflected on his career. He became interested in magic when he grandparents gave him a basic kit on his eighth birthday. His family moved to Greeneville when he was in middle school and he used to visit magic stores in Pigeon Forge before getting his driver’s license and winning a part in the show here at 16.

It was while working in that show that he met his present bosses, David Fee and Jim Hedrick, who were at the time fellow performers. That was 1978. Fast forward through countless dozens of venues to the Carolina Nights Theater in 2006.

In early 2007, Franklin heard The Comedy Barn needed a magician temporarily. He came to work here for a month or so, went back to Maggie Valley, then was called back, tailoring his act for what the show needed.

“That’s when I came up with Farmer Klemm,” said Franklin, who now lives in Gatlinburg and co-owns a magic shop there with ventriloquist Stephen Knowles. “I figured every ‘barn’ needs a good ‘farmer’ and every ‘farmer’ needs a good ‘barn.’

“I feel like I’ve come full circle. I’m working just down the street from where I got my start in the business. I certainly feel like I’m at home, but in the entertainment business, you never know.”

Farmer Klemm, The Fabulous Mister Franklin and Greg Franklin “have been everywhere.”

Or maybe it just seems that way. n bmayes@themountainpress.com

Running 2 health departments a challenge for Jana Chambers

By ELLEN BROWN Staff writer

things,” she says of her current responsibilities.

“There’s always the budget and personnel. I think Jana Chambers, directhe most challenging is tor of Sevier and Cocke personnel; it’s easy for County health departpeople to get settled in ments, knows she has a lot of people counting on on their specific area of her — but she’s up for the discipline, and they don’t always see the big picture. challenge.

But we have a great staff “It’s essential that we see the program continue here — they have always risen to the occasion. to provide services — “The biggest chaland in order to do that, lenge for me personally sometimes we have to has been learning all of change how those serthe aspects of the health vices are provided,” said Chambers, who has been department. The Women, Infant and Children director for three years.

Supplemental Feeding Chambers has her master’s degree in public Program is one of our biggest programs. There’s health nutrition and has early screenings and worked as chief clinical diagnostic immunizadietician at St. Mary’s Hospital in Knoxville. She tions, family programs, home visiting programs has also served as Cocke and STD programs done County School Nutrition through the Centers for Program director and Disease Control. We also consultant for the state’s track any communicable nutrition program. diseases. A lot of people “It’s a variety of

don’t know that TB (tuberculosis) is still out there.”

Chambers and her staff are health educators who are involved in the community, such as on health councils.

“As recently as H1N1, we’ve been doing public health emergency planning. A lot of people have been surprised at the short time they had to wait for their H1N1 shots because there was so much talk in other states about long lines. It’s been rewarding to see to see the positive community response.”

Chambers is from the Newport area — or to be exact, Parrottsville, the third oldest city in Tennessee. She has a son who lives in Durham, N.C., who is a digital media artist, as well as a daughter in Atlanta who works in the educa-

Curt Habraken/The Mountan Press

Jana Chambers has her hands full running health departments in Cocke and Sevier counties. tion field. She enjoys refinishing furniture and cross-stitching, and she is expecting her first grand-

child any day now.

“Being able to provide services to young children is probably one of the

most rewarding things about this job. So many people are thankful for that.”

Unsung Heroes

Common Threads ◆5

Sunday, February 21, 2010 ◆ The Mountain Press

Mark Walbolt

Pam Wyatt

Don Lundstrom

To be a scoutmaster means investing time in meetings, planning camping trips and encouraging boys to be their best and have pride in achievement. Mark Walbolt believes in the Boy Scouts and has invested almost two decades in helping it be strong.

Walbolt is scoutmaster of Troop 111 in Gatlinburg. His father was his scoutmaster.

He’s carrying on a family tradition, since his own son Alan is a troop member who just earned his Eagle rank.

“If you love your city or town or wherever you are, you should participate in something,” he said. “I love Gatlinburg and all of its people.”

Walbolt also volunteers to assist in city activities. He has helped with the Gatlinburg Fourth of July and Christmas parades and assisted on chores with the Dolly Parton parade to kick off Dollywood’s season in Pigeon Forge. He’ll handle balloons, control parking, “whatever they need me to do,” he said. “All they have to do is give me an assignment.”

Walbolt is a big supporter of Mountain Hope Good Shepherd Clinic. Each year he helps organize Clips for the Cure, a fundraiser for the clinic held at Shear Envy.

Jan Lapides, who nominated Walbolt, said in the eight years she has known him, he “has volunteered countless hours for the betterment of our community.”

She noted all the campouts he organizes for the Boy Scouts each year, teaching the boys about conservation and recycling while instilling a sense of pride in their community and accomplishments, “If he is asked, he gives 110 percent,” Lapides said. “He is someone who builds people up. He encourages all that he comes in contact with to be grateful.”

Walbolt has four children. His two girls are scouts as well, as were his own brothers.

Mark Walbolt believes in giving back, and that’s a key ingredient in an Unsung Hero.

Pam Wyatt’s best friend was Linda (she asked we not use her last name). Seven years ago Linda moved back to Kentucky. The two remained close.

Last May, Linda called Pam with bad news.

They found a spot in her lung. Linda, divorced, came back to Sevierville to seek treatment.

“Basically at one point she said no to any more treatments,” Pam said. “There was already a spot on her brain and it was in her lymph node system.

She said she’d rather spend quality tine with her children.” She has four kids, two of them ages 10 and 12.

Linda asked if Pam might be willing to come back to Kentucky to help her.

“My wife looked at me and said, ‘I can’t let her go through this alone,’” Pam’s husband Ron Wyatt said in nominating her.

On June 10, Pam and Linda went back to Kentucky, and Pam stayed at the home. She knew about cancer and its effects. She had watched her own parents die from the disease.

Except for an occasional trip back home, Pam stayed with Linda for seven months. Pam was granted leave from her job as head of housekeeping at American Patriot Getaways.

At the same time Pam’s own brother was diagnosed with cancer back in Tennessee.

Linda died Jan. 7, with Pam at her side. The night before, she had said goodbye to her children.

“I told her not to be scared. Now is your time. It was time to let go.”

“She has sat at the bedside of other relatives and family friends who have passed away, and she will always be the one people turn to because she has been gifted by God with the ability to keep her wits about her, even when everyone around her is losing theirs,” Ron Wyatt said.

Pam Wyatt is a deserving Unsung Hero.

Don Lundstrom’s volunteering goes back to 1992 when he helped out at Celebrate Freedom in Pigeon Forge. He served on the committee that helped develop the senior center on Chapman Highway, and was named to the Board of Directors.

Lundstrom thought the senior center have a woodworking shop. He thought the shop had been promised when the center was being built, but it was not included.

So Lundstrom went to work to bring that shop to fruition.

“I went out and started begging money,” said Lundstrom. “I took whatever anyone would give me. One woman gave me a quarter.”

It took a year, but he collected close to $50,000, and the woodworking shop was built behind the center. There is a plaque on the wall honoring the man chiefly responsible for it.

Twice a week Lundstrom drives over the center to open the shop and supervise it, offering assistance when needed to anyone who asks for it.

“Don realized the need for such a facility and spearheaded its establishment,” said John Patrick, who nominated his friend for the award. “The result is a carpenter shop available to all with every tool and piece of equipment necessary to build any wood object.”

Lundstrom served in World War II and then joined the Illinois National Guard. He and his wife moved to Sevier County in 1982.

In addition to his efforts at the senior center, Lundstrom has served on om the board of the Dr. Robert Thomas Foundation, chairing the Evening of Elegance one year.

“Don is proud of his military background and never misses a local military service,” Patrick said.

“He is always present in uniform, still proudly saluting.”

Now 91, Lundstrom still gets a kick out of the woodworking shop and building his own creations. That plaque on the wall signifies his contributions and his spot as an Unsung Hero.

Gene Spear

Suzy Campbell

Donnie Day

If you’re looking for Gene Spear, you can usually find him at Fort Sanders Sevier Nursing Home. He is there four or five days a week, visiting patients, reading the Bible to anyone who wants to listen and generally making life a little more pleasant and less lonely to the people who live there.

He points to a day 1992 when his life changed and he became more focused on helping others. That’s the day his beloved wife and best friend “went to heaven. I felt like I had to do something.”

It’s not as if he hadn’t been a godsend before. Childless, he and his wife often took in troubled children when they lived in Florida, and the Spear home became a refuge to kids who needed love and spiritual nourishment.

After his wife died and he moved to Sevierville to be closer to relatives, Spear became involved in the food bank, but found it too taxing on his body. Then he discovered a need for volunteers at the nursing home.

“He always has a smile on his face and gives without expecting anything in return,” said Pastor Don Grady, who leads a weekly Bible class at the nursing home. Grady says Spear will gather up residents from their rooms and help them to the Bible study class if they have expressed an interest in attending.

Nursing home staff member Stephanie Carr says Spear enjoys “spreading God’s word and visiting and praying with the residents. He has been a wonderful volunteer and a great friend to everyone in our facility and we feel blessed to have him in our lives.”

Spear says his efforts at the nursing home are a reward. When he sees patients in far worse shape than he’s in, he realizes his own problems are small in comparison.

Gene Spear is a true Unsung Hero.

Suzy Campbell’s first experience with the Sevier County Baseball Association, when her daughter was in T-ball, was not a good one.

She took the little girl out of the program, but a couple of years went by and she wanted to play again. That’s when Campbell agreed to serve on the board.

These days she is vice president for softball.

As part of her volunteer duties she handles scheduling, registration, uniforms — and a lot more. She also has helped implement rules she felt were needed, such as background checks on coaches and a requirement that all coaches be certified by attending classes on how to lead youth teams.

From December through July, Campbell is doing something related to the program. She pulls together everything for more than 70 teams, including ordering supplies and trophies for the teams.

When the season begins she is at the ball fields four nights a week, sometimes on Saturdays for tournaments and makeup games.

“For so many of these kids, this is the place they go after school. We have great coaches who care about them. It’s important to keep kids busy and involved in team sports,” she said.

“Suzy has handled and put together fundraisers, schedules, picnics and anything needed by around 900 kids and just as many parents,” said Melissa Messick, who nominated Campbell for the award.

This year Campbell’s daughter is on the Pigeon Forge High softball team. It means Campbell has no child in the youth program, yet has remained involved, with added duties of assisting the high school team raise money for a tournament trip to Florida.

By the way, Campbell is one of the owners of Mountain Breeze Motel in Pigeon Forge.

Campbell sees her role as giving back to a community that has been good to her and her family. She epitomizes the spirit of an Unsung Hero.

Donnie Day has a family and a job, but he also has a deep sense of civic responsibility and commitment. Beyond caring for other people, he also wants to do his part to help the east side of Sevier County.

Day is a member of the Chestnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department, the closest one to his home at English Mountain. He is among the most active firefighters, especially when the department has its annual horse show. The department has 13 members, but thanks to generous community members it has eight trucks and a Cub Cadet for rescues.

Day is in the process of creating a motorcycle club, and he has made a Web site to honor firefighters who have lost their lives in service to their communities.

Unsungheroesmc.com will be the outgrowth of his motorcycle club. He has designed a patch, featuring a dalmatian dog with a Maltese cross, which he hopes will be worn by members of the club as it grows.

Day is the go-to guy in his community. For one elderly neighbor, he prepares a garden each year for her, tilling the soil and helping her have fresh vegetables to eat while she’s on a fixed income.

Day volunteered to drive a bus for students at Sevierville Primary to attend a benefit show at Smith Family Theater to help a family whose home burned down. The school offered to pay him for his time, but he refused.

The Days recently took in a young boy who was in a bad home situation and gained custody of him.

“He has no idea we think of him the way he thinks of others, and this is why we think he is a true Unsung Hero to us and many, many people he comes in contact with every day,” said his daughters, Kayla and Peyton, who nominated their dad.

They’re right.

How they were selected All Unsung Heroes were nominated by readers of The Mountain Press, who sent in information about their nominees and why they should be chosen, Fron among those nominations, the newspaper selected the recipients of the award. Each Unsung Hero will receive a framed certificate as well as the gratitude of the community for what they do.

6 â—† Common Threads

The Mountain Press â—† Sunday, February 21, 2010

McMahan puts own stamp on county’s jails

By JEFF FARRELL Staff writer

pects) in, dropped ’em off, and left. “It was a lot to learn.�

So he took his time Deputy Chief Larry learning about the McMahan has worn responsibilities, from about every hat you can in local law enforcement. what his personnel are He’s been a patrol offi- trained to do by taking the certification course cer, a detective, a shift supervisor, and now he’s himself, to talking to serving as the supervisor the experienced supervisors already working of the county jail. there. “(Then Sheriff) After a while, he began Carmen Townsend was putting his own stamp the first one to pin a on the department. He badge on me in 1980,� changed the uniforms, McMahan recalled. something he said the After a few months, jailers had been asking he moved from the for. sheriff’s department He privatized their to Gatlinburg Police medical program, conDepartment, where he was a patrol officer from tracting it out instead of having a doctor on staff.

1980 until 1990. He He’s also had to learn came back to the sheriff’s how to manage a budget department, where he’s remained since, in 1990. for a major facility — He was a patrol captain, two facilities, since the then a detective captain. new minimum security facility on Old Knoxville He also helped start the county’s sex offender Highway opened after he took over. registry when the stateThe county is already wide database started. finishing up an expanWhen current Sheriff sion at the new facility, Ron Seals took over as the jail population after the death of Bruce continues to grow.

Montgomery, he asked Growth overall has McMahan to take over been a theme throughout his old role as deputy his time in the departchief. ment. When he started, That was a major the total staff at the change for McMahan. department was 25 peoIn Sevier County, patrol ple. Now, he manages 79 officers rarely start out just at the jail, and he’ll working in the jail. He soon add a few more for went through certificathe expansion. tion as a corrections Managing the jail, of officer after getting the course, isn’t just about promotion.

It was, he said, a whole keeping up with his personnel. He’s also got new mindset. to oversee the inmates. “I didn’t know anything about corrections,� It’s a fine line for his he said. “I brought (sus- officers to walk, he said,

Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press

Larry McMahan has made some changes at the county jails since he took over management of them four years ago. between seeing to it that a building full of accused or convicted criminals stays in line and seeing to it their rights aren’t violated. “I don’t want my people to mistreat anybody, but they won’t be run over, either,� he said.

In some ways, he said, it’s like being principal of a school – but the people he disciplines are

adults, and some of them are in there because of violent tendencies. “Consistency is the key,� he said. ‘Consistency and accountability.�

Working at the jail overall, he said, can be an unappreciated job even among people in law enforcement. As he said himself, officers’ knowledge ends when

they drop a suspect off at booking.

He’s worked to get the sheriff’s department to start looking more at corrections officers as potential patrol officers when there’s an opening.

He’s also invited some deputies who seemed too unappreciative to work a shift at the jail. “I really appreciate the corrections staff,� he said. “I think they do a really thankless job.�

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