Getting ready for scholastic success: Dr. Lauren Effler – Pre-K director

Dr. Lauren Effler, Pre-K director for Union County Public Schools, announces that registration is now open for Pre-K students enrolling for in-person learning next fall.
The Pre-K curriculum, designed to get kids ready for kindergarten, teaches important things such as letters, numbers, shapes, and colors. Children are also taught social skills like interacting with other kids, cooperating and working with others, and how to problem-solve.

Red Devil softball opens

By Harlen Hunley and Ty Edds
On March 8, the Lady Red Devils got the season off to a good start with a solid win over Claiborne County with a score of 3-0. They got hits and runners on at the right time to push across the runs needed and solid pitching from Aleyia Satterfield to shut out the Lady Bulldogs.
Lady Devils win over Clinton

HMMS baseball team breezes through March

By Harlen Hunley and Ty Edds
HMMS vs. Seymour
The Horace Maynard Baseball team has been rolling since an opening day loss on Tuesday March 2, as they traveled to Seymour in a 2-1 loss.
The Red Devils played solid defense with solid pitching as eighth grader Ty Edds toed the rubber and was relieved by Garret Graves trying to prevent the go-ahead run from scoring. As a bloop hit to left scored the winning run from third base in the last inning. Edds, Maddix Wyrick, and Aiden Bowman all had hits in the game for the Red Devils.

Big Ridge trees species are diverse

Big Ridge State Park has a large diversity of trees. The park is around 3,600 acres in size with only a couple hundred acres at most that is mowed and not wooded.
Of course, one of the purposes of our Tennessee state parks is to preserve and protect our natural resources.
This was not always the case. Before the park was set aside for preservation it was farmland with little of it wooded.

Redbud: Spring calling card

Volunteer Interpreter, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park
One of the more popular trees in the spring is the eastern redbud (Cercis Canadensis), which blesses us with a beautiful bloom of purple pea-like flowers that pop out on the trunk and large branches as well as on twigs. Another common name for redbud is Judas tree, which comes from the belief that Judas hung himself from a Middle Eastern redbud after betraying Christ.

Anxious for nothing

Philippians 4:6 is one of those verses which many Christians have hidden in their hearts. It is Paul the Apostles version of 1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.”
We find Paul once again in prison for preaching the Gospel. He has written this letter to the Philippians so that they will not lose hope in Christ, because of the situation in which Paul finds himself.
Let’s think about what is going on by imagining ourselves as part of a possible conversation between two first century new believers in the city of Philippi:

Fishy Tales

Most fishy tales are probably tall tales about the one that got away. Mine are just the opposite in that I have never had any luck with fish in any capacity.
For instance, the last time I went fishing, I fell into Bull Creek. That wonderful experience is in my story, “In the Creek.”
My woeful fish tales started at a very young age. You see, my mother always had a fish tank.

P-I-N-T-O

Union County recently made history again. If you are interested, just conduct the following Google search: “Pinto on a pole.”
I did so, and was taken to a link for a WATE-TV news story about the famous Ford Pinto that was located for as many years as I can remember at Jim Sexton Motors.

A Changing of the Guard

Union County High School girls’ basketball coach Roger Murphy is stepping away; but he isn’t going too far.

Murphy has coached the girls team for the past fourteen years and says the timing is right. Murphy’s tenure was highlighted by winning the district tournament championship in 2015-16, the first for the program in over thirty years.