One thing's for sure, Jim Houston has a real heart for helping others. In fact, he's made it his career, both paid and unpaid, to serve the people of Union County, often giving life-saving aid with his work in the Union County Rescue Squad.
On the 12th of March, 1993, East Tennessee had a storm to beat all storms. One of its titles was The Storm of the Century. When my colleagues and I compared notes a week later, after school finally reopened, some had lost power, some lost water, some lost both.
Who mows your lawn nowadays? You probably don't. A whole new business has grown up around grass and the need to manicure the lawn. Everyone works nowadays. There are enough “honey do” chores for Saturdays without spending several hours doing lawn care.
Union County High School students have been given an outstanding opportunity through OSHA training. OSHA is a ten hour general industry outreach class which provides basic safety and health awareness for all workers. Students completing OSHA training are introduced to OSHA policies, procedures and standards. Furthermore, there is special emphasis placed on hazardous topics. UCHS students receive an OSHA general industry safety and health course completion card from the Department of Labor upon successful completion of the course.
The students in Ms. Licata’s Greenhouse Management class have worked very hard on preparing the greenhouse for this year's spring plant sale. They have grown a variety of vegetables from tomatoes and peppers to eggplants and radishes. We also have a small variety of flowers. Union County High School’s Greenhouse will be open for business on April 2nd to May 17, 2019. Hours will be from 9am - 3pm, Monday-Friday. It will also be open every Saturday, 10am - 2pm. The greenhouse will not be open on Sundays. Come out and help support Agricultural Education at UCHS.
Our schools make use of gifts and resources from many areas to keep students supplied with necessities. On Thursday, March 21, Woodmen Lodge 1072 member and Vice President Keith Kail came to Horace Maynard Middle School with gifts in hand.
Kail presented a new American flag for the outdoor flagpole and fifteen backpacks along with various school supplies. Members of Lodge 1072 purchased and donated the backpacks and school supplies for students in need as one of the lodge’s community service projects.
With the recent rainfall in the County, our roads are littered with the aftermath of the litter thrown from cars onto the roadsides. Our beautiful lakes have also suffered from this problem. As people may or may not realize, the run off in lots of places runs directly into our Norris Lake. It is a constant problem, and as Keep Union County Beautiful Director, I am asking for your help.
Please take a few minutes to pick up on your road, or if your road is in great shape pick up somewhere else!
Union County residents are invited to bring their unused or expired prescriptions to the Maynardville Sheriff's Dept on April 27th from 10am-2pm. The event aims to provide a safe, convenient location to dispose of prescription drugs and other medications and to raise awareness about the potential risks for abuse and misuse of certain medications, such as opioids. More than 15 tons of drugs were collected statewide on the last National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day in April of 2018.
On February 28, 2019, District Attorney General Jared Effler presented Certificates of Appreciation to Union County High School students (l to r) Jacob Hensley, Dylan Hensley, Tanner Maples, Andrew Anderson, Sawyer Henderson and Chris Burbage (not pictured Zach Hickman and Tyler Graves) for supporting the Children’s Centers of the Eighth Judicial District through their tireless efforts during the Third Annual Clays for Children Sporting Clays tournament. Because of their hard work, our Children’s Centers can continue the worthy mission of serving abused and neglected children.
Youth look for leaders and direction from people they trust, role models, and genuine folks. Young Life is a Christian outreach organization that has reached out and rooted in Union County providing opportunity for relationship connections and uplifting opportunities between the leaders and the youth in the area.