The Union County Business & Professional Association named Scott Inklebarger and Tonya Atkins, the Union County Man and Woman of 2023 at its 33rd annual banquet on Friday, November 3. Inklebarger is the manager of Food City and Ms. Atkins is the owner of A&B Bookkeeping. Both were chosen based on their outstanding and continuous community service along with their quality business practices.

Many of you may have met Beverly Berry, the area coordinator for Quilts of Valor at the UC Heritage Festival. Beverly collected donations to purchase material to sew the Quilts of Valor. The mission of the Quilts of Valor is to cover service members and veterans with healing quilts of valor. Quilts are of a specific size with a label of authenticity and the awarding of the quilt is recorded.

It’s that time of year again for the Union County Children’s Charity annual “Under The Tree” toy campaign. This is exclusively for Union County Children ages 0-12 years of low income. Applications were sent to Union County Public Schools and Cherokee Head Starts for children living in Union County.

The Union County Commission met with the Union County School Board during the Board's regular October workshop to have an opportunity to ask questions regarding the new middle school. Specifically, commissioners wanted to know if the middle school sports fields are included in the current plan and if the timeline for completing the sports fields would cause a lapse in availability if the jail is constructed on the current middle school football field. The first concern was put to rest before the architects even arrived.

At the regular October meeting, Union County Commission voted to set aside $3,000 annually to fund the plaques on the wall at Veteran’s Place. Commissioner Sidney Jessee, Jr. stated that the idea had come from a 2nd district citizen who said that paying for the plaques was the right thing to do for our veterans who have given us so much.
The money will purchase approximately 30 plaques a year on a first come, first served basis.

There is still a lack of high-certainty evidence on the effectiveness and safety of commonly used painkillers (analgesics) for short bouts of low back pain, finds an analysis of the evidence published by The BMJ.

I remember taking my son, Tobias, to the Knoxville Zoo sometime in the late ’70s. It wasn’t the zoo it is today—it was much smaller with fewer animals in smaller cages.

As the Thanksgiving season approaches, many families and children are giving thanks for all their blessings and sharing those blessing with children in need by packing shoeboxes with Operation Christmas Child.

I would like to thank everyone for all the kind words and positive comments regarding my first article. I wasn’t sure how my story would be received, and I loved reading all the words of encouragement that you left for me. Several have asked for more of my perspective on Autism and while I only know how it affects my everyday life, I am happy to share more of how I see the world. My parents have told me that there is a saying that if you have met one person on the Autism spectrum then you have met one person on the Autism spectrum. That is most definitely the truth.

Peacocks are often used as a symbol of pride and vanity. The male peafowl are known for their piercing calls and their extravagant plumage. It can be quite the sight to see a peacock preening in full strut.
The preening peacock’s full tail feather display not only attracts the peahens, but it gets the attention of any creature in his vicinity, including humans.