The Courier News

VFW launches veterans banner program

September 23, 2026

Sample banners show how local veterans will be honored through the new Hometown Heroes Banner Program. VFW Post 12051 hopes to recognize 100 veterans through the community project. - hometownheroesbanners.com

Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 12051 is spearheading a Hometown Heroes Banner Program to honor local veterans.

The VFW is working with the city of Clinton and Clinton Utilities Board to install the banners along the roadway from Mariner Point to Interstate 75, according to Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank, who is promoting the program.

The 2-by-4-foot banners will feature individual veterans. Both living and deceased veterans may be honored through the program.

Frank said the VFW’s goal is to honor 100 veterans with banners.

Sponsorships cost $72.50 and must be paid in advance. The price includes the mounting brackets.

At Saturday’s Anderson County Veterans Appreciation Breakfast, VFW Post 12051 Commander Klay Kern presented a $500 check to project leader Mickey Vickery to sponsor the first banners.

“How inspiring!” Frank said. “Thank you to the city of Clinton and CUB for allowing this great project.”

Those interested in sponsoring a veteran may contact Vickery at 865-399-5301 and leave a message requesting a return call.

Byrge publishes tales of Appalachian childhood

September 23, 2026 by G. Chambers Williams III

New River resident Jimmy Byrge shows his new book about growing up in the Anderson County mountain community. - G. Chambers Williams III

New River native Jimmy Byrge, who has already written and published a best-selling children’s book about Christmas, has now released a new book, The Adventures of a Mountain Boy, with a collection of short stories that reflect his growing-up years in Appalachia.

“These stories of my youth have taken me back in time – a simpler time, if you will,” reads the note on the book’s back cover.

“Families were much larger in our rural mountain community, and times were much harder in some ways, but it has been such a blessing to put pen to paper while reflecting on these times,” he said.

He said this is Volume 1 of the book, and that he is now working on Volume 2.

The book is available to buy in paperback form on Amazon.com for $24.99. It was made available on June 1.

Byrge’s previous book, The Evergreen Christmas Tree, which he wrote in 2008, was published recently in a children’s book format, complete with colorful illustrations.

It’s also available to buy on Amazon, either as a paperback for $16.99, or as a Kindle e-book for $6.99.

State ag officials tour Bluebird tree farm

September 23, 2026 by G. Chambers Williams III

Tennessee Agricultural Commissioner Andy Holt, left; Bluebird Christmas Tree Farm owner Leo Collins; and state Rep. Rick Scarbrough are shown during a recent tour of the farm by state ag officials. - Submitted

The Bluebird Christmas Tree Farm on Brushy Valley Road recently hosted a visit by some Tennessee agricultural officials, including Agriculture Commissioner Andy Holt, according to the farm’s owner, Leo Collins.

Also on hand for a tour of the tree farm was state Rep. Rick Scarbrough, along with state agricultural consultants Emily Davis and Jabob Tipton; Anderson County 4-H leader Breeanna Standford; and Seth Whitehouse, the county extension agent.

The group chose Bluebird as one of the state’s notable agricultural operations to visit this year, Collins said.

Collins and Matt Smith, Bluebird’s foreman, discussed the origin, goals, and day-to-day operations of the farm.

$2.4M grant funds community center

September 23, 2026 by Ben Pounds

A new community center is coming to Oak Ridge’s historic Scarboro neighborhood next to the Atomic Elks Lodge at 262 Wilberforce Ave.

The community center will offer new opportunities and services to the Scarboro community, a news release from Oak Ridge Housing Authority. Among them will be medical care, a training center, community gatherings, an entrepreneurial incubator space, and a place to preserve history of the Scarboro community. The community center will also offer space for neighborhood gatherings for about 80-100 people. It will be built with a $2.4 million Community Capacity Building Grant from the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management. The Elks Lodge and several community partners worked together on the funding and plans for the new building. Partners included United Cleanup Oak Ridge LLC (UCOR), the lead cleanup contractor for DOE in Oak Ridge and the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management. Groundbreaking took place at 10 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 17.

The Atomic Elks Lodge 130, one of the oldest organizations in Scarboro, received its charter around 1949. Property was deeded to the Elks Lodge in 1958. The Lodge sought to improve the quality of life in the Scarboro community through socio-economic programs, youth enrichment programs, as well as serving as a social club, a news release stated.

Photo submitted

This rendering on display at a Sept. 17 groundbreaking shows a new community center planned for Oak Ridge next to the Atomic Elks Lodge at 262 Wilberforce Ave.

Honoring Annette Prewitt’s 30 years of service

September 23, 2026

Mayor Terry Frank and the Anderson County Commission, convening with its current membership for its first regular meeting honored Annette Prewitt, center, who retired after 30 years as an employee of Anderson County, during which she served as Chief Deputy of the Anderson County Clerk’s Office. The Commission approved a resolution honoring her service at its Monday Sept. 21 meeting. - Ben Pounds

Arboretum explores monarch migration

September 23, 2026

Monarch butterfly resting on finger during its fall migration. - Michelle Campanis

Butterflies have long held a special place in Dolly Parton’s heart, and an upcoming UT Arboretum Society program will use that connection to explore one of nature’s most remarkable travelers.

UT Arboretum Education Coordinator Michelle Campanis and naturalist Stephen Lyn Bales will present “The Secrets of the Monarch” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 1, via Zoom.

The program will pay tribute to Parton and her love of butterflies while exploring the monarch’s life cycle and remarkable migration.

Monarchs are beginning their annual journey south, making this a good time to watch for the brilliant orange butterflies in East Tennessee.

The program is part of the First Thursday Nature Supper Club and is hosted by the University of Tennessee Arboretum Society and the American Museum of Science and Energy as part of their Citizen Science Birding Program.

The program is free, but registration is required to receive the Zoom link.

Register at utarboretumsociety.org/programs.

Those unable to watch live may register to receive a recording. Closed captions will be available.

For questions or registration assistance, contact Michelle Campanis at mcampani@utk.edu.

Sorghum tradition returns Saturday

September 23, 2026 by G. Chambers Williams III

Draft horse Ethel powers the grinder to make sorghum syrup at the Stooksbury Sorghum Farm in Andersonville in fall 2025. She will be back to work starting this Saturday, Sept. 26. - G. Chambers Williams III

Beginning this weekend, for the next few Saturdays, people can see sorghum syrup being made at the Stooksbury farm in Andersonville, with cane stalks being ground by horse power in the old-fashioned way.

The operation will feature draft horse Ethel turning the mill for the sorghum cane grown on the farm, at 514 Park Lane.

She provides the power to grind up the sorghum stalks to extract the juice, which is then simmered in a pot over an open fire to make Stooksbury’s sorghum syrup, also known as sorghum molasses.

Bobby Stooksbury, the farm’s owner, uses techniques he’s learned and developed over 30 years of honing his craft.

Making the dark syrup from the cane has been an Appalachian tradition for centuries, and Stooksbury shows it off both at his farm and at the Museum of Appalachia on Andersonville Highway every fall.

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