Local News

Former Roane County Commissioner Copper Bacon passed away on Thursday.

Bacon served on the commission for 16 years. He didn’t seek re-election this year, and his final four-year term ended on Aug. 31.

“He’s going to be highly missed by the county,” Roane County Executive Ron Woody said. “We hate to see the passing of Copper.”

Woody served with Bacon on the Budget Committee.

Emilie Gregg has spent a lot of time at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.

Gregg, who was diagnosed in 2010 with plasminogen deficiency, was comforted by Teddy bears given out to patients. The bears are used for demonstrations to show things like where intravenous lines or ports may go.

“She wants others to have the bears so they could show them where they (treatments) are going to go and have comfort and not be as scared,” said Cindy Gregg, Emilie’s grandmother.

Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 2. As clocks turn back one hour, we gain an hour of sleep but often still feel groggy and sluggish.

Vanderbilt Sleep Disorders Center specialist Kelly Brown, M.D., says this change in sleep schedule is exacerbated by our tendency to alter our sleep patterns on the weekends anyway.

Instead of sleeping for that extra hour on Sunday, Brown recommends using the time to go for a morning walk.

Children are a product of their environment — the habits they are taught shape the rest of their lives.

This fact is paramount in teaching our children how to nourish their bodies. Proper food and nutrition will literally shape how they grow — which is why we need to stop what we are doing to feed childhood obesity.

If children see mom and dad go through the “drive-thru” three times a day, or just once a week, that habit will be ingrained in their mind as acceptable behavior.

There is no healthy option in this cheap form of processed food — I guarantee it.