Today's News

With less than a minute between opening and closing gavel raps, Rockwood Water, Sewer and Natural Gas Board’s called meeting on Tuesday could go down as the shortest on record.
What wasn’t said, however, overshadowed what was supposed to be discussion about possible increases in gas and water rates.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has done an about-face:
It will now hold a hearing on proposed coal ash rules closer to Roane County, site of the Dec. 22, 2008, catastrophe that got the government talking about the need for tougher ash regulation.
“EPA will hold a final hearing in Knoxville, Tenn., the week of Oct. 25,” the agency said in an e-mail.
Officials said they were still  making arrangements on the exact date and place.

If any wildflower deserves a fan club, it is solidago. And I would fight like a dog to be the president of it.
I thought as much as I took the winding roads up Roan Mountain over the long weekend.
My mother and I had abandoned our plans to swim at Indian Boundary Lake (too chilly that day), and instead made the drive to upper East Tennessee.
We stopped at the Gray Fossil Site near Johnson City, took the tour and marveled over the many magnificent prehistoric animals that once walked the earth there.

The Roane County Highway Department responded to Barnard Narrows Road on Wednesday after being notified nails were on the road.
“Our kids travel this road on buses,” resident Juanita Johnson said. “Our mail man comes through here, and we just don’t need this. We don’t need nothing that’s going to endanger any of us.”
County Road Superintendent Tom Hamby said he was aware of the situation, but had yet to be briefed by the employee who responded to pick up the nails.