Columns

Gentle reader, in our column for 15 July we wrote this:
“The budget for Roane County for this fiscal year contains a line item designating the sum of $2,554,554.00, for “Industrial & Econ. Dev.”
“Like us, do you wonder just exactly what we are going to get for this multi-million dollar expenditure of our tax money?”
On the following Tuesday, County Executive Ron Woody granted an interview to News reporter Damon Lawrence to explain this budget item.

My 17-pound pack, filled with water, lunch and rain gear, felt downright light as I plodded 9 miles uphill to the top of Mount LeConte.

After all, several years ago I was in failing health and my own weight was about double what it is now.

I could not have imagined then, while recovering from thyroid cancer and its complications, that I would be able to tackle this peak — my own personal Mount Everest of the Smokies.

Beating the heat … that seems to be a goal everyone’s trying to achieve these days.
With most of the country in the grips of what many are calling a “deep fryer,” it seems as if record highs are being registered pretty much daily.
While we’ve not been hit by triple digits as have many from the Southwest to the Midwest yet (and hopefully won’t), the combination of mid 90s and upper 60s dew points here in the Tennessee Valley have combined for some seriously steamy days.

“You know what today is?” my mother asked in a recent phone call.

“I do,” I replied without hesitation.

She didn’t have to ask.

I needed no reminder that July 11 was the fifth anniversary of my father’s death from cancer.

I try not to dwell on the pain of his last days and the suffering which he handled with dignity.

Instead, I try to focus on my fondest memories of him.