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Colorful Knox Countians: A Big Man With A Big Heart, Hazen Kreis

by design | Oct 10, 2021 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:

  By Ray Hill Hazen Kreis is likely a name unfamiliar to the readers of this column, but there was a time when the six foot, five inch gentleman was wildly popular in Knox County.  Kreis was elected to three two-year terms consecutively as Sheriff of Knox...

Colorful Knox Countians: Jack Dance

by design | Oct 3, 2021 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:

By Ray Hill In this column, I have written very little about local political figures but there are a few that would likely make some interesting reading. One is Jack Dance, who was Deputy to the County Clerk and a legitimate contender for Congress when J. Will Taylor...

Colorful Knox Countians:  J. Carroll Cate

by design | Sep 26, 2021 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:

By Ray Hill This column is written for my friend John R. Mills. Johnny and I have been friends since 1976 and his was the first local campaign I worked on as a volunteer. Johnny’s wife, Charlotte, is a good friend of mine as well and so was her Dad, Mr. Hal Cate. The...

The Shortest Congressional Race, II

by design | Sep 19, 2021 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:

By Ray Hill For twenty years, Tennessee’s Second Congressional District had been served in the United States House of Representatives by J. Will Taylor. “Hillbilly Bill” Taylor was also the last congressman elected from this district who either did not live or later...

The Shortest Congressional Race

by design | Sep 12, 2021 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:

By Ray Hill Tennessee’s Second Congressional District is the most Republican in the nation from the standpoint it has never been represented by anything other than a Republican since the party has been on the ballot. There is also another statistic that is interesting...

Ephemeral Figures, Always Floating By: Marion Carpenter

by design | Sep 6, 2021 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:

By Ray Hill Most figures in history are ephemeral and float through the pages of books only fleetingly. Some never even make the footnotes of history, yet probably should. There are any number of historical figures which were larger than life, the subject of...
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