By Steve Williams Mixed feelings have been circulating throughout Big Orange Country lately about UT men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes. By the way, that’s UT as in Tennessee, not Texas, where Barnes spent the biggest part of his successful coaching career. Some are saying the 62-year-old Barnes is coaching from a rocking chair, a clock […]
By Dr. Jim Ferguson I feel like a soldier awaiting the signal to charge enemy lines. I never vote until election day because I don’t trust early voting where ballots might get lost or not even counted unless they’re necessary to decide a close vote. Perhaps I’m being silly and electronic voting is different, and […]
By Alex Norman So a few months back some of my old college friends and I scheduled a get together in the great state of Tennessee. The plan was to spend a couple of nights in Nashville and see an NFL game. We settled on the middle of October and the huge Titans/Browns game. Yes. […]
By Ray Hill Howard Baker had accomplished what most observers had believed to be the impossible by defeating Governor Frank Clement for the United States Senate in the November election in 1966. Baker became the first Republican ever to be popularly elected to the U. S. Senate since Tennesseans began electing senators in 1916. It […]
By Ralphine Major He grew up on Emory Road just west of Fairview Baptist Church, graduated from Gibbs High School’s Class of 1944, and served in WWII. Lynn Tillett of Corryton, Tennessee, passed away October 19, 2016, at the age of 90. I did not personally know Mr. Tillett, but I did know of his […]
By Ralphine Major I paused for a moment when I saw it. The simple beauty of a church steeple wrapped in an early morning fog slowed my work on a long list of things to do. I marveled at its powerful and majestic impact as it towered toward the sky. Even more amazing is the […]
By Jedidiah McKeehan Two common legal terms that are often confused are probation and parole. While these terms are used frequently, there are some similarities and some differences. Probation generally happens before going to jail. Probation is what a defendant will receive when a sentence has been suspended. A suspended sentence means that they will serve […]
By Joe Rector joerector@comcast.net Last spring, Amy and I traveled to Cookeville to help sort through her aunt’s possessions. She suffers from Alzheimer’s and resides in an assisted living community. To pay for her stay there, the house had to be sold. Family came to box up her items, and they took home some things […]
By Rosie Moore After a few months of sniffling, itching, and sneezing, I finally went to an allergist. What he told me after going through some needle-ing tests, amazed me. I was allergic to weeds, some trees and mold. What! Me! Allergic to Mother Nature, whom I love with all my heart? I have two […]
By Dr. Jim Ferguson Recently, I’ve considered leaving my column at The Knoxville Focus. I’ve written weekly essays for ten years, but that’s not the issue. I ask myself, “What does it matter?” Maybe it doesn’t, but my sense of duty is to “man-up” even if that verbiage is threatening to some college kids and […]
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