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Mountain City, Tennessee 37683Your Community Newspaper, Established 1874 75 centsVol. 146 No. 35

www.thetomahawk.com

THE TOMAHAWKWednesday, August 26, 2020

Community Calendar ...........A2From Page One ...................A3Court Reports .......................A4Obituaries .............................A5Sports ..........................A6,8,B3Faith .....................................A7

Fall Sports .. A6,8,B1,2,3,6,8Inside News .....................B4Agriculture .......................B5Service Directory ..........B4,5Classifieds .......................B7

INSIDE:

By Tim ChambersSPORTS EDITOR

It was a historic day for the Johnson County girl’s basketball program on Saturday as its leading scorer signed on to play college basketball for Alice Lloyd next season.

All conference guard Taylor Cox cast her lot to be an Eagle for the school located in Pippa Passes, Kentucky.

Cox helped lead the Lady Long-horns to a school-record 23 wins this year and led the team in scor-ing by averaging 15 points per contest.

She also scored her 1000th career point and was honored to join Alisha Milan and Michala Cretsinger and Brooke Brown as the most recent ones to achieve that honor.

Cox did it her way while work-ing her way up to the level of

Taylor Cox chooses to be an Eagle

Johnson County High School senior Taylor Cox, enjoys the company of her teammates and coaches while signing to play college basketball for Alice Lloyd College in Pippa Passes, Kentucky. Front Row: Taylor Parsons,

Hazlee Kleine, Taylor Cox, Abby Cornett, Natalie Winters. Back row:Rhiannon Icenhour, Assistant Coach Gary Smith, Assistant Coach Kechia Eller, Head Coach Leon Tolley. Pictures by Joey IcenhourSee Cox Page A8

Thank you for allowing us to serve you!We are Your Community Bank.

www.fsbankmctn.com423-727-8121

By Meg DickensSTAFF WRITER

Johnson County is one of many areas receiving funding to boost the economy in light of the COVID-19 pandemic through the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Eco-

nomic Security) Act. The county discussed this grant during its June meeting and set aside some of the money to prevent raising taxes for the upcoming year. The check came in this month, and County Mayor Mike Taylor found out the good news a few weeks prior. Johnson

County received a boosted $799,890 instead of the expected $637,865, which equals an approximately $162,000 increase.

“There was a long conversation when the legislators went back into session,” Mayor Taylor explained. “Some of our state legislators

weren’t happy that Shelby County and Davidson County were getting like $10 million. So they cut them back $5 million each and took that money and redistributed it through the other counties, like ours.”

The United States Government

Johnson County receives increased funding

See Funding Page A3

JOHNSON COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

By Meg DickensSTAFF WRITER

Johnson County District 3 Con-stable Dave Quave made an ap-pearance at the Thursday, August 20 County Commission meeting to advocate for increased safety precautions near local park, But-ler Park. Quave pitched a simple solution to the commissioners on how to promote overall safety in the park’s vicinity by making one small addition, adding a speed limit sign.

“I’m here not only for myself but for a bunch of people who live in Butler who have called in with concerns,” Quave explained as he introduced the issue at Butler Park. “When you turn off the highway, there’s no speed limit (sign) there,

Constable advocates for highway safety near Butler Park

See Park Page A3

By Jill PenleyFREELANCE WRITER

While most residents may be unfamiliar with the value of carbon offsets, hardly anyone can dispute the importance of Doe Mountain to Johnson County tourism. Doe Mountain’s Board of Directors announced that Fat Tire Brew-ing Company, the fourth-largest craft brewery in the U.S., has purchased carbon offsets from Johnson County’s Doe Mountain Recreation Area (DMRA) as part of its corporate sustainability goal to achieve carbon neutrality.

“The commitment to protect Doe Mountain’s forest is now generat-

Fat Tire Brewing purchases carbon offsets

from Doe Mountain

See DMRA Page A3

In This Week’s Edition!Jo. Co. Fall SportsSee pages A6, A8, B1-B3, B6, & B8

By Tamas MondovicsEDITOR

The James H. Quillen VA Medical Center has formally an-nounced the official opening of its Mountain City Community Based Outpatient Clinic on Mon-day, August 31, 2020.

According to VA officials, the 5,000 square foot, 1.4 million dollar facility “will improve ac-cess to VA care for veterans living

VA Outpatient Clinic to open August 31

Lador Day Holiday(9-7-20)

Early Deadlines:Advertising Deadline;

11 a.m. —Friday Sept. 4 Editorial Deadline;

12 p.m. —Thursday Sept. 3

See Veterans Page A3

By Tamas MondovicsEDITOR

Under the motto, “Be the solution, make clean up your healthy habit,” the Watauga Lake Watershed Alliance is again looking for volunteers to join in helping its annual clean up at Watauga Lake.

This year’s cleanup event marks the elev-enth anniversary since its origination by Mary Salter.

The annual cleanup event has continued, and thanks to the support and assistance of many volunteers, the lake and surrounding shoreline has managed to retain its reputation of being one of the cleanest bodies of water in the con-

tinental United States. Practically free of industrial and agricultural

runoff, Watauga Lake suffers mainly from litter pollution yet remains safe to swim in and fish.

“Still, the litter is an issue that needs to be addressed,” said Watauga Watershed Alliance Secretary, (WWA) Dennis Shekinah. “For the

Watauga Lake Watershed Alliance seek volunteers for annual clean up

Clear sailing

Floating on a large piece of Styrofoam debris, local volunteer Josh Weir paddles his way to Pioneer Landing a drop off spot during the annual Watauga Lake cleanup. Organizers seek volunteers to take part in the event, which takes a somewhat different format

this year due to the current pandemic. Photo submitted by Dennis Shekinah

See Watauga Page A3