Elizabethton Star Progress 2019

Pride & Purpose

2019 Progress Edition h Special publication of the Elizabethton Star

Thursday, February 28

Brown’s Hardware and Grocery Serving the Hampton community for more than 100 Years

Carter County Recycling Center

Innovates and encourages recycling improvements

John Wright

Calling to teaching career is very important

Meredith Valley Farm Shares community legacy

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We have a lot to brag about

Bennie Lyons, manager of the Carter County Landfill, is a jewel. So is Brown’s Supermarket at Hampton, and educators John Wright and Amy Banner. And, what about our water supply, some of the freshest and purest in this country? Its worth cannot be summarized in strictly monetary terms.

This year’s STAR Progress Edition tells the story of some of the jewels in our community — people, places, and institutions that have a purpose and instill pride. Take Amy Banner, a Spanish teacher at Hampton High School, and John Wright, principal at West Side Elementary School. Their careers have never been as much about content and curriculum as it has been about the individual student.

Teaching is not just a job for these two educators, but a passion and an identity.

And, then there are the places in our community that instill pride. Take Brown’s Hardware and Grocery, a landmark in the Hampton community. It’s long been said by its owners: “If we don’t have it, they probably don’t make it.” The store has had a purpose in the Hampton community for decades. It’s not only where people go to trade, but to socialize.

It’s an institution to many.

Brown’s is a family-owned business and has many unique and hard to find items.

Just as the name Brown is well-known in the community, so is the name Meredith. The Meredith family for many years owned and operated Carter County Motors — the Ford dealership in Elizabethton. Now, they own

Meredith Valley Farm and Cabins. It’s a popular and fun place, especially for weddings, family reunions, and church outings. The 1918 farmhouse has been the centerpiece of the farm for over a century of life and laughter. Completely restored, its two kitchens, three bathrooms, and four bedrooms offer guests plenty of space to relax and rejuvenate.

Outside, views of the river, mountains, and city scape welcome you from the front porch as you enjoy a slower pace of life. Stories of the house’s past and present adorn the hallways to draw you in and make you feel like a part of the house’s rich history.

The farmhouse and its owners — Peggy Meredith and her family — are among the many jewels in our community that make us burst with pride.

Our community is full of places and people, who cause us to bubble over with pride because they are fulfilling their purposes so well. Businesses, both old and new, have as their purpose to serve us, to provide jobs. Our institutions, such as our schools and churches, too, have their purposes. They instruct us and through that instruction, we become leaders.

Pride and Purpose, the theme of this year’s Progress Edition, go hand in hand. Everything and every person has a purpose, and once we fulfill that purpose, pride erupts. And, we’re bursting with pride because of the community we live in and the people and places that have given us a reason to gloat and brag about you.

Pride & Purpose Staff: General Manager

Customer Service

Delaney Scalf

Kathy Scalf

Proofreader

Layout & Design

Janie McKinney

Robin Johnson

Writers

On the cover: Brown’s Hardware and Grocery owner George Sutton Brown Jr. on a tractor outside of his store.

Photo by: Greg Miller

Andrew Wadovick Ivan Sanders Bryce Phillips

Greg Miller Larry N. Souders Lynn Richardson

Sales Brandy Trivett Shirley Nave Joyce Bartlett 5

Table of contents Carter County Recycling Center.........8 Elizabethton City Water Resources Dept............12 Reedy & Sykes..........16 Brown’s Hardware and Grocery...............20 Hampton Wholesale Statuary......................22

Richard Garland..........26 Roan Street Church of God.............30 John Wright.................34 Amy Banner..................40 Meredith Valley Farm....44 Fish Spring Marina .....46 Sossner Steel Stamp.....50 Tri-City Plating............54 Rite Screen ..................60 Coaches........................64

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“I run this place the way I would run my own house. I try to be conservative in my spending, and we do things in-house when we can.”

—Benny Lyons Benny Lyons is all about efficiency at the Carter County Recycling Center, and one of his ideas was at the beginning stages of the process: rubber tire dividers that separate the large piles of materials from one another for easy sorting later.

Story & Photos by Andrew Wadovick

Carter County Recycling Center innovates and encourages recycling improvements in Carter County

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arter County has roughly 56,000 resident as of 2017, and every single one of them brings to the table bins and bins of garbage and recycling. With so much to manage, Carter County’s services requires a truly efficient staff and system to properly manage all of it so it ends up out of the public’s sight and out of their minds.

Carter County’s Recycling Center does more than merely sort through trash and fulfill state-mandated services. Director Benny Lyons said he uses their services to better the lives of as many residents as possible.

Lyons took over the recycling center and landfill roughly 10 years ago, after working as a Carter County building inspector. Here, he got to work revamping how the roughly 11-person department managed a county’s worth of garbage

and recycling.

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“We have changed a lot of things,” Lyons said.

For him, the name of the game was efficiency. He modified several steps in the system with transportation in mind, including taking replacement trash tubs so they can simply swap them out at certain locations to save extra trips and adding specific paper/cardboard bins to save time sorting everything later.

He said his brainchild, however, is in-house.

“I took a bunch of tires and ran them through the shredder, and then we bundled them together to form dividers,” he said.

This way, in the step before the trash and recycling is actually processed, the team organizes the trash based on type right there on the floor, allowing for quick and easy management before any of it even reaches the shredder.

Lyons’s team handles roughly 100 tons of garbage in a single day, or roughly 500-600 tons a week, and this number is not going any lower in the near future.

“Over the last couple of years, the amount of stuff we have picked up is increasing,” he said. “Our operation is growing every day.”

Lyons said part of what they have done in response to this is by placing more recycling locations throughout Carter County, but they have also reached out to newspapers and schools in the area to better educate citizens about the value of recycling over straight trash.

“It is good for the environment,” Lyons said. “The less you put in a landfill, the less landfills we have to open.”

None of these efforts have existed in a vacuum, however.

Lyons said they have been reach- Lyons and his roughly 11-person staff handle hundreds of tons of trash and recycling on a daily basis. ing out to and partnering with a He said he aims to treat his employees the same he would his family, by working right alongside them and employing the Golden Rule whenever possible. variety of nearby communities,

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Lyons said many organizations will send them their recycling for processing. Carter County’s Recycling Center has partnered with many neighboring communities in order to encourage more recycling, including Johnson City and Unicoi.

including Johnson City and Washington County, as well as Unicoi.

Lyons attributed part of their recent innovations to the work environment they enforce.

“I treat my employees with the Golden Rule in mind,” he said. “I will not ask my employees to do something I would not do myself.”

Beyond that, he said he is fis-

cally minded as well.

“I run this place the way I would run my own house,” Lyons said. “I try to be conservative in my spending, and we do things in-house when we can.”

He said the benefit his work brings to the Carter County community is what he enjoys about his job the most, especially the

Lyons said he has worked to expand citizens’ access to recycling by placing many more recycling bins throughout Carter County, thereby increasing the amount of recycling they can achieve. He said the more people recycle, the less end up in landfills, and the fewer landfills they have to open.

chances he gets to interact with the public.

Beyond the tons of garbage and recycling he manages on a daily basis, Lyons also serves as a volunteer fireman at the Stoney Creek Volunteer Fire Department and as both a Little League baseball coach and a youth football and baseball coach.

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“It gives me a full plate,” he said.

He said sometimes it can be overwhelming keeping all of his duties in check.

“I often wonder if there are any more hours in a day,” Lyons said.

“I sometimes do a lot of praying.

He seems to come through for you.”

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Elizabethton Water Resources looks to technology to be more efficient

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Story & Photos by Bryce Phillips

or the Elizabethton City Water Resources Department, one of the biggest keys to a successful future will be to simply know exactly what

they have.

And to fully understand and have a picture of the Elizabethton water system, which has over 250 miles of distribution lines, Water Resources General Manager Johann Coetzee and his department have been working for the past three years to start up and develop a new Geographical Information Systems mapping network which could be used to collect and store data about the water system and its many assets.

“Unless you know what it is and where it is, you cannot manage it,” said Coetzee. “You can’t manage what you don’t know you have.

“GIS is more than a map,” added Coetzee.

“It is a graphic driven database that not only tells us where something is, but it tells what it is, what it is made of, how old it is, and what are its characteristics. This gives us the ability to do asset management.”

For a GIS system to function properly, information must be put into it consistently, and one of the tools being used to make sure that information is being obtained are Ipads, which can be easily carried and used to log information on site by city workers.

“The Ipads make the information we already have available to our staff so they can be in the field and look up a map and see where they are and what is there,” said Coetzee.

Coetzee said it will be another four or five years before the GIS system is completed. With the GIS system fully up and running, city workers can begin to more efficiently tackle some of the water system’s biggest issues.

Currently, the Elizabethton Water system is facing two big problems, said Coetzee. The first

of those problems is the loss of water. For every gallon of water the system pumps, it loses a half a gallon into the ground.

“That is because our water pipes are old and leaky,” said Coetzee.

The other big problem is in the city’s sewer system where instead of water leaking out being an issue, water leaking in is causing problems.

“We have infiltration,” said Coetzee. “We have a problem of groundwater and stormwater leaking in. Our wastewater treatment plant is designed to treat 3.5 million gallons of water a day. During rainy weather and storms, we can get up to 7.5 million gallons of water a day. That means that is water we have to pay to treat, water that should have never been in the system. That is a lot of money.”

So the only way to combat the system’s two major issues is to seek out and replace the city’s old water and sewer lines, some of which are around 100 years old. Many of those old lines are made out of galvanized steel which are now being replaced by newer and longer lasting materials.

And to find those lines and the places where lines need to be changed first, the GIS systems will come in pretty handy, said Coetzee.

“We want to spend money efficiently,” said Coetzee. “I want to spend my dollars fixing water lines and sewer lines where I make the most difference. GIS pulls all of our data together so we can have videos of the inside of our sewer lines, have flow measurements, and water loss information. That not only enables us to have a map to know where things are but also helps us pick the next best place to spend our money.

We want to fix the worst places first.”

Over the past four years, Coetzee said that the city has replaced roughly 20 miles of old water lines but also said it will take a while

An employee with the city works to replace a water line on Main Street in Elizabethton.

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before a significant reduction in water loss will be seen.

“It will take another 10 to 15 years before we will see a massive reduction in water loss,” said Coetzee. “We are seeing improvements in neighborhoods. What we are doing instead of working all over the system, we are picking neighborhoods. We have already rebuilt all of East Side, Valley Forge, and others.”

Over the years, the Water Resources Department has won its share of awards which includes the Kentucky-Tennessee Water Environment Association Operational Excellence Awards from 2008-2017, the 2014 American Water Works Association Small Plant Category Award of Excellence for Valley Forge Water Treatment Plant, and the 2009 William Hunter Owen Award for Outstanding Wastewater Treatment Plant.

City employee Sam Miller works to clear out a trench on Main Street in Elizabethton.

Trevor Guy, city employee works in a water line trench on Main Street in Elizabethton.

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Robert Reedy currently lives in Kingsport with his wife, but he said Elizabethton had a need for a firm like theirs, so that is where they took their business. Their firm has been a part of Downtown Elizabethton for 35 years.

Star Photo/ Andrew Wadovick

Steve Sykes currently lives in Elizabethton, and he and Reedy were roommates in college. Their birthdays are only a week apart, and even though they parted ways for a while after graduating, they never really fell out fo contact during that time.

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Elizabethton architectural firm brings life to East Tennessee development

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hen an artist makes a painting, their signature is within every stroke as much as it is at the bottom right corner of the painting. In building design, this is no different, and one architectural firm has their signature on much of the Tri-Cities community.

Robert Reedy and Steve Sykes have done business in Elizabethton for roughly 35 years, and many of the area’s most recognizable buildings come from their imagination.

Reedy said the two of them were originally roommates in college.

“We went different ways once we graduated, but we stayed in contact even after that,” Reedy said. “Steve lived in Elizabethton, and we knew Elizabethton did not have an architect firm.”

The two business partners have more in common that just college: their birthdays are only a week apart. They opened their business when they were 29 years old.

When the duo started in 1983, they originally had an opening project, but it fell through, meaning the duo had to start completely from scratch.

“A doctor came by after seeing an ad for us in the newspaper and said he was interested in a solar design house,” Reedy said. “That was our first project.”

The firm has grown since then, taking on a number of jobs for various businesses and organizations throughout the three and a half decades. In particular, they actually designed the current City Hall, the building that stands where their old office used to be.

That was when they found their current space at 613 East Elk Ave. It might seem like a peculiar spot for

Story & Photos by Andrew Wadovick components come together.” an architect firm to be stationed, Some of the more challenging but Reedy said they would not have aspects of the job can also be the it any other way. most interesting, Reedy said, and “I always thought Elizabeththis idea comes from the electrical ton had a very nice downtown, engineers. and I always wanted to be a part “Electrical is far more than it of it,” he said. “After all, we went used to be,” he said. “Now you can from around 700 square feet customize everything and you have to roughly 2,500 square feet of this tech to go with it.” space.”

Out of everything they have acThe architectural firm currently houses six employees including complished since they first opened Reedy and Sykes, but he said their their doors, Reedy said their biggest is their longevity. passion for their craft and the “Our biggest accomplishment creativity everyone brings to the is being in business for 35 years,” table brings joy to their work.

Reedy said. “It means we must be “The most exciting thing is doing something right.” seeing our ideas come to life,” He said many of their clients Reedy said. “There is nothing like are repeat customers, such as seeing it finished in real life and Carter County Bank. watching it go up.”

“This is not a job based on He said their work is as much traffic,” he said. “You have to go about the creativity of their cliout and make connections with ents as their own, however. potential clients.”

“We start with the customer’s Currently, the firm is working program, and then it becomes a on projects with the state of Tenback-and-forth, seeing how the nessee as well as the recent work different elements of the design on Tennessee College of Applied come together,” he said. “It is Technology a few years ago. not just aesthetics, but how the

The firm has had a hand in a number of projects over the decades, including many projects with Carter County Bank and the recent completion of the Tennessee College of Applied Technology. The team currently consists of six employees including the owners.

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Serving the Hampton community for more than 100 Years

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Story & Photos by Greg Miller

ver a hundred years ago transportation and industry came to the mountains of Eastern Tennessee and with it the opportunity for commerce, according to George Sutton Brown Jr., owner of Brown’s Hardware and Grocery.

Having originally opened for business as a commissary for Pittsburgh Lumber Company, Brown’s is definitely no new kid on the block when it comes to knowing and serving the Hampton community. When the lumber company moved back to Black Mountain in 1924, the commissary and Braemar Post Office stayed, according to Brown. His grandfather, L.W. Brown, and his wife “then moved to Kingsport when he found employment through Tennessee Eastman.

“When the depression hit, the lumber company wanted to dispose of their Braemar property,” Brown said. “So my grandparents, seeing an opportunity, sold everything they had and moved back to the community and friends they had left in the ’20s. My grandmother continued operating the commissary, while my grandfather still worked at Tennessee Eastman. They renovated the building as a boarding house. The building is still known as ‘Braemar Castle.’

My father, George Brown, after retiring from serving in the military in World War II, joined

Brown’s Hardware and Grocery

my grandfather in his vision of building the business. The store was moved across the road to its current location in 1946. The original building caught fire and burned in the early part of 1954 but was rebuilt to the store you see today.”

Brown graduated from Maryville College in 1976, when he was “given the opportunity to join the business as a co-owner.”

The store, Brown says, “is one of the last good old full-service hardware stores around” and features a variety of hardware, electrical and plumbing supplies.

Old-fashioned sales and service have merged with technological advances at the store.

“We installed solar panels about three years ago on part of the roof,” said Brown. He notes that the store is “always looking for ways to improve ‘old-timey ways’ with new technologies.”

Brown’s Hardware and Grocery, according to Brown, stocks a full line of grocery items from A to Z, from apples to zucchini.

“We are a full-line seed and farm and garden store,” he said.

The store features a “fullservice meat shop,” according to Brown, who can cut meat.

Brown’s sells fresh beef, pork and chicken, as well as deli meats.

The store has a meat cutter on staff.

Brown’s is a store for all seasons, “whether you need seeds for spring planting, supplies for

Brown’s Hardware and Grocery owner George Sutton Brown Jr. displays jars of local honey and pickled eggs.

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Brown’s Hardware and Grocery, Hampton, installed solar panels on part of its roof about three years ago.

summer picnics or fall preparations Brown’s has what you need,” Brown said.

It’s also never too early to begin thinking about Christmas, and for that special holiday Brown’s Hardware and Grocery offers sweet treats such as pecan clusters, chocolate raisins, coconut bon bons, coconut macaroons, fruit slices, orange slices, hay stacks, double dipped peanuts and cream drops. The store also features old-fashioned spice drops and Red Band horehound candy (year round).

If you’re looking for home improvement tools and supplies or “need to grab a few groceries,” visit Brown’s Hardware and Grocery.

Brown’s Hardware and Grocery is located at 613 U.S. Highway 321, in the Braemar section of Hampton. The store is open Monday-Saturday from 8 a.m.-6 p.m.

For more information, call 423-725-2411, email brownhdwandgro1@comcast.net, visit the website,http://brownshardwareandgrocery. com or visit the store’s Facebook page.

Beautiful onions and potatoes are on display at Brown’s Hardware and Grocery in Hampton.

One of four inverters at Brown’s Hardware and Grocery, Hampton.

The inverters convert the DC (direct current) from the sunlight to AC (alternate current), which goes to the Elizabethton Electric System.

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Continuing to mold a dying art…

Hampton Wholesale Statuary committed to providing quality concrete statues Story & Photos by Ivan Sanders

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ith the ever-increasing demand for advancement in technology, many trades that utilize good old manual labor and getting down and dirty are quickly fading away to robotics that quickly and efficiently take care of many facets of the once tough physical labor.

However, for Hampton Wholesale Statuary that is not the case as owners Brad and Jamie Carpenter continue to create masterpieces of art out of cement, sand, and water that have found their way to homes throughout the United States in an art that is slowly dying away with generational change.

“I like it,” said Brad about the creation of his pieces. “It’s heavy and nasty work and there’s not a whole lot of people that want to do it and there are getting to be fewer and fewer places like this every year.”

Carpenter first was exposed to the craft he now takes a lot of pride in when he was a youngster watching his father pour and sell his statues as a wholesaler.

“My dad, Mitchell Carpenter, started doing this around 1976 or 1977, and I had tried the plant work and didn’t like it so when he got ready to retire in 1996, when Jamie and I got married, I started part time for four years and then after I got the molds paid for, we started full time in the spring of 2000,” stated Carpenter.

“My dad mostly did wholesale as far as selling to garden centers and other places. When I was 12 years old, I tried to get my dad to open a place on the highway to do wholesale and retail and he wouldn’t do it so that’s what I did.

“When I first started, most of our business was wholesale as we sold to about 20 garden centers that would resale it,” continued Carpenter. “When we moved over here, the walk-in traffic was so much more — it was unbelievable.

“We have cut wholesale down to about six locations. We sell to Pigeon Forge and others in Tennessee while North Carolina and Virginia are the biggest buyers along with Ohio.”

When looking at the process of making a concrete statue, it’s not hard to see why many are beginning to get away from the craft.

“There are some secrets but first you have to have a mold which is a big cost,” added Carpenter. “The bear mold was $6000 and was made out of rubber and fiberglass so it doesn’t last forever. We mix our own Portland cement with sand. We have our own mix for that. The molds have to be lubricated with mold release so they will come out. Rebar gets placed in certain pieces and heavy-gauge wire in other pieces like rabbit ears.

“When the piece comes out, it will have places where the seam is that have to be filed down,” Carpenter continued. “After it comes out 22

The public can find about anything they are looking for in concrete statues at Hampton Wholesale Statuary and if it’s not on the lot, more than likely it can be located.

of the mold, if you plan on painting it, it has to be out 10 days to let the moisture dry before you can paint it.”

Carpenter leaves the painting portion of the process to his wife and partner, Jamie, who either can take her own liberties of colors or upon request by a customer can detail the piece to meet their need.

“I like to paint,” commented Jamie about her portion of the business.

“I use to draw and paint a little, so it’s like a hobby or relaxation for me.

Sometimes it depends on what the customers want. They will specify what they want and if they don’t, I just paint what I want to.”

“There’s an upcharge based on the job depending on how they want it painted,” Brad added about customer request. “If they want it detail painted like flesh tone on a statue, it takes a long time. If we dry brush it, it’s not that bad.

“If it’s detailed, it ups the cost about 50 percent of the cost of the statue.”

Brad said that he knows that the business has customers throughout the United States as he often receives photos and videos once customers get their statues in place. He also has received cards from schools and other places that have utilized his product.

He said that if he wasn’t mistaken that the University of North Carolina had purchased a couple of big rams from him for the school.

“I know there’s a statue in California and it’s an angel statue,” said Carpenter. “The man came here and said, ‘I just want you to know that this angel is going to Michigan and then it’s traveling all the way across the United States to California.’ He was visiting family in Michigan and then he was taking it back home to California.

“I also know that we have a bear in Florida a man bought and when 23

The Carpenters, from L-R Jacob, Brad, and Jamie, take a break on “Squatchie” one of the newer favorites that is offered to the public.

they had that big hurricane there, he was back up here a couple of years later and he said, ‘You know, I put that bear out by my sunroom and that hurricane came in and it tore down my sunroom completely and it ripped the roof off my house, but the bear was still standing there in the same place.’ It was a 400-pound bear.”

And speaking of bears, one of the landmarks that came with the Carpenters when they relocated from their Highway 321 Hampton location to their current location on Highway 19-E was a big concrete bear that weighs nearly 3300 pounds.

“Google sends me updates and recently told me we have had over 8000 hits on the bear alone,” said Carpenter with a chuckle. “I guess it’s the weight and size of it.

“We have sold between eight and 12 bears a year over a course of four years, but it was so heavy flipping the mold that I got rid of the mold a couple of years ago.”

For Carpenter, the business is pretty much a one-man and onemachine show as he does have a gentleman that helps out but for the most part it’s Carpenter and his forklift that turns out the large concrete pieces.

The business has had much success with their large selections of Christian and military-themed products — something that the Carpenters take a lot of pride in, being a Christian family and deeply patriotic.

We had some that I was going to make molds on and I left them setting through the summer to see how many people would ask about them to see if I needed a mold on them.

“One of them was a rabbit bird bath and I was going to make the mold on it and when I went to pick it up it broke like glass due to the UV rays from the sun and a lot of people found out that that stuff doesn’t last and now concrete is picking back up again where the poly-resin is on its way out.”

Hampton Wholesale Statuary also offers other products aside from just concrete statues for the public.

“We do sell type-S mortar and sand for brick and rock masons,” Brad, Jacob and Jamie lean on their landmark bear that was brought from their old location on Highway 321 to their new location on added Carpenter. “We also sell rebar Highway 19-E in Hampton. The bear has received 8000 hits online and decorative pea-gravel and driveaccording to Google and weighs 3300 pounds. way gravel and a lot of white sand for swimming pools when that time “Military also have a new comes around.” stones and design called the The Carpenters have two sons — plaques have been ‘Hand of God’ David and Jacob. When asked if he good sellers for that has been very thought the business was something us,” said Carpopular as well.” that one or both of his sons might penter. “We have Even though carry on, Brad was optimistic. two sets of each many are drop“I think if Jacob wants to do it, branch of the ping out of the he can do it,” Carpenter said. “It’s military. statuary business, “Our ‘In God Carpenter said that getting fewer and fewer every year because it is messy, heavy work — a We Trust’ plaque his business has was a design experienced an up- lot of people don’t want to do it.

Some people aren’t cut out to do that made by a man tick as of late. much manual labor.” down below “It’s increasThe business accepts cash, Knoxville who ing,” stated credit or debit and is opened Monday made that for me Jacob takes a break in a new Carpenter. “Back through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and that was the piece called “The Hand of God” a few years ago first one of those which is gaining a lot of atten- they came out with Saturday hours are 8 a.m. to noon and on Sunday there is a two-hour he had made. We tion. poly-resin statues.

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window from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

“When the weather gets better, we are here later on Saturday and on Sunday’s if the weather is good,” said Carpenter. “We got started being open on Sunday when we were at the other location.

“We would have people come through during the week in a car and would want something big and they would say that they come back during the weekend with their truck.

So, that is how our 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. started just as, ‘I can meet you after church on Sunday between 2 to 4.’”

There is delivery available to Johnson City, Kingsport, and Bristol for a charge and if Hampton Wholesale Statuary doesn’t have what their customer is looking for it can be located.

“If someone finds something that we don’t have, I have friends on the East Coast that I can usually get it from them or borrow a mold and make it,” stated Carpenter.

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Richard Garland, membership coordinator for the Franklin Health and Fitness Center in Elizabethton, stands on the walking track overlooking the workout floor of the Center.

Richard Garland’s passion is working with people who are trying to live healthier lives

Story & Photos by Lynn J. Richardson State University, trying to find a major that suited him. ichard Garland, Membership Coordinator “It’s just very Nothing, it seemed, interested him more than working for the Franklin Health & Fitness Center in rewarding, being with people who are trying to live healthier lives.

Elizabethton, certainly has had a long and here everyday and So, in 2009, Garland landed a job as a fitness coach lasting relationship with health, exercise and fitness. seeing how people at “The Franklin.” He served in that capacity for five and a half years before being selected as the memberGarland got acquainted with the wellness center can improve ship coordinator at the Center in 2014. much like many other young men. Growing up “as far day to day.”

“I just fell into it backwards,” Garland grinned. as you can go up on top of the lake” (Watauga Lake) in As membership coordinator, Garland oversees all a little community called Little Dry Run, Garland was inday-to-day operations including staff supervision, volved in sports at Johnson County High School, and he —Richard Garland maintenance and more. was drawn to the facility to work on strength and agility.

Membership Coordinator He is also the go-to guy for the members — 1,150 After graduation, he continued to work out in Elizafor Franklin Health & Fitness Center of them, as of the end of January 2019. bethton. He attended Northeast State and East Tennessee

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“People just come in,” Garland said. “We have walk-ins, former members who want to get started back and then all those folks tell others about us.”

One of Garland’s biggest successes is relatively new, a program that started about two years ago to help those who have had joint replacements.

“This is through the Ballad Health joint replacement program,” Garland explained. “They send people to us first for rehab, often people who have never worked out before, and we basically help with specific exercises.

Our personal trainer, Gavin Dugger, handles the rehab.

“For instance, if someone has had hip replacement surgery, we have specific exercises for that.

We help people learn how to do something as simple as get out of a chair. We work on strengthening exercises, so people can get back to their daily activities quicker.

“It’s been a really positive

Richard Garland talking with the Center’s personal trainer Gavin Dugger (left).

27

program. If their insurance has approved them for surgery, people will come before their surgery for pre-hab, to prepare for what they will be doing after the surgery. Then, they come back afterwards.”

The Center’s membership is diverse, with people of all ages and activity levels finding something they can do to stay fit. And who you find at the center, Garland says, depends on when you happen to be there.

“It just depends what time of day you come,” he said. “You can set your clock by people. Early in the morning, you’ll see people who want to get here before work, get their stuff done and they’re on their way. Mid-mornings, you’ll see an older group of people here for rehab injuries, or just to walk. On cold days, the indoor walking track is full all day. Then, in the afternoons, you’ll see a younger demographic, working on sports-specific stuff.”

All in all, Garland says, it’s as much a social situation as it is anything. “You kind of come to see your friends at the same time of day every day and throw a workout in.”

In any given month, the Center has 15-20 different group fitness classes, which change, month to month. Classes currently offered include Yoga, Pilates, Ab-specific, Zumba and Pound. There

is no extra charge to members for group classes.

The Center houses state-of-the-art equipment for strength training and cardio. Members will find 12 strength equipment machines, a squat rack, several free weight benches and new weight plates as well as other machines in the free-weight training area.

For a cardio workout, members can use one of eight treadmills, three ellipticals, three adaptive motion trainers, a rower, as well as upright and recumbent bikes. There is also an indoor walking track.

“It’s just very rewarding, being here every day and seeing how people can improve day to day,” Garland said. “It’s great to see people become more physically fit, start to enjoy working out and just to see their improvement in general.”

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Here’s My Card!

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A current photo of Roan Street Church of God as it stands today at 113 North Roan Street in Elizabethton.

Battling through the early struggles…

Roan Street Church of God marking 100 years serving Carter Co.

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oan Street Church of God will reach a milestone the weekend of May 17-19, 2019 as the church celebrates their 100th year of ministry to Carter County and the surrounding region.

From its humble beginnings, the Pentecostal church has managed to overcome many obstacles from financial struggles to even being unwanted in an area that has been predominantly ministered to

by Baptist and Methodist churches that are commonly found throughout the county.

That hasn’t stopped the church congregation from following the lead of the Holy Spirit in hearing from God to fulfill the vision of reaching Carter County to see souls saved, help those who are hurt and broken, and praying for the healing of the sick.

Story & Photos by Ivan Sanders

Contributed Photo/Watauga Spinnerette

The church as it stood in the early ’60s.

According to a paper presented

by Reverend Kenneth Bewley for a Theological Seminary class, the church was organized in the early months of 1919 when evangelist Lane Columbus Yates traveled to

Elizabethton bringing with him the Church of God to the community.

Yates sought and received the OK from city and county officials to host a revival in the Carter County Courthouse and each night Yates 30

found the room filled with people who had a hunger for the Pentecostal doctrine.

A church was formed from the revival and was initially called the Church of God at Elizabethton and Yates became the first pastor.

The first church met in a member’s home until property was secured and a church built on the corner of Lynn Avenue and Broad Street. The church remained at this location until 1928 and purchased another piece of property on Park Street where they built a brick church.

In September 1946, one year after Ted Moore became the pastor, the church began construction at its current location of 113 North Roan St. Not everyone was happy according to Bewley’s paper that a “Holiness Church” was being built

in the center of Elizabethton and someone burned a cross in the church yard.

Even though it wasn’t discovered who did this hideous act, it served to make the congregation more determined to continue as they sensed God’s hand on the construction of the church.

The church building was finally completed in late 1949 as Elwood Kern served as the pastor at this time. Kern dedicated much time to the completion of the building by doing everything that he possibly could to help with the building.

During the 1950s the church experienced some internal problems as some members became disenfranchised due to some questionable pastoral moves that resulted in several members leaving the church and creating a financial slump.

Over the course of the next few years there was a healing that took place in the church mainly from a revival led by former pastor W.R. Wilbanks which saw the isles being filled with chairs to accommodate the large attendance.

In later years, Pastors like the Rev. Earl Golden and the Rev. Clyde Shankle made huge strides with leaders in the community and as a result the church became more accepted and membership continued to grow.

Reverend Bewley began his pastorate at Roan Street Church of God in February of 1985 and has

been the longest serving Pastor the church has in its history serving a total of 31 years.

Under Bewley’s leadership the church saw many building and ground improvements as well as the growth of ministries within the church.

Upon Bewley’s retirement in 2016, the Rev. Shane Nivens took the reins of the church until the current Pastor, the Rev. Brien Sturgill, was voted in by the congregation and began his service in August of 2018.

The church has big plans for the Centennial Celebration as on Friday, May 17, Dr. Tim Hill, who serves as the General Overseer of the Church of God, Cleveland, Tenn., will be the guest.

On Saturday, May 18, announcement will be coming of the church’s special guest while on Sunday, May 19, Wayne Dority — Tennessee State Administrative Bishop — will be speaking during the morning service while National Evangelist Larry Timmerman will speak during the evening service.

Sturgill said that going forward that Roan Street Church of God will continue to embrace the roots upon which the Church of God was established and to be even more impactful going into the future.

“We are embracing as our church, the need to update our approach to our world,” stated Sturgill. “We are not seeking to be ‘relevant’ as much as we are seek-

Crossfire Youth Ministries led by Brandon and Holly Kent are growing weekly and minister to middle and high school students.

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ing to be impactful.

“So much of church in today’s modern world is a wonderful display of talent and budgets, but what is missing is the authentic touch and move of God upon the hearts of men.

“That’s what we have to offer,” continued Sturgill. “That is ALL we want to offer. Everything else fades away with time.

“By His grace, Roan Street will not fade in its future, but only grow stronger in Kingdom impact.”

The Roan Street Praise Team and Choir lead the congregation into a season of worship.

At 96-years young, Carl Estep is one of the oldest members of the church and has been actively involved for 70 years at the church where Estep served as the Church Clerk for 50-plus years beginning in 1955.

First Lady Shannon Stugill welcomes everyone to morning services on a recent Sunday morning.

With Rhonda Guinn at the helm of the Children’s Ministries, the church is seeing continuing growth for its Sunday morning Children’s Church services as well as Wednesday night.

Pastor Brien Sturgill serves in the capacity of the Worship Leader as well during services at Roan Street Church of God.

Phillip Reed, Pharm.D Owner/Pharmacist

851 W. Elk Ave. • Elizabethton, TN 37643 Phone: 423-518-1088 • facebook.com/reedpharmacy 32

Contributed Photos/Watauga Spinnerette

A group of children from the church’s past.

A photo of an early church choir.

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West Side Elementary Principal Wright says calling to teaching career is very important West Side Elementary Principal John Wright demonstrates how a rocket in certain wind conditions will fly to students at West Side.

A

Story & Photos by Greg Miller & Photos by Bryce Phillips

calling to a teaching career is a very important beginning to that career, according to West Side Elementary School Principal John Wright.

“It’s pretty huge,” Wright said. “The number one thing I tell the teachers is ‘I want you to love these students. If you don’t love the students, that’s a deal breaker.’”

Wright says relationships he has with the students is the most rewarding part of his job. “That’s what it’s all about,” Wright said.

On the school’s website, Wright states, “West Side has a long tradition of academic excellence. I feel lucky to be the principal of West Side, and want to continue that tradition. I look forward to building relationships with our staff, parents and most importantly the students of West Side.”

Dealing with personnel issues, according to Wright, is the most challenging aspect of his job. “We need to hire the best employees for these children,” he stated. Wright looks for experience in

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prospective teachers. “Even somebody who is fresh out of college, I want to see that they have gotten a lot of experience during their training,” he said. Along with the experience, passion, gifts and personality are also important, he said.

Evaluating the teachers is among Wright’s responsibilities. Depending on the teacher’s level, he or she may receive one to four evaluations annually.

“I’m in charge of finding substitutes, signing off on the payrolls, approving days off, sick days, professional days, those kinds of things,” Wright said.

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West Side students get a lesson in how to construct rockets from Principal John Wright.

Providing discipline for students is another of Wright’s responsibilities. The school’s discipline program is called “The Wildcat Way.” Wright says the school really likes to “focus on positive reinforcements first,” followed by the discipline if necessary. “If students have no discipline referrals for the nine weeks, they will get to attend a reward day for good behavior. They also can earn ‘Paw Points’ which can be spent at the Wild Cat Store. Classes can earn class ‘Paw Points,’ which they can earn free lunches outside on the playground. This is what we try to focus on more than the punishment side. This is probably one of the reasons we have such low discipline issues.”

A boot camp is held at the

Students at West Side Elementary react to a small rocket blasting into the air. The students are a part of a new Rocket Club at West Side that is led by Principal John Wright.

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West Side Elementary Principal John Wright sets up a rocket.

beginning of the year to try to get the students to understand all the rules, according to Wright. “We have a counselor who re-enforces the rules,” remarked Wright, who says everyone should “be respectful, be responsible, be safe and be learners.” The counselor teaches classes dealing with social issues.

Wright mentioned the school’s “all abilities” playground. “We wanted to our students who do have disabilities to interact with students who do not have disabilities,” he said. “That’s been a really positive thing.”

The Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) is very important to school life at West Side, according to Wright. “My PTO is very encouraging,” he said. “They have been tremendous. They have really enhanced the environment and the whole life of the school.

They’re so involved.”

Wright began serving as a math teacher at the school in 2005.

In 2010, he became an assistant principal at T.A. Dugger Jr. High School, working in that position for one year. From 2011-2013, Wright served as the principal of Elizabethton High School. Currently in his sixth year as the principal at West Side Elementary, Wright began his duties as principal in 2013.

“During my years as a teacher I taught science, social studies, but mostly 6th, 7th, and 8th grade maths,” Wright recalls on the school’s website. “While I was a teacher, I was the athletic

A rocket takes off at West Side Elementary.

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director, and I coached football, basketball, track, and cross country. Academically, I sponsored the math teams and Enrichment Club, as well as tutoring math and sponsoring the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). As an administrator I have not only tried to stay current with best practices, but with our ever-changing world.

“If you come to West Side, your child is going to read,” Wright said. “Our students are readers. I feel reading will help them in every aspect of life. We have high academic expectations. We want our students to be proficient in all academic areas, because we think all students can learn.”

A 1986 Elizabethton High School graduate, Wright earned a B.A. degree in Intercultural Studies from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Ill. He earned his M.Ed. degree from Milligan College and an Ed.S. (Educational Specialist) degree from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate.

Wright and his wife, Tammy, have one daughter, Sydney, a sophomore in media communications at East Tennessee State University. The Wrights’ son, Harrison, is a junior in ETSU’s nursing program.

For more information about West Side Elementary School, 1310 Burgie St., call 423-5478030.

West Side Elementary School Principal John Wright is pictured with teacher Tabitha Wandell and students Greyson Ensor, Memphis Ramsey, Atley Hunsinger, Raelyn Hughes and Noelle Shields Chambers.

West Side Elementary School featured “Happy Kindness Week 2019” earlier in the year. Pictured are Laura Blevins, Ginger Deloach, Tammy Markland and John Wright, principal.

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Here’s My Card!

39

Amy Banner has been teaching Spanish at Hampton High School for more than two decades. She said she does not use textbooks, instead using “context-based” communication, in which she will tell stories only in Spanish that use the words she wants her students to learn, no matter how crazy the translated sentence becomes.

Hampton High School teacher works to bring students together

F

Story & Photos by Andrew Wadovick

or the average high school student, prom is an almost mythi- goes far beyond mere coursework.

Banner is involved in many projects with the student body and the cal event, a rite of passage into early adulthood. Yet for may faculty, but one of the biggest is how the school handles prom every year. students, the cost of attending such an event, beyond the “Prom is often a rite of passage for our students,” Banner said. “We ticket prices alone, can often leave poorer communities in the dust. Some schools, however, do not want to leave a single child behind. want everyone to be able to come.”

Hampton High students get to go to the Meadowview Convention Amy Banner has been teaching at Hampton High School for roughly 22 years, bringing Spanish classes to high school students, but her work Center’s ballroom for their prom, an experience Banner said outstrips 40

“We have had kids who get to go for free,” Banner said. “Someone, every year, will find kids who have financial need and send them a card to help them pay for prom, graduation, whatever they need. You should see the kids’ faces.”

She said this emphasis on prom is more than just reinforcing media stereotypes of prom’s importance; it really is a crucial part of the school’s culture.

Prom takes place in the middle of May typically, and seniors graduate the following week.

“This is often the last time students can get together with classmates before they graduate,” Banner said.

In addition, Banner said participation in prom is based on

anything many of the kids have ever experienced, including a sit-down dinner right at the center before the dance.

For many students in the area, however, family income is low, so the $80-$100 price tag can be too much for some students.

As a result, Banner and other teachers host a variety of fundraisers to help pay for tickets.

“We typically do a yard sale in the first week of April,” she said.

“The gym will be full of everything imaginable.”

Fund-raisers like this and many others go towards paying for part or sometimes all of a student’s ticket cost.

attendance and behavior, meaning students who under-perform do not get to attend whatsoever.

“Prom is not a right; it is a privilege,” she said.

She said many students who are struggling keep themselves motivated by the promise of being able to go to prom at the end of it.

Banner said her work within Hampton High School is partly because of her dedication to the community. She graduated from this same high school.

“When I first came, some of my old teachers were coworkers, and I went to high school with some of the students’ parents,” Banner said. “There is a sense of community here.”

She said the prospect ended

up not being as weird as she might have thought it would be because of that sense of community.

As a teacher, Banner said she is never alone; coworkers band together to provide as best an experience for their students as possible.

“I know other people say it, too, but we care about our students here,” she said. “Teaching is more than just the classroom, and we try to help them out whenever we can. The kids notice that.”

She said the work she and her other teachers do for the students is instrumental to the quality of education they receive.

“We all really do work together here,” Banner said. That is why we are successful.”

Contributed Photo

In addition to her work with student events at the school, Banner has also spent some time leading the school’s yearbook team, working to showcase the school’s accomplishments throughout the year. The teaching position there has actually traded hands a number of times since she started doing it.

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Vera Peters (left) and Janet Meredith (right) are the current owners of the farm, the third generation from their family to live there. They said their home is filled with antiques that reflect the changing times that took place there over the years.

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Meredith Valley Farm shares community legacy Story & Photos by Andrew Wadovick

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eredith Valley Farm has stood in Elizabethton for decades, residing on a hill that has as much history as the community itself.

Current owners of the farm, Janet Meredith and Vera Peters, took over the farm after their brothers started the company in the ’90s. Originally, it really was just a farm, but that plan changed after a while.

“A family member asked if they could get married here,” Meredith said.

“My brother came up with the name and the logo,” Peters said. “Martin would let people get married here.”

After that, the business took off, providing members of the Carter County community a gathering place to celebrate the seasons of life.

The farm will host a variety of special events, including weddings, family reunions and other special events.

The main home features a variety of pieces that reflect how the times have changed over the years, and they said many residents look at these relics fondly.

“A lot of older people take a trip down memory lane when they come here,” Meredith said.

“You get to see the farm from other people’s eyes.”

The property currently 43

houses four cabins, each of them holding roughly six people. People come from all over to visit the establishment, including Memphis, Texas and even a group from Jamaica.

“Families who have outgrown their home tend to come here,” Peters said.

“They will often have Thanksgiving or other holidays here where there is room for them.”

The two of them said they did not originally envision becoming business partners. While Meredith does the bookkeeping, Peters “digs in the dirt,” yet neither of them said they dispute with each other over the business all that often.

“We have learned how to divvy the duties,” Meredith said.

The farm is still a farm, however, meaning the two women grow a variety of crops and livestock on the property, including sunflowers and other cattle.

They said the scenic vistas are so popular, photographers come and stay in the cabins all the time.

More than that, however, they said they see their work as continuing a family tradition. Peters’s mother for example, still lives on the farm, and the two women refer to her as the farm’s matriarch for all the work she still does.

“We are the third generation to live here,” Peters said. “We see this place as a legacy that lives on.”

This family tradition extends into the greater Carter County community as well, as members of different organizations are always lending a hand on the farm.

The farm currently has two other employees, and they are always looking for high school students who need a summer job to help them out.

“It is not just Janet and Vera,” Peters said. “It is all of us.”

In terms of outreach, the farm regularly partners with the Kiwanis Club students and with Second Harvest. They also partner with the other cabins in the area.

“It shows the community’s spirit,” Peters said. “We want to hold up the gifts of this area.”

Out of all the available cabins, Meredith said she enjoys the cabin on the river shed.

“It just radiates peace,” she said.

The farm grows a variety of crops and livestock in addition to hosting venues, including sunflowers and cattle. They said the farm’s legacy has withstood the test of time, providing a gathering place for people across the state so they can celebrate life whenever they can.

Meredith Valley Farm hosts a variety of public venues, including weddings, family reunions and other gatherings. They said many of these venues are weather-dependent, but they have hosted more than one wedding with umbrellas for everyone present.

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All in the family…

Fish Springs Marina proud of 70 years of family-owned service One doesn’t have to be around Thomas White, owner and operator of Fish Springs Marina, located at 191 Fish Springs Road in Hampton, to find out just how much it means to him to own the business that

Story & Photos by Ivan Sanders his son, Tom White, in 2001. has been kept in his family since “I am a third-generation owner Watauga Lake came into existence — my granddad and his family in 1949.

White’s grandfather, Ray White, had some property right here close to where TVA was going to put the was the original owner of the marina before giving the torch over to high-water mark,” said Thomas

Thomas White, the current owner of Fish Springs Marina, stands at the controls of one of his fleet of pontoon boats available to rent to the public.

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who took over from his father.

“When they moved the old house out of the river bottom, it was the largest building moved out.

“They re-established the old homestead and he and a partner

started the business. My granddad had the land and the other guy was a local neighbor here. They started the business together and the other guy was kind of hands off and kind of financed it.

“Eventually, my dad got through high school and when he came back from the Air Force in the ’50s he joined in and bought the other partner out,” continued White. “We have had a White here since the day the lake was opened.”

It took Thomas a little while to

discover that taking over the helm of the marina was what he wanted to pursue. He couldn’t be happier that he kept a White guiding the business into the future.

“I was gone for a long time for college and other jobs and graduate school and ended up back in Tennessee,” added White. “I worked here during high school in the summer, but I chose to do other things for a while and to get my education out of the way.

“By the time I decided I wanted

to run my own business, it looked a lot more promising than it had in the past especially when I knew I wanted to work for myself, so I ended up back here.”

The Whites have taken pride in the fact that the business is located just off the beaten path in a community that they are happy that their business has its name attached to.

“We are named for the community, so that makes us a part of it and certainly we like to be involved

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with community stuff as much as we can even though it is unincorporated here,” stated White. “We try to help the neighbors and do what we can if that ever arises.

“We do hire some local kids either out of Hampton or the Elk Mills, Little Milligan area. We do employ kids in the summer from this area. That has kind of been the tradition all along is if we are going to bring in kids in the summer, to bring in local kids. We are always looking to do that.”

What White tries to bring to those who stop by to take advantage of Fish Springs Marina is the feeling of family which is deeply important to White as the owner.

“We try to maintain a family atmosphere which is not always the case with other marinas,” White added. “We want to be a family establishment and be friendly to kids of all ages as well as all age groups.

“We think that’s special in focusing in on a family environment with things going on here.”

White is working to offer as many services as possible especially as the influx of tourists are beginning to pencil in Carter County and Watauga Lake as a place where they want to bring their families for a time of vacation and relaxation.

“It’s kind of gone from a one or two-man operation,” White stated.

“We have had dealerships in the past and as we grew dad dropped those in the ’90s and I picked those back up in the early 2000’s, so we are selling boats again and selling engines and that’s been big.

“Getting a service and repair going is another thing. We also have been renting pontoon boats now for 15 to 18 years. That is one

of the first things that I tackled was getting in the rental business which attracts tourists as we are trying to be tourist friendly.

“We are usually the first ones to have contact with some of the tourists as they pass through the marina looking for something to do,” White continued.

“We have gone from a buoy system in the old days to wooden open docks in the ’80s and ’90s to now our focus is on covered, steel-built slips which are sturdier so that’s a constant transition. Improving the buildings and facilities have probably been the biggest challenges we’ve had as well as getting the right vendors and suppliers for that kind of thing.

“I don’t have an exact number as it varies from year-to-year, but we have approximately 380 docking opportunities I think at our last official count. That’s house boats, covered slips and open docks for smaller boats.”

With all the changes being implemented by White, Fish Springs Marina continues to see continual growth over the years which has been a good problem for White to have to deal with as it has blessed the community as well.

“We try to put on a smile and handle as many people as we can,” White said when asked about the total number of people serviced by his marina. “We’ve gone from three or four employees in the summer time to eight part-time summer kids last year and added another one for the service department in the summer as well.

“I think that we employ up to 15 people versus previously the three or four we started with,” White went on to add. “So, the business has expanded in that aspect and we still see continual growth as more people move into the area and especially with the economy getting better, we have seen a lot more people come around.

“The area has also turned into a destination for vacationers and we see a whole lot more people coming into the area just here for a week or two. They are renting cabins around the lake and we kind of cater to those people.”

Upon entering the marina, one can easily find something for anyone who is looking to take advantage of what the lake has to offer its visitors as White tries to keep a good selection of items which can meet the average fisherman to boater’s

Boat operators can fuel their vessels up at the Fish Springs Marina fueling station.

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needs.

“We have a lot of boating supplies and marine-type supplies like life jackets and snacks,” said White when asked about his wears.

“Sportswear is a big sale for us.

“Unfortunately, we get less fishermen than we use to, but we like getting fishermen in. We sell a lot of Watauga Lake logo apparel and that kind of thing for tourists who pass through.

“We do cater to walleye fishermen and we usually keep a selection of lures for them and our real specialty is catering to the lake trout and rainbow trout trolls — if they are trolling for trout then we have the supplies for them so we have kept that up.

“We have less on the bass end as that is such a big market, it is hard to keep up with that,” White continued. “If I had a building about four times this big, I would deck it out with that kind of stuff, but I don’t have the space to do what we want to do which might give you a hint into what we may want to do in the future.

“We are looking to expand our building sometime in the future to offer more products.”

Fish Springs Marina also prides

itself in offering their customers the opportunity to get out on the lake and take a closer look at the beauty that rests within the coves and surrounding area that makes up the Watauga Lake.

“We have one of the fanciest rental boat fleets in all of East Tennessee,” said White with a wide smile. “We have a dozen pontoons and we will be adding a few more of those.

“We roll those through by selling the old ones and buying new ones. We are continually replacing those and that is how we attract the tourists to give them something to do on the lake. We also have a launch ramp that attracts the locals and people looking to bring their boat in,” White went on to add. “It’s an alternative to the public ramps.

There are security issues at the public ramps.

“We can’t guarantee that you won’t have problems, but we do a good job of making sure there aren’t as many problems. We have someone here at night watching the place. They aren’t security but they are night attendants. They are here to assist customers.”

White wanted to make sure that anyone looking to rent a pontoon for the summer realize that reservations for these boats fill up quickly and if anyone is interested, they need to make their reservations soon due to the shortness of the summer months for most families with students.

“We are starting reservations now as the Fourth of July is booking up already,” said White. “That’s a definite time of year that we have to book our pontoons as two weeks before and two weeks after they are booked quickly.

“One of the unfortunate things is that schools start so early in Tennessee which limits how far out people book in the summer.”

With 2019 being the 70th anniversary of Fish Springs Marina, White said there are several opportunities that are in the planning

to help celebrate his family’s three generations of owning the marina.

“It’s the 70th anniversary of the lake opening and us being opened,” White stated. “I know that we will have a boat sale late in the spring for an anniversary sale, and we have some other things that are unannounced right now that we will be talking about later. We hope to be able to share that pretty soon.”

White went on to say that the marina will be refocusing some of their advertising and offerings to generate more along the lines of boat and boat motor sales in 2019.

“We are really pushing boat sales this year,” added White. “If you see our ads on television, they are probably going to be geared more toward sales than storing boats this year.

“We have been with our current vendor, Tahoe Pontoon, for 15 years and with Yamaha outboard boat motors about the same time. We are the Tri-Cities’ exclusive Yamaha loose motor dealer. That means if you bring in your old boat you can get a new motor put on,” White continued. “We are the only dealer that can do that. Most everyone is Yamaha dealers, but with those package dealers you have to buy a boat to go along with an engine. A big chunk of our sales is repowering old boats.

“Boat engines go out faster than car engines. If you like your old boat, that gives you an option to get you a new engine and keep your boat.”

Fish Springs Marina is opened during the summer from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the weekends.

During the offseason, the marina is closed on Sundays throughout the winter. Saturday is a big day for the marina year round. More information can be obtained by calling 423-768-2336 or by visiting www.fishspringsmarina.com.

Boaters and fishermen can find a bevy of products to meet their needs during their visit to Watauga Lake and Fish Springs Marina.

As tourists come into Fish Springs Marina, they can be assured they can take back a piece of their Watauga Lake visit in the form of sportswear offered by the marina.

With close to 380 slips available to store boats, pontoons and house boats, Fish Springs Marina can meet a variety of a boat owner’s needs for storage from covered slips to open slips.

In celebrating their 70 years of service to the community, Fish Springs Marina is looking to enhance opportunities to sell boats and Yamaha boat motors to the public in 2019.

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Sossner Steel Stamp manufactures marking tools for products nationwide

James Eggers opens a molten salt furnace, to check on steel ingots that are being tempered to use as dyes for marking tools.

Story & Photos by Larry N. Souders tools to identify a company’s products. What does ossner Steel Stamps has been in busithat mean? On the top of a lid, Anheuser Busch, ness since 1910 and was organized by with an all metal container, or other can compaA.J. Sossner. The company was under original management until 1955, when nies. It says things like, dispose of properly, five cent, ten cent refund, so we manufacture the tool. illness caused A.J. to retire. The company was We have engineers that design the tool or we make bought by Jerry Friedman in 1955 and remained it off the plate, so we make the stamp that marks under his management until his retirement in the top of the can or a soda lid. We just manu1991. Sossner was acquired in 1991 by current facture the stamp and sell it to Anheuser Busch, company president Neil Friedman after Jerry’s Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and they do (their own) the retirement and remains under his management. stamping. We don’t do any stamping. We design Sossner President Neil Friedman explains, the tool, we make the tool for them to print. ” “What Sossner does is we manufacture marking

S

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In earlier times, all engraving was done by hand, then on two-dimensional machines, then three-dimensional pantographs.

Today, Sossner’s ultra-modern, 47,000 square foot facility ensures the best in quality engineered marking products. This facility is equipped with “state-of-theart” CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machining, computer controlled engraving and automated EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining) equipment.

Friedman continued, “Sossner

is a very diversified company, a strong company for one reason, we’re so diversified it’s not funny.

The post that goes through your ear that says 10k or 14k — that’s our stamp on it. A Marlboro cigarette, the logo that says Marlboro on it, we make that stamp. We make stamps for Phillip Morrow, RJ Reynolds, Lorillard Tobacco.

Every piece of plumbing in your house has a name on it or a number — a Master Lock, a Yale Lock. Look at the hinges on your door; we make those stamps. Bearing, ball bearings, used by General Motors in cars. There are stamps on everything. Our average order is $500. I’m not saying we don’t get larger orders, that’s just our average. We’ve just taken an order from a very large gun manufacturer, I can’t release the name just yet, for over $135,000. They just announced they are opening a new facility in Alabama and they have to gear up that new facility and that is not a normal order.”

Ongoing improvements and upgrades are the norm at Sossner. It’s the only way to bring the very best in quality customer care and of course the prompt delivery you’ve come to expect from Sossner.

“We have over 5000 customers and they are ordering every 30 to 60 days. This is our only facility.

There was a factory in Asheville, N.C., but it closed and we moved everything here in 1989. There are over 125 different steel stamp companies in the country and this business is more competitive than McDonald’s vs. Burger King.

Unfortunately, nobody takes care of you the way you take care of you. People like our reputation and our quality.”

Sossner takes pride in the manufacture of superior quality, precision engineered marking and decoration stamps. Their 109 years of proud tradition and expertise go into the processing, engineering, engraving and heat-

Sherman Tolley works on grinding the finish on a tool dye.

Matthew Miller works on one of the many different lathes at Sossner, turning a circular tool dye.

Matthew Miller shows one of the dyes tool bases he’s manufactured at Sossner. On the lathe he operates he has started the square base to make the circular top that will host the dye.

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perhe tem t o d o t t is ratures ifer, tha t tempe icknamed Luc n e r fe if nace, n quire d terials. etals re pens a kiln fur h of ma c m t t a n b e r w Diffe re he o for a ne cess. He ure it’s ready ing pro s to make heated

A finish e Steel To d circular roll in ols in E lizabeth g tool marke r create ton. d at So ssner An auto mated c utter carv number es s and letters in a metal to tool marker.

-

schis s on the it s s e t t are lboro cig /RJ Reynolds. n for Mar o r t e s k in r a r for W tool m l e a k t r e a m m of ed A finish he same type rt fo s ic t ma

letters ers and b m u n es er carv ed cutt t a m o t An au er. ol mark metal to

treating of your order. You get more impressions with Sossner’s marking stamps because of their unique TRUE-SHARP® hardening process. Additionally, Sossner marking stamps feature superior cutting, wear resistant edges and

into a

outstanding toughness for longer together for just one purpose — to serve their customers! This is life. Sossner stocks 17 different their only goal. You should have alloy steels to assure you of the correct marking tool for your job. the best in engineered marking tools at a fair price, and when They have tried, and sucyou need them. ceeded, in bringing 109 years of For more information on experience, effort and expertise 52

A samp le of the m any differen t tool pla tes created at Sossner Steel Stamps.

Sossner Steel Stamps or if you are interested in their marking products, call 1-800-828-9515, or visit their website, www.sossnerstamps.com and talk with the people who know marking — SOSSNER.

Here’s My Card!

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Tri-City Plating restores the gleam on classic bumpers Story & Photos by Larry N. Souders and regional service to body shops through the next two decades. As ri-City Plating Company, now located at 218 E. Mill Street automakers replaced chrome bumpers with rubber covers, Chuck turned in Elizabethton, was founded in 1967 by C.R. Curt Campthe operation’s focus and adjusted the process to better meet the needs bell and Clarence “Shorty” Carrier. The shop originated on of classic car enthusiasts. With Chuck Carrier as owner and his son Chip Railroad Street where the depot use to be before moving to involved in the daily operations, Tri-City Plating Co. has served the clasthe current location around 1970. They had been co-workers at a local sic car restoration community for three generations with honesty and factory and decided to venture out on their own. The plating process integrity. Today their services is to classic car restorers worldwide. Thanks intrigued them and the need for bumpers to be straightened and reto the internet, bumpers are now shipped in via UPS or other delivery chromed was evident. They began by running local and regional truck companies or they will pick them up at car shows since they no longer routes to body shops as a weekly service. Their routes included body have their regional truck routes. shops in East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, lower West Virginia and With a crew of 18 technicians in shop now, Carrier said they are conWestern North Carolina. stantly looking to hire new personnel to keep up with demand. “We keep In 1977, Shorty passed away and his son Clarence Jr. “Chuck” our applications wanted out all the time. This is hard work, dirty work, worked to become Campbell’s new partner. They continued the local

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Jessie Combs, who has been at Tri-City Plating for a month, uses a cleaning compound on a bumper to prepare it for the plating process.

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Benji Hensley uses a grinder to smooth out rough areas on a bumper.

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and it’s a struggle to get people to come in here and do the work. We look for people who have had auto shop class in high school or who love to work on cars. I’m looking for someone to come in here and take my place in the plating process and train them to do that process.”

According to the company’s website, “We’ve polished our methods over 50 years of service to create a business that is committed to quality, maintaining a large bumper core inventory, and a solid reputation. We stand behind our work with our word, and our warranty.

“Our main goal at Tri-City Plating is to provide quality rechromed bumpers to classic car enthusiasts and restoration shops.

We also provide re-chroming services on steel and brass substrates such as trim moldings and grills.”

Tri-City Plating offers an extensive collection of factory original bumper cores for vintage and

Owner Clarence “Chuck” Carrier Jr. demonstrates the copper plating process used on some of the bumpers to fill in repaired areas.This is done chemically to achieve the best surface possible for re-plating.

Once fitment is verified, the bumper is nickel plated and polished.

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classic cars. From as early as the 1930’s through the 1980’s, they have OE (original equipment) bumper cores for most makes.

Chevy, Buick, Olds, Pontiac, Cadillac, Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Chrysler, Plymouth, Dodge, American Motors, Studebaker, and others are available. With thousands of antique bumper cores to choose from, they may be able to replace a heavily damaged or missing bumper. Purchasing a bumper core from their collection and having them re-chrome it, removes the risk of buying “unrepairable” cores from other vendors. This will save you time and money. Contact them first when searching for a replacement bumper for your classic auto.

If you’re looking to have your parts re-chromed, simply send them your parts with your contact information. Make sure all hardware has been removed, parts disassembled, and paint stripped to avoid extra fees. The

Just a few of the hundreds of classic car bumpers waiting to be restored and have their chrome returned to their original finish at Tri-City Plating.

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turnaround time varies throughout the year, however 4-6 weeks is typical. They do not chrome wheels, pot metal, or aluminum but will polish stainless steel trim.

Before the rechroming process can begin, the bumper will undergo a quick visual inspection. This alerts them to any issues in the bumper that they need to be aware of during the rechroming process. Then, there are several steps they take to ensure their customers are completely satisfied with their services: The bumper is sandblasted on the back and inspected to see if there is sufficient metal to endure the rechroming process. Once the bumper passes inspection it is then sent to be straightened.

Their experienced professionals remove all the dents and take out any other tweaks or irregularities. They then nickel strip the bumper. This is done chemically to achieve the best surface possible for re-plating. From there they go to grinding, this to even out any high spots and to ensure they have an ideal surface for plating. Next, they high speed polish the bumper to completely smooth out any grind marks. This concludes the surface prep for the bumper. If necessary or requested, they will copper plate and buff the bumper to fill repaired areas. Once fitment is verified, the bumper is nickel plated and polished. Finally, the bumper is nickel plated and then chrome plated. Once the entire process is completed the bumpers are shipped back to either the customer or the body shop that the customer’s car is being restored at.

For more information you can go to their website, wwww.tricityplating.com, call Tri-City Plating at 423-542-6532, or send an email to chip@tcplating.com

Trevor Moya works on buffing out any blemishes on a bumper.

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Tri-City Plating offers an extensive collection of factory original bumper cores for vintage and classic cars. From as early as the 1930’s through the 1980’s, they have OE (original equipment) bumper cores for most makes. Chevy, Buick, Olds, Pontiac, Cadillac, Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Chrysler, Plymouth, Dodge, American Motors, Studebaker, and others are available.

Owner Clarence “Chuck” Carrier Jr. does a final rinse to a bumper that has just finished the re-plating process at Tri-City Plating.

elizabethton.com

Kenneth Byrd uses a hand grinder to work on the small and curved area of a bumper.

Owner Clarence “Chuck” Carrier Jr. pulls a bumper from a cleaning solution that is part of the plating process at Tri-City Plating.

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Using a spline roller a RiteScreen employee rolls in the spline into the groove of a door screen frame to hold the mesh wire in place.

RiteScreen — Your total screen solution Story & Photos by Larry N. Souders he RiteScreen Company was established in 1947. RiteScreen couple more of them on board.”

RiteScreen’s industry-leading expertise is driven by world-class began manufacturing insect screens in an airplane hangar. design and innovation. Their variety of custom-built premium window Like most companies they planted their roots as a small screens are a testament to their commitment to performance and qualbusiness. With passion, heart and hard work the RiteScreen ity. Screens are available in a number of shapes, colors, and hardware Company has grown to be the largest stand-alone screen manufacturer options to suit your company’s requirements. Their assembled window in the United States. Fast forward to present day, with seven plants screens are manufactured to fit your needs and allow them to put tothroughout the country, they are 100% loyal to their customers and are gether a program that frees up your people all while saving you money. proud to offer American Made products.

Gott spoke about what they did here in the Elizabethton location Plant manager William “BJ” Gott, who came to Elizabethton just saying, “Here in our facility we roll form, we take raw metal coils and we eight weeks ago from the Atlanta area said, “RiteScreen has been in Elizabethton about 25 years and we currently employ about 75 workers. roll from our window and screen metal door frames. We optimize that We started the year at 60 so we’ve got some growth. We have some more product out on the floor. We are reducing waste, recycling and reducing landfill type stuff. We cut to length, and then we deliver it to the differgrowth plans for the end of the year and into next year, bringing on ent cells that we are making. We do custom to stock type stuff, so a lot costumers. Due to expectations we hope to have 100 people here by the of our customers make their own screens and we supplement their own end of the year. We are a one-shift operation right now. We have seven locations, and service the window and door screen industry nationally.” manufacturing that they do, at wherever they’re located. So we do a lot of common sized stock in the window industry. You have common sizes Gott continued, “We service some of the major (window) providers that go into homes and commercial structures, and a lot of our customout there — Pella, Anderson, Ply-Gem — and we’re trying to get a

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An employee inspects railing that has just been cut at the end of the extruding process.

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ers not only service residential, but also your multi-family and your light industrial. Some are even into your heavy industrial stuff.”

Nationally, RiteScreen is 100 percent dedicated to the screen business, producing more than 200,000 window screens and 32,000 door screens each week.

Gott said, “So it’s a simple process. What we do here is not hard work, but it’s repetitive work, it’s piecemeal type manufacturing and we’ve got very good folks here. So what we’ve got going on here in the eight weeks since I arrived is we’ve hired just over a dozen people. It is manufacturing — it is for some people, it’s not for others. You know, we bring in folks, and they give it a shot.”

RiteScreen is committed to continued improvement of all aspects of their business, utilizing weekly kaizen tools and 6 sigma metrics to develop and sustain improvement. Implementing these initiatives has changed their culture and they welcome their customers’ participation in their kaizen events. (Kaizen is an approach to creating continuous improvement based on the idea that small, ongoing positive changes can reap major improvements. Typically, it is based on cooperation and commitment and stands in contrast to approaches that use radical changes or top-down edicts to achieve transformation.)

RiteScreen offers custom-engineered packaging options, house packs labeled specifically for your customer or sequence delivery of screens “ready for the line.” Your screens will be delivered from one of their seven strategically-located manufacturing facilities to ensure on-time delivery.

RiteScreen is a technology driven Frontier enterprise resource planning system that allows for fast, accurate electronic ordering, seamless flow into manufacturing, and rapid delivery of products. They’re confident that you’ll value their services as a way to find your best screen solutions. As you identify a need, RiteScreen becomes involved early in the process to ensure no opportunity for product improvement is wasted.

You can find RiteScreen products in home improvement stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot or Ace Hardware. You can find more information by calling locally at 423-547-1000 or by visiting their website, www. ritescreen.com.

RiteScreen plant manager William “BJ” Gott shows some of the many different frame types his company uses to make door and window screens.

Once a door or window is completed workers wrap the finished product for shipping.

Using a spline roller a RiteScreen employee rolls in the spline into the groove of a window screen frame to hold the wire mesh in place.

Working in a double hung cell station there are three people working to construct the screen. They are the builder, the screener and a third person that drills the screen.

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T N I R P O T D U PRO THIS YEAR’S .

9 1 0 2 S S E R PROG

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Cloudland Jr. Lady Highlanders head coach Matt Birchfield gives out high-fives after the Jr. Lady ’Landers won the 2019 Class East Sectional Tournament at John Sevier Middle School.

Making History

A look at the coaches behind the successful Jr. Bulldogs, Jr. Lady Highlanders Story & Photos by Bryce Phillips tastes of success. ypically, behind every good team is a good coach Birchfield, before beginning his run as the girls’ and staff. middle school coach, coached 16 years at CloudThis season, the Hampton Jr. Bulldogs land High School over the Lady Highlanders. and the Cloudland Jr. Lady Highlanders put While as head coach at Cloudland High, BirchCarter County middle school basketball on the map as field led the Lady ’Landers to five state tournathey headed down to the Murfreesboro area to compete ment appearances in 2002, 2003, 2012, and 2013. in the first-ever TMSAA State Tournament. While there, Over the Jr. Lady Highlanders, Birchfield led the both teams battled to state runner-up status.

Jr. Lady Highlanders to a Class A East Sectional title For Hampton coach Dewayne Humphrey and Cloudin 2017. It was the second time in Cloudland history land coach Matt Birchfield, it wasn’t the two coaches’ first

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Hampton Jr. Bulldogs head coach Dewayne Humphrey leads his team from the sidelines during the 2019 TMSAA State Tournament in Murfreesboro.

that the Jr. Lady Highlanders had won a sectional title. And this year, the Jr. Lady Highlanders did it a third time as they claimed the 2019 East Sectional championship inside John Sevier High School with a lop-sided 3610 win over Baileyton. That win earned the Jr. Lady Highlanders a ticket to the state tournament.

For Humphrey, his run with the Jr. Bulldogs started back in 2006. In 2014, Humphrey led the Jr. Bulldogs to a sectional championship before Hampton picked up a barn-burner win over Sulphur Springs for the 2019 Class A East Sectional Championship. The win over Sulphur Springs would lead to Hampton qualifying for the state tournament where they rolled to

a championship appearance.

“One thing you always knew was that our kids were going to play hard,” said Humphrey about the 2018-19 Jr. Bulldogs.

“You always knew somebody was going to step up. Those kids didn’t care. Whoever was hot was going to get the ball, whether it was the point guard or the center.

“It was a unique year in that I not one time had a kid tell me they needed the ball more,” added Humphrey.

Coach Humphrey, who is also an assistant coach on the Bulldogs high school team, said that success at the middle school level and going to state should Hampton Elementary assistant coach Joy Gardener celebrates with transfer over to prep-ball level. the Jr. Bulldogs after their big TMSAA State Semifinal win.

“I’m am hoping down the 65

Cloudland Jr. Lady Highlanders coach Matt Birchfield coaches the girls before they take to the floor during the TMSAA State Tournament.

Jr. Lady Highlanders assistant coach Sam Potter cheers on the players during this year’s state tournament.

road that we will see these players in substate games, and there won’t be any shock since they have done something like it before,” said Humphrey. “It will be something that we are accustomed to.”

Behind every coach is typically a group of dedicated assistant coaches. At Cloudland, Coach Birchfield has Sam Potter and at Hampton, Humphrey has Joy Gardner, Robbie Fritts, and Ricky Burchett.

“They all bring something different to the table,” said Humphrey.

“I have three sets of eyes watching the floor at all times. They help me make adjustments.”

The 2018-19 Jr. Bulldogs were made up of Cadon Buckles, Brody Hicks, Dylan Trivett, Jonathan Greenwell, Austin Bentley, Levi Lyons, Hayden Campbell, Mason Wilson, Dalton Nave, Luke Anspaugh, Geno Carrico, Michael Anspaugh, Ty McElyea, Chance Point, and J.J. McElyea.

The 2018-19 Jr. Lady Highlanders are Kendall Birchfield, Ella Benfield, Katie Baldwin, Saharra McKinney, Ryan Turbyfill, Kaylee Hughes, Bethany Sluder, Hannah Morgan, Beth Clawson, Melena Roberson, Kenlee Blevins, Mia Clarke, Izabella Christman, and Kaitlyn Harrison.

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New Building Same Commitment to You

For 80 years, we’ve had the honor of being part of the lives of our customers and this amazing community. Built on a strong foundation of local ownership, this new facility is an investment in a better banking experience for our customers, while staying true to our community roots.

Inside, you’ll experience a redesigned modern lobby; while outside, a new drive thru features extended hours with personal assistance available Monday through Saturday, 7am to 7pm. With DRIVE THRU plus, you can touch the screen of the Interactive Teller Machine and a Carter County Bank teller will help you make a deposit, loan payment, cash a check, withdraw cash, get help with online banking, help with lost or stolen debit cards, and much more.

Come by and see us—we can’t wait to show you around.

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I need care, but where?

We’ve got you covered.

Emergency and urgent care services at Ballad Health are close by and ready to serve you for the unexpected times in your life.

For non-emergent medical problems, call your primary care provider first.

Visit balladhealth.org for a list of emergency room, urgent care and primary care locations.

Urgent care clinic Quickly No appointment needed. Open extended hours and weekends.

• Fevers that respond to fever-reducing medications • Flu • Migraines

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Minor broken bones Minor cuts and burns Sinus infection Sore throat, cough, congestion

• Sprains and strains • Rashes • Urinary symptoms

Hospital emergency room Now Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for serious or life-threatening problems.

• Any condition that you believe is life, limb or vision threatening • Chest pain • Coughing or vomiting blood

• Deep cuts or bleeding that won’t stop • Difficulty breathing • Severe abdominal pain • Severe burns • Seizures

• Sudden dizziness, weakness or loss of coordination or balance • Sudden loss of vision • Sudden, new numbness in the face, arm or leg

If you are experiencing life or limb threatening symptoms, don’t wait, call 9-1-1 or go to your nearest hospital emergency room.

Official healthcare and trauma provider of Bristol Motor Speedway

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