Mountain City, Tennessee 3768375 centsWednesday, July 24, 2019 Vol. 145 No. 30

THE TOMAHAWKwww.thetomahawk.com

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By Tamas MondovicsEDITOR

To get an update on current press-ing issues, a large crowd turned up to welcome Tennessee Governor Bill Lee during an informal visit to Mountain City early last week.

Lee’s visit to town came on the heels of a stop at ETSU Quillen

College of Medicine in Mountain Home, TN earlier in the day when he announced the creation of a new Center for Rural Health Research.

The public event was held at the Johnson County Welcome Center, 716 South Shady Street in Mountain City, TN.

“I am honored to serve you, and work on making changes to improve

the lives of the people in Tennes-see,” Lee began his presentation as he took a considerable time to address some of the topics he called “close to my heart.”

Topics like health care, rural broadband, education and yes, stressing the importance of faith-based community involvement.

But things got interesting during

the question and answer portion of the event, when the issues Lee’s audience was really concerned with took center stage.

The first of such topic came in the form of an emotional plea by local resident and mom, Sally Snyder, about the need for some assistance with affordable daycare for working

Lee gets an earful during stop in Mountain City

423-928-1901 423-929-9101 2340 Knob Creek Rd., Johnson City, TN

We help you hear what you’ve been missing.

We Honor Our Local Heroes In This Week’s Edition

A SALUTE TO FIRST RESPONDERSA SALUTE TO FIRST RESPONDERS

Beginning on Page B-1

The Johnson County Community Theatre presents:

Heritage Hall Theatre heritagehalltheatre.org | (423) 727-7444

July 26 at 7 pmJuly 27 at 3 pm

Mom’s Gift

Mature Content

Meet the Locals ................ A2Education .......................... A2Health/Agriculture ............. A3Court Reports .................... A4Community Calendar ........ A4Faith .................................. A5

Sports ................................ A6Obituaries .......................... A7From Page One ............... A8First Responders ..B1,3,6,7,8Service Directory ............... B2Classifieds ...................... B4,5

INSIDE:

By Meg DickensSTAFF WRITER

Most locals know Cristy Dunn. The former Johnson County High School art teacher is now the John-son County Center for the Arts Ex-ecutive Director and uses art to give back to the community. Dunn an-nounced exciting news on Sunday, July 21. Her painting “The Fiddle

Artist Cristy Dunn presents her award-winning painting

“The Fiddle Maker II.” Its Predecessor, “The Fiddle

Maker,” is visible behind her. Submitted photo.

Dunn accepted to IGOR exhibition

By Tamas MondovicsEDITOR

State Senator Jon Lundberg (R-Bristol) announced today that nine organizations in Sullivan County and one in Johnson County will receive a combined $132,625 in grants from the Tennessee Arts Commission.

According to Lundberg’s office, the grants are distributed by the Tennessee Arts Commission after being recommended by an expert citizen advisory panel and awarded by the full 15-member commission.

A recent release stated that the non-profit organizations benefitting from the grants include the Arts Al-liance Mountain Empire, Birthplace of Country Music, Bristol Concert Ballet Company, City of Kingsport Office of Cultural Arts, Johnson County Arts Council, Kingsport Ballet, Kingsport Theatre Guild, Paramount Foundation, Symphony of the Mountains, and Theatre Bristol.

The Johnson County Arts Coun-cil received two grants, one for $7,550 and another for $8,370.

“This is tremendous news,” said Lundberg. “This investment in arts and culture offers all of us an enhanced quality of life, provides children with a more complete education, stimulates economic de-velopment, and helps attract tourists to our communities. I congratulate all of these organizations.”

Lundberg said this is the first series of grants that will be made throughout the 2020 fiscal year. The Commission will award over 1,000 community grants through the 2010-2020 fiscal year, totaling $6.5 million.

“Tennessee is fortunate to have

Senator announces $132,625 in art

grants for Johnson, Sullivan Counties

By Beth CoxFREELANCE WRITER

On a hot and humid Saturday afternoon at the Johnson County Chamber Park, cars were lining up to attend the Johnson County Truck and Tractor Pull. It has been over fifteen years since the last tractor pull, so the excitement was

definitely in the air as people started finding a good spot to see all the action.

The spectators had put up tents, brought out the lawn chairs, and backed their trucks in to be ready for the next several hours as they watched every class of truck and tractors pull the weighted sled the farthest.

The Johnson County Chamber of Commerce

has spent several months organizing this hugely popular event. Chamber President and orga-nizer, Gina Meade started planning for the event around November. She looked online and got the contact information for the Carolina Truck and Tractor Pullers.

“I want to thank all our sponsors,” said

Truck and Tractor Pull draws massive crowd

Smoke billowing from a truck, accompanied by the roar of the engine fills the air, while spectators watch the action during the John-son County Truck and Tractor Pull, last Saturday, at the Johnson County Chamber Park just west of Mountain City TN. The event’s

success prompted organizers to promise the annual return of the much-welcomed spectacle. Photo By Beth Cox.

See Dunn Page A8

See Grants Page A8

See Lee Page A8

By Tamas MondovicsEDITOR

“Mom’s Gift,” written by Phil Olsen and performed by Johnson County Community Theatre opened to rave reviews last weekend at Heritage Hall in Mountain City, TN.

According to theater officials, patrons were amazed at the profes-sional set and the local actors’ ability to make them laugh and cry.

“All were surprised at the ending of the play,” said Johnson County Community Theater Director Kath-leen Henderson. “Many said it was one of the best productions JCCT

had ever done.”Mom’s Gift was first produced at

the Lonny Chapman Group Reper-tory Theatre in Los Angeles, Cali-fornia, in December 2013 directed by Sherry Netherland.

In the comedy with a heart, Mom has been dead for 11 months and shows up at her husband’s birthday party as a ghost with a mission. Like Clarence in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” she has to accomplish a task to earn her wings. Only what the task actu-ally is, is a mystery.

The plot prompts the need for so many things to fix as one by one the family’s secrets are pecked away, revealing a shocking truth that sur-prise even the ghost.

A few reviews put things in per-spective.

“If you love the comedy, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ this modern vari-ant by playwright Phil Olson is just for you.” - Not Born Yesterday

“Time rarely moves so fast on stage as in ‘Mom’s Gift.’ The rapid-fire succession of uproari-ous one-liners and poignant family revelations brings the audience to

the completely unexpected surprise ending in what seems like a flash.” - Norwegian American Weekly

Heritage Hall welcomes Mom’s Gift

Trish (Cheri Jo Potter) and Mom (Judy Walsh) react to Dad’s (Ray Branch) marriage proposal, and Kat (Lydia Nicholson) looks on. Not pictured are cast members Justine Atwood, Andy Watts, and

Judy McGuire. Submitted photo.

See Gift Page A8

See Tractor Pull Page A6