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Mountain City, Tennessee 37683Your Community Newspaper, Established 1874 75 centsVol. 147 No. 12

www.thetomahawk.com

THE TOMAHAWKWednesday, March 24, 2021

Community Calendar ......A2Inside News .....................A3Public Safety ...................A4Feature ............................A5Service Directory ..........A4,5From Page One ..............A6

Sports ...........................B1,3Clissifieds ........................B2Obituaries ........................B3Faith ................................B5Accent .............................B6

INSIDE:

By Meg DickensSTAFF WRITER

Following a Solid Waste Com-mittee meeting with County Mayor Mike Taylor and assorted officials last week, and to help combat its littering issue, John-son County promises to put the community’s thoughts and the county’s new ideas to use.

Many around Johnson County have been discussing the blight and litter problem that seems to have increased within the last few months. Small groups and individuals have been taking it upon themselves to do mini clean-ups but express frustration when the areas are covered in litter almost as soon as they are cleaned.

“I think we had a pretty pro-ductive meeting,” said Taylor. “It was clearly established that we have a litter issue in our com-

County commits to clean-up efforts

Spring, Sweet Spring is here

UPDATE:

AN ENCORE EDITION

COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

By Tamas MondovicsEDITOR

Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) TCAT has been steadily growing and changing and adding new programs for students in Mountain City.

Overseen by Johnson County Schools’ Career and Technical Education (CTE) Supervisor Herbie Adams, its diesel program is getting the needed support.

Kathy Pierce, Executive Direc-tor of Alliance for Business and Training, said the local workforce development board and the Alliance for Business and Training provided the funds to purchase hand tools through a partnership with TCAT Elizabethton.

TCAT’s local diesel program gets continued

support

By Tamas MondovicsEDITOR

A former full-time employee of The Tomahawk Newspaper and friend Jack Swift recently cel-ebrated his 83rd Birthday joined by friends and relatives.

The special event, which featured a cake made by Chris Roberts and highlighted Jack’s life and news-paper career, was held at Farmer’s Barbeque and Grill.

Jack retired after 30 years work-ing in the newsroom in 2003. He grew up in Johnson County. His

Local Newsman celebrates 83rd Birthday

By Meg DickensSTAFF WRITER

Johnson County is one of many areas making steps towards im-proved broadband services. Ap-proximately a month ago, county officials announced $1.2 million in government funding to expand high-speed internet capabilities.

Now the county is investing $10,000 from extra COVID-19 funding to help expand fiber optics through SkyBest, which recently expanded through Sutherland with reported success.

According to County Mayor Mike Taylor, SkyBest went door-to-door surveying locals on internet needs. Through this, officials selected

around seven areas for expansion at this point, including all of Airport Road (minus the actual airport), Crackers Neck Road (addresses through 1000), Noah Snyder Road (addresses through 663), all of Old Noah Snyder Road, Cabbage Patch Lane (addresses through 239), Roan Creek Road (addresses from 1995 through 3124), and all of Mining

Town Road. “All of these areas we get, they’re

just going to help us get more,” commented Taylor. “Broadband is a big need in lots of counties, not just ours. We’re moving in the right direction a little bit at a time.”

Taylor reports that support from the chosen areas would likely make

Expanding broadband in Johnson County

Members of Girl Scout Troop 1000 of Mountain City, Ezra Newman, 6, Caroline Thompson, 9, Kayleigh Thompson, 12, and Anslee Danner, 7, smile at the camera while selling their stock of eight different kinds of cookies last Saturday at Food Country in the heart

of Mountain City. The girls enjoyed the work, well-supported by the community. Proceeds from the cookie sales and donations to the troop will be used for trips, camping, and supporting local veterans. Following the cookie sales, Troop 1000 also participated in tree

panting at Ralph Stout Park. Please see story on A3. Photo By Tamas Mondovics

Football has already begun. It seems to have just slipped up on me. After all, baseball is still in full swing. So now, there are two major sports to be entertained by and others as well. As

baseball winds up to the ultimate destiny of the World Series, foot-ball will be on its way to the Super Bowl in professional football and conference championships in college and high school play.

As a youngster, I followed the exploits of The Tennessee Volun-teers on our Philco table model radio. Television would be far in the future. Before I owned a football, the neighborhood kids and I played with a cylinder-shaped oatmeal can. I don’t remember when I got my first real football, but I know I was a happy kid. The era of Volunteer Football I enjoyed most was when such stars as Hank Lauricella, Johnny Majors, George Cafego, and others were going strong at UT.

After serving in the army, I worked at a number of jobs. But, in 1973, I found myself working at The Tomahawk Newspaper, a weekly paper with a long and interesting history. The paper was owned and operated by Derl McCloud and his late wife, Gladys. Over the years, the paper was sold a couple of times. I covered sports as well as a few other tasks around the newspaper. Before long, I was named Sports Editor and began a 30-year career in that field at The Tomahawk.

I guess the fans got used to seeing me run up and down the sidelines taking notes and snapping pictures of the action in football. I also covered basketball, golf, tennis, and baseball. Those were the

G Accent G

Artist Profile and dandelion tea … see page B6

See Broadband Page A6

See Clean-up Page A6

By Meg DickensSTAFF WRITER

Johnson County has had a lot of firsts in the last few years. That includes new types of businesses popping up in the area. Now one of Mountain City’s more recent residents is about to join the trend.

Courtney Anders-en is in the process of opening a pedi-atric therapy clinic locally. Mountain City Pediatr ic Therapy’s grand opening is on Thursday, March 25.

“When my hus-band and our fam-

ily moved to Mountain City two years ago, I quickly noticed the significant lack of pediatric ser-vices,” Andersen explained when announcing her new business ven-ture. “At the time I was focused on helping my husband grow his dental practice, but now I’m deter-

Pediatric therapy service opening in

Mountain City

See Pediatrics Page A6

See TCAT Page A6

A new feature on Wildflowers; how to recognize them, where to find them. Sports & Rec.…see page 1B.

Wildflower Watch

Mona Alderson

Andersen

By Jack SwiftJohnson County Historian

This ‘n’ That

My Time as Sports Editor at The Tomahawk

See This “n” That Page A6

Former Tomahawk reporter and Johnson County historian Jack

Swift recently celebrated his 83rd Birthday. File photo.

parents, Carrie Emoline Harper and Isaac Alan Swift were also born in Mountain City. Jack’s brother, Ray, passed away in 1990.

An earlier article written by for-mer Tomahawk employee Paula Walter reflects on Jack’s success as a sports reporter who later moved on writing his weekly column This ‘n’ That, for everyone’s enjoyment.

“I did all aspects of circulation,” Jack said.

Jack was a true newsman and worked with circulation and selling advertising, making ads, and help-ing layout the paper.

“I’d like to express my gratitude to the McClouds for giving me the opportunity to work at The Tomahawk,” he said. “All this is memory, “he said. “Sometimes the memory is good; sometimes it’s not so good.”

It wasn’t long after his retirement that Jack, also a Johnson County’s historian, started his column This ‘n’ That, for the paper. “I started writing the column the last day of 2003,” he said.

Although Jack enjoyed reporting on sports, his This ‘n’ That column continues to be his favorite writing for the paper.

Below is just one of such pieces that many have enjoyed and no doubt will enjoy reading again.

Thanks for all your hard work, Jack, and for being a True News-paperman.