Community
Town administrator tackles new challenge, reaches 11,250-ft. peak of Mount Hood
July 18, 2019 by Tammy Cheek
Rotary Club of Farragut past president David Smoak serves Town of Farragut as its administrator — but when he’s off duty, he reaches new heights.
“If you ever have a dream, go ahead and do it,” he advised fellow Rotarians during their meeting in Fox Den Country Club Wednesday, July 10, when he shared his experiences of climbing Mount Hood, the highest peak in Oregon.
Smoak climbed the 11,250-foot peak May 15 with friend, Brett Huebner.
“It was just amazing,” he recalled. “It was an amazing view and just a fun day. It was a great sense of accomplishment to reach the summit.”
Smoak, Huebner and a guide started the climb from 6,000 feet at the base of the mountain at 1:30 a.m. and reached the summit at 5:35 a.m., just as the sun was rising.
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July 18, 2019 by Alan Sloan
Town of Farragut and Shop Farragut presented the inaugural MUSICFEST at West End presented by SouthEast Bank Friday and Saturday, July 12-13. Farragut merchants and local vendors moved outside from their homes in West End Center to its parking lot to showcase their products and services to crowds, who also enjoyed the performances of more than two dozen musicians playing Country (July 12) and Blues (July 13). Various games and plenty of refreshments also highlighted both evenings.
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July 18, 2019 by Tammy Cheek
Football season is in the horizon, so Farragut West Knox Chamber of Commerce is warming up the community with its upcoming Breakfast Speaker Series.
“Our 2019 Breakfast Speaker Series keeps coming with an event designed to entertain and get you excited for the 2019-20 sport season,” FWKCC president/CEO Julie Blaylock said. “We’re excited to be doing a breakfast on Tuesday, July 30, at Rothchild Catering & Conference Center, 8807 Kingston Pike, West Knoxville.
“It’s going to be a sports season preview,” adding it will feature Jimmy Hyams, Hall of Fame sports journalist and popular radio talk-show co-host, and Jeff Jarnigan, long-time Knoxville radio personality and public address “Voice of Neyland Stadium.”
Presented by the Town of Farragut and Knox County, the event begins at 7:30 a.m. with a buffet breakfast. The program will kick off promptly at 8 a.m.
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Knoxville annexation plans, ‘takeover northerners,’ fear of devalued land among cited examples
July 18, 2019 by Alan Sloan
Opponents of Farragut Community Group’s effort to incorporate in fall 1979 formed a passionate, though unsuccessful, roadblock — with at least one trying to intimidate FCG members with threats.
But a powerful, and legal, threat came from then Knoxville Mayor Randy Tyree: annexation.
“The World’s Fair was coming and Knoxville was looking to annex more property,” said Eric Johnson, a retired civil engineer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and FCG member. “They had a big bill coming for the World’s Fair and they needed a larger tax base.”
For that reason, FCG members feared Tyree would act quickly to annex areas of what is now Farragut if he knew the Town was planning to incorporate.
Therefore, “A good time to file our petitions was when he went off on vacation,” Johnson said about a period in late October of 1979. “So we filed the paperwork and proceeded to work on incorporating the town.”
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July 18, 2019 by Michelle Hollenhead
A Knox County Sherriff’s Office sergeant is being commended for recently locating a Farragut woman’s prized Bible, lost along Kingston Pike.
Sgt. Joshua Pless was policing church dismissal traffic from First Baptist Concoard Sunday, June 30 — just as he has done for the last dozen years or so — when he encountered Frances Poore and Mille Davis, who were driving eastbound on Kingston Pike.
The women, both Farragut residents, had attended church services at Faith Fellowship Cumberland Presbyterian Church earlier that morning, with Poore driving as she does most Sundays — when an emergency struck.
“I had taken her home, and we suspected she was having a TIA (transient ischemic attack), which she had had before,” Poore explained. “I offered to take her to the hospital, but panicked and was in a hurry and accidentally left her Bible on top of my car.”
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Rotary Club of Farragut past president David Smoak braved the cold last May to climb Mount Hood, the tallest summit in Oregon. He shared his experiences with Rotarians during their meeting July 10.
