Curtain Call for Summer 2015
As the Summer of 2015 comes to a close, it offers an opportunity to reflect on the great and not so moments of the past few months. With the tragedies of Charleston and Chattanooga, the fires out west and the gearing up of the political machine, there was no shortage of National news. Temperatures soared and so did the number of assaults on police officers across the United States. The stars aligned and we had some truly great celestial moments, including getting personal with Pluto. Nationally, gas prices remained reasonable, in some places ending the summer at the lowest they have been in late summer since 2004.
Locally, the County put the fiscal year 2015/2016 budget to bed but it had a difficult time resting in peace. Lots of lake traffic this season was par for the course. However, TVA had a little shock as a current was discovered in Cherokee Lake. A trio of legal cases caught the eye of the government and the press, with the Gunn case, which was later dismissed, an investigation into a possible theft in a County department which is still ongoing and a grand jury indictment for the former treasurer of the Jefferson County High School Band Boosters. But it wasn’t all controversy and frowns for the Summer of 2015. Jefferson County High School renovations were realized and the school got a bright new face. The insurance check for Building 8 was bigger than expected and the County and Schools rolled over a combined nearly $3 million dollars to pump up the County coffers. And super smiles came when it was announced on the Warriors for Wyatt Facebook page that Wyatt Crippen, a local boy that has battled childhood cancer for more than four years and has captured the heart of the community, is currently considered to be cancer free.
It was a summer of fireworks and festivals, births and passings, good news, great news and some that we could have done without. And as the Summer of 2015 fades into fall, more excitement promises to be just around the corner. Farewell, Summer of 2015! You will live on in our memories.
