A break in the heat for the weekend!
Plus: The latest on a proposed rail-trail for former Tennessee Railroad, and new video board being installed at Scott High School football stadium
Good Thursday evening! This is The Weekender, a final look at this week’s news from the Independent Herald. The Daybreaker (Monday) and The Weekender (Thursday evening) are our two news-first newsletters. We publish several other newsletters throughout the week, as well as our regular E-Edition on Thursday and our Varsity E-Edition on Sunday (during sports season). If you’d like to adjust your subscription to include (or exclude) any of these newsletters, do so here. If you haven’t subscribed, please consider doing so!
Today’s newsletter is sponsored by Buckeye Home Medical Equipment. Serving Scott County and several other communities in the Upper Cumberland region, Buckeye is a full-line DME providing home health equipment to its patients.
A cold front will bring a welcome reprieve from the heat this weekend
A welcome reprieve from the blistering heat is in store for the northern Cumberland Plateau region this weekend, as temperatures dip to about 15° cooler than they have been most days over the past couple of weeks.
A cold front was sagging southeastward Thursday evening, and is expected to move across the northern plateau overnight, which will mean cooler temperatures over the next several days. High temperatures Friday, Saturday and Sunday are expected to be only in the upper 70s, compared to the temperatures we’ve seen in the low 90s so far this week.
High temperatures have been at least 89° each day for the past 10 days, topping out at 92° on July 23. That streak will end today, which is Day 11, with the National Weather Service forecasting a high of only 78° for the Oneida area on Friday. Temperatures will be close to 80° throughout the weekend, give or take a degree or two in either direction. The normal high temperature this time of year is in the mid 80s.
Although there will be cooler temperatures for the weekend, rain chances will remain present each day, with isolated to scattered thunderstorms possible during the afternoon hours.
Next week will begin with temperatures in the low 80s, though the summer heat is expected to be back with a vengeance by next weekend.
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‘Rails-to-Trails’ issue hasn’t gone away; negotiations continue
The idea of transforming the abandoned Tennessee Railroad into a trail for cyclists and hikers hasn’t generated much publicity or conversation in recent weeks, but it is an idea that hasn’t gone away. Negotiations over the future of the 41-mile railbed that connects Oneida to the Fork Mountain community in Anderson County continue.
Ten days ago, advocates of the rail-trail pitched their idea to Smoky Mountain Wheelmen, a bicycling club based in Knoxville.
According to Ralph Trieschmann, who is secretary of the Echoes of the Tennessee Rail Foundation, a report from Knoxville TV station WBIR based on that meeting that railroad owner R.J. Corman is negotiating exclusively with a private group in Scott County for ownership of the railbed was incorrect. Instead, Corman is negotiating — through National Salvage, the firm it contracted with to remove the rails and timbers from the railroad — with Trust for Public Lands. Trieschmann described those negotiations as progressing in a positive direction.
TPL is a late player to the game, but one that has a lot of muscle to flex. It is a nationally-recognized conservation group with offices in San Francisco and Denver, and was recruited to the effort by Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning, the Oak Ridge-based nonprofit that spearheaded the rail-trail effort.
TCWP filed a Notice of Interim Trail Use with the federal Surface Transportation Board soon after R.J. Corman filed its paperwork to abandon the railroad in 2020. The STB has since granted several extensions to the original 12-month NITU, and this past spring granted what it said would be the last one-year extension it would grant. That gives TCWP and TPL until Spring 2026 to negotiate a purchase of the 41-mile railbed from Corman.
The NITU requires Corman to leave the railbed grading and bridges intact for potential future use as a railroad with an interim use as a recreational trail — a railbed preservation plan that was established by Congress in the 1980s and later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Though R.J. Corman owns most of the Tennessee Railroad corridor fee-simple, the rails-to-trails program established by Congress provides a broader window for keeping railbeds intact by stipulating that temporary easements granted when railroads were built remain in place after a NITU has been filed.
Trieschmann said last week that concrete barriers have been acquired and will be placed at vehicular access points along the railroad in an effort to keep trespassers on ATVs off the railbed. Trespassing off-road riders have been a primary concern cited by landowners along the railroad who are opposed to the rail-trail, some of whom have dealt with a criminal element in the form of thieves who use the now-railless railroad grade to access private property, and others who have dealt with litter on their property left by trespassers.
Scott County Commission unanimously passed a resolution of non-support earlier this year that states its opposition to the plan for a recreational trail, and the Town of Huntsville has also taken a position against the rail-trail.
Work underway on new Jumbotron at Scott High
HUNTSVILLE | Work began this week on a new Jumbotron at Scott High School’s Highlander Stadium, which is expected to be operational by the start of football season in three weeks.
The big-screen video scoreboard was approved by the Scott County Board of Education last month at a cost of close to $200,000.
Construction crews began installing the board this week. After hitting rock, they were forced to move the board slightly, but that hasn’t created much of a delay. Panels are scheduled to begin being installed Monday.
The Weekend
🌦 Weather: It’s going to be a nice weekend. Although there will be daily rain chances (especially Sunday), temperatures will only be in the upper 70s to near 80° each day. Check out our daily Eye to the Sky updates on our Facebook page — published each morning at 7 a.m. on the dot.
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📅 Community Calendar
• Friday: The Bandy Creek Pool will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. today ($3, or $2 for ages 6-12). Huntsville Pool will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today ($3). The Oneida Splash Pad is also open.
• Saturday: The Scott County Farmers & Crafters Market will be open from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. — rain or shine. The market is located at 600 Scott High Drive, Huntsville.
• Saturday: The Bandy Creek Pool will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. today ($3, or $2 for ages 6-12). Huntsville Pool will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today ($3). The Oneida Splash Pad is also open.
• Sunday: The Bandy Creek Pool will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. today ($3, or $2 for ages 6-12). Huntsville Pool will be open from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. today ($3). The Oneida Splash Pad is also open.
• Sunday: Celebrate Recovery, a 12-step program designed to help with addiction, co-dependency and domestic abuse, will be hosted by Fire & Purpose Ministries from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at 27192 Scott Highway in Winfield. There will be food, fellowship, praise and worship. Childcare is provided.
The Community Calendar is presented by Citizens Gas Utility District. Citizens Gas operates natural gas distribution pipelines in portions of Scott and Morgan counties. Visit citizensgastn.com.
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📢 Programming Note: Watch for our weekly E-Edition later this evening! You can always find our E-Editions here. The E-Edition is published on Thursdays (and on Sundays during the high school sports season) and includes all digital content from the week in an easy-to-read, flip book format.
Scenic Sale!
This week’s sale items at Scenic Foods in Huntsville! The sale continues through Tuesday. Sponsored content.
Thank you for reading. Our next newsletter will be Friday Features tomorrow. If you’d like to update your subscription to add or subtract any of our newsletters, do so here. If you haven’t yet subscribed, it’s as simple as adding your email address!
◼️ Monday morning: The Daybreaker (news & the week ahead)
◼️ Tuesday: Echoes from the Past (stories of our history)
◼️ Wednesday: Threads of Life (obituaries)
◼️ Thursday evening: The Weekender (news & the weekend)
◼️ Friday: Friday Features (beyond the news)
◼️ Sunday: Varsity (a weekly sports recap)