Business owner's purchase of Highway 27 Unity Club gives AA and NA a safe place to meet weekly
Plus: U.S. 27 repaving project set for next week, TDEC public hearing nears
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.
Business owner’s generosity ensures that recovery meetings will go on
ONEIDA | Weekly meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous have a new, permanent home in Scott County.
According to Amy Montgomery, owner of Recovery Ridge Sober Living Home in Oneida, businessman Jerry Slaven is providing lifetime use of the Highway 27 Unity Club for a lifetime, free of charge.
The Unity Club, located at 17737 S. Alberta Street in Oneida, was formerly used as the meeting place for both AA and NA. It was billed as a “gathering place for 12-step meetings to provide a safe place for fellowship and meetings.”
However, when Montgomery went through a divorce, she was forced to sell the facility as part of the proceedings. It was subject to a court-ordered auction.
Montgomery said that Slaven, who along with his wife, Diane, is the founder and operator of JDS Technologies with local manufacturing facilities in both Oneida and Winfield, purchased the real estate at auction so that the meetings could continue to be held there.
“In the life-changing journey of recovery, having a designated place to gather is essential for individuals in Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous,” Montgomery said. “A meeting space is much more than just a physical location; it represents a sanctuary of hope, healing, and connection. It is within these walls that members find the strength to share their struggles, celebrate their victories, and support one another in the pursuit of sobriety.”
Montgomery added that Slaven’s agreement to provide lifetime use of the facility, free-of-charge, “exemplifies the spirit of community” that is vital to recovery.
“This act of kindness not only provides a safe environment for these meetings but also reinforces the message that no one has to face their battle alone,” she said. “The contribution ensures that individuals have access to a welcoming and supportive space where they can reconnect with themselves and others on a similar journey.
“Through such generosity, we are reminded that together, we can create a foundation of strength and resilience for those seeking a brighter, sober future,” Montgomery said.
In support of the planned reopening of the Highway 27 Unity Club, a fundraiser has been scheduled at The Barn at Magnolia Acres, the Huntsville event venue that Montgomery also owns.
“Fall Into Recovery” will be held at The Barn, located at 337 W. Monticello Pike in Huntsville, on Saturday, Nov. 22, from 12 p.m. until 8 p.m. Admission is free, and there will be a talent show, food, auction, and speakers.
After opening remarks at 12 p.m., Melody Norris of Ridgeview will speak at 12:30 p.m. on “Education and Awareness: Transforming Perceptions of Addiction.” There will be games and activities with prizes from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., with Myrtle Recovery Center CEO Robert Merritt speaking at 3:30 p.m. on the subject of “Colalboration in Recovery: Bridging Gaps Between Services and Support.” There will be a talent show from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., followed by Jack Ophachick speaking at 6:30 p.m. on the subject of “From Shame to Strength: Empowering Recovery Story.”
More information is available by contacting Montgomery at (423) 539-6013.
Huntsville Post-Acute & Rehabilitation Center offers short-term or long-term care … on your terms. Learn more. (Sponsored content.)
Paving project nears on U.S. 27 in south Oneida
ONEIDA | The TN Dept. of Transportation will resurface a portion of U.S. Highway 27 in south Oneida next week.
Treye Helton, TDOT’s supervisor in Scott County, said on social media last week that the milling of existing pavement and the laying of new pavement on Alberta Street will take place on Monday, Nov. 3, and Tuesday, Nov. 4.
The project had originally been scheduled for this week, but was postponed due to rainy weather.
The section of highway being resurfaced is from Industrial Lane south to Verdun Road near the Boys & Girls Club of the Cumberland Plateau.
“To my local people please try to go around us because heavy traffic will mean longer delays,” Helton said. “Please drive slow, pay attention and watch out for my crew and my drivers. It’s not going to be fun for anyone for about three days but it’s what it takes to get things fixed sometimes.”
The Oneida project will be TDOT’s second badly-needed resurfacing project on U.S. 27 in Scott County this year. Earlier, crews paved the highway from the S.R. 63 intersection in Huntsville south to near Robbins.
Mountain People’s Health Councils offers general practice dentistry for all ages, using the latest technology for dental imagery and digital scanning. Sliding scale fees apply! Learn more. (Sponsored.)
TDEC public meeting on landfill is set for Tuesday
ONEIDA | In what promises to be the best-attended public meeting yet since plans to develop a second landfill in the Bear Creek area north of town surfaced last spring, the TN Dept. of Environment & Conservation will host an informational session at the Oneida High School Performing Arts Center Tuesday at 5 p.m.
Cumberland Clear, the non-profit citizens group that has organized to oppose plans for the Roberta Phase II landfill, has tirelessly promoted the meeting on social media, and hundreds are expected to be in attendance to hear from TDEC officials and to ask questions.
Jennifer Shockley of Cumberland Clear, who has been in contact with TDEC, said there will be a “brief presentation” from TDEC’s Division of Air Pollution Control on the leachate evaporator permit modification application that has been made by the existing Volunteer Regional Landfill, after which an open house will be held to give audience members an opportunity to speak one-on-one with TDEC representatives.
Volunteer Regional, owned by Waste Connections, LLC, is not part of the proposed second landfill and rail transfer station. Rather, the second landfill would be located adjacent to Volunteer Regional, on several hundred acres of property being purchased by investors from the Chattanooga and Atlanta areas.
However, Volunteer Regional’s proposed expansion of its leachate evaporator — which is used as an alternative to treating leachate in a wastewater treatment plant — coincides with the controversy over the proposed Roberta Phase II project.
Tuesday’s meeting will be the first conducted by TDEC in Scott County since the Roberta Phase II plans surfaced in May. It was originally scheduled to discuss the leachate evaporator modification request by Volunteer Regional, but TDEC officials told Cumberland Clear representatives that the meeting is being expanded to address other concerns local residents have about the proposed second landfill and rail transfer station.
All local governments have gone on record in opposition of the proposed second landfill, as has state Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston. Yager has met with top brass at TDEC to express his concerns and ask that the request to recertify the existing 24-acre Roberta Phase II permit — originally issued in 2010 but never acted on — be denied.
Currently, TDEC has several applications that it is considering, and none have been approved. Among them: Volunteer Regional’s application to modify its leachate evaporator; and, separately, the applications from Knox Horner — the Cleveland, Tenn. landfill developer who is the public face of the Roberta Phase II project — to recertify the 2010 permit, as well as to permit a rail transfer station nearby.
The weekend
☀️ Weather: The weekend will start nice, although there will be some rain Saturday night and early Sunday. Check out our daily Eye to the Sky updates on our Facebook page — published each morning at 7 a.m. on the dot.
—
📅 Community Calendar
• Saturday: Middle school football area championship games will be held Saturday at Campbell County High School in LaFollette. Oneida will face Wartburg at 3 p.m., and Scott County Middle will face Midway at 6 p.m.
• Saturday: First Saturday night services will be held at Capital Hill Missionary Baptist Church (6:30 p.m.), East Robbins Missionary Baptist Church (6 p.m.), Norma Missionary Baptist Church (6 p.m.), and Black Creek Crossroads Missionary Baptist Church (7 p.m.). For more information, see our Church Directory at indherald.com.
• 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’s pipelines reliably distribute natural gas to customers across Scott and Morgan counties. Visit citizensgastn.com.
—
📢 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)