Scott High wins district championship in wrestling
Plus: Election qualifying slows to a crawl; unemployment rate is up slightly, but employment shows big year-over-year gains
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.
Scott High wins first district championship in wrestling
Video: Above, Coach Jason Jeffers reacts after his team wins the district duals championship. Below, Mason Lewallen and the Highlanders react after Lewallen secures the district title with a pin.
HUNTSVILLE | Scott High won its first district championship in wrestling Tuesday night, defeating Anderson County by a score of 43-36 in the district duals championship match at Highlander Gymnasium.
The Highlanders won the district title in just the program’s third season. Scott High entered the district duals in second place, having lost to Anderson County in an earlier match. That was the only district match the Highlanders lost this season.
In Tuesday’s semifinal match, the Highlanders defeated Gibbs by a single point, coming from behind with a major decision by senior Mason Lewallen giving the Highlanders a 35-28 lead in the next-to-last individual match and guaranteeing the win. The final was 35-34 after Gibbs secured a pin in the final individual match.
Anderson County defeated Clinton in the semifinals.
In the championship match, the Highlanders played chess against a depleted Maverick lineup, taking advantage of three forfeits. At one point, Anderson County recorded three straight pins to quickly grab the lead, but the Highlanders battled back, with Lewallen again guaranteeing a win after he scored a pin to give his team a 43-24 lead.
The win was the second district championship in as many years for Scott High sports. Last year, girls’ basketball won a district championship, also by defeating Anderson County.
The win moves Scott to Thursday’s region duals as a No. 1 seed. The Highlanders will need to win at least one of two matches Thursday to advance to the substate.
Election qualifying slows to a crawl
HUNTSVILLE | With just about a month remaining until the qualifying deadline for the 2026 Scott County General Election, it is beginning to appear that the ballot will be a relatively uncrowded one in August.
Although the qualifying deadline is not until Feb. 19, candidate activity has slowed to a crawl. As of the end of business Wednesday there had been no new qualifying petitions picked up since Jan. 5, some nine days earlier, and only a few completed petitions have been returned during that time.
The races at the top of the ballot — the constitutional offices of County Mayor, Sheriff, and Road Superintendent — will feature competition, as they almost always do. Further down the ballot, however, there’s only minimal competition so far for district races, including County Commission. Given two issues that have enflamed passions in recent months — including a proposed landfill north of Oneida and a 41-mile recreational trail along the former Tennessee Railroad — it stood to reason that there would be more interest in those 14 seats on the county’s legislative body.
So far, only seven candidates have qualified for the 14 commission seats, five of them incumbents. Another 14 have petitions outstanding. Even if all are returned, the commission field would be relatively uncrowded if the qualifying period ended today. However, there would be at least four new faces on the commission in September if qualifying ended today, due to incumbents not picking up qualifying paperwork so far.
In the 2nd District, 5th and 6th Districts, there is currently no competition taking shape. In the 2nd District, incumbent Taylor Buttram Stephens has qualified as a Republican and incumbent Joyce Potter Keeton has picked up as an independent. In the 5th District, incumbent Kelly Posey-Chitwood has qualified as a Republican and challenger Zack Strunk has qualified as an independent. Incumbent Robyn McBroom has not picked up. And in the 6th District, incumbent Colby Burke has picked up as an independent and challenger Jason Perry has picked up as a Republican. Incumbent Shon Terry has not picked up.
The 3rd and 4th Districts have drawn a bit of a crowd, but other districts have seen less interest. In the 3rd District, neither incumbent — Sheila Buttram or Amy Jeffers, whose husband is running for County Mayor — have picked up paperwork, though five others have: Mike Keeton, Ron Keeton, Daniel Murley and Dacy Williams as independents, and Kenny Morrow as Republican. In the 4th District, incumbents Kenny Chadwell and Shonda Gray have qualified as independents, while challengers Jerry Wade Byrge and Taylor Stephens-Overton have picked up as independents.
The 1st and 7th Districts have minimal competition so far. In the 1st, incumbents David Jeffers and Blue Day have picked up — as a Republican and independent, respectively — while challenger Elaine Lowe has qualified as an independent. In the 7th District, incumbent Jared Burke has qualified as an independent, while incumbent Thomas Payne and challenger Anthony Carson have picked up as independents.
School board races have proven even more low-key, though that’s not necessarily surprising. Among the four county school board races up for grabs, only one has competition so far. In the 7th District, incumbent Tressa Murphy is being opposed by Matt Stiltner. In the other three districts, incumbents Tommy Silcox is currently unopposed in the 1st District, and incumbent Kim Kidd is currently unopposed in the 4th District. In the 5th District, Roger Douglas has qualified as an independent but is currently unopposed, as incumbent Angela King has not picked up paperwork. In the Oneida Special School District, incumbents Kevin Byrd and Mark Matthews have picked up paperwork, as has challenger Benji Jacobs, all as independents. Incumbent Dorothy Watson has so far not picked up qualifying paperwork.
Among the county-wide offices that are contested, incumbent County Mayor Jerried Jeffers is being opposed by Huntsville Mayor Dennis Jeffers, while former County Commissioner Trent Cross has picked up qualifying paperwork. Incumbent Sheriff Brian Keeton is being opposed by Kris Lewallen, while Dennis Chambers has picked up paperwork. And incumbent Road Superintendent Kelvin King is being opposed by Colby Strunk. The County Clerk’s race will also be opposed, with incumbent Felicia Hamby Bilbrey being challenged by Amanda Chambers Sexton, who was also her opponent four years ago. Christina Kay Cross has paperwork outstanding in that race.
Other county-wide seats are not opposed so far, which is not necessarily surprising; those races often don’t draw opposition unless an incumbent is retiring. They include Trustee, where incumbent Rena Erwin has qualified for re-election; Circuit Court Clerk, where incumbent Donnie Phillips has qualified; and Register of Deeds, where incumbent Ashley Newport Riseden has qualified. Incumbent County Attorney John Beaty has also picked up paperwork for re-election.
Another thing that is becoming clear, also not unexpected, is that there will be little to no competition in the May primary. No Democrats have picked up or submitted paperwork thus far, and Republicans who have picked up paperwork are unopposed at this point. Independent candidates — which include 33 of the 44 who have picked up or returned paperwork thus far — will skip straight through to the August general election without appearing on the ballot in May for the primary.
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Scott’s unemployment rate up slightly to 4.4%
Scott County’s unemployment rate was 4.4% in November, according to numbers made available by the TN Dept. of Labor & Workforce Development.
The big picture: The local jobless rate is up three-tenths of a percentage point from September 2025, when it checked in at 4.1%. The Labor Department did not publish unemployment rates from October due to the government shutdown.
By the numbers: The November 2025 unemployment rate in Scott County is based on an estimated work force of 9,094, of which 8,695 were employed and 399 unemployed during the month of November.
A deeper dive: The November 2024 unemployment rate in Scott County was 4.3%, based on an estimated work force of 8,161, of which 7,809 were employed and 352 were unemployed. Although the year-over-year jobless rate was up slightly, year-over-year employment showed significant gains, based on the state’s job surveys. Total employment increased from 7,809 in November 2024 to 8,695 in November 2025.
Around the region: Among adjoining Tennessee counties, Anderson County’s unemployment rate was 3.6% in November, while Campbell County’s was 4.1%, Fentress County’s was 3.9%, Morgan County’s was 4.1%, and Pickett County’s was 5.5%. The statewide unemployment rate was 3.6%. The national unemployment rate was 4.6%.
The state’s highest: Perry County had the state’s highest unemployment rate in November, at 6.0%, followed by Pickett County at 5.5%, Meigs and Grundy counties at 5.4%, and Hancock, Lauderdale and Hardeman counties at 5.2%. Rounding out the list of 10 highest unemployment rates was Johnson County at 5.0%, Benton County at 4.9%, and Greene County at 4.8%.
The state’s lowest: Williamson County had the state’s lowest unemployment rate in November, at 2.9%, followed by Trousdale, Sevier and Rutherford counties, at 3.0%. Rounding out the list of 10 lowest unemployment rates were Cheatham, Sumner, Dickson, Wilson, Haywood and Davidson counties, at 3.1%.
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The Weekend
❄️ Weather: Snow is likely Friday night, with only minor accumulations expected. The rest of the weekend will be cold. There’s a 20% chance of snow showers Saturday with a high near 40°, and the high on Sunday will be only 28° with mostly sunny skies. Once temperatures drop below freezing Saturday night, they likely won’t get back above freezing until Wednesday. 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: In high school sports, Oneida basketball will travel to Jellico (6:30 p.m.) and Scott High basketball will host Clinton (6:30 p.m.). Both games will be broadcast on the IH Sports Network.
• Saturday: The U.S.S. Tennessee Battleship Memorial Museum will be open Saturday, January 17, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Admission is free. The museum is located on the campus of Scott High as part of the Museum of Scott County complex.
• Saturday: Third Saturday night worship services will be held at Lone Mountain Baptist Church (6p.m.), Capital Hill Missionary Baptist Church (6:30 p.m.), Black Creek Crossroads Missionary Baptist Church (7 p.m.), High Point United Baptist Church (7 p.m.), and House of the Lord (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.
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