The Weekender: School board learns cost of Huntsville Elementary playroom
Plus: Billingsley named principal at Oneida Elementary, Huntsville Post-Acute & Rehab to build Scott County's first dialysis center, severe weather is possible Friday evening, and more...
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, please 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.
School board learns cost of planned playroom at Huntsville Elementary School
HUNTSVILLE | The planned playroom at Huntsville Elementary School will cost just under $2.2 million.
Preen Construction — the Knoxville-based company that built the Scott County Ambulance Service headquarters in Oneida — was the low bidder on the playroom project, with a bid of $2.186 million. Bids were opened by the Scott County Finance Committee on Monday.
That is in line with what the Scott County Board of Education expected the long-awaited playroom to cost. At a meeting last week, Director of Schools Bill Hall said that $1.4 million is already allocated for the playroom, and indicated that around $600,000 out of some $1.5 million the school system hopes to borrow could complete the project.
According to 3rd District school board member Chris Shelton, who represents Huntsville, the playroom design will include a floor that is the same size as Scott High School’s, seating for up to 575 people, an intervention room, a concession stand and restrooms.
The school system currently has just over $1.4 million in its rural schools fund, an account that is earmarked for capital projects. Up to $800,000 per year is added to that account. According to discussion at the school board meeting last week, the county could borrow $1.575 million and retire the debt within three years using that rural schools funding.
Seventh District school board member Tressa Murphy and 5th District school board member Angela King have objected to borrowing the money, saying the school system should wait until the money is in the bank before moving forward with additional capital projects. However, the school board voted 5-2 last week to approve a capital projects wish list for County Commission’s consideration.
It is County Commission that would ultimately have to approve the loan, although it would be paid for with the rural schools loan with no new tax revenue necessary.
The school system’s list includes projects at all seven schools, including a new video board, flooring, a concrete entrance and fascia replacement at Scott High, converting the old library and cafeteria into tutoring spaces at Robbins, new flooring at Huntsville Elementary, flooring and bleachers at Huntsville Middle, bleachers, sidewalks, playground equipment and fencing, and an outdoor area where the mobile classrooms are currently located at Burchfield, playground equipment at Winfield, and additional parking and outside lighting at Fairview.
That list is expected to be prioritized based on the cost of each project and what’s left after the playroom is fully funded. Hall said at last week’s meeting of the school board that up to $600,000 could be spent to cover the playroom and $900,000 would be left to cover the list of additional projects. Based on the Preen bid returned Monday, that number will be closer to $700,000, with around $800,000 left to cover the list of projects, assuming County Commission and the school board approve the loan.
Billingsley named principal at Oneida Elementary School
ONEIDA | Ashley Billingsley is the new principal at Oneida Elementary School, Oneida Special School District Director of Schools Dr. Jeanny Phillips announced Thursday. Additionally, Dr. Michelle Massengale will serve as assistant principal.
Billingsley replaces Jordan Sims, who resigned last month. Her previous role was assistant principal. She has 18 years of experience in elementary education. According to a release from OSSD, she was chosen by a hiring committee “for her exceptional dedication to student success and her proven instructional leadership.”
“I am incredibly honored to serve as the next principal of Oneida Elementary,” Billingsley said. “This school and community hold a special place in my heart. I look forward to continuing our work together to ensure that every child feels supported, challenged, and inspired to reach their full potential.”
Massengale will make the move to the elementary school from Oneida Middle School, where she currently teaches seventh grade English-Language Arts. She has 27 years of experience in elementary education.
“I am thrilled to join the incredible team at Oneida Elementary School,” Massengale said. “I look forward to building strong relationships with staff, students, and families as we work together to create a nurturing and academically enriching environment.”
Massengale will visit the elementary school in the coming days to become acquainted with staff and students.
Phillips said she is confident that “Mrs. Billingsley and Dr. Massengale will provide strong visionary leadership to support the continued academic and social growth of our students.”
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Huntsville Post-Acute & Rehab to build Scott County’s first dialysis center
HUNTSVILLE | Scott County is getting its first dialysis center.
Huntsville Post-Acute & Rehabilitation Center announced Tuesday that it will build a dialysis center, which will be located on its existing campus in Huntsville and will connect to the 300 hall.
The 2,124 square foot facility will feature six stations, which can run two shifts each day and accommodate up to 24 patients, according to Administrator John Norris. It will initially be an inpatient facility, but hopes are that it will eventually become an outpatient facility, as well.
Grainger Smith, the facility’s Vice President of Life Safety, said they’re shooting for a June 1 start of construction. He admitted that might be a bit optimistic, but said the ultimate goal is for the new addition to be placed in service by Spring 2026.
David Herskowitz, CEO of Huntsville Post-Acute & Rehab’s parent company Plainview Healthcare Partners, said the addition of the dialysis center came about after a conversation with Scott County Mayor Jerried Jeffers.
“This is the first community and the first facility we are trying this in,” Herskowitz said. “If it works and is well received, then we will try it in other facilities. But we would not be here if (Jeffers) hadn’t suggested it.”
Jeffers said that Herskowitz went to the trouble of reaching out to him to see how the healthcare facility could help Scott County.
“The first time we met, he came in my office and once we got through the formalities the first thing he asked was, ‘What can I do to help the people of Scott County?’” Jeffers said. “I was kinda floored by that. You don’t often get questions like that from a CEO. I asked him if he could help us get a dialysis center.”
Jeffers said he knows first-hand the struggles faced by dialysis patients who are required to travel to outside communities for treatment.
“My father had renal disease,” he said. “I know the struggle. You just never know what the Bermuda Triangle of I-75 is going to give you day to day. I hope this will help people not only in Scott County but Morgan and Fentress counties and maybe McCreary County. I think this will be a great blessing to this community”
Jeffers said a dialysis center in Scott County could also benefit travelers.
“People on vacation, if they’re on dialysis, have to map out the closest facility,” he said. “People who come to the Big South Fork have to know where the closest dialysis center is.”
Although people who currently travel to Caryville or Knoxville three days each week for dialysis won’t immediately benefit from the forthcoming Huntsville center, Scott Countians who could benefit from inpatient care will.
“When someone falls and breaks a hip or something, when they make those referrals (to rehabilitation centers) they’re looking for some place that can do the dialysis on site,” Norris said. “Not many skilled nursing facilities can do it on site.”
Dialysis will be just the latest service added by Huntsville Post-Acute & Rehab, which has just begun outpatient occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech therapy for all ages.
Carla Buttram, Plainview’s chief operations officer and a Scott County resident, said the addition of a dialysis center had been “a dream for a long time.”
Oneida accepts applications for package store compliance certifications
ONEIDA | The Town of Oneida announced Tuesday that it is now accepting applications for certificates of compliance for package stores.
Package stores are retail stores that sell liquor for off-premises consumption. Scott County voters approved referendums in November that allow package stores in both Oneida and Huntsville. State law requires prospective package store owners to obtain a certificate of compliance from the town before applying for a package store license through the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission. The certificate confirms that the applicant and the proposed business location comply with local ordinances and requirements.
In order to receive a certificate of compliance, applicants must complete a notarized application, submit to a background check from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and pay a non-refundable application fee of $500 to the town.
Background checks can be submitted through TBI’s online portal, tbibackgrounds.tbi.tn.gov/Toris. Application packets can be picked up at the Oneida Municipal Services Building.
Additional information is available by contacting Oneida Recorder-Treasurer Brent Ellis at (423) 569-4295 or brent.ellis@oneidatn.gov.
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State offers $10,000 reward for information identifying the killer of ‘Baby Girl’ Tracy Sue Walker
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the murder of Tracy Sue Walker, the former Jane Doe who was known for many years as “Baby Girl.”
Lee’s offer comes on the heels of a request by 8th Judicial District Attorney General Jared Effler, who said Monday that the search for justice for Walker continues.
“We are determined to bring justice to Tracy Sue’s case,” Effler said. “Through the vital efforts and commitment of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, it is our sincere hope that someone, somewhere holds the crucial piece of information to bring her killer to justice.”
Walker was only 15 when she was murdered more than 40 years ago. She disappeared from Lafayette, Ind. in 1978 and her remains were discovered in the Big Wheel Gap area of Elk Valley, along the Scott/Campbell county line, in 1985.
Investigators in the ‘80s determined that the remains were those of a white girl, likely between the ages of 10 and 14, who had been dead from one to four years. The body had been discarded like trash at an illegal dump site near an old strip mine. Authorities found a pair of size five hiking books and a necklace made of plastic buttons near the body, but few other clues.
Authorities nicknamed the victim “Baby Girl.” For nearly 30 years, they had little to go on except for a biochemical analysis of the remains that determined she had not spent significant time in Campbell County, and could have been from somewhere in the Midwest.
In 2013, a TBI agent revisited the case, searching for new leads. That led to DNA analysis at a University of Tennessee laboratory that identified a possible relative of the child in Indiana. That led to information that the possible relative had a family member who went missing in 1978, and eventually led to the identification of “Baby Girl” as 15-year-old Tracy Sue Walker.
The identification was made in 2022.
Walker was described as a “shy, thoughtful girl who loved cheerleading and doing hair.” She was a freshman at Jefferson High School in Lafayette, Ind. and was last seen in July 1978 when she was spotted getting into a car with a “slightly older group of men” at Tippecanoe Mall in Indiana.
In a release Monday, Effler’s office said that “TBI agents are confident that someone in Campbell County possesses crucial information that will reveal who is responsible for Tracy Sue’s death.”
Working with a sociology class at Elizabethton High School, the TBI has published a new website, justice4tracysue.com. Persons with information on her death can submit tips. They can also call 1-800-TBI-FIND.
The Weekend
☀️ Weather: Severe weather is possible today, especially during the late evening hours, when a line of strong thunderstorms is expected to roll across the region ahead of an approaching cold front. Storms will remain possible each day for the foreseeable future. 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
• Saturday: The Scott County Farmers & Crafters Market will kick off its 2025 season on Saturday, May 17, from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. — rain or shine. The market will be open those same hours every Saturday thereafter. The market is located at 600 Scott High Drive, Huntsville.
• Saturday: Plateau Electric Cooperative’s directors’ election will be held from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Oneida office. There are 2 seats up for election: In Oneida, Bruce Mays and Tobey Mays are on the ballot. In Scott County, Jeff Buttram and Jimmy D. Byrd are on the ballot.
• 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 pm to 8 pm 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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◼️ 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)