WEARS VALLEY — A Sevier County highway crew found a tobacco tin in a creek-bridge abutment holding a 1937 WPA lunch tally with one line not crossed out. The man owed was R. Whaley, and his grandson drove out to pay it.
Cedar Bluff man sends Rally US his Tuesday drive time, receives spectator guide
CEDAR BLUFF — Wayne Hensley, 68, emailed the organizers of Rally US with his Tuesday drive time to a restaurant in Alcoa and asked where it would be posted. The reply thanked him for his interest in attending as a spectator.
Fountain City man’s rain gauge agrees with the airport for the first time since 1963
FOUNTAIN CITY — Harold Dyer, 82, read his rain gauge Tuesday morning and wrote 0.31 in the notebook, then read it again, because the airport had come in at 0.31 too.
Kerbela tunnel toll collector walks hill with a level after reading about Nashville’s tunnel
SOUTH KNOXVILLE — Gene Prater, 69, who collects a $2 toll at the midpoint of the Kerbela tunnel, walked the hill above it Tuesday with a carpenter’s level and a flashlight after reading about Nashville’s tunnel.
KUB meter reader retires after 43 years on the same Kingston Pike meter, never met the customer
KNOXVILLE — Lester Hux, 66, read his last meter for KUB on Friday, the same one behind the same house on Kingston Pike that he has read every month since 1983, and said he would still like to meet the man who lives there.
Clinton Highway vendor gets first jelly shoe call in 37 years
POWELL — Gordon Ogle, 66, who sold jelly shoes from a stall on Clinton Highway, took a call about them Monday for the first time since the stall closed and has not yet gotten the shed open.
Fountain City church keeps Ohio woman on pie list
FOUNTAIN CITY — Helen Mercer has been assigned the sweet potato pie at her church’s fall supper since before she moved to Ohio in 1994. She still mails it, and the treasurer still logs the postage.
Maryville retiree wants to know who buys Neyland’s fryer oil
MARYVILLE — Gerald Watson, 70, keeps a notebook on his diesel pickup’s Monday behavior after Tennessee home games and would like to know who buys the used oil from Neyland Stadium’s 30 fryers.
Chapman Highway foreman reseals 1938 time capsule, then opens it again to put his note in
KNOXVILLE — A contract crew on Chapman Highway dug up a steel box stamped DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 1938 and found two notes, each asking the finder to close it back up. Foreman Wendell Pruitt wrote a third.
Gay Street woman lets Nashville delegation finish measuring her noise, then asks them to shut her window
KNOXVILLE — Barb Tidwell, 63, let a Nashville delegation set a decibel meter on her second-floor Gay Street windowsill, then asked the last one out to close the window.
Urgent care sets out cone on game-day Saturdays for woman who has parked there since World’s Fair
KNOXVILLE — Ruth Hensley, 74, has parked in the same gravel spot near Neyland on game days since the 1982 World’s Fair, and the urgent care that now stands there keeps a cone out for her.
Townsend man has no room on his whiteboard for 64th national park
TOWNSEND — Wayne Hutchens, 72, has a garage whiteboard with 63 rows for the national parks, and Chiricahua in Arizona just became the 64th.
Union County neighbors empty 1923 property-line kettle together every April, can’t get last inch out
SHARPS CHAPEL — Ronnie Atkins and Pam Seiber empty the moonshine kettle that marks the line between their properties every April. The last inch stays in the bottom.
South Knoxville man with 40 shares of Pepsi keeps calling investor relations about the plant
KNOXVILLE — Floyd Ledbetter, 71, a retired machinist, has called PepsiCo’s investor relations line five times since Monday, and each time he has been told the company is doing very well.
Butler post office keeps slot for Old Butler, which is cleared by Monday
BUTLER — The post office has a brass slot in the lobby wall with a hand-lettered card reading OLD BUTLER, and something goes into it about twice a year. By Monday the bin is empty.