This Week in White County History, Aug. 25-Aug. 31

2014

• Sparta’s mayor and aldermen held a work session with The Retail Coach, a firm that would evaluate Sparta’s needs and target specific businesses in hopes of growing the economic community.
• White County High School Warriorettes’ volleyball team finished runners-up in the White County Invitational Tournament after they fell to Pope John Paull II in the championship game.
• A motorcycle crash on Highway 111 prompted the highway to be shut down while a Life Force helicopter landed on the roadway to transfer a patient from the scene.

2004

• GFWC Sparta Woman’s Club celebrated 75 years of serving the community.
• Sparta firefighter Lanny Selby won the Southeastern Shrine clown competition, in Mobile, Alabama.
• Sparta resident Ruth Hale made a visit to North Carolina to see her granddaughter get married and ended up meeting President George Bush at a lemonade stand in Raleigh. Hale had lemonade with the president and even had a photo taken with him.

1994

• Tommy Joe Turner, a member of Sparta’s Howitzer Battery 3/278th ACR, Tennessee Army National Guard, was promoted to sergeant in a ceremony held at the armory.
• Army Sgt. Jeffrey Glass received the Combat Infantry Badge for his service in Somalia.
• In the White County Open Softball League, the year ended with a tie for top spot between Sparta Steel and Bud Light.

1984 

• Groundbreaking for the new Sparta McDonald’s took place with a projected open date in mid-November.
• A Sparta native was one of 87 to attend football camp at Tennessee Tech. Gerald Guth played the tackle position in his sophomore year at TTU.
• Jimmie Martin, of the Old Zion community, was promoted to colonel at a ceremony at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Martin had served in the Air Force for 20 years.

1974 

• A grant for $37,000 over three years was awarded to teach music and drama in both the high school and junior high school, in Sparta.
• Squire Nell Marchbanks, first woman to ever serve as a justice of the peace in White County, performed her first marriage in The Expositor’s office where she worked.
• The 1974 White County Fair homecoming event honored all past Fairest of the Fair winners.