This Week in White County History, Sept. 24-Sept. 30

1973

• John T. Shockley was named vice-president and assistant manager of Commerce Union Bank of Sparta.
• Little Richard’s, a men’s ready-to-wear store on Maple Street, was heavily damaged by fire in an apparent arson attempt.
• Ersia Black received her 25-year award from the state for her school food services program at Ravenscroft and BonDeCroft. Black retired after serving more than 28 years in the schools, pioneering some of the school lunch programs in the county.

1983

• Beth Clark was named homecoming queen of the WCHS 1983 homecoming celebration.
• White County High School students taking the driver education course learned to drive in a 1984 Plymouth Reliant donated by Bill Boruff Subaru.
• White County’s jobless rate dropped to 14.4 percent from 19.9 percent the previous month.

1993

• The first lot in the recently completed Sparta/White County Industrial Park was sold to build the Sparta Home Health Care Corporation.
• Sparta resident Mike Sherrell announced plans to open a book publishing firm in Sparta, with his first project being a book by James Earl Ray, the man convicted of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
• The Sparta Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved the amphitheater project. The total cost was expected to be $190,000.

2003

• Tennessee Highway Patrol Lt. Kendall Riley was presented a service pin and certificate to commemorate 20 years of service to THP.
• Work was in progress at the new addition to BonDeCroft Elementary School. Four classrooms, as well as a new kitchen and cafeteria, were to be built.
• Because of the expansion of Gillen Subdivision, the city approved the installation of four new stop lights on Oakland Drive.