Sergeant Lowell Russell Still Critical After Tuesday Morning Crash
Florida Truck Driver Charged, Admits to Falling Asleep
A well-known Tennessee Highway Patrol officer remained in critical condition at the University of
Tennessee Medical Center late Tuesday, after a Florida big-rig truck driver fell asleep at the wheel and
slammed into the trooper’s parked cruiser unit on Interstate 40 in Knoxville, causing it to catch on
fire.
Sergeant Lowell Russell of Vonore sustained head injuries, neck and spinal fractures, broken ribs,
second degree burns, and lung damage. Detailed Monore Buzz articles have
been made available below.
Grateful for all the outpouring of love, support and prayers for Lowell, Cory, Crystal, and Rex. Many have asked for an address to send cards to. Cards for Lowell Russell may be sent to the Buzz Office.
The address is:
Lowell Russell
c/o Monroe County Buzz
113 Main Street
Madisonville, TN 37354
Preservation Alliance Releases 2012 Endangered List
One of the most distinctive one-of-a-kind buildings in Madisonville has made the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance’s 2012 Endangered Heritage list. It is one of 16 surviving structures that have ties as far back as the Revolutionary War, the War Between the States, the Great Depression, and the country’s segregation movement.
It is the old stone structure on Tellico Street just above the jail known as the "Stone Building,” or the "Rock House.” It suffers from neglect and now sits near the old Madisonville City Hall unused and unoccupied.
However, it is on the
list of the alliance for this
year and as such will become
a much more highprofile
edifice in line for
suggestions by individuals
and groups for preservation.
The 16 endangered
places represent architectural
and historic significance.
Built by the New Dealaffiliated
National Youth
Administration in the
1930s as America was
emerging from the Great
Depression, the Rock
House has harbored several
agencies, including
the county’s health department,
the American Legion,
the Boy Scouts,
offices of General Sessions
Court, and most recently
the town’s Halloween
“Haunted House.”
It is in dire need of repair
and restoration, and
perhaps being on the endangered
list can engender
support and vision for the
austere square-stoned
structure.
Also added to the list is
the old 160-year-old Kefauver
Home on Main
Street in Madisonville, the
boyhood home of Estes
Kefauver, which partially
burned six years ago. This
structure, too, is unoccupied
but privately owned,
and its present state of
neglect has allowed it to
become one of the city’s
biggest eyesores.
Other buildings making
the list included a 1793
two-story log house in
Hamblen County used by
the Confederates during
the Civil War, Newport’s
Tanner Cultural Center,
the LaFollette post office,
Oak Ridge’s Alexander
Inn, the campus of Morristown
College, Grainger
County rural schoolhouses,
Rural Mount in
Hamblen County, Dandridge
School, Jefferson
County Quaker Valley
rural farmland, the central
business district of Lenoir
City, the former Brushy
Mountain state prison, Sevier
County’s New Salem
Baptist Church, Union
County’s Oak Grove
School, and several neglected
cemeteries across
East Tennessee.
Tornado Tears Through Tellico Plains
A devastatingly powerful tornado ripped through the heart of Tellico Plains in early afternoon on Friday, cutting a path of destruction through the town that barely missed the downtown square
It walloped streets and neighborhoods, shearing power poles and snapping lines, uprooting trees, flattening homes and buildings, and wreaking a ruinous swath of carnage. Amazingly, there were no reported casualties and only a few individuals suffered minor injuries.
We've made the Buzz issues available online in case you were unable to pick them up! We also have a photo album online. Thanks to everyone who shared their photos with us!
Florida Truck Driver Charged, Admits to Falling Asleep
