Class Notes

who owns Brown’s and Hardware store is an old-time country store with newfangled ideas. While the groceries are fresh and up to date, the same can’t be said for the items for sale in the hardware section of the store. “We have old fuses and stuff that you just can’t find at Walmart,” said Jonathan Kent. Much of the hardware in stock was designed to fit plumbing and electrical fixtures from the 1920s and 1930s. Many of the store’s customers travel from North Carolina and Virginia to purchase hard-to-find items. That includes apple butter kettles and two-man apple peelers and all sorts of unusual gadgets. While the inside of the hardware section of the store looks like it is still the 1950s, the store’s roof is definitely 21st century. Row after row of new solar panels crowd the roof of the hardware section and the nearby warehouse. The panels have been installed over the past three weeks by one man, Josh Guy of Mountaineer Electric of Vilas, N.C. Guy finished the installation Tuesday. The panels should be connected to the grid by the end of this week. As a result of Guy’s installation and the vision of store owner Sutton Brown, the old-timey store now has bragging rights in Carter County. Its solar panels can generate 44 kilowatts of electricity from the sun. That is remarkable because when the system is connected to the grid this week, Ken Markland of the Elizabethton Electric Department said Brown’s output will be three times larger than Security Federal Bank, which produces 15 kilowatts from its panels. Guy said the installation of the wiring for the panels was difficult because the store and other electric customers were on an old 120/240 volt three-phase delta line, but Markland said it was not a problem for Elizabethton Electric engineers, and they worked with Guy on the connections. Markland said the system will have its own meter to measure how much power the panels are producing. The readings from that meter will be subtracted from the amount of electricity the store consumed each month. If the store used more electricity than the panels produced, the electric bill will be the reduced figure. If the panels produced more electricity than Brown’s consumed, the store will not have to pay anything for that month and credit will be applied to the next month’s bill. At the end of the year, the meter readings will be added up and if there is a credit of more than $200, Markland said Brown will receive a refund check. Guy said there are grants available for the installation of solar panels. He said Brown’s was unable to qualify for a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture because Hampton was not considered rural enough at the time of the grant application. He said that has now changed and the USDA now considers Hampton to be rural, and its grants can be awarded to homes and businesses in the Hampton area. Markland said that even with grants and Tennessee Valley Authority incentives, solar panels have a long return on investment, but that is not the main concern of most people installing them. “It is not really a business investment. You can’t use them to make a profit, but they can reduce your carbon footprint,” Markland said. That means that Brown’s can have a big impact on the market for 1930s implements, while its carbon footprint leaves a small impact on the environment. (Article on Facebook, sent in by Ed Best) http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/article/120868/old-time-country-store-goes-solar

Equal Justice Award Honors Legal Legacy of Vanessa Pettigrew Bryan, BA’76

Vanessa Pettigrew Bryan, BA’76, was honored by Tennessee’s 21st Judicial District Office of the Public Defender with the establishment of the Vanessa Pettigrew Bryan Equal Justice Award. The award is given to a recipient in recognition of a commitment to the relentless pursuit of justice. Vanessa retired as Public Defender of the 21st Judicial District in November 2020 after a career that spanned 35 years in the judicial system.

She was the first Magistrate in Williamson County, Tennessee. She joined the Public Defender’s Office when it was created by the Tennessee state government in 1989. While in office, she traveled a four-county circuit to represent indigent clients in Hickman, Lewis, Perry, and Williamson counties. Her district included the wealthiest and poorest counties in the state of Tennessee.

She was elected to two eight-year terms as the Public Defender in 2006 and 2014, winning both times with a 70 percent margin of victory over her opponents.
While in office, she was instrumental in the creation of misdemeanor and felony Recovery Courts as well as a Mental Health Court and a Veteran’s Court. She was on the Board of Directors for two Recovery Courts and served on the team for more than 20 years.

retired from teaching in June 2019 after a 42 year career and is currently pursuing volunteer opportunities in Blount County.

is the author of the Kim Claypoole mystery series which is largely set in the Great Smoky Mountains. Her protagonist is a Maryville College graduate and frequently wears her MC Scottie Dog t-shirt. The first book in the series, Small Town Trouble was released in paperback and eBook in 2013. Book two, Deep Trouble is scheduled for release was released in May 2014and is now available everywhere in ebook (all formats) and paperback!

Shada Overton ’76 successfully defended her dissertation on July 23, 2018 to be conferred with a Doctorate in Business Admininstration specializing in Criminal Justice. Her intent is to continue teaching on the college level, as she has been for over 30 years, and now she will also be able to teach upper level Criminal Justice and Business courses.

Ed Peterson ’76 is retired now after a career in youth ministry and Christian education. After post-graduate work at Columbia Seminary, the Presbyterian School for Christian Education, and degree and certification work at Princeton Seminary, Ed had a long career serving churches as a youth minister and Christian Educator. He just published a two-volume book about his great grandfather, John Moore Lancaster, and the Civil War, called, “When Glory Comes Late, True Stories of a Civil War Soldier, by Sunbury Press. All royalties will be donated to the Gary Sinise Foundation for Veteran care.

Retired early in 2009. Living on Lake Lanier in the North Georgia mountains with my three dogs and am the volunteer Executive Director of the Good Shepherd Clinic in Dawsonville, Georgia.