BEEKEEPERS OPEN HOUSE September has been set aside as National Honey Month so come celebrate with the Ocoee Regional Beekeepers Association. Ocoee Regional Beekeepers Association will be hosting an Open House on September 18th from 6:30-8:00 pm at the Benton Community Center at 6496 Hwy 411. We will have many displays showing all levels of beekeeping and honey harvesting. There will be honey sampling from various areas in our region and some members will have honey for sale. We will have door prizes and honey made snacks available as well. Honey has been considered, by many, one of the perfect foods and is an ingredient for a variety of useful elixirs to cure, heal or improve multiple ailments. Ocoee Regional Beekeepers Association currently has 47 members from Chatsworth, Cleveland, Benton and other surrounding communities and we are getting ready to start our 6th year. We have many benefits available to club members including, extracting equipment for rent, reduced subscriptions to magazines, reduced prices on some bee medications and an extensive library with some great educational books. We hope to see many of our friends and neighbors for this Open House and YES bring the children, they are future beekeepers.

BERTIE BATES REUNION  The annual Bertie Bates Reunion will be all day Sunday September 23 at Camp McCroy, located on HWY 30 in Greasy Creek.  Lunch will be a potluck, covered-dish meal at 1:00 pm.  Descendants are encouraged to bring old photos and memorabilia to share with family.  For more information call 338-4092.

SWIVEL SWEEPER BOUGHT AT YARD SALE On Saturday, June 9, First Baptist Church in Benton, TN had yard sale. Someone purchased a battery operated swivel. I need you to contact the church. I took it apart and forgot to put the dirt container back in. Sorry for any inconvenience. Please call 338-2066.  

YARD SALE at Life Care Center, 166 Industrial Park RD, Ducktown, TN for the Alzheimer team on Saturday, September 15^th from 8 am to 12 noon. For info please call Shirley at 706-455-3133.

WITH DESCENDANTS Upper Jacks River, Mt. Gillead Baptist Church annual meeting, Sat. Sept 15, 2012 at the church site, Lunch at 12 o’clock noon with worship service to follow led by descendants of the Original Members: Rev. Delmar Davenport, Bernice Millsaps Hill and Denise Bryson Caldwell. Everyone is invited to bring lunch and a folding chair to enjoy an afternoon the cool banks of Jacks River at the site where the community worshipped and attended school from 1892-1936.

GOD PROVIDES This Sunday at McCaysville Church of God on Blue Ridge Hwy, Pastor Steve Lamb will being teaching a six week series on "God Provides" this will include a DVD movie to highlight the miracles of God's provisions. In these troublesome days everyone needs to hear and see how our God through the love of His Son Jesus Christ and power of the Holy Spirit will take care of us. We will have one break in the six week series September. 9 to celebrate our Homecoming of 101 years with guest speaker Pastor Larry Gunter. He is the lead pastor of a large Church of God in the Atlanta area. Larry and his wife, Kathleen, are rich with the Love of God. They will bring a word of encouragement. YOU are invited to McCaysville Church of God. Service times are Sunday teaching at 10 am, worship 11 am and 6 pm, Tuesday pray time at 6-7 pm, Wednesday Christian training at 7 pm. For more information call 706-492-4660.

griefshare beginning September 10, GriefShare will meet at the First Baptist Church of Benton as well as First United Methodist in Copperhill on Mondays from 6-8pm. GriefShare is a special seminar and support group for people grieving the death of someone close to them. It features nationally recognized experts on grief recovery topics. Seminar sessions include: The Journey of Grief, The Effects of Grief, Your Family and Grief, Why?, and Stuck in Grief. Call 338-2066 for more information.

FALL FESTIVAL October 6-7, 2012 John C. Campbell Folk School- Brasstown, NC 10am-5pm, Saturday and Sunday Celebrate the rich heritage of the Appalachians at our 39th annual Fall Festival, featuring the craft of 200 craftspeople, continuous live music and dance on two stages, craft demonstrations, food, kid's activities and much more. Admission:  Adults-$5.00, Kids 12-17-$3.00, Under 12-Free. For more information, you can visit our website:

www.folkschool.org/fallfestival *Brasstown is located 6 miles east of Murphy, NC

Safe Haven Animal Rescue will be holding a garage sale as part of the 411 yard sale in October to raise much needed funds for animal care.  They are seeking donations of items to sell.  If you would like to donate items please call 299 3640 to make arrangements for pick up.

ARTISTS SHOWCASE Sat. Oct. 27 10-5 at the Valley River Arts Guild, 33 Valley River St., Murphy NC. See artists doing live demonstrations! Weaving, photography, dolls, baskets, painting,raffle prizes & more. Free & open to the public

GIRLS SCOUTS CENTENNIAL The Ocoee River Maze is helping Girl Scouts celebrate the Centennial year with a GS themed corn maze and 3 week celebration. Ribbon cutting ceremony & festivities will be on Sat. Sept. 22. 11:00am-6:00pm. There will be lots of family fun activities such as games, contests, petting zoo, corn cannon & bonfire! Scouts will be able to take part in badge work & learn/sing songs around the fire. Cost is $7.00 per person includes all.  Bring your own hot dogs to roast or they will have hot dog & smores packets are available for purchase at very reasonable prices. Also available is a you pick-pumpkin patch (affordable), concession stand and clean rest rooms. Special Event patches & t-shirts will be available for purchase. If you can't join us on the Ribbon cutting day- the River Maze is offering two extra days, 09/29 & 10/6 as Girl Scout days!!  The Ocoee River Maze is located at US Highway 64, Benton, Tennessee 37307

All things WOOD.  The work of Marty Stover will be featured in the front window of the Valley River Arts Guild Gallery for the month of June. Marty enjoys the challenge of designing and making unique pieces of furniture and household accessories.   The gallery is located at 33 Valley River Ave. in downtown Murphy. You can view more of the artists work in the gallery. You can contact Marty with questions at revots@hughes.net or 828-494-9311.

CALL TO ALL ARTISTS Be a part of the Murphy Art Walk, First Fridays, May through November, 5:00 – 8:00 pm in downtown Murphy, NC. (May 4, June 1, July 6, Aug. 3, Sept. 7, Oct. 5, Nov. 2) Join our Artist Registry to be used by 21 downtown businesses participating in Art Walk. They are looking for 2D, 3D, and Performance artists to feature at their places of businesses on these dates. Join by visiting www.ValleyRiverArts.com , or contact Alex Peers at flutie1999@yahoo.com or (404) 372-9610 with your name, email, phone, website, and a short description of your art. This is event is sponsored by the Valley River Arts Guild.

SAFE HAVEN Animal Rescue is in need of people who have fenced in yards to foster dogs.  We provide all food and veterinary care including spaying and neutering. Our existing foster families are overwhelmed with the number of dogs in our possession.  We work hard to find forever homes by advertising on Petfinder and Pooches on the Move. Last year we found great homes for 80 dogs.  Please call the SHARP line 299 3640.

EAST AND WEST POLK LIBRARY HOURS East Polk-Mon., Tues., Thurs. & Fri. 1:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. Sat 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. West Polk-Mon., Wed., & Fri. 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. and 1-4:30 p.m.

LOW INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE available through SETHRA by calling (423) 338-2335 or (423) 496-2644.

REGULARLY SCHEDULED MEETINGS

-County Commission will be 3^RD Thursday at 7 p.m., alternating between the Benton Courthouse and Ducktown Senior Center.

-School Board, 2nd Monday, 7 p.m. at the various schools.

-Benton Town Commission lst Monday, 5 p.m. at Benton Town Hall.

-Copperhill City Council 3rd Monday at 6 p.m. at City Hall.

-Polk County Planning Commission, 3rd Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. alternating between the Ducktown Courthouse and Benton Courthouse.

-Ducktown City Commission 1st Thursday at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

-Ocoee Ruritan Club, 1st Thursday, 7 p.m. at the Fire & Rescue Hall in Ocoee on Hwy. 411.