2021 and earlier

Quintin Ellison/District Attorney’s Office Defense attorney Rich Cassady (left) speaks with his client, Jackie Slaughter, at trial last week in the Cherokee County Courthouse.

Quintin Ellison/District Attorney’s Office Defense attorney Rich Cassady (left) speaks with his client, Jackie Slaughter, at trial last week in the Cherokee County Courthouse.

Exclusive Content

Jury convicts Slaughter of lesser charge

Penny Ray
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Body Murphy – On each day of the trial charging Jackie Slaughter with attempted murder, the judge instructed jurors not to research media reports about the defendant’s past.
Penny Ray/pennyray@cherokeescout.com A fire claimed the life of a local resident early Monday morning on Old Farm Road.

Penny Ray/pennyray@cherokeescout.com A fire claimed the life of a local resident early Monday morning on Old Farm Road.

Exclusive Content

Woman dies in trailer fire

Penny Ray
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Body Martins Creek – A rooster pecked through the charred remains of a residential mobile home Monday morning.
Newly appointed Chief Colin Gillespie speaks at the March 9 Andrews Board of Aldermen meeting

Newly appointed Chief Colin Gillespie speaks at the March 9 Andrews Board of Aldermen meeting

Exclusive Content

Andrews selects new police chief

Penny Ray
Tuesday, March 16, 2021
Body Andrews – Lucky number seven. Town aldermen appointed a new police chief at the March 9 meeting, making Colin Gillespie the seventh person to lead the department in the past t
Alexander Nichols (left) and Jeremiah Ellison from Carson-Newman University work hard removing invasive plants from the Murphy River Walk, which allows native vegetation to flourish.

Alexander Nichols (left) and Jeremiah Ellison from Carson-Newman University work hard removing invasive plants from the Murphy River Walk, which allows native vegetation to flourish.

Exclusive Content

Volunteers clear River Walk

Stacy Van Buskirk
Tuesday, March 16, 2021
Body Murphy Local leaders say a handful of non-native plants scatter seeds that cause overgrowth and strangles native plants, overtaking landscapes.
Stacy Van Buskirk/ svanbuskirk@cherokeescout.com Silas Shields of Culberson searches through archives at the Cherokee Scout looking for information about his great-great grandmother, Lou Emma Shields, who went missing in 1963.

Stacy Van Buskirk/ svanbuskirk@cherokeescout.com Silas Shields of Culberson searches through archives at the Cherokee Scout looking for information about his great-great grandmother, Lou Emma Shields, who went missing in 1963.

Mystery haunts local family

Stacy Van Buskirk
Tuesday, March 16, 2021
Body Culberson – On a cold February night in 1963, 76-year-old Lou Emma “Emma” Shields went missing, which started the largest manhunt in Cherokee County history of the time.

Exclusive Content

County approves only 1 high school

Penny Ray
Tuesday, March 16, 2021
Body Murphy – Now they can begin. The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners voted to commit up to $40 million toward a new consolidated high school.