News
October 21, 2026 by Jake Nichols
At 8:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 16, Maddox Craft took a deep breath, looked around and uttered four words: “We got this, y’all.”
Two minutes later, a similarly nervous tone arose from Rhodes Bryan: “It’s really hitting now.”
But it didn’t really hit — not fully, at least — until 8:37 p.m.
At that point, mouths hung open in shock where nervous laughter had bubbled forth moments earlier. Eyes wide, eight Farragut high school senior boys — Jake Mink, Asher Watson, Rhodes Bryan, Will Feehan, Oliver Gerwin, Maddox Craft, Ian Morgan and Hank Tate — looked around in disbelief.
Heads freshly shaved, they grinned and gasped while looking down at the locks that lay below their chairs on the track of Eddie Courtney Stadium.
Their united act — to shave their heads in support of breast cancer awareness — was the latest culmination of a month-long event that dates back almost a decade.
“We started the pink-out nine years ago with t-shirts, and the head shaving started eight years ago with seniors wanting to raise extra money,” said Stephanie Thompson, who founded the annual Farragut High School fundraiser in honor of her late sister. “We’ve sold 6,000 total shirts over nine years. My sister Ashley passed away from breast cancer in 2013, so that’s why I wanted to do it.
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October 21, 2026 by Jake Nichols
The Farragut community has lost a man whose voice was synonymous with the Admirals’ baseball program.
Ralph Skinner, the longtime public address announcer for Farragut baseball, died this past weekend at the age of 71.
He served the Admirals in the P.A. role for 25 years, stretching from 2001 to 2026.
“Ralph was a really classy guy,” Farragut athletic director Donald Dodgen said of Skinner. “He gave so much dedication and loyalty to the Farragut High School baseball program. He was one of a kind. Always there when we needed some help, and he was more than a P.A. person. He’d make sure the press box was clean, making sure things were working. Just a jack of all trades.”
Skinner’s years behind the microphone saw three different head coaches take the helm, as Tommy Pharr’s tenure gave way to that of Matt Buckner before Garrett Copeland took the reins.
“Just a lot of the things people have said,” Pharr noted of Skinner. “He was our booster club president when his oldest son Mark was a sophomore or junior, and he was the P.A. guy and has been throughout the years. He was a classy and kind person, helping other people. He loved Farragut baseball and was a big part of the program for more than 20 years.”
Pharr reiterated the importance of Skinner’s impact as a husband to his beloved wife, Susie, and a father to sons Mark and Andrew, both of whom played for Farragut.
“I got to see him raise his sons, what a good, godly man he was, the husband he was,” Pharr said. “He was a good friend to me. It’s a tough deal.”
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October 21, 2026 by Tammy Cheek
Farragut Municipal Planning Commission approved a final plat for three lots on 8.613 acres at 817 Virtue Road in a 6-2 vote during its Thursday, Oct. 15, meeting, but the approval came with concerns and conditions.
Mayor Alex Cain and Vice Mayor Greg Wiberley, both Planning Commissioners, voted against approval, while Commissioners Angel Ray, Shannon Preston, Jeff Devlin, Chairman Noah Myers, John Tague and Michael Wilson voted in favor. Derek Wright was absent.
Community Development director Mark Shipley said the Town rezoned the property to Rural Single-Family Residential in August.
Prior to that, “it had been three different zoning districts, so that [rezoning] helped clean up the property,” Shipley said. “It was with the intent of subdividing this property into three lots, and that’s what’s been requested for your approval this evening.”
“All of the lots are well over 20,000 square feet on the west side of Virtue Road,” he said.
One concern is the property will be affected by the future second phase of the Virtue Road improvement project.
“The applicant [Benjamin “Benny” Moorman, president of Benchmark Associates Inc.] has
met with the Town engineering staff to make sure that what he’s doing with this plat is being coordinated with our road improvement project,” Shipley said.
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October 21, 2026 by Tammy Cheek
Another election is here, as early voting began Wednesday, Oct. 14, and will continue through Thursday, Oct. 29, for state and federal offices.
“Through the first two days, it’s gone pretty well,” Knox County Election Commission administrator Chris Davis said. “The biggest thing we’re seeing is the lines are a little longer than expected because of all the questions on the ballot — the constitutional amendments.
“But it’s not really as high a turnout as it was eight years ago because we had the governor and the Senate and the House were all open seats [then], and now the governor is the only open seat because of no incumbent,” he said. “But it’s much higher than it was four years ago, so it’s halfway between four years ago and eight years ago with the turnout.
“I’m expecting 130,000, 140,000 [countywide] when it’s all said and done,” Davis predicted.
He urged voters to cast their ballots early, especially with the constitutional amendments on the ballot.
At Farragut, “some of these people were in line an hour, which is great, but I don’t want people standing in long lines on Election Day,” Davis said.
Voters may cast their ballots at any early voting location in Knox County, according to the Knox County Election Commission.
Residents can vote at Farragut Community Center, 239 Jamestowne Blvd., from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays; and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays.
“They really need to early vote, and Farragut Community Center is a really great place to early vote,” Davis said. “I hope people will take advantage of it.
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October 21, 2026 by Tammy Cheek
Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen heard how the town has addressed traffic congestion in the Town Center district and what improvements are planned during a workshop Thursday, Oct. 8.
“I know, with some of you being new to the Board, we want to give you an overview of just some of the things we have been working on as a town over the last couple years and the different projects we’ve been having, especially on the Kingston Pike corridor and Campbell Station Road — it’s a very heavily congested area — and some of the technology enhancements that we’ve added recently, and then want to continue adding,” Town administrator David Smoak said.
With that, deputy Town engineer Eric Schindler presented current and future options “to enhance the system even further,” Smoak added.
Using before-and-after photos, Schindler showed how the Town Center district has changed since 2003, when South Campbell Station Road “was non-existent,” he said.
“Later on, you’ll see the construction of Brooklawn Street, tying in of Anchor Green and the Biddle Farms Boulevard,” he said.
“Traffic flow can be improved by increasing intersection efficiency or increasing capacity, which is the number of vehicles that can get through an intersection in a given period of time,” Schindler said. “A combination of physical capacity improvements and efficiency improvements have been completed since the early 2000s.”
Among those efforts was a Tennessee Department of Transportation project that extended South Campbell Station Road. Additional access points — Brooklawn Street, Anchor Green and Biddle Farm Boulevard — also were added to improve traffic flow.
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October 21, 2026 by Tammy Cheek
The Town of Farragut officials will hold a workshop to deliberate on appointments to Town committees at 5 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 22, in the Board Room of Farragut Town Hall, before its regular Board meeting at 6 p.m.
Board members are expected to review filling current vacancies on various Town committees, as well as appointing a Board liaison on several committees.
There are vacancies on the following committees: Arts & Beautification, a lodging representative and at-large representative on the Tourism Visitor Advisory Committee, Visual Resources Review Board and five citizen positions on the Comprehensive Land Use Steering Committee.
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October 21, 2026 by Tammy Cheek
Only 17 residents attended a public forum Wednesday, Oct. 7, at Farragut Community Center to hear from applicants seeking to fill the vacant North Ward alderman seat on the Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen.
Of the seven applicants, only two — Stacy Walters and Dian Hall — were available to field questions.
Farragut Alderman Joey Ruffalo, who organized the forum, said one applicant, Michael Bittel, withdrew his name from consideration Oct. 7; two were traveling during fall break; another was out of the country; and one did not respond.
The North Ward seat became vacant when Alderman Alex Cain was elected mayor in August.
Seven people applied for the position: Bittel, who later withdrew; Hall; Walters; Sharafat Khan; Trevor McQueen; Earle Lawrence Segrest; and Col Stiefel.
Among the questions Ruffalo asked was, “With rising costs and competing needs for roads, parks and other services, how would you decide what to fund now, what to scale back and what to delay?”
“I think the most important thing is to, one, always seek residents’ input,” Hall responded. “What are the citizens looking for? What are they interested in seeing?”
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