Scott County Today

The annual Firemen’s Fourth Festival, sponsored by the Huntsville Fire Department, is scheduled for July 4 on the Courthouse Mall in Huntsville.

The event includes live entertainment, arts & crafts, carnival rides,  and concessions July 3 and July 4.

The July 4 festivities include the annual parade at 11 a.m. and the region’s largest fireworks displays at 10 p.m.

New Beginnings, a pre-owned variety store that has been established to raise funds for the Scott County Women’s Shelter,  is open five days at week in the former Band Z Motel in Oneida.

The store is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, and from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Saturday.

The shelter is also accepting monetary donations and is seeking volunteers.  If you would like to donate money or time, contact the Scott County Women’s Shelter at (423) 569-3355.

The Onedia Kiwanis Club has scheduled its annual pancake breakfast for Saturday, May 30.

The event will again be held at the Kiwanis booth at the Scott County Fairgrounds.

After years of futility, the pro-life cause in Tennessee has made some progress in its state legislature.

The Health and Human Services Subcommittee of the Tennessee House of Representatives, on a 20-7 vote in early April, approved a bill to restore the regulation of abortion to the state legislature.

The state senate had passed the bill the eight previous years, only for it to die in the subcommittee. The measure seeks to overturn a 2000 opinion by the Tennessee Supreme Court that invalidated all state laws restricting abortion.

This year’s measure has gained passage in the Senate and is awaiting a floor vote in the House. If approved this year, the proposal must gain passage by a two-thirds majority in both chambers in 2011 before going to voters in 2014.

For other pro-life news, visit the Baptist News page.

America’s radical leftists appear ready to flex their political muscle in the U.S. House of Representatives, promoting a bill that could soon make it illegal for ministers,  youth pastors, and Sunday School teachers to discuss the Bible’s position on homosexuality.

A vote is looming this week in Congress on a bill that would legitimize deviant forms of “sexual orientation,” and make it unlawful for a minister give his views on a subject that has long been a hot politial issue among leftists. A markup vote is expected Wednesday in the House Judiciary Committee on the Local Law Enforcement and Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.  The measure (H.R. 1913) would add homosexuals and transgender people to the list of classes federally protected from so-called “hate crimes.”
 
For the entire story, visit the “Our Country” section.