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December 14, 2014
SUNDAY
Price $1.50
© 2014 Kingsport Publishing Corp.
98th Year, Number 348
ECU set
to share
$8M
dividend
By HANK HAYES
[email protected]
Contributed photos
Biologists Bruce Cantrell, left, and Jessica Fain, right, have spent nearly 10 weeks in Jules’ Undersea Lodge off the coast of Key Largo, Fla. Chatting via
Skype, students from Twin Springs High School recently talked with the two about their undersea adventure. On Thursday, the duo broke the record for
the longest time spent living underwater. Cantrell and Fain are set to return to the surface Monday and they plan to visit Twin Springs next semester.
Twin Springs students get glimpse of life underwater
By MARCI GORE
[email protected]
NICKELSVILLE, Va. — Students
from Twin Springs High School recently had the opportunity to chat, via
Skype, with two biologists who have
been living underwater since early
October.
The biologists, Bruce Cantrell and
Jessica Fain, have spent nearly 10
weeks in Jules’ Undersea Lodge,
which bills itself as “the only undersea hotel on Earth” and is located just
off the coast of Key Largo, Fla.
Cantrell, a biology professor at
Roane State Community College, and
Fain, a biology instructor, also at
Roane State, decided to live underwater to learn more about marine biology and to educate students about the
ocean.
On Thursday, the duo broke the
record for the longest time spent living underwater. According to Guinness World Records, the previous
record was held by Richard Presley,
who, in 1992, spent 69 days and 19 minutes in the same undersea “hotel” as Cantrell and Fain. After living underwater for 73 days, Cantrell and Fain will resurface on Monday.
While underwater, Cantrell and Fain have hosted a series of weekly educational videos, aimed at teachers and students from middle school grades and
up. The videos, all available on YouTube, are about Cantrell and Fain’s time
living underwater. Their project has been dubbed “Classroom Under the
Sea.”
April Addington is a science teacher at Twin Springs and says the opportu-
nity for her students to participate in
Classroom Under the Sea just kind of
“fell into her lap.”
“Bruce Cantrell’s nephew, Ronnie
Widener, works at the Nickelsville
Sewage Treatment and Water Plants.
He presented this opportunity to us
and helped us get in touch with
Bruce,” Addington said.
Addington’s students have watched
Cantrell and Fain’s videos to learn
about life under the sea as well as
Jules’ Undersea Lodge, the “hotel”
where the pair is staying.
But, perhaps one of the highlights
of this unique classroom experience
was when Addington’s students had
the opportunity to chat via Skype with
Cantrell and Fain. Students were able
to ask questions about what it is like to
live underwater for so many days.
“I think what they are doing is
amazing,” said Dale Rentfrow, a junior at Twin Springs High School. “I
couldn’t imagine going 73 days without seeing the sun. It must be amazing
Contributed photo seeing everything down there. If they
still love the ocean after this, it would
be amazing. It was awesome talking to them. They were kind, patient and funny. I’d love to talk to them again.”
“I really liked Skyping with them,” said Preslie Ryder, a junior at Twin
Springs. “I’m very glad they took the time to talk to us. I felt as if we all learned
a lot and had a lot of fun. I lived in Florida when I was younger and Skyping
with them kind of reminded me of home. It was really interesting and I loved
Please see TWIN SPRINGS STUDENTS, PAGE 2A
KINGSPORT — Eastman Credit Union (ECU)
has given almost $70 million back to its members
since 1998 through its extraordinary dividend.
ECU members can expect a record-breaking $8
million dividend early next year for their loyalty
in 2014, the credit union has announced.
“We like to build strong relationships with our
members, and it’s been an exceptional year of relationship building. Our members appreciate the
products we offer and the level of service they receive when they do business with us. We are member owned. When we have an exceptional year, so
do our members,” Olan O. Jones, ECU president
and CEO,
said in a
prepared
release.
Since
1998,
the
ECU Board
of Directors has approved a year-end bonus payout, or extraordinary dividend, every year.
“I want people to understand how members
qualify for an extraordinary dividend, because
it’s a unique benefit,” Jones pointed out. “Most
people, especially working families, have a
checking account, a mortgage and an auto loan,
but they may not have those with the same financial institution. At ECU, we strive to have the
best products and services available, so coming
to ECU with your loans and your checking account is a great deal. But the more you bring to
ECU, the more you qualify for in the Extraordinary Dividend payout.”
ECU, with the highest member satisfaction survey ever in 2014, was recently granted awards and
acknowledgments from the Pew Charitable Trust
and Wall Street Journal-acclaimed Nerd Wallet
for outstanding products and services.
“At ECU, we have the honor of being beside
members for many of their important moments.
From a couple’s first checking account and the
mortgage they get when starting a family to student loans for their children, we go with members
every step of the way. When members trust us to
take care of their money and related finances, the
greater the rewards,” Jones added.
With over 150,000 members worldwide and
more than 600 employees, ECU operates 24
branch offices and more than 70 ATMs in four
states, and provides access to over 55,000
surcharge-free ATMs nationwide via the Allpoint
Network.
For additional information about ECU, visit
www.ecu.org.
Lee County family struggles in wake of coal crash
By STEPHEN IGO
[email protected]
Kathryn-Ray Taylor of Kingsport is a winner in
the 2014 Times-News Countdown to Christmas
Art Contest, 6-8 age group.
PENNINGTON GAP — The face of a
post-coal economy in Southwest Virginia is reflected in the four faces of a Lee County family.
The worried eyes of a mom, almost frantic
desperation of a dad, the stoic silence of their
16-year-old daughter, and the
wide-eyed innocence of a
2-year-old son.
Nearly two years ago R., the
son and grandson of coal miners, was laid off from his mining
job. Across Southwest Virginia
for the last few years, R. was
INSIDE
hardly alone as mines shut
List of donors
down across the Appalachian
on page 1C.
coal mining region, an industry
getting pummeled by natural
gas market forces on one side and a federal government opposed to all things coal on the other.
The politics of global warming are meaningless in a small taxpayer-subsidized, showing-its-age prefab residence that former taxpayPlease see LEE COUNTY, PAGE 5A
Good
morning
from:
Tyler Cox
of Blountville.
Charge of the light brigade
Weather
Mostly sunny skies
with a high of 53.
Partly cloudy
tonight, low of 26.
Complete weather
report on 8A.
Stephen Igo — [email protected]
R., shown with his wife and their son, has struggled to find work since being laid off from his mining job.
To view pets available for
adoption at the SBK animal
shelters, visit timesnews.net.
The Griswold Gang set out Thursday night
in The Party Wagon (Dick Cartwright’s 1993
Taurus with an estimated 270,000 miles and
a racing sled on top) to track down Kingsport’s finest Christmas light displays and
report back to my readers. Page 1C.
Index
Classified ......... 1D-8D
Crossword .............. 3E
Deaths ............... 3C-4C
Editorial ................. 6A
Frugal Focus.......... 2A
GoTriCities............. 2E
History ................... 7A
Metro ................. 1C-5C
Money................ 6C-8C
Pet of the Week....... 4E
Property Transfers. 7C
Scoreboard ............. 2B
Sports ................ 1B-8B
Sudoku ................... 5D
Television............... 2A
Weddings ............... 8E
Page Design/Frank Cannon