Fatal Plane Crash located after multi-hour search.

Press release from Cumberland Co. Sheriff's Dept.  

On May 25, 2021 at approximately 7:52 a.m. (CST) First responders were alerted to a possible single engine plane crash by Roane County 911.     Multiple agencies responded to assist in the search.  

Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office

Cumberland County Fire Department

Crossville Fire Department

Cumberland County Rescue Squad 

Crossville/Cumberland County Emergency Management Agency

Tennessee Highway Patrol Special Ops

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation

UT Lifestar

Tennessee Emergency Management Agency

Cumberland County EMS

Roane County EMA

Tennessee Wildlife Agency

Roane County Sheriff’s Office

Photo of crash site provided by 

Cumberland Co. Sheriff's Office

It was determined that no known flight plan was filed and the reason of the crash is unknown at this time.  Cumberland County Sheriff’s Deputies secured the crash site until FAA Investigators  arrived to conduct an investigation into the cause of the crash. 

The plane was piloted by Vasile Ghelan, 35 of  Knoxville.   The single engine plane #N26889 was based out of Knoxville Downtown Island Home Airport and was a private plane with a flight school.   Mr. Ghelan was found deceased at the crash site.  Our hearts and prayers go out to the family and friends.  

Stone Memorial HS Panther Rocket Club earns a spot in the National Finals of The American Rocketry Challenge

 Student rocketeers from 27 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands will compete next month for more than $100,000 in prizes and the title of National Champion

The Stone Memorial Rocket Club has twice before been in the prestigious Finals Competition, the last time in 2011. This year's TARC final competition will be held in several locations around the country and the Panther Rocket Club will launch at the Birmingham Alabama location on June 12th. 

Late last year the team lost their long time rocket mentor Jim Kukowski who worked for NASA for as a PR officer for over 20 years and was a long time member of the National Association of Rocketry. Kukowski encouraged team members since the club began.  

SMHS Engineering teacher Tommy Tatum is the team's sponsor. 

2021 SMHS Panther Rocket Club (photo courtesy of the club)

Arlington, VA –The American Rocketry Challenge announced the teams competing in this year’s National Finals. After the COVID-19 pandemic caused the cancellation of last year’s competition, 100 teams from 27 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands were selected to compete for $100,000 in prizes and the title of National Champion in the return to flight for the 2021 competition. See the top 100 teams here.

The American Rocketry Challenge is the aerospace and defense industry’s flagship program designed to encourage students to pursue study and careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

In accordance with all federal, state, and local health guidance, this year’s Finals will be held at 11 launch sites across the country. Those launch sites are located in or near:

• Birmingham, Alabama
• Lucerne Valley, California
• Pueblo, Colorado
• Palm Beach, Florida
• Reno, Nevada
• Syracuse, New York
• Dayton, Ohio
• Rockdale, Texas
• The Plains, Virginia
• Pasco, Washington
• Brighton, Wisconsin

Sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), the National Association of Rocketry, and more than a dozen industry partners, the American Rocketry Challenge is the world’s largest student rocket contest. This year, 615 teams representing 45 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands designed and built model rockets in hopes of qualifying for the National Finals. Among this year’s teams, 21 are first-time competitors.

The American Rocketry Challenge promotes friendly competition among teams from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities, and geographies—from the Great Plains to major metropolitan areas. Numerous teams launched fundraising campaigns in their communities to make their participation possible this year. The American Rocketry Challenge also offers $2,000 grants to eligible Title I schools to launch their own rocketry teams.

“In a year full of extraordinary challenges, teamwork and determination propelled these talented rocketeers to qualify for the National Finals,” said AIA President and CEO Eric Fanning. “While the American Rocketry Challenge may look different this year, it continues to be a bright spark of inspiration for future STEM leaders and the aerospace and defense industry.”

First launched in 2002, the Rocketry Challenge has inspired more than 80,000 middle and high school students to explore education and careers in STEM fields. The competition challenges middle and high school students to design, build, and fly a rocket that meets rigorous altitude and flight duration parameters through a series of certified, qualifying launches. This year’s challenge requires teams to safely carry a payload of one raw egg to three different altitude and time goals. With their first flight goal and qualification flights done, teams must fly to 775 feet within 39 to 42 seconds, and then to 825 feet within 41 to 44 seconds at the National Finals.

Follow and support your local team on the road to National Finals using the official hashtag: #TARC2021.

Cumberland County Man Facing 2nd Degree Murder in drug related death last year.

Man Charged in Drug-Related Death of Cumberland County Woman

by Susan Niland, TBI 
A joint investigation by special agents with the Drug Investigation Division of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department, High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force, and the TBI Overdose Death Task Force has resulted in the indictment of a Cumberland County man, in connection to the drug-related death of a Crossville woman.

Mark Christopher Brown

On June 28, 2020, Agents joined deputies in investigating the death of Madison Christine Brown (DOB 11/19/1998). She was found deceased on June 27, 2020. Her cause of death was determined to be methamphetamine toxicity. The investigation identified Mark Brown as the individual who provided her methamphetamine on the night of her death.

On April 26th, the Cumberland County Grand Jury returned indictments, charging Mark Christopher Brown (DOB 12/26/1976) with one count of Second Degree Murder, one count of Sale of a Schedule II Controlled Substance, and one count of Delivery of a Schedule II Controlled Substance. Brown was served on those charges today, and booked at the Cumberland County Jail on a $150,000 bond.

Mandy Barnett talks about her career plans as a teenager in a radio interview from 1991

Back in July 1991, Crossville native Mandy Barnett was 15 years old and very early in her professional music career.  Mandy had been singing around Crossville and Cumberland County since a very early age and at the time of this radio interview promoting an appearance at the Cumberland County Playhouse she was on the cusp of launching a music career after working summers at Dollywood and being invited on Dolly's TV show.

Mandy has a new album Every Star Above coming out May 7.  

At a young age, Mandy Barnett wanted

to put her hometown on the map.

That wish came true with this marker

on the courthouse lawn as part of the

Tennessee Music Pathways.

(Photo by Jim Young)

Just a few years after this interview, Mandy performed in a play that really put her on the map in 1994 when she originated the role of Patsy Cline on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium in Always, Patsy Cline.  

This interview/news story about a then upcoming show with Mandy and others at the Cumberland County Playhouse was originally broadcast on WEGE-FM radio in Crossville July 17, 1991 almost 30 years ago. 

Mandy has long had a following of country music entertainers and professionals and she talks about producer Gail Davies who she was working with at the time of the interview.  

Since the interview was recorded, Mandy has put out 8 of her own albums and appeared on a number of other projects with an amazing array of artists and numerous singles.  A new album is also in the works currently and the first single from that album is soon to be released. In the interview Mandy mentions her goal of putting her hometown of Crossville on the map, something she has certainly done.  Just last year, the Tennessee Department of Tourism recognized Mandy with a stop on the Tennessee Music Pathways on the Cumberland County Courthouse lawn. 

Link to Interview on Soundcloud