Arbor Day: Norris recognized 43rd time as a ‘Tree City USA’
Some of the Arbor Day poster art winners get their pictures taken during Friday’s Norris Arbor Day celebration at Norris Elementary School. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
Brook Smith, area forester for the state, presented the flag to City Councilman Bill Grieve on behalf of the city and the Norris Tree Commission, recognizing the city’s longtime commitment to planting and protecting trees.
“Norris was the first city in Tennessee to earn the Tree City USA designation,” Smith told a crowd of about 300 people during the city’s Arbor Day celebration in the gymnasium at Norris Elementary School.
Second-grade students gathered on stage to sing a song about trees to open the ceremony.
Grieve read a proclamation about Arbor Day signed by Norris Mayor Chris Mitchell, and talked about redbud trees, which were given to each student at the school to take home and plant in their yards.
Forester Smith also presented a Tree Line USA award to the Clinton Utilities Board for its longtime adherence to conservation of trees along its power lines in Anderson County. Greg McAnally of CUB was on hand to receive a Tree Line USA flag from Smith.
Arbor Day posters made by the Norris Elementary School students were displayed on boards at the front of the gymnasium, and winners of the poster contest in each grade level were announced.
The assembly also honored the memories of two former Norris Elementary teachers, Merna Crawhorn and Lynn Titshaw.
A redbud “memory tree” was planted in their names on Saturday at the corner of East Norris Circle and Reservoir Road.
To earn a Tree City USA designation, a city must have a tree commission and meet other criteria concerning planting and preservation of trees within the city limits.
