by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

“Retiring is doing what you want to do,” said Dan Barry about his plans to start a youth wrestling program at Winchester Christian Academy following his decision to retire from coordinating the Mountain Top Wrestling Tournament at St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School, a 20-year commitment that began in 2006. But there is a problem with Barry’s definition of retirement. Talking with Barry, it quickly becomes apparent he has been doing what he loves for the past 40 years: coaching.

Barry started wrestling when he was a sophomore at St. Andrew’s School. “Before I got to high school the only sport to play around here was baseball,” Barry said. “My older brother had wrestled at St. Andrew’s and my cousins. When I got there, the coach said, ‘You’re a Barry. You’re gonna wrestle.’” Barry chuckled, “I didn’t know any different.” He graduated in 1972, earned a master’s degree in psychology from Middle Tennessee State University, and worked at Vanderbilt in the neuropsychiatry department testing new drugs. But by the 80s, Barry was back on the mountain with two familiar blips on his radar screen. His wife Arlene started a catering business which evolved into the legendary Four Seasons Restaurant located on the Barry family farm in Midway. The eighth generation of Barrys now lives on that farm. “I cut the timber for the restaurant from that land,” Barry said.

The other homing pigeon instinct that called to Barry was wrestling. He volunteered to help out with the Mountain Top Wrestling Tournament started by St. Andrew’s athletic director Brian McDowell in 1980 and with the Amateur Athletic Union youth wrestling program, likewise initiated by McDowell. “Brian talked Tracy City Elementary School into letting them put wrestling mats in the gym and practice there,” Barry said. His son Nick began wrestling at the age of six.

Asked when he started coaching wrestling at SAS, Barry hesitated, “It’s hard to remember exactly because I was helping out all the time.” Barry officially signed on as assistant coach in 1999 and moved into the head coach role in 2006, a position he held until 2014. During Barry’s coaching tenure, 23 wrestlers earned recognition placing in the state championships. Not surprisingly, Barry’s kids were among those making history. Between them, his sons Nick and Evan placed seven times in the state finals. Barry’s daughter Hannah wrestled in the first state tournament with a separate division for girls, placing second in the state. SAS’s Lucia Krcmeryova placed first.

It was the first year SAS had a girls’ wrestling team, and Hannah’s senior year, 2010. “I asked her if she wanted to do it, and she said, yes,” Barry said. He explained prior to that when girls wrestled they wrestled against boys. AAU youth wrestling groups wrestle by age, not weight class. “In the youth program years, girls develop a little faster than the boys, and they have a lot of success. But by the time they get to their sophomore or junior year, the boys overpower them with their muscle strength.”

Barry’s most memorable coaching event was when SAS won the 2008 Mountain Top Tournament and at the same tournament his son Evan received the Outstanding Wrestler award. Barry will be following his grandkids to WCA just like he followed his kids to SAS. Together with Evan as assistant coach, Barry plans to start the school’s first wrestling program, beginning with ages 5-13. In a few years, Barry hopes to move into Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association wrestling. “We’ve got to get people interested,” he said. “We don’t want to get the socks beat off of us the first year.”

Among the challenges of coordinating the SAS Mountaintop Wrestling Tournament, Barry cited finding a balance in terms of both the number of schools competing, the number of wrestlers, and the skill level. “Mountain Top is all midlevel schools,” he insisted. “No heavy weights. Everybody has a chance to win.”

During the time his kids attended SAS Barry also served as head coach for middle school soccer and varsity girls’ softball and as an assistant coach for baseball and football. “Now I’m coaching my grandkids with my kids,” he said. He and his son Ryan pair up to coach community soccer and baseball.

Four Seasons Restaurant closed in 2008, but has since become a family gathering place. The walls are lined with photographs boasting on the generations of young people Barry coached. Abby Mainzer, who ranked first in the state in girls wrestling, went on to earn a full scholarship to wrestle for Oklahoma City University. Seth Burns who ranked twice in the state finals came back to SAS to serve as Barry’s assistant coach.

“It’s hard to walk away from it, because you’ve always got some coming up, and they’re like your kids,” Barry confessed. “I’m such a blessed man to be able to do what I’ve done, that the lord’s let me do this.”

By Barry’s definition of retired, he’s been retired most of his adult life. What he loves just won’t let him quit.

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the Feb. 2 meeting the Monteagle Council selected a location for a Veterans Memorial, the first step toward a long-discussed project becoming a reality. The council also passed a resolution to apply for a Community Development Block Grant for waterline extension and improvements, the first step in a process that could yield up to $1 million in federal funding. Other first steps taken at the meeting put Monteagle on the path to becoming a Tree City and to reducing costs at the sewer plant.

Arguing for selecting a site for a Veterans Memorial to jumpstart the process, Alderman Dean Lay suggested a vacant tract on the east side of the library. Compared to other proposed sites, the library location has “the best visibility coming from I-24 Exit 135 or coming through town,” Lay said. “The site has not been used for anything since it’s been there.” Alderman Grant Fletcher agreed, “The site matches well with plans for neighboring property.” Plans call for display of the American flag and the flags from the six branches of service displayed in the order in which they were established: army, marine corps, navy, air force, space force, and coast guard. Alderman Nate Wilson is investigating acquiring military equipment for display at the memorial.

On Jan. 8 Southeast Tennessee Development (SETD) hosted a public hearing familiarizing Monteagle residents and officials with CDBG funding options. With a March 20 application deadline, SETD stressed the importance of a quick decision so SETD could move forward with the grant writing process. Approving Mayor Greg Maloofs’ recommendation to apply for a grant to facilitate waterline improvement and extension, Lay said, “There are many areas underserved by line size and pressure.” If received, the grant requires the town to supply up to 15 percent in matching funds.

The council approved a new ordinance creating a Tree Advisory Council, a requirement for receiving Tree City designation from the National Arbor Day Foundation. The Monteagle Community Council will appoint the Tree Advisory Council members. The council is charged with creating a tree list for planting trees on public property. “Becoming a Tree City opens us up to a whole series of grant opportunities,” Wilson said.

The Task Order for Sludge Removal approved by the council allocates $58,500 for design and specification for sludge removal equipment at the sewer plant. “We have an outside contractor who removes sludge. That is getting more and more costly,” explained Maloof. Originally only once annual sludge removal was needed at the sewer plant, but now twice a year removal is necessary. “Some recommendations call for three times a year,” Maloof said. “It becomes economically feasible to buy the machine to do it ourselves.” Fletcher passed along concern from sewer plant operators about whether the equipment “would match up well with Monteagle’s system.” Maloof reassured the council, “I will not sign the task order until we coordinate the demonstration [of the equipment] and meet with the plant operators.” The anticipated cost of the project including design, purchase, and installation is $1 million.

Andy Baggentoss, Vice President of the South Cumberland Chamber of Commerce, asked for a commitment from the council to allow the chamber to host the annual Monteagle Mountain Market at Hannah Pickett Park. The chamber proposes calling the event the Mountain Market, in keeping with the chamber’s name change from the Monteagle Mountain Chamber of Commerce to the South Cumberland Chamber of Commerce to reflect the chamber’s all-encompassing vision for the plateau. Although the chamber has hosted the event in the recent past, Fletcher pointed out the market began 67 years ago as an event hosted by the town. The council approved the Hannah Pickett Park location for the 2026 event. Fletcher hopes going forward for “coordination” between the chamber and the town’s Imagine Monteagle planning initiative. A chamber representative serves on the Imagine Monteagle committee. The council appointed Monteagle resident Linda Brookhart to serve as the town’s representative on the chamber.

Maloof announced the town was experimenting with wrapping trees with a reflective band on Laurel Lake Road to aid motorists during foggy conditions. The tree reflective bands “are more stable than road reflectors,” Maloof pointed out. Monteagle will consider purchasing more reflective bands if they prove effective. Maloof urged residents to contact City Hall to suggest possible locations.

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

“There were a lot of mistakes. Changes were made that nobody knew anything about,” said Monteagle Planning Commission Chair Richard Black preliminary to the vote at the Feb. 3 commission meeting to approve the revised site plan for the Misty Market on West Main. The commission questioned the developer Jay Patel extensively before granting approval. The commission also approved the site plan for the Townhouse Suites, a project the commission tabled in January.

The commission initially approved the Misty Market site plan in February 2023 conditionally upon the Board of Zoning Appeals granting a variance. The site plan never came back to the commission for final approval after the variance was granted. In addition, Building Inspector Travis Lawyer allowed project modifications not consistent with the site plan. Alderman Nate Wilson cited Monteagle ordinance which assigns site plan enforcement to the building inspector. “You cannot alter the site plan,” N. Wilson said. “[The ordinance] does allow for modification through the enforcement officer.”

“There were concerns from day one about it being too big a building for the footprint,” Black said. In questioning Patel, the commission confirmed the project met the 20 percent landscaping requirement and minimum parking space requirement provided the market did not contain a restaurant. “Parking is classified [differently] at a restaurant and a convenience store,” Black stressed. Patel said the market would sell only “cooked on site pack-and-go food.” There was no dining room, only a small seating area. To meet the landscaping requirement, the project will landscape the right of way.

Alderman Grant Fletcher suggested the commission consider revising the ordinance governing site plan enforcement to “tighten up the language that allows the building inspector to approve minor changes.” “I agree 100 percent,” Black said.

TownePlace Suites project engineer Christian Sawyer confirmed Monteagle engineer Travis Wilson had given written approval of the stormwater plan, a requirement for site plan approval stipulated by the commission at the January meeting. Sawyer had provided the Tennessee Department of Transportation with the utility infrastructure plan, but had received no reply. “They [TDOT] needed town approval first,” Sawyer said. A possible issue is the upcoming TDOT bridge project. “If you approve it and TDOT were to say, ‘this does not work,’ we would have to bring it back to you. That would be a significant construction change in the sewer layout,” Sawyer stressed. TownePlace Suites will be located at 301 Monteagle Square next to the Sonic.

Resident Dean Lay asked the commission to rezone property he owned on the north side of Fourth Street, so the three adjacent small lots would all have R-3 residential rezoning, rather than a mix of R-2 and R-3. The commission granted the request and will send the zoning change to the Monteagle Council for final approval. Town planner Jonathan Rush reassured the commission the rezoning did not constitute spot zoning since the property was in the center of a mixed R-2 and R-3 zoning area. Rules require posting a notice on the property announcing the proposed rezoning.

The commission revisited a request by the council to clarify an ordinance amendment stipulating when a site plan was needed. Rush’s proposed revision eliminates language excluding a building less than 1,000 square-feet from requiring a site plan. Fletcher had raised a concern about the language, arguing commercial buildings less than 1,000 square feet, which would be allowed by new zoning rules, should require a site plan. By Rush’s revision, all new construction requires a site plan; alterations to existing structures are allowed if the alteration is less than 350 square feet. The commission approved the revision and will forward the suggested change to the council.

Alderman Wilson introduced a discussion about allowing homes as small as 650 square feet on residential property adjacent to the C-1 downtown zoning area. Wilson argued small homes allowed median income families in the $40,000-$60,000 income range to create generational wealth by becoming first-time homeowners. Commissioner Katie Trahan observed the strategy was common in large metropolitan areas. “It didn’t always bring great things,” Trahan said. Monteagle has engaged the consulting firm Inc Codes to modify zoning ordinance applicable to downtown Monteagle and the adjacent residential area. In response to the lack of enthusiasm for his proposal, Wilson suggested “separating the C-1 from the adjacent residential” and focusing on the C-1 component for now. “I like that idea,” said both Trahan and Commission Alec Mosley. “You’ll have a better chance of getting us to listen if they’re separate,” Black agreed.