Scott County Person of the Year
The Scott County Person of the Year is an award presented each year by the Independent Herald and the Scott County Chamber of Commerce. It dates back to 2013, when it was presented by the Independent Herald to Amy Martin, an Oneida mother of a special needs child who organized fundraisers to generate nearly $200,000 for an all-inclusive playground at Oneida City Park.
In the early years, the Person of the Year award was presented by the Independent Herald. The Scott County Chamber of Commerce joined the award as a co-sponsor in 2016.
The award is typically announced in late December as part of the Independent Herald’s annual year-end wrap-up. It is formally presented at the Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting on the fourth Thursday in January.
The primary criterion for the award is going above and beyond to make Scott County a better place to live. It is typically based on actions carried out during the calendar year for which the award is presented. However, it can also honor lifelong efforts.
Recipients
There has been one repeat recipient of the Person of the Year award: Jerry Slaven, president of JDS Technologies, won the award in 2015 and again in 2022. In each instance, he was awarded for his philanthropy. There has been one child recipient of the award: Kaidence Lewallen in 2018, after she started Scott County’s first “blessing box” and organized a coat drive for the homeless. The first dual recipients of the award were RaeZack’s owners Dan and Michelle King in 2019, due to their offering of a free Thanksgiving dinner for community members.
The honor has never been awarded posthumously. However, it was announced early in 2023 (in early December) because Wayne King was near the end of his battle with liver cancer.
2025: Larry West (founder, Scott Appalachian Industries)
2024: Linda Byrge (president, For the Love of Paws)
2023: Wayne King (owner, Baby J’s Pizza, High 5 Solutions)
2022: Jerry Slaven (owner, JDS Technologies)
2021: Kellie Walker (executive director, Children’s Center of the Cumberlands)
2020: Randy Byrge (founder, But God Ministries)
2019: Dan & Michelle King (owners, RaeZack’s)
2018: Kaidence Lewallen (philanthropist)
2017: Joe Cross (president, Big South Fork Bike Club)
2016: Tony Taylor (CEO, Scott County Hospital)
2015: Jerry Slaven (owner, JDS Technologies)
2014: Stacey Swann (executive director, Scott County Chamber of Commerce)
2013: Amy Martin (community organizer)
2013: Amy Martin
Amy Martin is an Oneida mother with a special needs son who spearheaded an effort to raise about $170,000 so that an all-inclusive playground could be built at Oneida City Park. By enlisting the help of her friends, she was successful, and the playground was built just outside the Community Center, where a volleyball court was once located. There have since been efforts launched to build two other such playgrounds in Scott County, at Huntsville Elementary School and Oneida Middle School.
2014: Stacey Swann
Stacey Swann is executive director of the Industrial Development Board of Scott County and the Scott County Chamber of Commerce, who was the community’s “cheerleader” during the dark days of the Great Recession, when unemployment rose to greater than 20%. It was in 2013 that Scott County finally escaped the grips of high unemployment, and the jobless rate has since fallen to less than 4% at times.
2015: Jerry Slaven
jerry Slaven owns JDS Technologies in Oneida, along with his wife, Diane. He has given significantly to the Boys & Girls Club of Scott County, and encourages his employees to do the same. The gymnasium at the BGC’s facility in Oneida was named in his honor.
2016: Tony Taylor
When Pioneer Health Services of Magee, Miss. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Scott County’s hospital — Pioneer Community Hospital — closed its doors. The hospital’s CEO, Tony Taylor, worked tirelessly and without pay to see through a transition period that successfully ended when Florida-based Rennova Health purchased the hospital property and reopened it as Big South Fork Medical Center.
2017: Joe Cross
Joe Cross is a semi-retired pharmacist from Oneida who, in a health-conscience move, worked with the National Park Service to build several mountain biking trails in the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area. He fostered a friendly relationship between the federal government and the Big South Fork Bike Club, which he founded, to make the Big South Fork one of the only national parks to allow mountain biking. He later worked with the Town of Oneida to build a mountain bike trail at the Bear Creek Sports Complex.
2018: Kaidence Lewallen
An aspiring model, young Kaidence Lewallen launched several charitable initiatives, including a coat drive to collect winter coats for the needy and a giving box that was placed outside El Rey restaurant in Oneida. The concept of the handsomely-designed wooden box was simple: place non-perishable food items inside if you’re able; take non-perishable food items if you need them.
2019: Dan & Michelle King
In 2019, RaeZack’s restaurant owners Dan and Michelle King announced the first of what has since become an annual event: a free community Thanksgiving dinner. Michelle King said she felt led to offer the free meal, and she and other members of her staff turned out, along with volunteers, to prepare the feast on Thanksgiving morning. The entire community was invited. In fact, King said she didn’t want it to be limited to people who might need a Thanksgiving dinner, but invited everyone who wanted to enjoy some company on Thanksgiving. That first year, the Kings served several hundred people. In 2023, they served nearly 1,000.
2020: Randy Byrge
Former drug addict Randy Byrge has tirelessly shared his story of addiction and the road to recovery. After successfully undergoing rehab at a Texas facility, Byrge returned to Scott County and frequently speaks at schools and churches as he shares his story. He founded a non-profit, But God, to spearhead efforts to help others suffering from substance abuse and has since taken a job with S.T.A.N.D. to serve as a mentor to people who are fighting the battle he once fought.
2021: Kellie Walker
Kellie Walker was executive director of the Children’s Center of the Cumberlands who was diagnosed with a non-curable form of cancer in 2020, shortly after suffering the loss of her baby boy, Kip. She and her husband, Dustin, used their son’s death to organize a non-profit, Kip’s Kloset, that provides clothes and other items to the children who are clients at the Children’s Center. She became an inspiration through her very public battle with cancer. She died in January 2023.
2022: Jerry Slaven
When Kellie Walker, executive director of the Children’s Center of the Cumberlands, needed a way to get back and forth to cancer treatments in Texas, JDS Technologies founder and president Jerry Slaven provided she and her husband, Dustin, with use of his private plane. Later, when an Oneida EMT left the hospital to return home on hospice care, Slaven provided air transportation to get him home so that he could be with his friends and family in his final days.
2023: Wayne King
Wayne King was a three-time past president of the Scott County Chamber of Commerce, and owned several businesses, including Baby J’s Pizza in Oneida. He was the longtime pastor of New Salem United Baptist Church, and worked with at-risk youth through the Scott County Juvenile Court system. He was diagnosed with liver cancer in May 2023, following decades of tireless involvement in civic and community organizations. He died on Dec. 26, 2023, about one month after announcing that he was ending treatments and entering hospice care.
2024: Linda Byrge
Linda Byrge served as president of For the Love of Paws for nine years, often donating her own money to help the non-profit organization, which provided low-cost spay and neuter clinics to prevent unwanted cats and dogs in Scott County. She began her involvement with For the Love of Paws shortly after moving to Scott County from Detroit and happening across the organization’s booth at the Scott County Heritage Festival. She retired from the organization in 2024.
2025: Larry West
Larry West founded Scott Appalachian Industries Inc. in 1984. The non-profit has provided services to Scott Countians with disabilities for more than 40 years, helping them live as independently as possible and also providing opportunities for employment. SAI is one of Scott County’s largest employers. In 2025, SAI donated a new ambulance to the Scott County Ambulance Service, a gift valued at more than $300,000. West retired from SAI after facing a battle with dementia.