NEWPORT-A total of 82 people in Cocke County were classified as homeless or almost homeless in a so-called point-in-time count held Jan. 24, according to the counting organization, the Tennessee Valley Coalition to End Homelessness (TVCEH).

Carol Livingston, director of Newport's soup kitchen, helped organize the group of volunteers who searched for homeless people or people living in precarious housing situations, such as sleeping on a couch temporarily in the home of someone else, or pitching a tent in someone's back yard.

Said Livingston, "I'm sure that the true number of homeless and precariously housed people in Cocke County is triple, or quadruple," the total of 56 people counted by volunteers.

For more details, please see the Thursday edition of the Newport Plain Talk.