Tazewell Mayor Dead in Apparent Suicide

Tazewell Mayor Steve Vass died at his home Wednesday afternoon of a gunshot wound that appears to be self-inflicted. The Claiborne County Sheriff's Department has confirmed the mayor's death and is investigating it as a suicide.
Capt. David Honeycutt said the mayor was a close, personal friend and "a person who put the concerns of the city before his own."
Honeycutt said Vass, 65, had been in failing health recently. Deputies are considering that a likely motive.