News - Friday, November 21, 2014

Each year, Hoops for Hope offers Chattanooga residents a chance to give to a good cause while enjoying some of the best high school basketball the city has to offer. This year, Girls Preparatory School (GPS) will host the event, scheduled to take place Saturday, Dec. 13 beginning at 10 a.m.

Band Slam 2014, Keller Williams Greater Downtown Chattanooga Realty’s annual charity event to benefit Chambliss Center for Children, rocked Stratton Hall Saturday night.

Over 300 ticket buyers drank complimentary wine and beer while enjoying the music of Soul Survivors, Davey Smith and The Pearl Snap Preachers, and The Communicators. 

Off the Grill II’s secret smoking process gives its barbecue something extra that brings people back.

I take hearsay with a grain of salt. So when positive word of mouth about Off the Grill II, a new smokehouse on Taft Highway in Signal Mountain, reached me, I decided to try the food for myself.

I have a problem with passwords: I can’t remember them from day to day. Too many electronics with the need for a password have put me in a constant state of confusion. Adding to my discontent is the need for more and more passwords for music, apps, books on tape, networking sites, movie services, and whatever else you can think of. The list seems to be endless.

I live in a city. The big city near Ferguson, Mo. Ferguson used to be a “white” suburb. African-Americans moved in, but the power establishment remained white. Michael Brown was shot many times and left on the pavement for four-and-a-half hours. There’s not much excuse for that.

Chattanooga’s local initiative to end chronic veteran homelessness has been selected to participate in a national campaign called Zero: 2016. Campaign organizer, Community Solutions, said it would work closely with the Chattanooga community to end chronic veteran homelessness by the end of 2016. Mayor Berke announced the collaboration last week during a Veteran’s Day Program at Washington Alternative School.

It’s almost Thanksgiving, a holiday that once celebrated the harvest season. Although many of us today may not be directly connected to agriculture, we still gather on Thanksgiving with our loved ones to share whatever “bounty” we may have. But this practice doesn’t have to begin and end with food. Why not incorporate the spirit of sharing into your overall financial strategy?

Alex Clamon has joined Miller & Martin’s Chattanooga office. He will focus his practice in the Corporate and Securities practice group, and join the firm’s new Crisis Management practice group. A native of Dandridge, Tenn., Clamon graduated with honors from the United States Military Academy at West Point. While at West Point, he lettered as a defensive lineman for the Army Black Knights football team and served as a cadet company commander. He then served on active duty as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army.

Dozens of Chattanooga-based attorneys can be found in the 2014 edition of Mid-South Super Lawyers. The publication also included several local attorneys on its 2014 list of Mid-South Rising Stars.

The selections for these lists are made by the research team at Super Lawyers, a service of Thomson Reuters, Legal Division. Each year, the research team undertakes a multi-phase selection process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent evaluation of candidates by the attorney-led research staff, a peer review of candidates by practice area, and a good-standing and disciplinary check.

Saving for the future was the theme at this month’s luncheon meeting of the Women’s Council of Realtors (WCR), held Nov. 12 at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel.

As agents summoned their will power to save their chocolate cake for dessert, they also learned about the importance of saving money for retirement. Jennifer McIntyre, a financial advisor with Raymond James, a Chattanooga-based investment firm, spoke to well over two dozen participants about taking charge of their financial future by becoming knowledgeable investors, planning for retirement, and protecting their assets. 

After spending a week in New Orleans at the Realtors Conference & Expo, I’m pleased to report Greater Chattanooga is very much engaged in national issues. More than a dozen of our members participated in the conference, and were among the nearly 17,000 Realtors and industry experts in attendance from across the country. Sharing in these meetings is our opportunity to glean best practices from peers, and to give input on where the national association is headed. Throughout the conference, our members were involved in policy discussions related to the release of sold data, advocacy, and raising the bar of professionalism – to name a few.

The East Ridge Parks and Recreation Department has hit the switch on Christmas Nights of Lights at Camp Jordan Park. The drive-thru Christmas light show will remain open through Jan. 3. The show will begin nightly at dusk and run through 10 p.m., with extended hours on the weekends.

Derek Yates, a professional actor, model, and singer from the Scenic City, was announced as Ellen’s “new gardener” on “The Ellen Degeneres Show” Tuesday on NBC.

Yates caught the attention of Ellen’s producers when his audition video went viral on YouTube and EllenTube a few weeks ago. The video was then featured on her show and website along with those of a few other contestants. Last week, Yates got the call to fly to LA and be on the show.

The Chattanooga Zoo last week announced the arrival of the newest addition to its family, Barkley the Fennec Fox.

Barkley is a seven-month old Fennec Fox, born at the St. Louis Zoo on April 23, 2014. Barkley is a recommended breeding mate by the Fennec Fox Species Survival Plan (SSP) for the zoo’s resident Fennec Fox, Sophie.

From the “be careful what you wish for” department comes “Dumb and Dumber To,” a long-awaited sequel to the 1994 comedy starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels. Written and directed by the Farrelly brothers, the original film told the story of Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne, two good-natured but dimwitted friends who set out on a cross-country trip to return a briefcase full of money to its owner, only to be pursued by a group of criminals who are after the briefcase. Copious scatological high jinks ensued.

Several workers at the Cameron Harbor construction site on Molly Lane were injured when two of the residential structures collapsed. At 10:13 a.m., Chattanooga firefighters were dispatched to the scene and told workers might be trapped in the debris.

Members of the Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors this month attended the 2014 NAR real estate conference in New Orleans. While there, they took in the local culture, including street musicians performing music that can be played only in the Big Easy. 

The main character in this column is the Bard himself, Willie Shakespeare. So, if you’re anti-poetry, see ya!

This is a recycle, even though I’m not on vacation this week. As I wrote in June 1995, “With a deadline every week, I occasionally find it necessary to tell a story only because it cries out to be told.

HTI Employment Solutions (HTI) last week announced plans to expand to Tennessee, opening offices in Chattanooga.

The staffing company, based in Greenville, S.C., has been selected to staff Plastic Omnium’s Chattanooga manufacturing plant, which is slated to open later this year. HTI, which provides services for other Plastic Omnium facilities, was awarded the bid to staff 300 positions created by the Tier 1 Automotive Supplier’s recent investment in Chattanooga.

Hubby and I always attend the American Court and Commercial Newspaper Conferences, and they’re usually held in interesting cities we’ve never been to before. This year, it was in Savannah, Ga., and last year, it was in Baltimore, Md. In Baltimore, we stayed downtown, right across the street from the Chesapeake Bay. We had a beautiful view from our room of the USS Constellation, which is now a permanently docked museum. It’s a wonderful scenic view to look out over the water at the gigantic ship and all the neat little shops and restaurants they have built up around the bay.

There’s too much information these days. Or maybe it’s just the wrong information. I know – it’s too much of the wrong information. And when I say wrong, I don’t mean incorrect; I mean stuff we’d all be better off not hearing about in the first place.

Each morning when I rise, I look out my bedroom window to check the day the good Lord has blessed me with. From my window, I can see farmland, trees, wildlife, and a wide-open expansion of sky that, for one who’s been reared on a farm, is nothing but a daily dose of life’s wonders. I’ve never been one to enjoy being inside structures for long, and a recent happening has reinforced my need to stay a little longer at that bedroom window to enjoy the view.

I am one of those people who use salt and pepper on everything; actually, I use kosher salt on everything. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a salt shaker that allows kosher salt to come through the holes. This is a problem for me as I get tired of having to reach for a huge box of salt in a cabinet that is far taller than I am! In addition, needing shakers that did not require refilling all the time is just a huge bonus.

Fill in the blanks in the quote using the following words:

search, when, dreams, suffering, worse, goes, no, that, 

itself, heart, suffered, heart, suffering, tell, it’s, fear

1. The motto of the U.S. state of Virginia is Sic semper tyrannis, a phrase meaning, “thus ever (or always) to tyrants.” Who said this while performing a homicidal act? Marcus Junius Brutus; John Booth; “Crazy” Joe Davola.

Saturday, November 21, 1914

Dr. and Mrs. J.W. Johnson complimented Miss Louise Llewellyn with a dinner party last night at the Hotel Patten. Guests were Misses Llewellyn, Lila Mansfield, Charlotte Patten, Elizabeth Lupton, Katherine Lasley, Elise Chapin, Helen Shipley, and Bessie Lodor; Messrs. Sam Hutcheson, Ernest Martin, Jesse Evans, Fred Lupton, Alex Guerry, Walter Fred, Thomas Carothers, Lucius Mansfield; Mr. and Mrs. L. W. Llewellyn; Mr. and Mrs. R.S. Faxon; Mr. and Mrs. Garnett Andrews; and Mr. and Mrs. T.L. Montague.

Saturday, November 21, 1964

Joe V. McLaughlin was re-elected president of the Mountain City Club by unanimous vote at the 75th annual meeting Friday night. Richard A. Brock was elected vice-president; Alf J. Law, secretary; and Harry R. White, treasurer.