News - Friday, December 4, 2015

Lauren Sherrell lowers herself onto the piano bench in the sanctuary of Lookout Valley Presbyterian Church and takes a slow breath. Her small, thin frame is relaxed as she raises her hands and begins to perform a Bach prelude. The composition begins in full stride, which sends her fingers dancing across the ivory keys and propelling a whirlwind of notes into the air. The room is empty except for her and the 300-year-old music she’s bringing to vibrant life.

The board of directors of Legal Aid of East Tennessee (LAET) announced last week that Sheri A. Fox has been named executive director of the 26-county civil law firm. She replaces David R. Yoder, who retires Dec. 31.

Fox comes to LAET after 14 years as an attorney with the Chattanooga office of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, where she served on the firm’s Pro Bono Committee. She’s a long-time volunteer with LAET’s Pro Bono Project in Chattanooga, and has been recognized as an Attorney for Justice by the Tennessee Supreme Court. Fox has a wide range of litigation experience at both the trial and appellate levels in state and federal courts.

If the following description fits you, listen up: As a young attorney, someone gave you a chance. Someone gave you a job and showed you how to practice law.

Have you considered repaying that favor by hiring a young attorney and showing him or her what you know? The economy has improved, your retirement account has recovered, you have more work than you can handle, and you need assistance. Smart young lawyers out there are looking for a job, so this is a win-win situation.

Attorney David W. Keyt has joined the Chattanooga office of the law firm of Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan.

Keyt focuses his practice on professional liability. A Chattanooga native, he graduated from McCallie School in 2008, where he was a member of the mock trial team for four years. He went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts from Emory University in 2012, and received his Juris Doctor from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 2015.

The law firm of Miller & Martin has appointed Kyle W. Eiselstein to vice-chair of its Litigation Department.

The litigation team includes over 50 attorneys and legal assistants with experience in high-stakes litigation, alternative dispute resolution, and risk and litigation management. The firm’s litigators handle nearly every type of civil dispute arising in state or federal courts, as well as white-collar investigations and prosecutions in federal courts.

The law firm of Miller & Martin has elected Alison Bales Martin to its Policy Committee. The committee serves as the firm’s managing board of directors, and is responsible for evaluating and approving all major decisions for the firm across all offices.

Twelve attorneys from Chattanooga-based law firm Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel are included on the 2015 Mid-South Super Lawyers and the 2015 Mid-South Rising Stars lists.

Mid-South Super Lawyers at Chambliss include: T. Maxfield Bahner – Business Litigation; Bruce C. Bailey – Business Bankruptcy; Richard W. Bethea – Business Litigation; Timothy M. Gibbons – Construction Litigation; Rosemarie L. Hill – Employee Litigation Defense; Anthony A. Jackson – Media/Advertising; Hugh J. Moore, Jr. – Civil Litigation Defense; Harold L. North, Jr. – Consumer Bankruptcy; and Dana B. Perry – Estate Planning & Probate. Each year, Super Lawyers selects no more than 5 percent of the attorneys in Tennessee to receive this honor.

Who knows where the time goes? Although 2015 is almost in the books, you can still make some year-end investment and financial moves that may help you get off to a good start in 2016. Here are a few suggestions: 

    Boost your 401(k) contributions. Ask your employer if you still have time to add more to your 401(k) before the year ends. If not, at least increase your contributions in 2016, especially if your salary goes up.

Realtor Michael Taylor has joined the team of agents at Keller Williams Realty on Premiere Drive.

Taylor was raised in Valdosta, Ga., where he met his wife, Davind. Together, they have three sons. The family moved to Chattanooga in 2012.

A former fire fighter, Taylor has always been interested in real estate and property investment. He’s currently working with buyers and sellers in Tennessee, with a focus on sellers in East Brainerd and Ooltewah. Taylor is also committed to helping people who don’t yet qualify for financing navigate the process to becoming eligible for a mortgage.

The holiday season is upon us, which for many means hosting a party. The National Association of Realtors compiled this overview of the most common things that can go wrong when you have guests and how to prevent them.

Imagine you’re preparing to host your annual holiday party, and you’re past the point of no return. The veggies and meats have been bought. Guests are already braving busy airports and crowded highways to get to your home – and then your oven won’t turn on. Your home-cooked meal has quickly turned into a microwave dinner.

Have you ever seen an old film and thought, “They don’t make movies like this anymore?” Well, someone made one, and it’s called “Brooklyn.” The film is the cinematic equivalent of a warm hug. I left feeling better than I did going in, and happier than I have after seeing a movie in quite some time.

The National Urban League recently awarded funding to seven Urban League affiliates nationwide aimed at providing workforce development services to young adults between the ages of 18-24 who have criminal records. The Urban League of Greater Chattanooga Area is one of the seven affiliates to be awarded a three-year Urban Youth Empowerment Program grant in the amount of $528,624.

There was a time when Susan Fox didn’t believe acupuncture worked. Her Midwestern upbringing had taught her such things were nonsense. Then something made a believer out of her.

Fox grew up in Chicago, where she was a typical teen. She worked hard, loved pizza, and cheered on friends and family at baseball games. Her everyday world was turned upside down when, at the age of 18, she suffered a traumatic brain injury during a car accident. The damage resulted in a neurological dysfunction that brought her active late-teen lifestyle to a slamming halt. “It was bad. At its worst, I couldn’t stand for more than five minutes without having a neurological attack,” she says. “I had to drop out of school and move back in with my parents.”

The Nickajack Naturalist will host a free four-mile hike on TVA’s Little Cedar Mountain Trail on Sat., Dec. 5.

This will be a moderate, leisurely-paced hike with two climbs and two descents averaging 350 feet in elevation gain. The outing will feature scenic views of Nickajack Lake and the surrounding mountains. The group will meet at the trailhead at 9 a.m. (To find the trailhead, take exit 158 on I-24, and then turn left. Immediately look for a sign on the right with an arrow pointing across the road to the Little Cedar Mountain Trail. Take the gravel drive down to a parking area, which is adjacent to the interstate right-of-way fence.) The hike is appropriate for ages 8 and up.

Mainx24, a 24-hour festival celebrating Main Street and the surrounding Southside, will take place Saturday, Dec. 5.

The annual event features parades, music, poetry readings, chili cook-offs, and more. The event is organized by residents, merchants, and friends of the Southside community.

Two award-winning documentary films will be screened on Saturdays Dec. 5 and Dec. 19 at 7 p.m. at the Jewish Cultural Center, located at 5461 North Terrace Road.

Individual tickets are $10 per person, and include popcorn and a soft drink. 

On Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m., Pulitzer Prize winning author Jon Meacham will be speaking about and signing copies of his latest best-selling biography, “Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush.”

Meacham is a native of Chattanooga, Tenn., and attended St. Nicholas School, the McCallie School, and the University of the South, where he was an initiate of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. He graduated summa cum laude in 1991 with a degree in English Literature, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Covenant College is holding its annual Christmas celebration, featuring a concert and dessert reception, on Thursday, Dec. 10, and Friday, Dec. 11. Tickets for the concerts in the college chapel are required but free, and tickets for the Madrigal Dessert Reception that follows each evening concert in the Great Hall may be purchased for $15. Both are available at covenant.edu/celebratechristmas.

Ezra Pound’s 1940-1943 broadcasts over Roma Radio, for the Fascist-controlled Italian government, “were written in a vigorous erudite subtly-cadenced prose style [similar to] his Cantos .... It was a style that guaranteed he would have no success with a radio audience” (R. Wernick).

Saturday, Dec. 4, 1965

Sibley B. Evans, a member of the faculty of the Baylor School since 1942, has been appointed as headmaster of Cleveland Day School effective June 1, 1966, according to an announcement made Friday by C.M. Hardwick, Jr., chairman of the board of trustees of Cleveland Day School.

Saturday, Dec. 4, 1915

Being forced to close down due to low prices on pig iron several years ago, the blast furnace of the Chattanooga Coal & Iron Co., now that conditions are improving, has again “blown” in, and is now prepared to turn out 200 tons of iron a day. Eight hundred men will be placed on the payroll.

Thanksgiving, another one of our big holiday celebrations for 2015, has come and gone. It went as fast as it came. I think I have to agree with my 9-year old granddaughter – we need a rewind. Having all the family together was such a blessing, and a reason to give thanks.

I mentioned last week there was a study from Denmark’s Happiness Research Institute, which concluded people who gave up Facebook for just one week reported suffering less envy and being “more satisfied with their lives,” than those who kept using the site.

The days are quickly dwindling away as we approach gift-giving season. Over the last couple of years, I have resorted to handmade items, as many people have, due to the cost of buying gifts for everyone. It is almost impossible financially for us to buy for everyone in our family, but we always love to be able to give a little bit of something.

A $1,000 check has been presented to the local chapter of Susan G. Komen, thanks to a month-long campaign to support the fight against breast cancer.

During the month of October, FIVE and the Plastic Surgery Group teamed up to launch #DrinkPink, an effort to raise funds to fight breast cancer and increase awareness of the disease.