News - Friday, December 5, 2014

The offices of the Chattanooga Bar Association are sporting a fresh new look this holiday season.

Renovations of the Bar’s space on the fourth floor of the Pioneer Building downtown were completed Nov. 14, and Executive Director Lynda Hood and Executive Assistant Wanda Paschal have settled in and resumed normal operations (although they never stopped working during the extensive overhaul).

Katie Moore, East Tennessee liaison for the Tennessee Housing Development Agency, can sum up the mission of the state’s housing division with a few succinct words: “We are tasked with creating safe, sound, and affordable housing for all Tennesseans,” she says.

Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel this week announced the return of Bradley Davis and the arrival of Andrew Leffler. Davis, who worked at Chambliss as an associate from 2004 to 2007, returns as Of Counsel, with a focus on complex business litigation and regulatory compliance matters. Leffler joins Chambliss as an associate concentrating on real estate transactions.

A study commissioned by the Tennessee Supreme Court Access to Justice (ATJ) Commission and the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services (TALS), with the support of the Tennessee Bar Association, has found that more than 60 percent of vulnerable Tennesseans face a significant civil legal need.

Warren Buffet, the “Oracle from Omaha,” is considered one of the most successful investors in history. Yet while the investment world may seem complex, Mr. Buffet’s advice is actually pretty simple. Here are a few Buffet quotes, along with some suggestions on putting them to use:

The Chickamauga Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution recently celebrated the 120th anniversary of its founding at First-Centenary United Methodist Church.

The Chapter was organized on Oct. 7, 1894. It was the first DAR chapter to be organized in Chattanooga, the third in Tennessee, and the 128th chapter nationally. Ameila Morrow (Mrs. Hiram S.) Chamberlain was the organizing regent. There were 18 charter members. The first yearbook and minutes were dated 1902.

My early New Year’s resolution is to be more like Christopher Foyle. Demeanor-wise and wisdom-wise. No, I won’t be wearing a vest.

“Foyle’s War” is a British detective series created by Anthony Horowitz. As World War II rages, Inspector Christopher Foyle (played by Michael Kitchen) investigates crimes from his headquarters in Hastings, England. He never raises his voice. He’s never puzzled by an inconsistency. Obvious lies from the devious don’t faze him one bit.

It’s the holiday season, and I love it. It’s the only time of the year when no one judges you for eating half of a pie or drinking all of the spiced rum. The rest of the year it’s deemed “gluttonous” but not during this one month time-frame. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

The lone hurdle to complete agreement in the world is point of view. We would all agree on everything if we weren’t all looking at the world from our own perspective. No two people look at the world from the same point of view. Each person is different than every other person in uncountable ways. No matter how close one person is to another, there will still be a plethora of ways these people are not exactly the same. They may come to the same decision, but they still come to the decision from a perspective that can not be replicated.

The chair of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Remodelers Council spoke with the Greater Chattanooga area remodelers council Dec. 2 during the group’s monthly meeting.

Paul Sullivan (far right), a Waterville Valley, N.H.-based remodeler, provided an update on the issues the national council is tracking, such as becoming lead safe certified, and spoke about the benefits of several new technologies, including VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and cloud-based computing.

T.S. Elliot once wrote, “Home is where one starts from.” Homeownership has a rich history in America, and one for which so many are grateful.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I, too, reflected on the things for which I am grateful. In particular, I gave thought to the many blessings that stem from being a Realtor. We are in the business of giving people a place to start from – no matter where they come from and no matter what their background. Helping people realize the American Dream of homeownership makes a positive difference in the personal lives of buyers, as well as for the country as a whole. Throughout history, homeownership has played a major role in the growth of our nation’s economy.

The bow feels heavy in my left hand as I raise it and point the arrow it holds toward a target at the far end of the archery range. As I pull the string, the amount of resistance surprises me. Actors make it look easy in movies - my sole exposure to the sport until I’d walked into River City Archery - but I’m struggling to draw back the string. I finally tug it into position and prepare to release the bow when a voice behind me says, “Wait.”

There’s a curious scene in “The Theory of Everything,” the new movie about physicist Stephen Hawking and his first wife, Jane. In it, Hawking, for whom the word “brilliant” is inadequate, is watching a soap opera. A friend comes in and expresses his disbelief that one of the greatest minds on Earth would be caught up in such drivel. Unfazed, Hawking shares the details of the sordid love triangle in the film – so and so is sleeping with so and so, but loves so and so, and so on.

I’m hoping all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We did. I’m always thankful that our families can still get together and visit for extended times. Work, school, and the stress of the day-to-day stuff goes away for a while, and we just enjoy each other. That’s something to be thankful for!

I get posts from Internet news media company Buzzfeed on my Facebook page. Usually, it’s a video, but the other morning, it was a list from writer Elysia McMahan she called, “Top 15 Names of Crazy Women.”

So I thought I’d run with it – after running it by KM. Our conversation went something like this:

It had been one of the coldest winters Tennessee had experienced in quite a while. It was the winter of 1964, and temperatures had been below freezing for several nights across the state. Winter is a tough time for occupations that require individuals to work outside, and farmers were spending a lot of time keeping waterlines thawed at their barns, as well as breaking ice on ponds so livestock could have water to drink.

I have been with my husband since we were in high school, which has been a long time; I will just leave it at that! Ever since we have been together and we would walk into a store, I would lose him to the television section very quickly. Do not get me wrong; the man has a 46-inch television, but apparently, that was too small for his football games. I constantly hear about how he needed at least a 60-inch television. 

We have all heard and sung Christmas carols since we were little kids, and surely we have our own personal favorites. Carols make the spirit of Christmas come alive and our family gatherings more memorable. Here’s a fun quiz to test your knowledge about some of our well-loved Christmas carols. Have fun!

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

noblest, power, mocks, unconcious, that, humbles, illiterate, person, freshness, indescribable, there, genius

“___ is that ___  ___ and ___ about an ___  ___  ___  ___ and ___ the ___ of the ___ expressive ___.” 

Saturday, December 5, 1914

Approximately 500 guests, gowned in costumes of the Old South, filled the spacious ballroom and mezzanine of Hotel Patten last night at the Cotton Ball. The ball was sponsored by the Gen. A.P. Stewart Chapter, UDC. The king and queen of the ball, revealed after much fanfare, were J. T. Lupton and Mrs. T.R. Preston. The ball was one of the most brilliant social affairs of the city in many years.

Saturday, December 5, 1964

Tennessee Ferro, a newly formed corporation, is placing in operation two of the four electric furnaces formerly operated by Tennessee Products and Chemical Company’s plant in Alton Park.

Mayor Ralph Kelley and Commissioner A.L. Bender reported from Washington Friday that the Federal Bureau of Public Roads has agreed to include a full four-way traffic interchange on Interstate 24 at Fourth Avenue.