News - Friday, February 8, 2013

The American Lung Association in Tennessee has announced the 2013 Women of Distinction. They will be honored at the 28th Annual Women of Distinction Awards Luncheon on Tuesday, April 30, at the Chattanooga Convention Center Ballroom. The event, which benefits the American Lung Association in Tennessee, is a Chattanooga tradition that honors one Tennessee Woman of Distinction, ten of the Chattanooga area’s most accomplished women who have distinguished themselves within their family, career, and community, as well as three high school seniors. The Tennessee Woman of Distinction and Young Women of Distinction have not yet been announced.

Attorney C. Douglas Dooley of Leitner, Williams, Dooley and Napolitan has been elected southern region director of the Defense Research Institute. As such, he will represent Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky.

The Defense Research Institute is an organization consisting of over 22,000 attorneys that defend the interests of business and individuals in civil litigation. Dooley is a native of Chattanooga, graduating from McCallie School in 1980 and from the University of Alabama in 1984. He went on to graduate with his Juris Doctor from the Cumberland Law School at Samford University in 1987. He has experience in handling all types of civil litigation including workers’ compensation, trucking accidents, personal injury law, insurance coverage disputes, premises liability, food borne illness cases, Dram Shop liability and complex litigation. He has served as past president of the Tennessee Defense Lawyers Association, he is a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel and is a Fellow of the Chattanooga Bar Association. He has also served multiple terms as Senior Warden of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

Special to the Hamilton County Herald

State Sen. Douglas Henry (D-Nashville), the longest-serving member of the General Assembly that convened this month, looks ahead with a simple, focused determination.

Beginning his 43rd year in the Senate, Henry says he has little interest in “hot-button” issues such as the expansion of gun-owners’ rights, school vouchers or allowing wine sales in grocery stores.

GIGTANK enables startups to launch their businesses while taking advantage of Chattanooga’s one-gigabit-per-second Internet speeds. The program aims to connect entrepreneurs with the tools, capital and contacts needed to go to market.

The summer-long program kicks off on May 13 and runs through August 6. GIGTANK will culminate with Demo Day, when participants pitch their startups to hundreds of investors, potential collaborators and members of the press.

Quotes at the end of an email are becoming more popular. They’re of various sizes and come from a host of sources. Some are simple, while others require reflection to truly appreciate the intended message. What they seem to do is take up a bunch of space on an email and ultimately clutter up the printed version. It seems to me like they are only good one time. Once read, they add nothing to an email.

February is American Heart Month. This year also marks the 10th year of the American Heart Association’s “Go Red for Women” movement.

Because the initiative to raise heart health is everywhere you look, you might be thinking you don’t really need to read this article, especially if you’ve never had heart issues. But don’t turn away; at least check out these staggering statistics from The Heart Foundation:

Few columns have drawn as much feedback as the one I wrote in May 2011 about the PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injection I had in my left knee – the knee that was on the list for replacement.

In that column, among other things, I wrote that at coimed.org, you could learn that PRP therapy is a non-surgical treatment used to treat sprains, cartilage tears, tendonitis, and osteoarthritis. The injection of this concentrated mixture of one’s own blood “has been shown to relieve acute and chronic pain and accelerate healing of injured tissues and joints.”

The small sign on the inside of the window spanning the front of the chocolate brown building at the corner of 5th and Broad Streets entices pedestrians with a simple proposal: “Life is Short. Eat a cupcake.” Not “cupcakes.” Just “cupcake.”

My wife is hosting some church ladies every month. I make it my movie night. Let’s just say I’ve been invited – to not stay. The problem this past Monday night was that there wasn’t really anything I wanted to see. I’ve been to “Lincoln” and “Django” (“The D is silent”) and “The Impossible.” I haven’t seen “The Hobbit,” but there wasn’t a night feature.

Four years ago today, I sat on the edge of my 105-year old grandmother’s bed, intently studying her face, which was timeworn and beleaguered with hard lines and deep wrinkles. She was quietly waiting for the Lord to carry her home. We all were. (My mom and sister were there, too.) During her century-plus time on Earth, she’d certainly given of herself all a woman could possibly give.

About 200 Crye-Leike agents from across the Greater Chattanooga area this week gathered at the elegant Chattanooga Golf and Country Club to celebrate the best sales Crye-Leike has seen in five years.

With the real estate market improving each month throughout 2012, Crye-Leike finished the year strong with $4.5 billion in sales, with agents companywide working hard to sell 28,065 properties.

With the March 5 election looming, the Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors during its quarterly GCAR Information Gathering session on Wednesday provided many of the candidates an opportunity to speak with members face-to-face. Taking the floor for a two-minutes each, incumbents, challengers and, for some districts, lone candidates made the most of their time by addressing the concerns Realtors typically have as they try to find their clients the right home: safety, security, the ability to buy a home, and more. Pictured L-R: District 8 challenger Moses Freeman; District 7 Councilman Manny Rico; District 4 challenger Ryan King; District 3 challenger Ken Smith; District 7 challenger Chris Anderson; District 6 Councilwoman Carol Berz; District 2 candidate Roger Tuder; District 3 Councilwoman Pam Ladd; and District 9 challenger Yusuf Hakkeem.  (Photo by Susanne Reed)

My husband and I know of a man in his nineties who served as a Merchant Marine. This is a civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Navy, but not a uniformed service that’s often over-looked and forgotten. In honor of all of America’s Merchant Marines, this little quiz is dedicated to your hard work at keeping America safe. See how much you know about this service!

The other evening, while resting in my home and enjoying the football playoffs, someone in a four-wheel drive pickup truck used one of our hay fields as their place of recreation. They entered the farm by crossing below the house so I couldn’t hear them and then proceeded to make images of donuts in the field. I’ve heard about crop circles showing up in farmers’ fields and people thinking space aliens had landed and created them, but the aliens that landed in my fields the other night were from right here in Tennessee, and were only “spaced out” with disrespect for other people’s property.

All new couples have challenges. Problems rise naturally out of the different histories, likes and dislikes, and ways of looking at the world two people have. But if they can overcome those boundaries and turn their initial spark of attraction into a joining of their hearts and minds, then love can happen, and two lives can become one.

A detention center is not usually fertile soil for talent development, community involvement, or optimism about the future. However, from this situation, one inmate in Mark Making’s recent mural project said, “For the first time in years, I have hope!”

For homeowners with too much debt to handle there may be a new option. Mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have issued some new guidelines for underwater borrowers that might allow them to surrender their home and wipe out the debt, provided they have kept up with their payments. 

Dear EarthTalk: 

I understand that there are many kinds of automatic features that can be incorporated into a home and that can save energy and provide other environmental benefits. Can you enlighten? – Robert Goodman, Taos, N.M.

Saturday, February 9

Donald Mayre of New York City arrived in Chattanooga Friday to direct the next play for Chattanooga Little Theatre. Mr. Mayre served as director here from 1934 until the end of the 1937 season.

E.Y. Chapin, III, president of Rock City Gardens, former president of the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce, and civic leader, was nominated Thursday for presidency of the Rotary Club for 1963-64. He would succeed Hugh Huffaker, Sr.

Saturday, February 8

Mrs. W.A. Campbell announces the engagement and approaching marriage of her daughter, Wilhelmina Campbell, to John R. Woodard of Tulsa, Okla. The wedding will take place in April.

Sunday, February 9

Every Monday

Learn to line dance!

Learn to line dance every Monday at 5:30 p.m. at Allemande Hall, located at 7400 Standifer Gap Road in Chattanooga. No partner required or experience necessary. The group dances to all genres of music including pop, hip-hop, country and more. The cost is $7 per person. For more information, contact Vicki Pierson at www.linesinmotion.net or 423-309-6842.