News - Friday, March 23, 2012

In 1974, the Chattanooga Bar Association planted a seed when it awarded a Girls Preparatory School student second place in the Law Day Essay Contest. The kernel grew slowly over time, and today, Catherine White’s career as a family law attorney is in full bloom.

Bryan Kelly and Adam Dutton, partners at Kelly & Dutton, offer their clients a unique approach to financial planning. Their goal for their clients is to become their personal financial GPS, a roadmap for the financial journey their clients face. They hope to achieve this goal through their teamwork approach to handling the financial affairs of their clients.

The Chattanooga Women’s Leadership Institute will present a series of financial seminars for women entitled Women Know: Personal Finance beginning March 27.

Women are faced with financial implications when they get married, when they begin or change careers, when they have children, when they divorce or lose a spouse, as they begin to acquire assets, when they retire and as they begin to think about leaving assets to their family or to charity upon death. Women Know: Personal Finance is designed to provide women with the tools to better understand their current financial situation and to develop a financial plan for their future.

Stefanie Crowe, executive vice president at CapitalMark Bank, says the Women Know: Personal Finance seminar will be a “fantastic crash course” in everything women need to know about personal finance. “The level of expertise is phenomenal. Even better, real life examples - with names changed to protect the innocent - are used, which provides color and deeper meaning to the material,” she says. “I’ve had several friends draw on their personal experiences to help other women avoid mistakes they’ve made. It’s a great way to network with other women in an informal environment and ask questions without the fear of looking silly or uninformed.”

50 YEARS AGO

What was going on in Chattanooga in 1962?

Saturday, March 24

Dr. Gilbert E. Govan, University of Chattanooga librarian for the past 28 years, will retire September 1 in conformity with the University’s mandatory retirement rule. Dr. Govan’s successor will be Dr. Albert H. Bowman, currently professor of history at Tennessee Wesleyan College in Athens, Tenn.

March 24

Ready to Garden workshop

Crabtree Farms will host the first of two gardening workshops from 10 to noon. Topics will include soil preparation and testing, planning, fertilization, site selection, weed and pest control, and planning for the various gardening seasons. The cost for non-members is ten dollars. Crabtree Farms is located at 1000 East 30th Street. The second workshop is scheduled to take place April 7.

If Realtor Jay Bryson could be doing anything right now, he’d be dancing. But he has to make a living, so he’s probably talking on his phone, or climbing the mountain of paperwork required to list a property, or meeting with a client.

If Bryson is with a buyer or a seller, chances are he’s employing his skills as a negotiator. While every good Realtor can hold his or her own during a negotiation, Bryson has turned it into an art form. Consider, for example, his strategy with clients who want to charge too much for their house:

The Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors on March 12 criticized the proposal to rezone the schools in eastern Hamilton County and Ooltewah. In an open letter to the elected leaders of Hamilton County, the association expressed concern about Superintendant of Schools Rick Smith’s proposition, saying, “It appears to have been hastily prepared without public input and, most importantly, lacks a long term plan to address the expected school growth in that area of the county.”

SUBJECT: Blue print for defeating Middle Aged Legal Guy.

TO: League Of Evil Young Lawyer Dudes/Dudettes

FROM: Doogie Tindell

Many of you will remember that I was sent undercover some time ago as part of our continuing effort to beat Middle-Aged Legal Guy. (I am glad that my premature balding finally makes me useful.) MALGs are one of the more difficult opponents we encounter in our young legal careers. Judges and jurors seem to defer to them rather than us. This denizen of the courtroom is, not coincidentally, often a law school classmate of the judge.

The bus came by and I got on; That’s when it all began; There was cowboy Neal at the wheel; Of a bus to never-ever land – from “That’s It for the Other One” – Grateful Dead

We drove south on Highway 1, nearing San Francisco on the 4th of July in 1971. I suppose the Vista Cruiser, with my father behind the wheel, was your typical postcard picture of the American family – mom and dad and in this case three boys, of which I was, at the wise old age of 14, the oldest.

I was enjoying a lunch recently at a local diner when a man that had obviously not enjoyed much of anything in a while walked in and promptly positioned himself in line. You can’t judge a book by its cover, but this man’s cover – tattered clothes, unkempt hair, etc. – looked of quite a disheveled life.

As is the norm, Spring Break has come again. It is that special time of year when we all wish we were young. It seemed to me growing up, that Spring Break was observed by only by those in their college years, while everyone else watched. Since I have become older, Spring Break seems to have become a full fledged national holiday for a large segment of our society. That includes both young and old.

The three Corvairs parked side-by-side tipped off my wife and me: we were about to go back in time. Our portal to the past was Roy’s Grill, a cafe located on Chickamauga Avenue in Rossville, Ga. While the restaurant’s neon-draped white exterior is the first indication that it’s no modern day greasy spoon, the long red counter and black-and-white interior decor evoke a palpable sense of nostalgia. Instead of hitting patrons over the head with cheesy model cars and Coca Cola memorabilia, a life-size Elvis cutout, a jukebox and cherry red booths stir up a subtle sense of the past. The only thing missing is George McFly telling Lorraine Baines she’s his density.

March 20 was the vernal equinox, also known as the end of winter and the start of spring. But even if you haven’t looked at your calendar lately, chances are your nose has already figured it out. That’s because 40 million Americans have nasal allergies, also called hay fever. Springtime allergies – primarily tree pollen – cause an itchy, runny nose, nasal and sinus congestion, repeated sneezing, watery eyes, swollen sinuses and, in severe cases, difficulty breathing due to these symptoms.

The Beatles sang, “It’s been a long, cold, lonely winter,” but that is not what we’ve had here in the Natural State. It’s been warm and anything but lonely. Lots of viewer mail makes me a happy columnist. Hallelujah, spring is here!

1. What was the only southern town to remain in Union hands throughout the Civil War? Little Rock, Ark.; Birmingham, Ala.; Jackson, Miss.; Key West, Fla.

2. How many miles per gallon did the 22-horsepower 4-cylinder Model T Ford get when it was introduced in 1908?

Lent is a 40-day period before Easter, that begins on Ash Wednesday. Lent is the Old English word for “spring.” It has that name because of the season of the year during which the 40 days fall. This name is unique to English. In almost all other languages, its name is a derivative of the Latin term Quadragesima, or “the 40 days.”

Watching “21 Jump Street” was, for me, an unpleasant experience. Although it’s based on a Fox television series that aired in the ‘80s, it’s been updated to appeal to modern youth, which means it’s replete with foul language, vulgarity, drug use, vomiting and what have you. I understand life is a party and I shouldn’t be a stick in the mud, but would someone please tell me what’s funny about a man’s genitals being shot off? The lady sitting behind me clearly thought that was the height of movie comedy.

Since I have become the chief cook and bottle washer at my house after becoming a widower a couple years back, the eating patterns developed from the culinary practices in my kitchen would make the American Heart Association’s nutrition list of most suspect ways to shorten life. I often have “breakfast” for supper and if I’m working at home, lunch usually doesn’t happen at all. If it does, it is a natural grain bar of some sort and sweet tea. My menus are not planned. They happen by a quick look into the pantry or refrigerator. Most of the time, both of those areas are limited to their selections, and the final entry is not what you would find on many restaurant menus. However, it does fill an empty spot and also helps the family know what to get me for a gift at birthdays and Christmas, which are gift cards to local eateries. Those gift cards are more nutritious anyway.

About 20 years ago (more like 30 if I am honest), while in my first semester of nursing school, I developed a swollen, red, flaming hot joint in my left big toe. I had no idea what was happening, but I did know that I was unable to get my shoe on, and it was so painful, it required immediate attention.

Most Agents begin their real estate career with the hope of gaining financial independence. They are attracted by the possibility of earning large sums of money. Even when Agents make more than a six-figure income, the vast majority have not dramatically improved their financial balance sheet. After looking at hundreds of Agents’ Profit and Loss statements and personal spending habits, I’ve determined that real estate Agents are poorly prepared for financial independence. Why should real estate Agents be any different from the American population in general?

The news from Wall Street that Apple would begin paying stockholders a dividend was positive enough to make shares of the giant computer maker rise over 2 percent last Monday to nearly $600 a share in late afternoon trading.

It was rumored after the recent release of their newest hot product, the iPad 3, that the firm would begin sharing a portion of the $98 billion they have in cash with investors.