News - Friday, June 10, 2016

Allen McCallie knows about the weight a name can carry. As the grandson of Spencer McCallie, one of the co-founders of The McCallie School, he is part of a family with a rich legacy of community service and contribution in Chattanooga. Yet through his career as an attorney with Miller & Martin, Allen has borne the heaviness of his name and made an impact all his own.

Keller Williams Realtor Neal Pratt was in a jam: His productivity coach, Marie King, wanted him to do open houses, but he’s busy Sunday afternoons from 2-4 p.m., when agents typically open homes to the public. As a parent responsible for taking care of his kids during that time, Pratt wears his father hat on Sundays, not his Realtor hat. But King wasn’t going to accept “I can’t do open houses” as a response. So Pratt came up with a solution: Twilight Tuesdays.

Chattanooga attorney Tonya Cammon has become Fellow of the Tennessee Bar Foundation, an association of 818 attorneys across the state. Invitations to membership were extended to 30 attorneys this year by the Bar Foundation’s Board of Trustees. The introduction of new Fellows took place in May at the annual Fellows’ Dinner in Nashville.

You might work diligently at building a financial roadmap for your retirement years and a comprehensive estate plan. But you can’t just create these strategies – you also have to communicate them. Specifically, you need to inform your spouse and your grown children what you have in mind for the future – because the more they know, the fewer the surprises that await them down the road.

An open house might not seem like a danger zone, but it is one of many situations that could make a Realtor a sitting duck for a violent attack. To prepare Realtors to protect themselves while on the job, the Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors (GCAR) last week hosted the latest class in a series of self-defense workshops specifically tailored to the needs of real estate agents.

Not long ago, searching for a new home meant jumping in the car with your real estate agent and driving through neighborhoods, looking at house after house until you found “the one.” While people still look at several houses before deciding which one is home, the chances are that they clicked from webpage to webpage to find it.

Crye-Leike Realtor Jeff Dedmon of Ringgold, Ga., has transferred from Crye-Leike’s Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., office to its East Brainerd office in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Dedmon has over six years of real estate sales experience. As a Realtor and affiliate broker, Dedmon serves buyers and sellers in and around Hamilton County, Tenn., and Walker and Catoosa counties in Georgia. Licensed in Tennessee and Georgia, Dedmon specializes in residential real estate as well as commercial real estate, investment properties, first-time home buyers, relocation, new home construction, farm and land, and condominiums and town homes.

Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise (CNE) is offering home improvement loans to Chattanooga homeowners who qualify.  These low interest loans can be used for roof repairs, interior and exterior repairs, foundation repairs, HVAC repair or replacement, and electrical and plumbing repairs. A homeownership rehab project might also include lead abatement.

Many in the Chattanooga area believe that location is among the most important, if not, the most important characteristic of a home. Conveniently located homes – especially new homes with modern amenities – continue to be in high demand, as countless consumers dream of living in the ideal locale where they’d benefit from quick commutes, excellent schools, and accessible shopping.

As the song says, one is the loneliest number. But briefly in Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos’ English language film debut, “The Lobster,” it is also the funniest number. Then the movie begins a slow descent into darkness, and never climbs out of it. I would have been disappointed if it had, as I found the movie to be a challenging and thoughtful work.

In February 2002—when I reconnected with my friend Cotton and reminisced about his indigestion-turned-heart-attack from 20 years earlier—I had nothing to connect that up with. Thus, the memory receded into my personal unconscious. 

Professional athletes are revered for their skills, and generously rewarded for their ability to win championships and draw huge crowds. In 2014, the Miami Marlinså signed Giancarlo Stanton to a $325 million contract – the richest in sports history; Jay Cutler makes over one million dollars a game as a Chicago Bear; and who wouldn’t want to earn $145 million for playing basketball, like Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans?

The American Cancer Society (ACS) is hosting a fun run in conjunction with the Chattanooga Roller Girls (CRG) Saturday, July 23 at 8 a.m. Runners (and walkers) will be encouraged to evade roller derby “bulls” down a closed portion of McCallie and Holtzclaw in Chattanooga.

The Board of Directors of the Partnership for Families, Children and Adults has appointed Pam Ladd chief executive officer.

Ladd joined the Partnership last September as COO and interim CEO. As COO, she focused on community relations and new business development. In addition, as interim CEO, Ladd led the Partnership through organizational changes to better align the agency with the strategic plan developed by the board, which includes broadening community relations, identifying growth opportunities that meet the changing needs of the community, and strengthening Partnership’s position as a leader in providing services.

Saturday, June 11, 1966

Raymond R. Murphy, Sr., was presented the Tennessee Bar Association Liberty Bell award at the Lawyers Luncheon in the Read House Friday. He was praised for his years of quiet and effective service in the formation and operation of the Chattanooga Law Enforcement Commission.

Saturday, June 10, 1916

City Auditorium on East Ninth Street was virtually destroyed by fire Friday at about 2:45 p.m. Only the main walls were left standing. The building was valued at $25,000, with only $20,000 insurance. Commissioner T.C. Betterton and Chief Toomey helped direct the firemen in saving the buildings on the south side of Ninth Street. The auditorium, built in 1896, had been the site for some of the most important meetings held in Chattanooga. William Jennings Bryan, William Howard Taft, and Theodore Roosevelt had spoken from the auditorium rostrum.

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park is partnering with Outdoor Chattanooga to introduce hiking, mountain biking, and rock climbing at the Lookout Mountain Battlefield on Saturday, June 11.

All activities will begin at 9 a.m., noon, and 3 p.m. at Cravens House (located on Cravens Terrace Road on Lookout Mountain). Parking is available, but carpooling is encouraged.

The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department is offering a free workshop to teach people how to manage chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and COPD.

The workshop will be held every Thursday through July 7 from 9-11 a.m. at the Eastgate Senior Center. 

This column was originally published in the Hamilton County Herald on June 12, 2015.

Every time I visit my hairdresser to get my hair trimmed (along with my gray covered), she turns her TV to the Food Network Channel. She knows I write about, cook, and eat a lot of food, and that I’ve been cooking since I was able reach the stove by standing on a chair alongside my mom and granny. Well, maybe some of that is a little exaggerated, but some of it is true.

I passed a truck the other day and the sign on its door read – “Akers Window Cleaning,” which made me think of a guy I knew from my days in the bond biz, another lifetime ago. The guy’s name was Dave Akers, and his nickname (anybody who was anybody got a nickname) was “Disco Dave, Akers of Diamonds.” Named I believe by my old friend Tim “Parmigiana” May. 

Chattanooga was changed forever following the tragic shootings at the Armed Services Recruiting Center on Lee Highway and the U.S. Naval Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve Center on Amnicola Highway last July 16.

One year later, thousands of supporters will participate in the Chattanooga Heroes Run/Walk to honor and remember those who lost their lives as well as the hundreds of responders who worked to protect the city.