News - Friday, June 24, 2016

Each weekday, there’s a time when John C. Harrison of Evans Harrison Hackett is the only attorney in town. Granted, the sun isn’t up yet, let alone anyone else, but for a few, glorious minutes, he has downtown Chattanooga to himself. In these moments, when there’s nothing but lights on empty streets, Harrison sees a side of the city few people do.

Realtors want to look their best when meeting with a client, so they generally wear something formal that says, “I’m a business professional, and you can trust me with the biggest purchase, or sale, of your life.” Realtor Amy Shulman, however, could probably get away with wearing a t-shirt that says, “Been there, done that.”

On Wednesday, June 15, Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke toured the future Family Justice Center (FJC), which is under construction in an existing building located at 911 Eastgate Loop.

Mayor Berke was joined by City Council District Six representative Dr. Carol Berz, Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher, Assistant Chief Tracy Arnold, Family Justice Center (FJC) director Dr. Valerie Radu, FJC partners from Helen Ross McNabb, and City of Chattanooga Chief Operating Officer Maura Sullivan.

If you’re an older member of Generation X – that is, if you were born in the early- to-mid-1960s – you may have a lot of “balls in the air.”

You are saving for your own retirement – which might not be that far away – while at the same time possibly wanting to help pay for your children’s college education. And you may also be assisting your aging parents in some ways. How can you manage this juggling act?

The shimmering late afternoon waters of the Tennessee River provided a picturesque backdrop for the Women’s Council of Realtors’ June Sip-N-Stroll. Paula Palmer of Real Estate Partners hosted at owner Darlene Brown’s Cameron Harbor listing.

Most weeks, GCAR uses this space to discuss issues related to residential real estate. Yet a significant portion of our Association’s membership is comprise of commercial practitioners. I thank President Nathan Walldorf for inviting me to provide this week’s column to share some insight into commercial real estate.

Commercial drone use in the real estate business got a boost this week with the release of the Federal Aviation Administration’s final rule governing small unmanned aerial systems in the national air space.

Drones are increasingly being used in commercial applications, but federal regulations have required commercial drone operators to apply for a Section 333 waiver from the FAA before they can fly. Over 5,000 waivers were issued to commercial entities, a significant portion of which were used for the real estate business, but only licensed pilots were eligible to fly commercially.

As summer temperatures soar in Greater Chattanooga and North Georgia, so do home cooling costs. Homeowners are clambering to find ways to reduce energy usage, but terms used for energy-efficient elements in homes can be technical and confusing. Here are some simple definitions to help you understand popular energy-saving options for your home.

Chattanooga has a new coffee company. Only it’s not your ordinary, run-of-the-mill coffee. Mad Priest Coffee aims to make a great cuppa while almost exclusively hiring refugees.

The company launched its Kickstarter June 1 to coincide with Refugee Awareness Month. Though starting strictly as a wholesale provider, Mad Priest Coffee has plans to expand into a brick and mortar café.

In “Central Intelligence,” Kevin Hart and the ubiquitous Dwayne Johnson star as former high school classmates who reunite as adults and wind up saving the world. I rolled my eyes at the unapologetically manufactured storyline, too, but mostly enjoyed the film, which is dumb but funny.

UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Tennessee, the Helen Ross McNabb Center, and local and state officials gathered in Chattanooga Tuesday to celebrate the completion of the Bailey Home, a new supportive-living facility in Hamilton County that will serve the needs of adults living with mental illness.

Saturday, June 25, 1966

Bobby Howard Burns, 18, star Central High School athlete and student leader, died Friday morning at Erlanger Hospital from apparent viral meningitis. Young Burns was a spring graduate of Central, where he earned all-district and all-regional honors on the basketball team. He was a cadet colonel of the Central ROTC.

Saturday, June 24, 1916

Dr. J.W. Bachman and his son, Judge Nathan L. Bachman, went to Sweetwater to be present at the 75^th anniversary celebration of Dr. Bachman’s brother, the Rev. J. Linn Bachman.

Virginia College will host a BBQ competition on Saturday, July 9 from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Hosted in partnership with the Chattanooga chapter of the American Culinary Federation (ACF), the competition will be held at the Virginia College campus, located at 721 Eastgate Loop.

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.

I have mentioned in a few of my past articles that I don’t dream very much. Or if I do, I don’t often remember them. It is very rare that I wake up and remember dreaming or not, but it is different with hubby. When he wakes up and I ask how he slept, he will tell me if he dreamed or not, if not, he didn’t sleep well.

The other day I woke with some mild chest pain. I got up, took an aspirin and a fish oil pill and went and walked my 2.5 miles, figuring that if it was a heart attack we might as well get on with it. The walk was no problem and the pain had minimized so I went about the routine of the day. But it kept returning in small but noticeable doses until I determined at noon to go get some peace of mind. 

In the past three columns, I’ve told how, in February 2002, I had a major reminiscence of my role in saving the life of a heart attack victim-in-denial 20 years earlier. In March I received annoying emails about how to survive a heart attack while alone. In early April I dreamed of my heartland being under attack.

The Tennessee Aquarium IMAX 3D Theater will be screening “Wild Africa 3D” Saturday, June 24 through Sunday, June 26. This new giant screen film,  produced by BBC Earth, takes viewers across snow-covered mountains, over great rivers and steamy rainforests, and through wide-open savannahs, revealing the striking contrasts that exist in one of the wildest places on Earth.