News - Friday, July 25, 2014

For years, James H. Levine has been moving smoothly in one direction. But no road through life is without detours, and Levine has finally encountered one. The good news is he couldn’t be more excited. 

A third-generation Chattanooga lawyer, Levine has accomplished what many people only dream of doing: After growing up in Scenic City, he attended Yale University in Connecticut, where he majored in political science and was a member of the varsity lightweight crew. He had no specific career aspirations during his years at the Ivy League school, but merely absorbed the experience of living somewhere new and meeting new people. 

Chattanooga Coca-Cola Bottling, a division of Coca-Cola Bottling Company United, broke ground on the company’s new state-of-the-art distribution and sales facility on West Shepherd Road Monday, July 21.

The ceremony marked the company’s 115th anniversary of doing business in Chattanooga – the day it launched the first Coca-Cola bottling operation in the world.

On July 17, 2014, the Board of Governors passed a resolution on the Supreme Court and Appellate judges of Tennessee. The Board of Governors recognizes the promotion of a fair and impartial process, and find it necessary to inform voters about the performance of justices of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals judges in Tennessee. The resolution reads as follows: 

The Tennessee Supreme Court this week ruled that a cash bond in the amount of statutory court costs and litigation taxes is sufficient to permit an appeal from general sessions court to circuit court. 

The issue arose in a 2007 Shelby County case in which Wilma Griffin sued Campbell Clinic for substandard medical treatment. The general sessions court ruled in favor of Campbell Clinic. Griffin filed a notice of appeal the next day and deposited $211.50 with the general sessions court clerk – an amount that represented the standard court cost for an appeal to the circuit court plus state and local litigation taxes. 

I was checking something out online the other day when I came across the word glamazon. 

Glamazon is not in many dictionaries, though it is in Wordnik. Wordnik’s cofounder, Erin McKean, gave a great TED Talk in 2007, “The Joy of Lexicography.” You can watch it on YouTube. I recommend it wholeheartedly. 

Every so often, one of us here at the Levison Group feels the need to review the laws enacted by the noble legislators of our nations’ states. In need of some interesting and questionable policy directives to brighten up my day, I volunteered to undertake the task this time around. I was NOT disappointed. 

If you want to send your children or grandchildren to college, retire comfortably and achieve other important life goals, you will have to invest — it’s that simple. But the process of investing can sometimes seem anything but simple. What can you do to gain confidence that you are making the right investment moves? 

People in and around the Ooltewah area now have the opportunity to experience Hampton Creek living. In late Februåary of this year, Luken Holdings purchased the Champions Club Golf Course. This purchase has already brought in new club carts and swimming pool updates to the facility, and is now bringing in brand new homes. 

Upon reviewing our June residential market statistics, you might think housing got off to a slow start this spring selling season. But don’t let appearances deceive you. As you dig into that spring soil, you begin to unearth differences in individual areas and segments of the Greater Chattanooga market. 

Following a year of major changes in 2013, Northgate Mall continues to enhance the center with the announcement of a new-to-the-area merchant. 

Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom plans to extensively remodel the former Shane’s Rib Shack along with adjacent space for a total of 4,840 square feet. The new restaurant plans to open this fall, and will feature a spacious patio with exterior bar seating, 14 60-inch TVs, 36 taps, and their exclusive “Dough Room,” where guests can watch Old Chicago chefs preparing fresh made dough. 

If sex were anything like watching “Sex Tape,” no one would be having it. “Sex Tape” is a comedy that isn’t funny, an adult film that isn’t sexy, and a movie that’s barely watchable. 

It starts out promising enough. We meet Jay (Jason Segel) and Annie (Cameron Diaz), a young couple with a very healthy sex life, to put it mildly. One marriage ceremony and a couple of kids later, however, and they’ve hit the skids between the sheets. When Jay fails to rise to the occasion one night when their children are gone, Annie suggests they film themselves trying every position in “The Joy of Sex.” 

After three days of live fire training at a donated house on Fagan Street, the 25 recruits in Chattanooga’s Fire Academy 2014 watched just how fast a house can burn to the ground if they don’t use the fire suppression tactics they’ve been taught in recent months.

For the third consecutive year, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Veterans Entrepreneurship Program (VEP) is offering free training and mentoring in entrepreneurship and small business management to this nation’s disabled and service distinguished veterans. 

Under a new partnership between the Chattanooga Public Library and Hamilton County schools, every student registered at a Hamilton County public school this fall will be issued a free Chattanooga Public Library card for use at any of the four neighborhood library branches.

The Chattanooga Salvation Army is partnering with local Bi-Lo supermarkets to kick start the new Flowers of Hope program.

Volunteers gathered today at 8:30 a.m. at The Salvation Army Citadel Corps and Community Center on North Moore Road in Chattanooga to create arrangements, write notes of encouragement, and deliver the flowers to those who need uplifting. 

This past month, our church had two picnics, both of which were perfect! The weather was perfect, the food was perfect, and the fellowship was perfect! 

To the first one, I carried a cornbread salad, but for the second one, I didn’t have to take anything. Hubby and I just went and enjoyed the fun! 

Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated; it satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening - and it is without a doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented. 

                                                                             ~ Arnold Palmer 

Is it better to fail or to not try at all? I think if you asked most people, they would pick failure. Not because they want to fail, but only because that’s what they’ve always been told.

We all know you can’t accomplish anything without trying. But if that’s true, why is it so easy to not try? How is it that we can stand by and let so many of our dreams float by like clouds rather than trying to accomplish something? Failure is built into every great success story. If you don’t fail, you don’t succeed.

For some reason, the month of July has always been special for me to take in the observation of the moon.

No, I’m not involved in some kind of way-out-there religion or smoke any kind of kooky weeds, but if you haven’t noticed it, the moon in July is usually extra special. I guess, due to the fact we spend more time outside in the summer, we have the opportunity to see it more. Just recently, we had the chance to see the Super Moon, which was a very bright moon for our summertime viewing. 

Screening of Blanco documentary

Sunday, July 27

Be among the first to screen a new documentary, “The Jack Blanco Story,” featuring the life story of a Chattanooga-area resident, Holocaust survivor, and Korean War veteran on Sunday, July 27 at 5:30 p.m. at the Collegedale Community Church, located on 4995 Swinyar Drive. The film follows Jack J. Blanco’s journey through Nazi labor camps and wartime trials to his years as a pastor, missionary, and author of The Clear Word Bible paraphrase. The documentary also features interviews from prominent members of the local community. Segments were filmed Germany, Africa, and the Philippines. The screening is open to the public and free of charge.

If you sing the praises of Etheostoma teddyroosevelt (a colorful freshwater fish also known as the Highland Darter), can visually identify a Graptemys ouachitensis (a Ouachita map turtle) from 1,000 yards, or know more about Carcharodon carcharias (Great White Shark) than cars, you might be among more than 950 scientists coming to Chattanooga for the 2014 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. 

Word games. I love them, and with the Internet, smart phones, and other advancing technologies, our English language is growing – word by word. 

I wrote the word “Googled” in a sentence the other day, and my word processor told me it was misspelled and there was no alternative spelling. But we know what it means, don’t we? 

Saturday, July 25 

Mr. and Mrs. Corliss Buchanan of St. Louis will arrive soon to visit Mr. Buchanan’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Judson Buchanan, on Missionary Ridge. 

Miss Ann Roberts of Valdosta, Ga., has returned to her home after a visit to Miss Margaret Davies in St. Elmo. 

Saturday, July 25 

Mrs. Hassie Brooks Bass, widow of former Mayor E.D. Bass, died Saturday morning at her home on East Main Street. She was a former president of Oak Manor (formerly the Old Ladies Home). 

W.E. Ragland, III has been promoted from vice-president to president of Mulkey & Jackson Supermarkets, it was announced Friday by Millis F. Mulkey, chairman of the board. Charles Ragland has been promoted to vice president. J. H. Jackson, one of the company’s founders, will continue as secretary and treasurer.