News - Friday, August 10, 2012

From the moment Leslie Foster decided to become an attorney, through law school, and even after she started working, she didn’t know what kind of law she wanted practice; she only knew she wanted to be a lawyer.

Famous civil rights lawyer Fred Gray unknowingly planted the seeds of Foster’s interest in the law. She heard Gray speak during her sophomore year at David Lipscomb University in Nashville, where she was majoring in American studies with no specific career goal in mind. The passion with which he spoke about the law gave her the direction she lacked.

Chattanooga firefighters are gearing up for their sixth annual Fight Against Hunger food drive, to take place August 20-26. The firefighters are collecting canned goods and other non-perishable food items for the Chattanooga Area Food Bank. Firefighters started their food drive six years ago when the Food Bank issued a public appeal for help. Supplies at the Food Bank always run low this time of year, and with a struggling economy, the demand has only increased.

Saturday, Aug. 11

Congressman James B. Frazier, Jr., on Saturday conceded his defeat by 271 votes and offered his congratulations to attorney Wilkes T. Thrasher, Jr., his opponent in the Third District Congressional race.

Registration is heavy for the forthcoming Tennessee Valley Medical Assembly to be held at the Read House on September 24-25, according to Dr. Edward G. Johnson, president Chattanooga-Hamilton County Medical Society, the sponsoring organization. Dr. John C. Belisario of Syndey, Australia will be one of the speakers.

Through Aug. 31

Free fitness class continues

Outdoor Chattanooga and Greenlife Grocery will continue to host its free public fitness class using the PX90 and Insanity programs through the end of the month. The class will take place Thursdays at 6 p.m. at Outdoor Chattanooga in Coolidge Park. Instructor Paul Mason has geared the class toward people of all fitness levels. Greenlife Healthy Eating Specialist Morgan Walley will provide healthy snacks. No pre-registration is required. To learn more, email ruth@outdoorchattanooga.com or call 423-643-6888.

The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded Hamilton County LEED Silver Certification for its Business Development Center. LEED is the Council’s rating system for designing and constructing energy efficient buildings.

Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger says the LEED certification is representative of Hamilton County reestablishment as a technological center. “The Business Development Center [was] a manufacturing facility. When the county began operating the facility as a business incubator in partnership with the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, we knew we were growing a new breed of entrepreneurs. Now we have a LEED Silver certified building that matches the vitality and ingenuity of our 55 business tenants and their 400 employees.”

They could have prayed indoors. It would have been easy to gather at Olivet Baptist Church, sheltered from the searing August heat. But they prayed outdoors, on the street where last March a bullet from a gang member’s gun hit 13-year-old Keoshia Ford in the head and rendered her comatose. They prayed on Bennett Avenue because that’s where they need to be.

John Jay Hooker, on behalf of himself and others, v. Governor Bill Haslam, et al.

Case Number: M2012-01299-COA-R3-CV

Authoring Judge: Presiding Judge Herschel Pickens Franks

Originating Judge: Judge Hamilton Gayden, Jr.

Date Filed: Friday, July 27, 2012

I got a little perspective this week in the Levison Towers. Not just the normal perspective one gets from a cubicle on the 23rd floor, halfway through one’s legal career, either. The temperature has been in the low 90s for the last several days and many of us are acting as though it is cold outside. Few remember a time of triple digit heat quite as extensive as we have just endured. Fewer still have ever seen a note like I saw posted at a local administrative agency, authorizing lawyers to appear sans tie and coat due to the heat.

Olympics time again. Gabby, Usain, Misty and Carrie; and of course all those great swimmers. Diving I slightly get into. Basketball I love but haven’t figured out when they are on. I didn’t see much tennis but was pulling for Maria over Serena. Treason you say? Maybe, but I’ll stick with that choice.

While moving the remaining items of my house in Northwest Arkansas over the weekend into storage, it hit me, as it has many times before, of what a pack rat I have become.

The only thing more cluttered than the bedroom-turned-storage room is my small shed I had built years ago from spare barn parts. I didn’t have a floor installed. Bad mistake. I fear snakes as much as nuclear warfare.

I like a good remake as much as the next guy. New technology and a fresh perspective on a classic story can produce a movie well worth seeing, as “Cape Fear” and “War of the Worlds” demonstrated. Unfortunately, Hollywood has gone remake and reboot crazy, and the balance of good remakes to bad ones is tilted heavily in favor of films no one should have made.

Lately, it is getting to feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe. Just about the time I think I understand what is going on and some things are starting to make sense, someone comes up with some kind of outlandish idea and statement that simply pushes my thought cycle to the back of the school lunch line.

The lessons so far are as follows: No. 1 Do your best. No. 2 Start now. No. 3 Choose friends wisely. No. 4 Keep an open mind. No. 5 Get up!No. 6 Call your mom!

I believe that the final lesson before you go to college is both the easiest and the hardest at the same time. It is a lesson that I often fail to heed. It is a lesson that, if taken to heart, can make your life simpler while helping you to get the most out of every experience. The lesson is to live in the moment while planning for the future.

The past two weeks I’ve highlighted some stuff in New York Times crossword history that served to give crosswords a bad name. That is, obscure, nobody’s-ever-heard-of-‘em words and their clumsy, who-gives-a-darn clues. My focus was exclusively on the Farrar and Maleska Eras, so called for the Times’ first and third puzzle editors.

The Travel Channel’s Adam Richman is on a nationwide search for the best sandwich in America. He could have saved himself a lot of time, money and effort by traveling to Chattanooga and eating the GollyWhopper.

My quest to consume the best sandwich in America took me ten minutes out of the downtown area to Brainerd, where GollyWhoppers Sandwich Shoppe is located in Brainerd Hills Center. I’d been there before, but had never tried their signature item.

Not long ago, I was sitting in hotel room waiting for hubby to wake up so we could make a coffee run. Not long into my wait, I decided it was going to be longer than I planned, so I grabbed the paper that was left at our door: a Wall Street Journal.

Known as “Coast Guard Day,” August 4th is celebrated annually at U.S. Coast Guard units worldwide, and this past August 4th, the Coast Guard celebrated its 222nd birthday. It marks the date on which the Tariff Act of 1790 authorized, at the suggestion of Alexander Hamilton, the building of ten cutters to assist in the collection of tariffs, which became the Revenue Cutter Service and renamed the Coast Guard in 1915.

There was a time when the idea of a woman juggling a career and a family was unthinkable. Today, no one blinks at the thought, as countless women have shown themselves to be capable of producing at home and on the job. What’s still surprising, though, is how easy Maryann Azambuja makes it look.

A common provision found in real estate purchase agreements allows the prospective buyer a period of time to inspect the property prior to closing and to terminate the agreement if the buyer is not satisfied with some aspect of its inspection. Some termination clauses are drafted quite broadly and allow the buyer to terminate the agreement for virtually any reason. Other clauses are more narrowly drafted and may limit the buyer’s right to terminate the agreement only if he is dissatisfied with the status of title or the environmental condition of the property, for example.

Saturday, Aug. 10

A canning demonstration is enthusing the rural folks in practical community work at Sunnyside.  Miss Moore, the State Tomato Club organizer, and Mrs. J.B. Lauderback, Hamilton County coordinator, have arranged tables under the trees at Sunnyside School filled with baskets of vegetables and fruits. At 10 a.m., preparations are stated in learning how to prepare and can. Deep interest has been shown by the great number who have joined the club.

Recently, a close friend of mine was diagnosed with Diabetes Type II. Over 17 million Americans have diabetes, and each day, approximately 2,200 new individuals are diagnosed. After my friend was diagnosed, I realized my knowledge of diabetes was lacking.  Below is a simple test on the subject – how much do you know?

Most business owners, professionals, managers and entrepreneurs are usually busy being busy. This means they spend most of their time working “in” their business and rarely take time to work “on” their business. In other words, they are reactive to the day-to-day details of running their business.