News - Friday, August 22, 2014

Joshua Powers didn’t always want to be an attorney. The son of the late John Y. Powers, a revered Chattanooga lawyer and U.S. magistrate judge, he once swore off the idea of practicing law. “I’m never going to be a lawyer,” he’d say with all of the conviction a 10-year-boy could muster.

Justice Sharon Lee will become Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court, effective Sept. 1.

Justice Lee won a retention election for an eight-year term to the Court in the Aug. 7 statewide election. She has been a member of the Tennessee Supreme Court since 2008.

The Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services (TALS) has named Legal Aid of East Tennessee Chattanooga attorney and Pro Bono Project Director Charlie McDaniel the 2014 New Advocate of the Year. The award will be presented on Wednesday, Sept. 10 in Murfreesboro. Diane Nash, a leader of the civil rights movement, will give the keynote address.

The TBA YLD took first place in three award categories at the ABA Meeting in Boston on Aug. 9. The awards recognize outstanding accomplishments during the previous bar year.

The TBA YLD won first place in the Service to Public category for its Library Education Project, which under the leadership of Immediate Past YLD President David McDowell, educated at least one library in all 95 of Tennessee’s counties about the free legal resources available for those who need legal information and advice.

Attorney Terri L. Daugherty has joined the Chattanooga office of Luther-Anderson.

Daugherty graduated from Cleveland High School, Berea College (B.A.), and Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School. As a law student, she was an executive member of the Public Interest Law Society.

Best Lawyers has named five attorneys from Chambliss as 2015 Chattanooga Lawyers of the Year. 

The Chambliss attorneys named Best Lawyers 2015 Chattanooga Lawyer of the Year and their categories of practice are: William P. Aiken, corporate law; Bruce C. Bailey, bankruptcy and creditor debtor rights/insolvency and reorganization law; Steve Jett, health care law; Alicia Brown Oliver, trademark law; and William H. Pickering, litigation-labor and employment law. Only a single lawyer in each practice area within a community receives this distinction.

The Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police recently held its 44th annual conference in Chattanooga. Retired Chattanooga Chief Freeman Cooper is this year’s recipient of the Retired Chief of the Year Award, an honor given to him by his colleagues.

The Chattanooga Police Department (CPD) last week announced the recent implementation of additional safeguards to ensure employee accountability.

The Terminal Agency Coordinator (TAC) will conduct an annual audit of CPD employee driver’s license status and will check each employee for outstanding warrants. This will be conducted in the month preceding the employee’s birthday. Supervisors will be notified of any employees out of compliance with department policy or state law. The supervisors will then work with the employees to ensure any concerns are addressed.

Chattanooga firefighters are accustomed to responding to fires, medical emergencies, and car wrecks, because it’s their job, but every August, they try to help with another emergency: hunger.

“It’s not in our mission statement,” said Fire Chief Lamar Flint, “but we like to do what we can once a year to help the Chattanooga Area Food Bank.

The Chattanooga Police Department (CPD) Tuesday held its first meeting to implement Chief Fred Fletcher’s new RESTART initiative, a community-based working group to assist with the reform of processes regarding how officers are recruited, selected and promoted. RESTART will also provide continued oversight and guidance once the reforms are in place.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner John Schroer this week announced the award of a $159,300 transportation alternative grant to the Town of Lookout Mountain for the Incline Railway Rehabilitation Project.

The National Association of Realtors’ new .REALTOR top-level domain will be available Oct. 23, 2014 to NAR members.

“The Internet is undergoing vast changes with the creation of over 1,900 new top-level domains, and with nine out of 10 recent buyers beginning their home search online, it has become even more critical for Realtors to create a branded space online.

Local designer Marty Stanley of Anything Goes has been named one of the 16 regional winners of the Thermador 2012-2013 Kitchen Design Challenge.

Thermador put out a call to the country’s top designers to submit kitchens designed in 2012 and 2013, and after months of deliberation, selected Stanley as one of the Southeast winners for Contemporary/Modern.

Although low supply and tight credit standards are still hurdles to recovery, prices continue to rise in most local areas.

Job growth has strengthened lately, but wage growth has not kept pace with the price gains we’ve seen. Buoyed by stable and continuously lower interest rates, affordability is still historically high yet below its all-time peak.

Embassy Suites Chattanooga–Hamilton Place has been named number 152 in the world and 63 in the United States on the Expedia Insiders’ Select list for 2014, an annual ranking of the best reviewed hotels.

Pulling from nearly two million annual verified guest reviews, the Insiders’ Select list recognizes the top 650 ranked hotels available worldwide on Expedia. The award was presented by Expedia this month to hotel owners, managers, and staff.

On Sept. 1, we observe Labor Day — a celebration of the American worker. Of course, you work hard at your own job, but, when you think of it, every worthwhile endeavor in life requires significant effort — and that’s certainly the case with investing. The harder you work at it, the more likely you are to make progress toward your goals.

Turning on the news lately has been a depressing affair: riots near St. Louis, terrorists taking over Iraq, and tension in Ukraine ... There seems to be no end to the cruelty and suffering. The world of “The Giver,” however, is one in which the pain of the human experience is gone.

My two-year-old grandson, Landon, loves olives and pickles, which he calls “ahwives” and “bickles.” And, no, they aren’t the best thing for him at all, but what’s a grandmother to do when he’s holding up his chubby little hand begging for “ahwives?”

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint. - Mark Twain

I thought I wanted to be the health editor, well, sort of. The reason was I felt qualified, with everything I’ve been through personally and with mom. But PB (publisher boss, who has since become CEO boss) said, “Probably not a good idea.” I kept pleading my case, reminding him we would even have an MD on call, referring to my Asian friend, Dr. Sum Ting Wong. You may remember when I last called on him a few years back:

In the statewide daily I read each morning, the Aug. 13, 2014 “Judge Parker” comic strip featured legal secretary Gloria saying to senior partner Sam, “Rocky Ledge is talking about having Steve come aboard as corporate council” (sic). I’m not a reader of this strip. Or any soap-operaesque strips, actually. Though I can remember a time in life when I read “Mary Worth” on a regular basis. I just can’t remember why.

I went through three props on my ski boat this summer. Prior to this summer, I’d never even changed the prop. My prop had always been a little beaten up, but I didn’t realize how nice a new prop felt until I changed it over the Fourth of July Weekend. I finally changed it because it became so damaged, I could hardly pull a tube behind the boat because of the vibration.

It is with a heavy heart that I write this column. I much prefer the humorous insights I generally try to convey with my writings. But no columnist based in St. Louis, Mo., can publish an article this week which concerns rights, laws, and society and not take a serious turn. Ferguson. Mo., is a part of this metropolitan area. It is now the center of national reporting, national galvanization, and national polit-speak. Unfortunately, it is a situation marked and continued more by fear and fiction, than by legal or human rights issues.

On one of those surprising cool summer evenings we had recently, I took my “red-neck” golf cart out for a late evening drive around the back 40 just to enjoy the night. Mine is one that was bought on the conservative side but fits my lifestyle perfectly. It doesn’t hold golf clubs, but instead has gun racks, floodlights, and army green coloring with a slightly altered gas engine allowing it to do over 20 mph. It’s not what you will see on the back nine, just on my back 40, hauling me around.

In partnership with Hamilton County Department of Education, PEF announced two grants totaling $100,000 from the Leonore Annenberg School Fund for Children to Bess T. Shepherd Elementary and East Lake Elementary on Friday at celebrations in each school.

Once upon a time, I acquired a beautiful kitchen table from my mother and father. The table had served us well over the years, and instead of finding a new one, I knew I could give it a brand new life. 

To redo any piece of furniture, you first need to figure out a plan. For this particular piece, I decided to go with a mix of painted and stained stripes. Before you start, make sure to thoroughly clean the area you will be working with; any all-purpose cleaner will do. This table originally had a stained top and I wanted to start with the raw wood. 

Fill in the blanks in the quote using the following words:

rather, will, person, lack, knowledge, lack, strength,

others, difference, of , successful, not

“The ______between a _______  ______ and ______ is _______ a ______ of _______, not a ______ of ______, but ______a lack ______ ______.”

It seems hubby and I are spending a lot of time in the air lately, such as today. Which gave me the idea behind this week’s puzzle: How much do you know about the airlines and airports? Flying anywhere in the near future? You might want to check this out!

Saturday, August 22, 1914

In the City Championship tennis Tournament, Eugene Thomasson was the winner. He defeated Tom Carothers in five fierce sets. Thomasson will play Will Oehmig, who will be defending his championship title.

Sunday, Aug. 23

The stone tower memorial of Wilder’s Brigade was struck by lightning during a storm Friday, causing damage of $3,000. R.B. Randolph, Sup’t of Parks, said the tower might have to be rebuilt.

Saturday, August 22, 1964

Both the Hamilton County and the Chattanooga school systems scheduled Tuesday, Sept. 1 as registration day to avert a loss in average-daily attendance funds from the state, County Sup’t Sam P. McConnell said. The 1964-65 county school term officially opens when teachers report Monday, Aug. 31.

National Treasures 2014

Thursday, Aug. 28

The Friends of Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park will host the sixth annual National Treasures event on Thursday, Aug. 28 at Point Park. This year’s party celebrates the 125th anniversary of the 1889 picnic that brought Union and Confederate veterans back to the Chickamauga and Chattanooga battlefields to commemorate the establishment of the country’s first federally protected Civil War battlefield. This year, guests will gather atop Lookout Mountain to enjoy an evening of bluegrass music from The Dismembered Tennesseans, slow cooked barbecue, and drinks. Tickets are $75 each or $130 per couple, and are available via PayPal, credit card purchases at www.friendsofchch.org, or by check, made payable and mailed to Friends of the Park, P.O. Box 748, Chattanooga, TN 37401. The reservation deadline is Aug. 22. Reservations include food, beverages, activities, and a tax deductible donation to the Friends. For more, call (423) 648-5623.