News - Friday, September 18, 2015

Ten years ago, attorney Kevin Wilson took a breath, and his life changed.

A full-time lawyer in Chattanooga and a part-time judge in Collegedale, he’d traveled to California to visit his sister. One night not long after he’d returned home, he started to feel sick. He couldn’t shake it off, so he went to a doctor, who said he had pneumonia and gave him antibiotics.

Everything at Foundation Title looks and smells new. The paint is fresh, the carpet is clean, and the furniture is unblemished. Some of the ideas are new, too.

Among the innovations is an office focused on serving real estate agents. As Realtors, co-owners Charlotte Mabry, Herby Dixon, and Wendy Dixon know what agents go through to complete a transaction, and they want to help. Amenities include an office with freely available computers and printers, as well as a store where agents can purchase a last-minute gift to congratulate a client on the purchase of a home.

Open houses on Elder Mountain

Eight luxury homes on Elder Mountain will be open to visitors Sunday, Sept. 20 from 2-5 p.m. during the Grand Open House Tour. Presented by Keller Williams Realty of Chattanooga, Fletcher Bright Realty, Signature Brokers, Herman Walldorf & Company, Re/Max Properties of Chattanooga, and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Realty Center of Chattanooga, the event will include the following properties:

The six-member law firm of Summers, Rufolo & Rodgers has announced that members Jerry Summers and Jeff Rufolo have been selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America for 2016.

Summers has been selected for Best Lawyers in either criminal defense or personal injury plaintiff counsel every year since the publication began in 1983.

The Governor’s Council for Judicial Appointments is accepting applications for the Supreme Court vacancy created by Justice Gary R. Wade’s retirement Sept. 8.

Any interested applicant must be a licensed attorney who is at least 35 years of age, a resident of the state for five years, and a resident of the Eastern or Western Tennessee Grand Divisions. Applicants must complete the designated application, which is available at www.tncourts.gov, and submit it to the Administrative Office of the Courts by noon CDT on Monday, Oct. 12.

If you’re a small-business owner, you’ve always got a lot to do: marketing your products or services, hiring employees, paying your bills, coping with competition – the list goes on and on. But there’s one task you may be overlooking: establishing your own retirement plan. And that’s not something you want to ignore – because, one day, you may want to trade in the title of “business owner” for that of “retiree.” 

“What would you do if you were confronted by a predator?” James Hogwood asked a roomful of ladies as they dug into their salads.

The question was rhetorical; most people are ill-equipped for such an event. To help prepare the members of the Women’s Council of Realtors (WCR), Hogwood spoke at the organization’s most recent business and networking meeting, which took place Sept. 9 at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo. With September being Realtor Safety Month, Hogwood’s 45-minute discourse was well-timed.

Home prices were up during summer across the nation in year-over-year comparisons. With the economy on full mend, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has predicted a fine-tuning of monetary policy before the year ends.

In tandem with the improved economy, the unemployment rate for July 2015 remained at 5.3 percent for the second month in a row. It is widely believed that interest rates will go up before the year is over. Generally, this does not happen without careful consideration for the impact such a move will have on residential real estate.

The only people who benefit when a house is built are the family members who get to live there, and the builder who constructed and sold the home, right?

Wrong. The positive impact of new residential construction is far-reaching, bringing benefits to families, businesses and services throughout a community immediately, as well as for years to come.

Growing up, the song, “Over the River and Through the Wood” must have meant something different to M. Night Shyamalan than most kids. Instead of conjuring visions of snow-covered hills and warm-baked pumpkin pies, it must have made him think of psychotic grandmothers and a wood shed full of used diapers.

Ten local organizations were awarded a total of $13,515 in grant funds through the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Arts Build Communities program and locally managed by ArtsBuild. The projects include collaborative community events as well as support for arts workshops and performances. The goal of the ABC grant program is to support projects that broaden access to arts experiences, address community quality of life issues through the arts, or enhance the sustainability of asset-based cultural enterprises.

Legal Aid of East Tennessee attorney Brian Frye has become chairman of the Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition. With Frye installed as the Homeless Coalition’s head, the organization is now planning a major fundraiser: the Chattanooga Housing Bowl, to be held Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016.

Court’s in recess and there goes the judge! In New England the Patriots again start the season as the Tom Brady Bunch. In New York NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has crow for breakfast. Case closed!

After that Big Game in January, the NFL hired a law firm to do an “independent” investigation of the Patriots’ alleged use of “seemingly under-inflated footballs.” And Deflategate was born.

The National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) help its annual conference in Las Vegas this week.

Chattanooga-based PlayCore continued its leading presence at NRPA with more than 15,000 square feet of products, research, and programs. PlayCore’s debuted several industry firsts, from family play opportunities, to new ways to take fitness outside, to new ideas for water play.

Fleet Feet Sports has announced the mid-October opening of its first location in Chattanooga. The store will open in the NorthShore neighborhood at 313 Manufacturers Road.

Running store veteran Steve Carter will operate and manage the store. He previously served as general manager and general merchandising manager of Fleet Feet Sports in Huntsville, Ala. Carter spent 11 years working alongside Huntsville store co-owners Dink and Suzanne Taylor.

Social media has taken over the food business. Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook have thousands of recipes, copycat recipes, tips, and food-hacks. While cookbooks used to be fine, collectable items, today, our up-and-coming chefs merely consider them to be “something my mother and grandmother had.”

On Tuesday morning, while driving through a neighborhood on my way to my foot doctor, I looked over at a house and saw a very large, stiff animal that some guy was taking out of the back of his pickup. As my coffee-less brain tried to process what my eyes were saying to it, I looked back to the road and spotted a squirrel, who had chosen to zip across the road, hoping to beat another pickup truck that was coming in both our directions. I slowed down, but the second truck didn’t and another member of the cutest of all rodents became typically frantic and indecisive. His last move in this life was the wrong one, a juke right and cut left, under the black rubber of steel-belted death. 

Saturday, Sept. 18, 1965

Beginning Dec. 15, Chattanoogans will be able to board a 600-mile-an-hour jet at Lovell Field at 7 p.m. and arrive at New York at 9:14 p.m., Eastern Airlines announced Friday. This marks a new day in commercial service for Chattanooga and as the first such service for Chattanooga’s jet-age airport.

Saturday, Sept. 18, 1915

Under the supervision of Roger H. Crox, county superintendent of roads, the Riverside Drive has been graded to less than a mile south of Boyce. This will shorten the highway from Chattanooga and the territory west of Missionary Ridge along the river to the city.

I have held many garage sales over the last ten years, but none of them were as successful as the last three. I am usually gathering items throughout the year as I replace something; therefore, I always have plenty of items for next year’s sale.