News - Friday, May 25, 2012

The Honorable Marie Williams set high expectations as she prepared to announce the name of the 2012 recipient of the Liberty Bell Award, an honor the Chattanooga Bar Association bestows each year during its Law Day celebration on a person in the community whose service “strengthens the American system of freedom under law.”

The newest round of Chattanooga Fire Departent recruits graduated May 17 during a rousing and inspirational ceremony at Clear Creek Church of Christ. Fire Chief Randy Parker and City Council Chair Pam Ladd led the ceremony, which was the culmination of six-and-a-half months of training for 23 recruits. Many of them started working 24-hour shifts at fire stations throughout the city the following morning at 7 a.m. (Photo by David Laprad)

The Chattanooga Bar Association’s choice of Jennifer Wright as the 2012 recipient of the Liberty Bell Award reveals a heritage of community service in her family. Although Wright never knew her great-grandfather, Gordon Street, Sr., who received the award in 1979, he passed down through Wright’s grandparents and parents the drive to be more than a citizen of a community, but also a contributing member.

Saturday, May 26

Chancellor Clifford Curry Friday awarded a judgment totaling in the neighborhood of a million dollars to former County Judge Will Cummings in a lawsuit against Ramon G. Patterson, his former partner in Station WRGP-TV. The dispute involved purchase of stock.

Scottie Goodman Summerlin of Signal Mountain represented Tennessee at the 3rd annual Mom Congress on Education and Learning conference in Washington, D.C. April 29 through May 1. Parenting Magazine chose Summerlin for her contributions and dedication to improving local schools.

May 25

Beach Blanket Movie Night

Kick off Memorial Day weekend with Blanket Movie Night at Chester Frost Park Beach. It’s FREE! The public is invited to bring chairs or blankets or watch the movie from a boat. Sound will be broadcast via FM transmission. Due to licensing restrictions, the sponsors cannot mention the name of the movie. Family activities will be held before the movie and concessions will be sold. The movie will begin at dark. Erwin Marine Sales, the University of Phoenix and Hamilton County Parks and Recreation Department are sponsoring the event. For more information about the movie, call 842-6748.

The Federal Bar Association this month announced the selection of Chattanooga attorney Tonya Kennedy Cammon to fill an unexpired term as one of two 6th Circuit vice presidents of the organization. FBA President Fern Bomchill, of Chicago, made the appointment. Cammon will serve in the position until October 2013. The 6th Circuit encompasses the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan.

We’ve all seen those cheesy posters at our local Spencer’s stores. No, I’m not talking about the one with the dogs sitting around a poker table, although that poster decorates my dining room nicely. I’m talking about the posters that talk about “all the things I need to know about <insert a profession here> I learned from kindergarten.” I realized there wasn’t one made for lawyers, which is probably because people didn’t want to offend kindergartners and put them on the same level as lawyers. (That was my shameless lawyer joke for this column. At least that’s out of the way.)

Robert B. Ledford v. State of Tennessee.

Case Number: E2012--00731-CCA-RM-PC

Authoring Judge: Judge James Curwood Witt, Jr.

Originating Judge: Judge Don W. Poole

Date Filed: Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The pro se petitioner, Robert B. Ledford, appeals the Hamilton County Criminal Court’s summary denial of his petition for writ of error coram nobis attacking his convictions of second degree murder, kidnapping, aggravated robbery, and theft. On initial review, this court affirmed the coram nobis court’s summary denial because we concluded that coram nobis relief was not available to provide relief from a guilty-pleaded conviction. Robert B. Ledford v. State, No. E2010-01773-CCA-R3-PC (Tenn. Crim. App., Knoxville, May 4, 2011). The petitioner applied for permission to appeal this court’s decision with the Tennessee Supreme Court pursuant to Rule 11 of the Tennessee Rules of Appellate Procedure. On March 8, 2012, the supreme court granted the application for permission to appeal for the purpose of remanding the case to this court for reconsideration in light of the supreme court’s opinion in Wlodarz v. State, ___S.W.3d ___, No. E2008-02179-SC-R11-CO (Tenn. Feb. 23, 2012). Following our reconsideration, we conclude that the petitioner failed to present a justiciable claim warranting coram nobis relief and affirm the judgment of the coram nobis court.

(This is a column from a few years back during Riverfest Time, just in case you were looking for Del McCrory and couldn’t find him)

Hey, mister, can you tell me where a man might find a bed?”

He just grinned and shook my hand, and “No!” was all he said.

I remember a company retreat once at Petit Jean State Park where some of the ladies from our office walked to the edge of one of those cliffs where a rock hung out hundreds – I argued that it was millions – of feet above the tree line below. I never got that great of a look as I stood well back on flat ground, telling them how dangerous it was, begging them not to get so close. They ignored me as they took turns posing for pictures on the scenic edge.

Two weeks ago, I presented a list of my favorite things about the movie “The Avengers.” Now I will offer a list of the things I liked the least about “Battleship,” a massive creative misfire. Unlike “The Avengers,” which drew record crowds during its opening weekend, hardly anyone has seen “Battleship.” I hope this review resolves any indecision you have about seeing it.

I didn’t like the last novel I read, C.J. Box’s “Three Weeks to Say Goodbye” (2009). If you think you want to read it, then don’t read this column, as it will spoil the experience.

A married couple months into adoptive parenthood learns that the teenage biological father of their daughter didn’t sign away his parental rights. His father, a powerful federal judge, now wants to be a granddad, it seems.

As the days slowly turn much warmer and the trees change to deep summer greens, farmers across Tennessee prepare for this year’s cropping season. They repair hay balers parked over the winter in metal sheds, hoping for just one more year of use and a bumper crop.

Re/Max has recognized John Hetzler as a top performer and the Grace Frank Group as a top team in Tennessee. Based at the Re/Max Renaissance Realtors office in Chattanooga, the teams and individuals were recently recognized at an awards ceremony in Nashville, Tenn. Hetzler placed second in the state for the top individuals category, with a combined $9,000,000 in sales for 2011. The Grace Frank Group, led by Grace Frank, placed eighth in the state for the top teams category, with $16,000,000 in sales for 2011.

The Lookout Mountain Conservancy invites the community to a free event, “Open Minds Open House Open Space: A Mingling of the Minds on the Mountainside” on May 31 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The event will be held at 1813 Old Wauhatchie Pike, the site of a seven-acre tract at the base of Lookout Mountain formerly owned by the Williams-Sexton family.

100 YEARS AGO

Saturday, May 25

Miss Gertrude Perry left Friday for her home in Chicago after a visit with Miss Maude Rathmell on West Sixth Street.

Miss Wessie Bowen and Miss Katherine Betts will return June 1 from Randolph-Macon College in Virginia.

With a $100,000 cash prize at stake and 14 weeks until Demo Day, GigTank launched in Chattanooga earlier this week. The startup accelerator, hosted at CO.LAB, is connecting eight teams of entrepreneurs to mentors, investors and potential customers to help accelerate the launch of their companies.

Grilling a hamburger engages all of the senses. There’s the feel of the meat squishing between your fingers as you mix in the spices, the sizzling of the patty hitting a hot grill, the smell of the burger cooking, the beauty of the seared meat coming off the coals and the taste nothing inside of a kitchen can replicate. If you can find someone who can grill well, marry them; if you have a neighbor who knows his or her way around a Primo or a FireMagic, make them your friend for life.

Partners, principals, teachers, students and community members came together at Read House on May 16 to celebrate the success of the Middle Schools for a New Society initiative. The program, a partnership between the Hamilton County Department of Education and the Public Education Foundation, with support from the Lyndhurst Foundation and the NEA Foundation, has made a substantial impact in Hamilton County middle schools over the past six years.

Friends of the Festival and Chattanooga’s Parks and Recreation Department have lifted the curtain on the dates and musical lineup of their upcoming series of outdoor concerts. Riverfront Nights will kick off Saturday, August 4, and run weekly through mid-September, taking off only one night (August 25) when they turn the spotlight over to the Southern Brewers Festival.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, is a very serious mental health disorder that can be debilitating, not just to our returning soldiers, but to anyone who has suffered a traumatic event. If left untreated, it will continue to worsen.

Most of the time when you hear that term, it is associated with service men and women. The reason being is that our nation is at war, and so many soldiers returning home have to deal with the trauma of what they experienced during deployment.

“Vanishing Appalachia: Photographs by Don Dudenbostel, Field Recordings by Tom Jester,” which has been on view at the Museum Center at 5ive Points, continues to fascinate viewers. The museum refreshed the exhibit May 15 with new photographs on aspects of Appalachian culture that are fading from existence.

Summer has started, and if we look at the weather we had in the spring, then we are going to have another scorcher! Here is a puzzle designed for all you weather bugs out there!

1. An earthquake that measures 8 on the Richter Scale would be how many times stronger than an earthquake that measures 4 on the same scale? Two times stronger; Four times stronger; 1,000 times stronger; 10,000 times stronger?

This past week, I went to Memphis and spent the night with my three young grandchildren. Paige is five (almost six), Gwynn is almost two, and Landon is five months old. We decided to have a night on the town and eat at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Fun!

For 30 years we have been taught, as Realtors we must be there for our clients. I hear it all the time from agents across North America; “I want to be there for my clients.” What does ‘be there’ mean? Does ‘be there’ mean we are available 24 hours, 7 days a week for our clients? Does it mean that we miss soccer games, tee ball games, and piano recitals?