News - Friday, June 26, 2015

When someone asked Kathy Rowell if she'd ever considered going to law school, she wasn't warm to the idea. "There's a reason there are a lot of jokes about lawyers," she says, "Attorneys have a bad reputation, and I didn't want to be involved in a profession in which I would encounter a lot of negativity."

Following three months of preparation, Realtor Jeremy Callahan of Ooltewah-based real estate firm Signature Brokers competed in the eighth annual Dancing with the Chattanooga Stars, a fundraiser for Partnership for Families, Children, and Adults. Before he started practicing in March, he’d never danced before, but Saturday night, his performance earned him high scores from the judges and enthusiastic applause from the audience.

The Chattanooga Bar Association’s Lynda Minks Hood had the best seat at Tivoli Theatre Saturday night as she served as one of the three judges of Partnership for Families, Children and Adults’s annual fundraiser, Dancing with the Chattanooga Stars.

The Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors (GCAR) is boasting more curb appeal after installing a new sign at its entrance that incorporates the Association’s updated logo.

President Travis Close (standing to the right of the sign) said the Association worked hard to find a graphic that represented both the community and its membership without misrepresenting themselves as the Chamber of Commerce or the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Many consumers and Realtors might not be aware that in addition to the written report published in print and online, GCAR also films a monthly market report. We post these videos on social media, including our YouTube channel. We film these reports at a local business. For example, just a few days ago, I rode around with an Uber driver to learn about the Uber concept and how it’s being received in Greater Chattanooga.

Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Realty Center in Hixson, Tenn., has announced the addition of Drew Ducros to its team of Realtors. Ducros is licensed in Tennessee, where he represents buyers and sellers in the residential market.

“My focus currently is on residential properties in Chattanooga, particularly the Big Ridge area, along with rural properties in Hamilton, Bledsoe, and Sequatchie Counties,” he says.

A Hamilton County Circuit Court jury awarded $20,599,000 in compensatory damages and $11,500,000 in punitive damages to the developer of the proposed Canyon Ridge Resort on Lookout Mountain earlier this month.

As the demand for downtown Chattanooga rental housing continues to show growth, a historic family-owned landmark located on the 600 block of Georgia Avenue, including the Hardwick Hogshead Apartments and the Robinson Apartments, is being sold. Marcus D. Lyons, director at Berkadia Real Estate Advisors, who brokered the transaction, confirmed the sale of the Georgia Avenue real estate. The parties involved, both closely held LLCs, have agreed not to disclose terms of the transaction. This follows a number of apartment sales in the downtown Chattanooga region.

It’s almost the Fourth of July – time for fireworks, picnics and a reflection on all the liberties we possess in this country. But if you’re going to enjoy the freedom to do the things you want, especially during your retirement years, you’ll want to take the steps necessary to achieve your own “Financial Independence Day.”

The following is Mayor Coppinger’s statement on the budget veto, made Monday on the steps outside the Hamilton County Courthouse:

“This morning, I notified the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners that I am vetoing the fiscal year 2015-2016 budget they passed by Resolution 615-35, as amended on Wednesday, June 17, 2015.

The Governor’s Council for Judicial Appointments is again accepting applications for a criminal court judge vacancy in the 11th Judicial District – Hamilton County. The vacancy was created by the retirement of Judge Rebecca J. Stern, effective June 1.

A group of delegates from the Republic of Georgia last week visited the United States to learn about the U.S. criminal justice system and enhance their efforts to modernize their justice system. The visit began in Washington, DC, where the delegates met with various representatives from the State Department, Pretrial Services for the District of Columbia, the Bureau of Prisons, and the Department of Justice (DOJ). After their short stay in Washington, the group travelled to Chattanooga, Tenn., where they were hosted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

EPB Fiber Optics is urging its Internet subscribers to be cautious about clicking on pop-up messages after some customers received a survey made to look as if EPB had sent it.

EPB Fiber Optics is not distributing this pop-up survey, which claims to offer exclusive rewards. Although EPB has no information about who is behind this pop-up survey or what they hope to accomplish, the utility urges everyone to use caution when they encounter on-line communications of unknown origin. 

The Tivoli Theatre Foundation Board, organized to take the reins of the Tivoli Theatre and the Soldier and Sailor Memorial Auditorium from the City on July 1, 2015, has selected AC Entertainment (AC) to manage and program the venues.

Chattanooga Film Festival presents “The Wolfpack”

Tonight at 8 p.m. at The Camp House, the Chattanooga Film Festival will be showing the first movie in its “Chattanooga Film Festival Presents” series: “The Wolfpack,” the winner of this year’s Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary. The film explores the lives of six brothers who allegedly grew up locked in a New York City apartment, rarely visiting the outside world. Tickets will be on sale at the door. The Camp House is located at 149 E. ML King Blvd.

New York City has one. Chicago has one. Boston arguably has the most famous one. Now Chattanooga has one.

A marathon, that is.

Last week, city officials announced the creation of the Chattanooga Marathon, a new community-wide sporting event. The first one will take place March 4-6, 2016.

When NBA MVP Stephen (pronounced Steff’n) Curry was in high school, he attended a basketball camp sponsored by LeBron James. The first time LeBron saw Steph, though, was in March 2008. James’s Cleveland Cavaliers were playing the Detroit Pistons, a night game. That afternoon LeBron showed up at Ford Field, with 53,000 others.

When I was young, I had a temper. I’ve mellowed somewhat since then, but from time to time, my irritability still gets the better of me. The new Pixar Animation Studios movie, “Inside Out,” made me feel less ashamed about throwing the occasional tantrum, though, because I now know my flare-ups aren’t my fault.

I’ve amped up my walking recently. I’m trying to combat the middle-age spread and couch-potato effect the long and cruel winter, and I suppose the wetter than normal spring, have impaled on my body. At least that’s the reason I feel best about using. Never mind that I might have caused some of it because I needed four Oreo cookies every night for my dessert for a while. And never mind that I completely abandoned my exercise.

^“That my complicated life could be made so simple was astounding.” – Cheryl Strayed, “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail”

I watched a lot of TV last weekend. It was US Open time. I was telling my daughter Alexis last Saturday, over the telephone, that this was always the weekend of her dance recitals. “Those were the salad days,” as H.I. McDunnough narrated in “Raising Arizona.” Those were also the grumbling days, as my buddy Judge Morley can attest, because with all the days of the year to choose from, the dance recital coordinators almost always picked U.S. Open Sunday.

As we sort of jumped out of spring this year at the first of June, which seems to be one of the first springs we’ve had in a long time that has actually been a spring, we may have slid right off into summer. It doesn’t seem like it has been long since everyone was walking through the church house doors on Sundays complaining about the cold like a bunch of children of Israel fussing over the abundance of manna at suppertime. June has been very warm this year, and it has also been on many weather conversation agendas at most social gatherings.

Saturday, June 26, 1965

Nearly 2,000 Shriners from the Chattanooga area and neighboring Temples are observing a two-day celebration of Alhambra Temple’s Diamond Anniversary. Opening the festivities Friday night at the Tivoli Theatre was Orville F. Rush, Bessemer, Ala., and Washington, D.C. the Imperial Assistant Rabban was guest speaker. Saturday morning’s parade, luncheon at Alhambra Temple, banquet and dance Saturday night concluded the celebration.

Saturday, June 26, 1915

Mrs. Samuel Boyd Allen of Tate Springs will go with Miss Helen Johnson, regent of the Chickamauga Chapter DAR, to Cumberland Gap for the unveiling of the Boone marker on the old Daniel Boone trail placed by the Sycamore Shoals Chapter DAR. Gov. Tom C. Rye of Tennessee is the principal speaker.

There are a few things I love to do for my family more than anything else, and one of them is to prepare a fresh, home cooked meal. Recently I have even taken all of the “fun kids breakfast” items out of my pantry, so breakfast is now another made from scratch meal. There is something to be said about knowing exactly what is in your food.

1. In the early years of First Lady Rachel Jackson and Former President Andrew Jackson’s marriage, they learned something important concerning Rachel’s first marriage. What was it? Her divorce was not granted; Robards had cheated on her while they were still married; Rachel was pregnant with her first husband’s child; Rachel’s husband, Lewis, had been secretly married to another woman as well as with her.