Crash Course: Gibson County High Students Take a Class in DUI
April 30, 2010 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
Tyler Porter's smile did not last once the Gibson County High's mock DUI crash was underway
Two cars of teens hit head on. Paige and Tyler didn’t make it. Avery looked really bad. Three others had to go to the hospital. And Immanuel will probably get a few years in prison plus have a life sentence of knowing he killed his friends due to driving after several beers.
The good news – it was not real. No one was hurt. No crash took place and the “drunk driver” said he needed coaching on how to act intoxicated.
Gray sculpture in Brownsville: The Mindfield is a bit of modern art in small town Tennessee
April 23, 2010 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
Late Afternoon at The Mindfield in Brownsville
Around Brownsville a sunny late spring afternoon gives a feel of a prototypical small Tennessee town. The azaleas are in bloom in front of almost every home. A stone Civil War soldier stands guard at the town square. The town has the feel of strawberry ice cream and watermelon in the summer, football and apple cider in the fall, hunting in the winter and planting in the spring.
But it does not have the feel of a place for avant-garde art. But thanks to the work of Billy Tripp just west of the town square, his 1989 creation called “The Mindfield” Brownsville has a structure like no other town.
Ok, it is a little more than a 1989 creation. That is when the work was started. Walking over to Tripp’s metal shop today there is a good chance he is welding together another piece for the sculpture. Twenty one years, four Presidents and even a change in millennium later, he is still using his time, talent and welding torch to create a metal landmark complete with a water tower, fire tower and dedicated to the memory of his mom and dad.
A Trail of Victims: The Short, Violent Life of Wild Bill Latura
April 19, 2010 by Devin Greaney · 1 Comment
The News-Scimitar, August 23, 1916
“Leisurely strolling through Hammett Ashford’s saloon at Fourth and Beale, William Latura, known among his associates as Wild Bill, at midnight Thursday night entered a billiard room in the rear and calmly unbuttoned his overcoat and pulled out a 38 caliber pistol, picking his victims from the first billiard table on the back wall and began firing. At no stage of this sick slaughter did Latura evidence excitement, rather showing acute forethought.” – Memphis News Scimitar. December 10, 1908
Animalfests: Animals are Celebrated Annually Across Tennessee.
April 16, 2010 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
Germantown has marked the annual horse show with sculptures around the city
Tennessee celebrates the animals be they for work, companionship or dinner.
Agri-fests: If it grows in Tennessee, it’s worthy of a celebration
April 12, 2010 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
Fruits, vegetables and flowers are worthy of a festival in the state. Here is a list of some of those parades, parties, carnivals and cooking contests that make a list.
Do you know these people? : Maybe not, but they played key rolls in important turning points in Tennessee history
April 9, 2010 by Devin Greaney · 2 Comments
Eliza Allen: Courtesy WNPT.org
Can anyone remember Jack Ryan? No, not the hero of the Tom Clancy novels, this one is from Illinois. He was married to actress Jerri Ryan. Sounding familiar yet? He was running for senator from Illinois, but potentially damaging information from his ex wife, actress Jerri Ryan, caused his ouster as the Republican candidate, so his opponent, newcomer Barack Obama, was the clear winner.
For better or worse, Jack Ryan had a lot to do with putting the current Commander in Chief in the White House, but few remember his name. He’s what is sometimes called a “historical footnote.” We know the history but a key name has been forgotten.
And no, this article will not end with a dramatic pause and a “gotcha” ending. The late Paul Harvey was a master of that technique and this publisher wishes him to rest in peace.
Tennessee Malls: Something is changing in the once-mighty retail centers
April 4, 2010 by Devin Greaney · 1 Comment
Aiden Hayes with his mother Asia Hayes checks out the Venetian Carousel which is the centerpiece of the newly reopened Hickory Ridge Mall
Tara Milligan has many memories of growing up that involve McMinnville’s Three Star Mall. She remembers her parents dropping her off at the movie theater and allowing her to walk with friends to the mall. She remembers spending “hours at a time” at The Sound Shop, browsing tapes and CD’s. There was the time when a Nashville station broadcast the morning show live from the mall and she and the rest of the cheerleaders got to cheer on TV. There was her job as a senior in high school at JC Penny’s. “We had a real strict old-school manager who made sure we were always dressed properly,” she remembers. It was and still is a voting location. “I went with my boyfriend, Patrick Graves who is now my husband, when he voted for the first time in the 1988 Presidential election. Then we went and bought REM’s album Green which had just been released.”
Braniacs: Memphis Mensans mix intelligence, curiosity and humor
April 2, 2010 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
Joyce McMonagle chats with Sam Couch. Both are members of Mensa
A man went hiking in the Himalayas and came across a group of wise people who had moved to the mountains to find total enlightenment. The traveler met a wise man with a content smile who was eating asparagus. It was his only food and through eating asparagus he always felt happy about life without a moment’s pause for regret or to wish for more. It started to rain so the hiker ran for cover. The enlightened man stayed in the weather but he did not get wet. Instead the rain drops diverted over his head as he sat, still smiling. Perplexed, the traveler asked why the rain diverted before hitting him. The other wise man said “because bliss is the awning of the Sage of Asparagus!”