Fundraiser for kids

Found this on facebook

This Friday & Saturday there will be an adoption fundraiser yard sale taking place at Almaville Fire Department on One Mile Lane. Proceeds going toward assistance for Dick & Leslie Overby's adoption expenses for two little boys. Bring items, or come and shop..also, swing around the corner on One Mile Ln and visit the "monkey woman bridge" site while you're there!!

"monkey woman bridge" is a supposedly haunted bridge in the area.

Smyrna Tennessee 2009 Halloween In The Park Robot

Soldiers and Horses in Tennessee

This looks like fun that any kid would love...and a lot of adults.

Seventh Tennessee Cavalry
October 24, 2009 - October 25, 2009
Held at the Stones River National Battlefield, 3501 Old Nashville Highway, Murfreesboro. Visitors may see the mounted arm of the Army of Tennessee drill and learn more about the role of cavalry in the Civil War in Tennessee. Contact: Stones River National Battlefield, (615)893-9501

Halloween in the Park TODAY!

HIP 09

Smyrna Airport

The Smyrna Airport aithority has a video out about the airport for new customers and business interests. The video is well made and includes history, capacities and facts that are not well known.



They did say at 3:55 that the airport is only a "short 10 minute drive from down town Nashville" ....maybe if travelling at Mach 2 on I-24. Other than that single laugh it's a great video.

Smyrna has been picked.....

As the economy has fallen into disarray we have all wondered if there will be jobs coming back to our area. Well my good friends of Smyrna, I have some wonderful news that was just released today in the Daily News Journal. The Expo center over on Hazelwood dr is going to be a federal call center.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced the award of a 20-year lease for the Mid-South Consolidated Patient Account Center. The 60,250-square-foot call center will be located at 1412 Hazelwood Drive in Smyrna, home of the current Tennessee Expo Center and former home of WalMart

Renovating the building to VA specifications is expected to cost about $5 million and construction of the facility is scheduled to be completed by August 2010, according to a press release. The property is owned by BGS Limited, led by former mayor Bob Spivey.
The call center is part of a Department of Veterans Affairs initiative to improve billing and collection activities throughout its network of 153 medical centers and more than 1,400 clinics across the United States. It will provide traditional revenue functions for all Veterans Health Administration treatment locations within Veterans Integrated Service Networks 9, 16 and 17.

This is great news for there will be many jobs in the process of getting the building ready and then once it opens jobs will be created.

read more over on the DNJ.COM

Food instead of fees

The library here in Smyrna is having a food for fees program for the community.

Linebaugh Public Library System wants to help you take care of your overdue fines -- while giving you an opportunity to help your neighbors, too. During October 18-24, all LPLS branches will offer Food for Fines. For each can of food you bring in, we will forgive $1 in overdue fines from your library card. The canned goods you bring in will benefit those in need of service at The Salvation Army Center in Murfreesboro and the Smyrna-LaVergne Food Bank.

WTH!

I drop by the town website regularly to see what's up and was shocked to see the following notice.

LEGAL NOTICE

Notice is hereby given that the Town of Smyrna Beer Board will conduct public hearings at its regular monthly meeting on Monday, November 2, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. at Town Hall relative to the suspension or revocation of the following beer permits:

1. Permit No. #00189, held by Almaville Amoco
2. Permit No. #00199, held by Chili’s Grill & Bar
3. Permit No. #00237, held by Smyrna Amoco
4. Permit No. #00238, held by Smyrna BP
5. Permit No. #00313, held by Toot’s of Smyrna
6. Permit No. #00330, held by Big Charlie’s Bait Shop
7. Permit No. #00333, held by Buffalo Wild Wings
8. Permit No. #00341, held by Red Robin
9. Permit No. #00358, held by St. Mina Market

I'm not going to guess at what's going on, but for Chili's, Toot's, Red Robin, and Buffalo Wild Wings to possibly lose their beer permits this raises a lot of questions.

Normally in a given month the beer board reviews 3-4 permits some revocations and some applications, but this is a list of 9 possible suspensions or revocations. That's an unusually large number to say the least.

Anyone have an idea on why? Rumors?

update: Looks like there were stings/issues with beer possibly being sold incorrectly.

For our favorite Smyrna beekeeper

Brooklyn's Urban Beekeepers: Breaking The Law For The Planet (Part I) from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.

Enjoy vidad.

Depot Days meets Chicken Wednesday

Gerry Houser, his daughter, myself and my wife went to Depot Days with three of his chickens to stand as representatives of an idea for urban food production. With Pamphlets saying we were "Sustainable Smyrna Initiative" we had our chickens, we had our pamphlets, and we had fun.


The kids loved the chickens, and a few even asked to pet them and for the most part our reception when we showed people the petition was good. Our petition is not official as we are not trying to get it on the next ballot, but it is to show the council that Smyrna is not against the idea as must as they feel.

Dear Mayor Dover

In recent years many cities have adopted ordinances that allow residents to keep Backyard chickens. We, the people of Smyrna, would like the same opportunity..

Currently, Section 10-102 of the Town of Smyrna Municipal Code states that “No person shall keep or allow any animal or fowl enumerated in the preceding section to come within one thousand (1,000) feet of any residence, place of business, or public street.” We think it is unreasonable that residents may own dogs and cats without distance restrictions, but not a 4-pound bird that produces eggs for the family. Residents have brought up the issue of chicken keeping in the past. Given the growing popularity of urban hen keeping and our current economic situation, this request is likely to come up again and again until the Town of Smyrna finds a way to accommodate its citizens’ request.

We propose that the Town of Smyrna adopt codes allowing the raising of chickens within the town limits. Further we would suggest the following limitations on keeping chickens.

1. No roosters are to be kept.
2. No more than 6 hens are to be kept per household.
3. No chickens are to be kept closer than 25 feet to any adjacent building.
4. That chickens be kept to Smyrna’s existing noise, noxious fumes, and sanitary animal pens.

The weather was very overcast and there was a bit of wind so turnout was lower than I had hoped we would have. I felt real bad for the lady selling scarves across the lane. She shivered in her jacket the entire day and looked simply miserable and was one of the first to call it a day and leave.

In all Gerry and I talked to about 200-220 people and out of that 145 signed the petition. Some did not sign due to bad experiences with bad neighbors, and some simply were not sure on the whole subject. In all the response from those who signed from the young to the old was "the government should just stay out of our lives" (paraphrased).

We had old people sign it who mentioned their own fond memories of their youth and raising chickens and the younger people quickly saw the sensibility of the positives of having chickens compared to the foolishness of a neighbor that can have dogs, but not chickens. Several people returned dragging other family members to sign the petition because they thought it was such a good idea.

In all I was overjoyed at the positive feedback I received from the people. It makes me feel that Nashville allowing chickens and our petition we might have a chance. The last time I went in front of the council on this issue one of the reasons they did not look at it was that no local municipality allowed chickens. I'm happy to say that is no longer true.

We have local governments allowing it, and good community feedback saying that the idea has merit. I think this is an idea whose time has come people.

Getting to know your neighbors

In my last post I mentioned that Smyrna was the home to a mosque, but the term mosque might be misleading. The term mosque normally leads you to think the term "Muslim Mosque" but in this case the situation is incorrect for many reason. A little searching through WIKI found that this mosque and the ones who use it for worship has an interesting history.

Ahmadiyya (Urdu: احمدیہ Ahmadiyya) is a religious movement founded towards the end of the 19th century and originating with the life and teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908). Ghulam Ahmad was an important religious figure who claimed to have fulfilled the prophecies about the world reformer of the end times who was to herald the Eschaton as predicted in the traditions of various World religions and bring about the final triumph of Islam as per Islamic prophecy. He claimed that he was the Mujaddid (divine reformer) of the 14th Islamic century, the promised Messiah (“Second Coming of Christ”) and Mahdi awaited by Muslims.

Reading on the group shows that during their history due to their beliefs the main stream sects of Muslims have carried out many acts of violence against them up to this day in many countries in SouthEast Asia. These acts of violence against the Ahmadiyya are doubly worse because they are for the most part pacifists.

I'm going to have to make sure that I mention that the mosque is from a schismatic sect of the Muslim faith when talking about it to people. I'm glad we have these new neighbors and I'm going to extend an invitation to the head of the local congregation to do a guest column if he/she wishes as a way of saying hello. Maybe they will be holding an open house or something.

MASJID MAHMOOD - SMYRNA , TENNESSEE

MASJID MAHMOOD - SMYRNA , TENNESSEE
Originally uploaded by Citizen of Two Worlds

I was looking on FLICKR for any pictures that people might have posted from Depot Day. I found instead this image. It seems that Smyrna might have a Mosque within its borders. I'm surprised at the image because this is the old church my wife and I used to purchase our angel food ministries food order from.

We had noticed that several months ago they were not listed anymore as a pickup site and figured they had simply dropped it. Looks like instead they might have closed down the congregation or moved to a larger building.

The church is also listed as a mosque in a national list of mosques.


A little bio on the mosque says this.

Ahmadiyya Mosque Nashville opened its door on July 31st with Friday prayers. Following day, on August 1st. the monthly meeting was held in the mosque. Almost all members attended this meeting. Children made excellent presentations about the new mosque.
The mosque is located in the city of Smyrna. Total land is 0.8 acres. Total covered area of the building is 6,250 square feet. there are 29 parking places with the building.

Animal care clinic

I have a new pug puppy that is 9 months old and was needing to get her groomed but Petsmart wouldn't groom her until she had her shots so Saturday I called around to see who was the cheapest as for my money is tight right now and every little bit of savings help me. The vet at Petsmart said each shot would cost me $36.00 and she needed at least 5 of these. Another vet in the area I called said it was going to be with office visit around $104.00 plus cost of nails being trimmed. I finally looked online and saw that the Smyrna Animal Clinic was open and had several good comments on them through the years so I called them. The lady that answered the phone was very helpful and she told me that her puppy shot would only cost me $36.00 and nails would be extra but I didn't care it saved me some money. I asked her about an office visit fee and she said that I wouldn't be charged one. How sweet. I arrived there about 15 minutes before appointment and talked with the lady at the front desk. She stated that DR KEY had been in Smyrna for over 40 yrs and he was the first Vet in town. The vet asst was so very helpful and nice to my puppy. The office isn't a new office and the vet is very down home and your not treated like a number or money in their eyes. I feel that this is going to be a good relationship between me, my puppy and the vet. They are open from Tuesday through Sat from about 9am till 5pm and they are thinking about opening up some on Mondays. Their phone number is 459-5652. Remember that your pets need their rabies vaccine and right now until Nov 1st they are $10.00 each so please call DR KEY and let them treat your pets. I will!!

Jason vs. Smyrna?

Jason from friday the 13th seemed to have visited Smyrna.

Police received a call from Dr. Joyce Brown’s Wolverine Trail office around 11:15 a.m. Oct. 7. According to a dispatch log of the call, one man came in with a box over his head carrying a large shotgun. Once the box was taken off his head, he was seen wearing a mask similar to that used in the Friday the 13th horror movies.

The man never said what he wanted, but was tackled by a nurse at Brown’s office. After fighting with the nurse, the man fled on foot, leaving his gun and mask behind, said police spokesman Sgt. Bobby Gibson.

Simply WOW!

They did not catch him...but they never can stop Jason can they....[insert ominous music]

Car show this weekend

Microsoft Power Point - FIRE and ICE

What did he call them?

"Sneaky bastards" seems so harsh a term to be used for the Smyrna police department speed enforcement units.



video 2 and 3 are also fun to watch including him regretting the fact in one of them that he recorded himself breaking a traffic law. Oops!