Name this building.

A building that was very important to our town and it's future.



NOTE:
This seems to be the second church building, and not the first one. Note that this one is brick.

Key Dates in the Life of the
First Presbyterian Church of Smyrna

1810 Smyrna Church was established to serve a rural community, and a hand-hewn log building was constructed beside a small creek. (The site today is the area around the eighteenth green of the Smyrna Municipal golf course.)

1820 The Smyrna Presbyterian Church was recognized as a member congregation of the Presbyterian Church.

1850's A railroad was constructed through this area and the railroad company sold lots for a new town just one mile from the church. Silas Tucker, a member of the church and owner of the land where the station was built, suggested the church's name be used for the new town.

1863 The church building was burned by federal troops during the War Between the States.

1867 The church was rebuilt as a brick building.

I originally got this picture from a MTSU website that is a resource for local teachers. This image was on the history page with this line next to it.

1820 - Smyrna Presbyterian Church organized (town later named for Church)

I wonder if any images of the first church exist?

The smiles I will always cherish!

Brandon and his new girlfriends " Titan Cheerleaders"



A hug to cherish with my best buddy!!



Well everyone, I am so tired and really glad that last night went well. I am so glad that we raised alittle money for Brandon Brewer. The smiles that were on this young man's face is PRICELESS! My heart goes out to all of my best friends, Kathy T., Yvonne Moon, Michelle M., Gunner, Senna Mosley, and my very best friend Brandon Brewer and family! I got to see Brandon get out of the donated limo and when he came up to me and said thank you with a big ole hug I of course got tears in my eyes. I have never in my 40 yrs , been touched by someone or something, to where I have put my heart into helping. I went over this afternoon and gave the family $873.00 worth of donated money plus we still have the ticket sales to get from the bowling alley plus all the silent auction items still have yet to be collected. We as a community have raised about $3500.00 for this young man. The amount isn't alot but hey this will help with some prescriptions for him. I am going to be planning a road block in the next coming months and then maybe a spring fling next April or May. If any bloggers have pictures please email them to me at bearroller9640@yahoo.com for my mother took some pics but they are blurry. Thanks again Smyrna, La Vergne, Murfreesboro, and Nashville!! More to come later when I have more rest!

Final Update for fundraiser

HELLO everyone. This will be hopefully be the final update for the fundraiser for its this evening and I have so much to do still. We have now right at 140 items donated, Plus the Titans cheerleaders are going to be stopping by to see Brandon. The owners of the bowling center would like since we are going to be very busy , that everyone that walks in the door please make at least a $10.00 donation if your not going to be bowling. We will be selling tickets at the front door tonight plus all the items for the auction will be set up in the meeting room down at lane #1. Also if you get a chance to meet Brandon be VERY CARE FULL so you don't trip over his tubes. Channel 4 will be there as well taking pictures so we need everyone to bring signs saying we love you Brandon.

I want to thank Yvonne Moon, Kathy Tyson, Roy B., Sue B., Mrs Leal., everyone at the bowling center, Smyrna Printing, Channel 4, DNJ.COM, My family, and anyone else I have forgotten for helping and putting up with me during this event. his cause has meant so much to me and I still get tears in my eyes when I talk about Brandon. This young man has really touched me in ways I will never forget. God bless Brandon and his family for all the strength they have shown.

Here is today's article about our fundraiser and once again thank you D.N.J.COM!!

UPDATE ON THIS UPDATE:
We now have a limo (World Class limo service) donated by Elizabeth Murphy, my mother, to go and pick up Brandon and bring him to the Bowling center. We told him about the limo coming for him and he is even more excited now than ever. Also watch channel 4 news at 6pm tonight for they are going to talk about our fundraiser and what all we have going on. Thank you once again to everyone that has helped plus the bloggers are having their monthly meeting tonight at the bowling center. Everyone bring your cameras to take pics so we can post them this weekend to share with others.

Special Guest tomorrow night

We have just got word that there will be 2 Titans cheerleaders so come in at midnight to see them!!!!

Town Workshop tonight

A reminder to all about the Smyrna Town Workshop tonight at 7pm. The agenda is to establish the agenda for the Town Council meeting in October. I'm going to see if they plan on the second reading of the recodified ordinances.

MidTnPolls

11th district County Commissioner Mike Sparks has a website up called MidTnPolls. Where he wants to hear your view on subjects that directly effect you.

You may notice on the right a few changes. I have added a direct link graphic to his site.

Today there are two polls that may interest you.

Important LaVergne Issues
What is the most important issue facing the city of LaVergne?
Crime/Gang Activity
Lack of Leadership
Lake Forest Estates
Traffic
Immigration
School Overcrowding
Growth
All of the Above

and for Smyrna

Smyrna Town Council Decision
Do you agree with the Smyrna Town Council to recognize only the Smyrna High Football team TSSAA State Championship and not other past accomplishments, sports, or achievements?
Yes
No, other school sports, activities, and achievements should be recognized as well
I don't care
We don't need any sign

Drop by and let your views be known.

A one of a kind item donated for Fundraiser

Hey everyone I have just recieved a few more items for our silent auction and I am going to list them now with one item being a one of a kind.

1. two tickets to the Vandy vs. Wake Forrest game.

2. 2 tickets to the U.T. VOLS AND Lousianna game.

3. A signed small Vols Football signed by Phil Fumler

and now the big item...

A TITANS JERSEY WITH 00 AND TITANS RADIO ON THE BACK SIGNED BY THE ONE AND ONLY STEVE MCNAIR. THIS IS A ONE OF A KIND ITEM AND I ALREADY HAVE A BID OF $50.00 SO PLEASE STOP BY THE BOWLING CENTER AND BID ON THIS ITEM!!!!

Where oh where did the city codes go? Part 4

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3


Tomorrow night's town council meeting may be a little interesting for me.

Since my column for last week was published I have gotten more email about it then any so far. Most of the emails(2 out of 3) included stories of lack of information from the city and the troubles they had. All voiced agreement with my point-of-view.

I even had one nice lady call Smyrna AM for my number so she could thank me personally. Seems she and several of her friends were surprised to hear how things were.

Hopefully the town will delay the recodification until they make it easy for the residents of town to get a copy online or in email form. My wife told me not to hold my breath, but I have to hope. I'll find out tomorrow when we see if they plan on putting the recodification up for it's second reading or not.

This was also the first time I have come out and specifically said in my column that the council was in error, and not informing the town of what was going on and needs to stop what they are doing now. I will admit I was a bit worried, after all the individual members of the council are not trying to keep people in the dark, but the process has led to it happening.

I was going to get some information then address this issue with TWSoK, but that fell through.

The next council meeting will be in three weeks, and with recodified ordinances of over 700 pages, I don't feel even if they put it online today, it would leave the people of Smyrna time to give it a proper reading. I feel a month delay, or more, is the best course of action.

But I'm just a resident of this town, so what they hell do I know?

Part 5 Thursday night or Friday
Part 6 to come.

Around the world....Police style.

Smyrna spent a bit of time in the news recently for it's inovative method of controlling speeders.

Other cities have done similar.

Slovenia



Poland


The last time I was drove on Front street I noticed our famous Officer Miller was missing. Should a missing-cutout report be filed?

Channel4 news and Charlie Daniels...

We have some items now donated from the wonderful Charlie Daniels , which include a few t-shirts, Cd's and other items. I want everyone to place their bids for these items at the bowling center. Also I got word today that for sure WSMV channel 4 will be there to do a story about the fundraiser for Brandon Brewer. Tune in tomorrow at 3pm to WGNS radio and here the Brandon Brewer story for yourself. More updates to follow as the develop.

Top Ten people.

The US News and World Report has released the top ten places for retiring, and Smyrna made the cut.



They have some nice things to say about our town.

Just 30 miles from the lights, sights, and especially the sounds of "Music City," Nashville, you'll find yourself immersed in the peaceful glow of gold-tipped fields of corn and trees that autumn tinges with red, orange, and yellow in Smyrna, Tenn.
.........
The town of Smyrna was named after a now demolished Presbyterian church on a piece of land that later became Sewart Air Force Base and is now Smyrna Airport. An abundance of newer churches sprinkled about town have replaced the original, and church activities govern the social lives of many Smyrna families. "The church does a lot of plays, and we're going to have a Christmas craft show in November," says Diane Henderson, 60, who also teaches a craft class and volunteers at the senior center. But should you long for a faster pace of life, Middle Tennessee State University is in nearby Murfreesboro, and the Nashville airport is a 25-minute drive away.

History buffs can relive the story of 21-year-old Sam Davis, who, when captured by Union soldiers during the Civil War, chose to give his life rather than give up information that might compromise the Confederate war effort. His childhood home and 200-acre estate on the banks of Stewart's Creek are now a historic landmark and museum about his life and the war. Today it's just a short drive from a vast manufacturing plant for Japanese automaker Nissan, Smyrna's largest employer.

I'm proud of our town and I am so glad we can get this positive viewpoint out about it.

Great place to live in and it seems a great place to retire to.

html humor

LaVergne has a biker problem

I found a small clip from last weekends Old Timers Parade in LaVergne. Thought I would share it for our sister city blog.

A Special Email from the Brewers

I got home this morning and found this email waiting for me. Brandon has a cold but he is still thinking about the fundraiser next week. We as adults really need to take the time and give this family our prayers. I want everyone to really do their best and try to come out next Friday night to show Brandon how much he is loved. This young man is not only a brave young man but a young man that easily gets embarrassed when he is talking about what is wrong with him. When he came to the bowling center the other day and I showed him the special wall of things about him his eyes opened wide and his jaw dropped. I know he was in shock with all the support that has already poured in for him. Come on Smyrna, La Vergne, Murfreesboro, and Nashville, Lets do our best to help this young man. When times are at their lowest friends and family seem to be their to help raise bad times up!!! Here is the email.......


Good Morning !
Brandon has managed to catch somewhat of a cold and for the last two days his pain has increased but nothing and no one will stop him from attending the fund-raiser! Brandon has been begging me not to hook him up to his iv's that night but it is DEFIANTLY Not in his best interest but I got him to agree on SPECIAL tubing SOOO ~ I do need to let you know so that you can pass the word around that Brandon will be hooked up to his i.v. nutrition the night of the fund-raiser (over 12 hours) but I will have his machines and i.v. in a backpack which of course holds them. I will use vygon i.v. extension tubing which is a spiral tubing that weighs next to nothing . I plan adding two or three vygon's so that he can go about 3-4 feet without having to tote his heavy back pack around and so that he can bowl as well . The problem~O > every one and I mean every one that is near him needs to be extremely careful as thi s tubing is very FRAGILE! It is also Hard to SEE even if you are an adult unless you are looking for it. If a child/adult walks fast / runs between Brandon and his backpack the likely hood of something bad happening to Brandon 99.9 % such as the cath being pulled out of his chest which is connected to his heart.. I don't want you to be nervous and I will of course be there to try and make sure an accident of this nature does not happen but you can't prevent everything. We need to make sure every one walks slowly around him at all times and to also try and view his tubing so that they won't trip over it which is another thing that can likely happen. As long as everyone knows what Not to do I think it should go smoothly!! I'm not worried and he is so EXCITED!! He talks about the fund-raiser everyday and I get so much joy out of hearing him say " I'm staying the whole 6 hours, ma!!! " The smiles you ALL have put on my sons face, I will always treasure.
There have been times when I have almost lost Brandon and he proved all the doctors wrong but I always knew he had unfinished plans & people to meet. Brandon has got a lot of people to become organ donors over the last 12 years and I think we should set up a table with organ donor cards and information if we can as I think that is important to educate people. I can get free pencils pens and organ donor balloons , shirts (I think) just let me know if I can do this!!!
Thank you for caring & loving our Brandon the way we do. We appreciate you very much more than you will ever know!
I am truly blessed to be Brandon's mother...
GOD SPEED!
Love,
Brande

A Weekend Update On the silent auction

Here is our list items that are posted at the Smyrna bowling center for our silent auction for Brandon brewer fundraiser....please stop by and place a bid or join us on Sept 28Th at midnight for all the fun.. Brandon will be there for the whole night plus some special guest will be stopping by to say hi.


1. One tube of Wild Yam Cream $25.00

2. Stork Delivery Transport Bag Set $20.00

3. Hand Drawn Animal Print $40.00

4. Kroger gift card Memorial Blvd $10.00

5. One free Lunch Cozumel Murfreesboro Church St.

6. 2 large one topping Pizza's Pap Johns

7. 3 Large Pepperoni Pizza's Little Ceasar's Murfreesboro $30.00

8. 5 free Movie Rentals From Blockbuster On Church St. $20.00

9. Assorted Picture frames collection

10. Movie Bag with Popcorn and movie rental Blockbuster $10.00

11. Candles

12. Cuisinart Little Pro Food Processor $80.00

13.. Brandon Brewer's 1st bowling ball

14.. A nice piece of art work by his grandmother (retail $300.00)

15 Gold trimmed stemware ($50.00)

16 Logan's gift cert. (one entree and drink)

17. Hickory Falls gift cert. ($20.00)

18 O'Charleys gift card ($25.00)

19 Quiznos gift card ($10.00)

20 2 gift cert for rocking chair cafe ($5.00 each)

21. 2 gift cert from Toot's ($10.00 each)

22. 2 cert for pizza or calzones from Cedars Italian & Greek Restaurant ($6.99 each)

23. Time Share for one week in June to Pigeon Forge Tn.

24. Tokyo Japanese Steak House- lunch for 2 or dinner for 1. ($15.00)

25 Sonic gift card from Sonic on ind blvd. ($25.00)

26. Domino's pizza Lavergne 2 coupons for 2 large 1 topping pizza's

15. One month free Membership to Curve's (2 of these)

27. A C.D. By Lance Allen

17.A Kroger's gift card ($10.00)

28. 2 Gift bags from Hot Spot tanning.1=$100.50 2=$81.33

19. Gift Cert from the Poshtachio Patch - a children's store

29. A bowling party for 6 2 hours of bowling pizza and soda

30. One Free Adult Haircut (1 of 2) great clips

31. Walgreens – Smyrna (Enon Springs Location) Requested donation letter – promised $20 gift card upon receipt

32 Autograped Music CD – I Hear Angels Calling (Christmas Songs) (1 of 3)

33. System Buster Paperback Book by Philip Beyer (1/6)

34. Autographed Paperback Book Above “Reality” (1/8)

35. Private Spa Bath Collection Gift Basket

36. 5 Loaded Boxes of Books from Ingram – probably 150 titles to be sorted and made into blocks more later on this.

37. Golden Wok Restaurant

38. Rossi’s Italian Restaurant,

39. Hair Cut and Finish (1 of 2) Kim Tompkins Hair & Color Salon

40 One Free Year with Metabolism Retrainer Gift Certificate Thin & Healthy Total Solution Weight Loss * Movement* Motivation

41. Queen Size Mattress Cover

42. Five Free Movie Rentals (excluding Tuesday) Smyrna Video

43. FUJI Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi

44. 3 Domino’s Large One Topping Pizzas 235 MTCS Drive, Murfreesboro, TN 37129

45. 3 Little Caesar’s Large Hot-n-Ready Pizzas (Cheese or Pepperoni) 1811 Memorial Blvd., Murfreesboro

46. Swafford Sporting Goods
Owners Wayne & Regina, Kelci & Crawford Swafford
116 Front Street
Smyrna, TN 37167615-459-9272Total Value – Approximately $150 (items will be separated into lots)
2 Stewarts Creek Ball Caps $10.99 each
1 LaVergne Ball Cap $10.99
1 Smyrna Ball Cap $10.99
1 LaVergne T-shirt – Youth Medium $9.99
1 LaVergne T-shirt – Adult Small $10.99
1 Smyrna Bulldogs T-shirt – Small $10.99
1 X-Large Titans Jersey (Haynesworth) $55
2 LaVergne Totebags/Backpacks $9.99 each

47. Brunswick Orange County bowling ball and roller bag $184.95 Bowlers advantage pro shops

48. Columbia Big Shot Bowling Ball sizes 13, 14, 15, and 16 pounds $209.95 Bowlers advantage pro shops

49. 14 lb Clear Cranium Bowling Ball $169.95 Bowlers advantage pro shops

50. 14 lb Titans Viz A Ball with Titans single ball bag $184.95 Bowlers advantage pro shops


We have some more items being donated so I will list them soon as I get them!! Once again thanls everyone for donating and I hope to see you all there next week!!

Smyrna teenager told to remove Jena 6 shirt

A local teen wore a shirt showing support for 6 young men being railroaded in Louisiana, but found that the high school administrators said it was "disruptive".

Dani Super, a Smyrna High School sophomore, wore a T-shirt supporting the teenagers at school.

"I just want to support these boys," Dani said.

She said she wasn't trying to cause any trouble.

"I just wanted to help," she said.

Dani and her mother were surprised when school officials asked her to change the shirt.

More information on who the Jena 6 are can be found here.

1450 WGNS Radio Show 9/18/07

Short video of the Tuesday WGNS radio show broadcast from the YMCA

Host, Brian Berrett and guests Mike Sparks, Gunner Miller, Brian Robertson, and Taylor Loyal talk about how technology has changed our world

I look furry in the video.

Where oh where did the city codes go? Part 3

Part 1
Part 2

Reply to "Insider"

A comment left by Insider needs to be addressed in more detail then I did in the comment section of part 2.

Their first section was short and to the point.

Not many cities / towns in tennessee have their codes online. I think here in Rutherford county, Lavergne is the only one. Eagleville has a draft version, but I don't think it's the current version.

Smyrna has always had a progressive view towards the future of our city. Doing road work and creating a master plan as the future is coming quick, and the city needs to be prepared. Yet in their duty to inform the public of the ordinances they have fallen and need to improve. If LaVergne can do it, and Eagleville seems to be attempting to, then why can it not be done here?

You say others don't have them online. It means the problem is wider then I thought it was.

Now this next section is interesting to me.

Anyway, in Smyrna's defense, I will say that mtas does not provide the draft recodification in digital format to the cities / towns that they serve. They only give paper copies to the municipalities. The cities / towns would have to scan the document and a 360 page document would be much too large to download on the internet.

Why MTAS would only supply paper seems odd, but being a government funded program I can understand to some extent why they do things backwards.

Now "Insider" says the city would need to scan each page and it would be to large to download.

During the last town council meeting as they discussed certain issues town attorney Michele Elliott called out the page numbers for the town council to look to as they needed to see the section being talked about. They viewed these on their computers, implying that this giant paper document has been scanned into at least one big document. Now in my article I said it would be a 360 plus page printing, but that is two sides of each page, the mayor mentioned a 700 page file.

As you likely know the codes are in sections, and there are many free programs out there that can break up a PDF into manageable files. Files that could easily be downloaded and hosted by the towns computer servers, wherever they are.

The problem is that right now the main issue is not the laws online. Howhard is it to add a simple link to MTAS? Simple things like that are not being done.

After the code has been updated, mtas will give the cities a digital copy or it can be downloaded from the mtas website.

The quickest we can find out what most of the changes are is after the fact, when the time to be vocal has passed. This has silenced a good number of people by keeping the citizen's of Smyrna in the dark. Even more repugnent since a set of simple links to PDF files is all they need to do to fix the problem as I see it.

When a city cannot even do a few small HTML coding acts to better inform the people, then the government is in error.

Giddy About Smyrna

At the risk of gushing, I am just so excited about Smyrna's growth! Kohl's opening on October 3rd! Squeeeee! IHop and Applebees? Woot! Super Target? Purr! Movie theater? Coolio!

Smyrna housing numbers have remained steady while we're seeing other areas in a slump. We are truly fortunate to be a part of this vibrant community!

Our Numbers keep Rising

Wow Smyrna, La Vergne, Murfreesboro! You Guys have really stepped up to the plate. I am so overwealmed with all the donations that everyone has given us for the " Bowling for Brandon" Fundraiser. I now 12 more items donated plus 3 more on the way. Our total number so far is 39 items and counting. The bidding at the Smyrna Bowling Center is really heating up now with many placing bids and wanting to win items. The most talked about items so far is Brandon's bowling ball and the time share for Pigeon Forge.

I also have a very special guest going to come and maybe she will be bringing another specail guest with her. I can't yet say who this is but can give you all hints. She teaches in a school in the area. She also has another job wearing a nice short skirt with the colors of blue and white and can be seen on Sunday's Downtown at the riverfront with 65,000 fans watching her. Can you guess who this might be? I will know more about her appearance next week and will be letting everyone know more details as well.

Here is a list of newly donated items from the area for the silent auction and if you want to see the other items please go HERE for more info.

1. One tube of Wild Yam Cream $25.00

2. Stork Delivery Transport Bag Set $20.00

3. Hand Drawn Animal Print $40.00

4. Kroger gift card Memorial Blvd $10.00

5. One free Lunch Cozumel Murfreesboro Church St.

6. 2 large one topping Pizza's Pap Johns

7. 3 Large Pepperoni Pizza's Little Ceasar's Murfreesboro $30.00

8. 5 free Movie Rentals From Blockbuster On Church St. $20.00

9. Assorted Piture frames collection

10. Movie Bag with Popcorn and movie rental Blockbuster $10.00

11. Candles

12. Cuisinart Little Pro Food Processor $80.00