Time for the Ruthies

From a reader

Most people do not know about this gathering.

Hi Gunner. I was driving to the food bank to drop off some extra zucchini this morning and I noticed there was a farmer's market going on in the parking lot of the North Rutherford health department. I don't think they have done anything to promote it, as a quick google search turned up nothing on the topic, so I thought you might like to mention it on your blog. I made a call the the health department to make sure I had my facts straight for you.

It goes on every Wednesday morning from 8 am to 12 pm until the last Wednesday in August, and is open to the public. This morning I saw lots of yummy produce on offer, including melons, tomatoes, potatoes, squash, and okra. One farmer was even selling beef!

I think it would be great to get the word out on this, as I have seen a lot of posts on these local blogs in the past few years about wanting to bring a farmer's market to the area, yet I had no idea there actually was one!

Thanks,
Sarah N.

Beef! That is pretty cool I think. I'm looking around myself for someone local who does their own bacon or hams for personal consumption so if you know someone send me their information.

County forum III

Sheriff Jones did not make the forum and while writting my column for next week I found this by accident. I'll let this stand as his public forum.



Note the 'humor' tag before you try to kill me people. This video was put on youtube 4 years ago so even then people did not like the man.

Of course the two sheriff candidates that did show up are here for your viewing needs.



Enjoy

New Gun Show in Murfreesboro

I met local businessman Junior Honeycutt a couple of weeks ago. Like often happens when a couple of fans of the US Constitution get to talking, the topic of guns came up - and I found out I was talking to the newest addition to the middle Tennessee gun show circuit. Not only is Junior a fan of recreational shooting, he's also the organizer behind a new gun show coming to Murfreesboro in the middle of this month. I told him to let me know the details so I could post them - and here they are:

LOCATION: Murfreesboro, TN at the National Guard Armory, 2350 Armory Drive
DATES: Saturday and Sunday, July 17 and 18
TIMES: 9 - 5 on Saturday, 9 - 4 on Sunday
SETUP: Friday at noon. (If you want see if you can get a table, call Junior at 615-424-2288)

Looks like it's definitely worth checking out. Happy hunting!

County forum II

While videos of the 2010 Candidate Forums are online they had not posted videos for district 9 and 11. On Facebook Rhonda Allen posted the following.

All candidates running for the County Commission were invited by the League of Women Voters to a televised forum on Tuesday. I was prepped and ready to go. My opposition did not attend the event, so unfortunately District 11 was not represented. A "majority" of the candidates had to attend, or else you could not participate. Very disappointing for Smyrna voters.

Now in District 9 Steve Sandlin is running unopposed, but in district 11 we have the following running.

RHONDA P. ALLEN
CHRIS DEAL
TERRY L. WARD

Since Mike Sparks is stepping down as he is running for the position currently held by state Rep. Kent Coleman I really would have liked to hear the candidates speak. More so as I live in this district.

County forum I

The 2010 Candidate Forum was recently held and here online is the first batch for your viewing pleasure for county seats.
3
WILL JORDAN
JAKE ROBINSON


10
TONY CAMPBELL
ANTHONY JOHNSON
BRAD TURNER

12
RICK HALL
ROBERT NEW
ROBERT STEVENS

Slow

This blog has been going through a slow period for many reasons. While I try to keep up I found this last month the effort was just too much and slacked off big time.

I'm not sure if it will increase anytime soon so if you are one of the many co-bloggers please step up and post to your hearts desire.

I'm currently broke, ill, hating the heat, trying to go back to school, and purchasing a house all at the same time. I'm pulled in so many directions that even when I find something I think the readers here might like I find it hard to put forth the mental effort to post it for you.

Don't tell the town council

It looks like Knoxville has followed Nashville and now allows backyard chickens.

Maybe it is about time?

Knoxville City Council members gave preliminary approval Tuesday night to urban chickens, goats to eat kudzu, and a new Kroger store in West Knoxville.
....
Finally, they voted to change a city ordinance to allow residents to keep chickens within the city limits. But council members cut the number of hens that would be allowed from 12 to 6.

They also allowed goats....dare I dream or is the council able to look outside of the box?

Boat Day 2010 reminder

Free is good!

Third annual Boat Day will be Saturday, June 26th. Just north of the city limits, on the west side of Weakley Lane at the Stewart Creek boat launch. From 9am till 1pm, free kayak and canoe rides are provided for all ages. For more information contact 615.355.5701.

This sounds like a great Saturday event for the family.

A fun free time for all

Third annual Boat Day will be Saturday, June 26th. Just north of the city limits, on the west side of Weakley Lane at the Stewart Creek boat launch. From 9am till 1pm, free kayak and canoe rides are provided for all ages. For more information contact 615.355.5701

WGNS local issues

Chicken Wednesdays - ChickenCribs

One of the issues with chickens is the coop. I am in favor of nice mobile coops but am totally hammer/saw unskilled. Luckily this one company has fixed that for the most part.

As urban agriculture takes off, the number of city-dwellers raising their own chickens is also on the upswing. Building and maintaining the coop often presents a significant obstacle to chicken rearing, but ChickenCribs solve this by handily gathering all the necessary materials for a small, space-efficient chicken living space in an easy-to-assemble kit.

Think Ikea for chickens. Is that cool or what?

The article said "As urban agriculture takes off"...except in Smyrna that is.

Music in the Park

One of the offerings from the Parks and Recreation department is Music in the Park. A free concert and family outing that hopefully will be right up your alley.

“Robert Allen” Friday, June 11 6:30 PM
Robert performs country music in all its styles: traditional, bluegrass,honky tonk, rockabilly, blues. He has fronted and played for Grand Ole Opry artists, and formed several of his own successful bands.

I hope the cooler nights have cut into the mosquito problem and you'all don't get eaten alive if you attend.

Open position for those interested.

Due to health issues I stepped down from the Storm water advisory Committee after three years of service. That means for our readers there is an opening you might apply for quickly if you want to try to get more involved in the process of the town.

On the June 10th Town hall meeting agenda they had this listed.

Appointment of one (1) member to the Storm Water Advisory Committee to fill a vacancy for a two (2) year term ending 2012.

Take a moment and drop by the towns website, print off their pdf form and apply. It really is fun to do.

Incumbents all in a row

The three incumbents in the November election have all picked up petitions to run for their respective seats.

Mayor:
ANTHONY M DOVER 2010-05-28
Council:
MARCUM G ADKINS 2010-05-21
HENRY G COLE 2010-06-01
LANCE S LEE 2010-06-03

The election is still far away and I'm still making wild guesses to friends and family on who I think might run and likely will win, but the lack of early filers for contenders surprised me. I was thinking there might be a few that would jump in early.

I plan later this summer to ask those who submit filled petitions with the Rutherford County Election Commission if they wish to do a guest column on our website. I think that our few readers might like to see what their possible representatives think in their own words.

Movies for the family

Our own local cinema is showing how to be part of the community.

The Malco/Roxy cinema, 100 Movie Row, is participating in Kids Help Kids through the 2010 Kids Summer Film Fest
......
June 1-2: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
June 8-9: Shrek the Third
June 15-16: Monsters vs. Aliens
June 22-23: Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
June 29-30: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
July 6-7: Kung Fu Panda
July 13-14: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
July 20-21: Aliens in the Attic
July 27-28: Charlotte's Web

Have fun!

The petitions are out

It is petition season for the November municipal elections and already there are several for LaVergne and one for Smyrna.

CITY OF LAVERGNE
ALDERMAN
RANDY M BARNES 2010-05-26
CHRISTOPHER M FARMER 5/21/2010 certified on 5/24/2010
JOSHUA C POPE 2010-05-25
KATHERINE C PIERCE 5/21/2010

MAYOR
SENNA L MOSLEY 5/21/2010

SMYRNA
COUNCIL MEMBER
MARCUM G ADKINS 5/21/2010

The qualification date is August so we have a lot of time to go, but I'm happy to see Senna jump up and start early her campaign. Good luck. LaVergne could use a change is direction.

In Smyrna Marc Adkins who was selected to finish the term for Tony Dover has already picked up a petition.

The big race in my mind will be the position of mayor for Smyrna. I see a two way race and it will be a fun one. I'll hold off on who I think it will come down to in the end, but it will be old Smyrna verses New Smyrna in many ways.

$1000

Smyrna police and crime stoppers have taken the next step in catching the killer of that young boy.

CrimeStoppers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to the arrest of suspects involved the shooting death of 14-year-old Rachan "Micky" Chatree.

Chris Bucgong Nachampasak, 19, known as “Chris” or “Gong” was officially named as a suspect two days after the shooting. Johnny Khamla Chomsavanh, 21, was interviewed by investigators and cleared May 17.

Investigators said Nachampasak is considered armed and dangerous.

Being young and dumb the suspect should be caught soon I hope.

Raz'z to host concert

A concert for flood victims will be held at Raz'z here in Smyrna.

Raz’z Restaurant, located at 408 Sam Ridley Parkway, will host a benefit concert for flood victims from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, May 27.
The event will feature performances from Memarie Gayle, Scott Collier, Josh Connor and Reuben Brock. All proceeds will go to the American Red Cross.

I hope the individual performers links are correct. I did not have any duplicate names so you should get an idea of the music that will be performed.

Summer school lunch program

The following schools will be participating in the summer lunch program to make sure shildren have access to good meals during the summer.

Participating schools are
• Cedar Grove Elementary, 354 Chaney Road
• John Colemon School, 100 Wise Drive
• Roy Waldron School, 125 Floyd Mayfield Drive
• Smyrna Elementary, 1001 Sam Davis Road
• Smyrna Middle, 712 Hazelwood Drive
• Stewartsboro Elementary, 10479 Old Nashville Highway

More details on price and such in the article.