Tag: Civic Club Knoxville

  • Sandra Clark | Election Predictions | Aug 1st

    Sandra Clark | Election Predictions | Aug 1st

    The election is behind us and I was pleased with the outcome. We made the national news – it was reported we elected a professional wrestler as mayor. Seems the “scruffy little city” just can’t get a break.  All of Sandra’s predictions came true and I got the feeling she is definitely not a President Trump fan.

    I would be willing to bet even if he knew it wouldn’t keep him up nights.  I worked at West Valley Middle School. We voted a total of 501 persons and 2 of them were my daughter-in-law and granddaughter (her first-time voting).  One picked Republican and the other Democrat, they should have stayed home!

    It’s much harder when you have two candidates running for the same office and you really like both.  I was impressed with Mattock and Burchett really “pounded the pavement”. You couldn’t go to any function he didn’t show up too.  Sandra seem to think he (Burchett) plans to move on up.  We can sit back and say “I knew him when. . . . . “

    The cost of campaigning I’m sure keeps a lot of good people from running. Sandra said thousands of dollars had been spent (this is a matter of public record, how much they spent and where they got it) and wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall after and election you lost and have the wife say – “don’t ever mention how much I spend on shoes again”

  • Joe McCameron | Reboot Combat Recovery | April 25th

    Joe McCameron | Reboot Combat Recovery | April 25th

    Joe McCameron, with Reboot Combat recovery https://rebootrecovery.com/ who gets to work with our Mike Simpson has found a new calling in life; helping veterans to cope. I’m sure the problem existed after World War 1 & 2, plus the additions since then that on some we didn’t call them a war but a “conflict’ but we didn’t know how to recognize and deal with it. The biggest loss of life after they come home is through suicide. Since starting the program they haven’t lost a person. It gives them a “safe” place to talk, they are with people that have been there, and what is said in the room, stays in the room.  It was a great program for us and I’m sure it will continue to help our veterans.

    The Month of May is starting to fill up – best mark your calendars if you don’t want to miss anything:

    May 2: Our speaker will be: Leonard Knight w/ Neighborhood Needs.

    May 5: Crescent Bend and Derby Day. Lots of food, drink, and fellowship.

    May 10: Friendship Dinner for the Sertoma Center. Chris Blue to entertain.

    May 18: Kenny Withers Golf Tournament. They need items for the goody bags if you are so inclined.

    Beverly and Rusty Farrell get to celebrate another birthday!

    Let the record show:  Matt Hall read the prayer, Rusty Ferrell led the pledge. We had Dr. Britany Grayless, a Tinnitus specialist and audiology supervisor from UT Speech and Hearing.  Lee Freeman brought Michael Collins from the center.

  • Bob Thomas | WIVK | Knox County Commissioner | Feb. 7th

    Bob Thomas | WIVK | Knox County Commissioner | Feb. 7th

    Bob Thomas will give our other candidate a run for the money in our up coming county mayor race. Bob has been with WIVK forever and has learned a lot about meeting people. Said he always wanted to be a radio announcer. I think it’s great when you can decide early on what you want to be and then go for it. He worked with Jim Dick and everyone that knew that man remembers him fondly.  They took on several projects (Mr. Dick came up with them and it was up to Bob to see them carried out); the Tennessee Theater which was saved due to their efforts, announcement that we wouldn’t have a Christmas parade in 1974 due to cost, we did.  At some point they decided we needed a hockey team. Getting the team together wasn’t that much of a challenge but after they lost the first 10 games they played it was determined they also needed a coach. It eventually all came together, and we may not be the best, but we are right on up there.

    Mr. Thomas wants to improve the lives of seniors and veterans – can’t argue with any of those. He wants to try a “ride and decide” where high school kids are given an opportunity to work with different organizations such as automotive, printing, plumbing, etc. to see what and how they do things.  He says for every five persons leaving the trades only one is coming in. If this keeps up your bank manager will be making minimum wage and your plumber will be bringing home a hundred thousand a year.

    Next week:  America’s Greatest Treasures by David Lawson.  Should be worth-while.  My brother is bringing him, along with Herman Thomson (not sure about Mr. Thomson and the role he plays but we will know soon!  I do know Mr. Lawson has offered to work with us on fund raising and I believe he has spoked to that “other” group next door.

  • Bradley Reeves | Cinegraphic Archives & Preservation | Oct 11th

    Bradley Reeves with Cinegraphic Archives and Preservation was our very informed speaker for the week.  He brought “samples” of some of the films he has been able to restore.  We all love to go back and see the films we took of the kids when they were 2 and 3 and then discover the film has turned to mush and there is nothing left. Before that happens, contact Mr. Reeves and see what he can do to restore it.  The Kiwanis Joined us, shame they don’t do that every week; makes the room look a lot better.

    Oktoberfest:  Tomorrow night, beer set up with 4 vendors, food coming in fresh and always good.  Lots of “brown bag” items and this year the first number drawn in our reverse raffle gets a prize along with the one hundredth and two hundredth person.  I want to hold out for the grand prize, I have a car payment to make.  This get bigger and better every year and this year we are adding a person from the Knoxville Opera and a train demonstration!  Doors open at 5:30 with food and beer at 6:00. If you don’t attend you will miss a great time.

    Becky Massey brought Lee Freeman who will step into her place as Executive Director on November 1. He filled out an application to become “one of us” which won’t be the challenge it will be to fill Becky’s shoes at the Sertoma Center. Jerry Faerber brought David Johnson a longtime friend he’s hoping will join and Ashley ????? from UT Speech and Hearing rounded out the visitors.

    Record keeping: Terrell Kerr prayed and Aubrey Cowan led the pledge. From last week we learned Ed Barham won the grid pick with 8 out of 10.

    The Kiwanis announced they again have Christmas wreaths to sell for $25.00.

    They are taking orders now if you are interested. Will be delivered fresh.

     

    The past presidents club is selling chances for the UT-LSU game.  One for $10 or 3 for $25.

  • Morton Massey | The Big Year | October 5th

    Morton Massey | The Big Year | October 5th

    I had no idea bird watching was as involved or dedicated as it is. Morton Massey gave us a real education or where, when and how to do this. One of the best places is around sewage plants – who knew? Also, these people keep track of where they have seen what and call each other to report, at which point they jump in their cars and take off to places like Memphis? Memphis is not exactly next-door folks, you must be pretty determined to make that trip.  Morton has visited 95 counties this year. 87 state parks with 3200 different birds.  That’s dedication.

    Next Week:  Bradley Reeves with Cinegraphic Archives and Preservation.  I think this will be another trip down memory lane.

    Board Meeting: Tuesday at 6 pm. All are welcome, Dutch treat

    It’s Here! Friday is the big day for Oktoberfest. Plan to see all of you there and we’ll each feel sorry for ourselves when we don’t win the $5000.

     

    Mark your calendars: On the 18th we will meet at the Southern Railway.

    Housekeeping:  Alan Stuckey read the prayer and Chris Hoosier led the pledge.

  • Maureen Willis – Choices of Healthcare | July 19th

    Maureen Willis – Choices of Healthcare | July 19th

    I do hope someone realized I was not at the meeting. I understand the speaker was Maureen Willis and she spoke on “Choices of Healthcare”. I was off doing my part for the healthcare industry by having a stress test which totally stressed me out, took five hours and cost me $250.00! With Obamacare up for grabs her talk may have come in real handy. My niece who lives in Virginia and is self-employed pays $1000.00 a month premium for a family policy and has a $6000.00 deductible! But only the first two family members must pay it. I do hop Ms. Willis had some timely suggestions.

    Report on the board meeting: I missed that also, it falls on the same day as another organization I’m involved in and they only meet once a month.  This one was held at the Titanic in Sevierville and if you have not gone to this you really must do so. They have done a fantastic job of recreating the interior of the ship and they have all kinds of information to pass along. This was my second trip and they have added information from my first visit. You receive a “boarding pass” as you enter with the name of an actual passenger and find out at the end if you survived.  They had many people that wanted to know what happened later so they investigated and now have a short history of them. I not only survived, I lived to be 96!

    Back to the board meeting, they discussed a whole bunch of things but from the information I received they didn’t vote on anything.  Maybe next time.

    On a sad note, William (Bill) Davis who joined the club in January of 1952 and later became an international president has passed away. He has not attended for some time due to illness however, he will be sadly missed.

    Our speaker next week is Trae Hargis who is the Tennessee Secretary of State. He is being brought to us by Becky Massey and this would be an excellent meeting to bring a perspective member or just a neighbor you want to impress.

  • Elaine Streno | Second Harvest Food Bank

    Today we had Elaine Streno from Second Harvest Food Bank and I had no idea they did so much. Seems they are a national organization which has named itself “Feeding America”. They are in their 35th year and in five states. It got started because some people noticed food was being wasted and people were going hungry. They now have six difference feeding programs and serve 18 counties and 200,000 people. They now purchase 70% of the products they use, however, a great deal is donated by local grocery stores. They have 20 trucks, and a budget of $6,000 per year. Ninety cents of every dollar that is donated goes to the needy.  They have a large freezer which they allow other non-profit organizations to use. 1 in 6 people in East Tennessee live in poverty and Second Harvest is trying to eliminate that. One program sends home food for kids after school and weekends and they also have a program for seniors.

    Next week we vote. Come ready to cast your ballot or if you don’t like who ever is offered up, to volunteer to do it yourself. We’re easy, you can go either way.

    Chris Kerr, President; Jacob Tippens VP Outreach; Alan Stuckey, VP Member- ship; Brett Grimm, VP Special Events; Andy Schoerner, Treasurer; Carol Mohney, Secretary; Carolyn Grimm, SSgt-at-Arms; Jason Grahl, Speaker chair & grid pick; Matt Hall, Parliamentarian; Allie Harmon & Mike McKinney, Visitation; Bob Rentenbach, Greeter. Board of Directors: Jerry Faerber, Carl Asp, Marianne Greene, Kim Simpson, Linda Price, Mike Simpson.  Rusty Farrell, Chairman of the Board.

    The annual picnic at the Faerbers is coming up on June 25th. If you have not told Marianne if you will be attending, now would be a good time.  I think they decided on hamburgers and hot dogs so they surely made it easy for you. Grab a bag of potato chips, some pickles, maybe bake some beans and come join the fun.  I’ll give you directions when I get back from vacation next week. At this writing, no one has volunteered to do the bulletin for next week so you’ll have to muddle through without it.  I’ll see you on the 28th.

    Housekeeping:  Jacob Tippens read the prayer (he also was responsible for the speaker) and Bob Rentenbach led the pledge.  Rusty passed around a list of when each person joined Sertoma. William Davis was first place at 1952 with Al Gill coming in at 1964. 1999 and 2000 were two good years.  Don’t know what we did that inspired them but if we can find out we could do it again.

    Mark your calendars to make a special effort to attend on July 12th. Senator Becky Massey is bringing our Tennessee Secretary of State. Also, we will meet on July 5, don’t have info on the speaker.

  • Alex Gabbard

    We didn’t have the original speaker we were promised, however, Alex Gabbard did a fine job of “filling in”. He has written a book on the first battle of the American Revolution of which he received a book of the year award. The book, named Gaspee, tells the story of Lt. William Dudingston, captain of the ship Gaspee enforced maritime laws with a vengeance. Anything that was brought into port without the benefit of “paying the taxes to England” was sized and in some cases destroyed. Principal towns were Providence, Newport and Rhode Island. Joseph Bucklin was credited with firing the first shot that hit Lt. Dudingston and therefore started the war. King George offered a reward for his capture, you’ll have to read the book to find out the rest. Before out time, but quite interesting.

    Housekeeping: Jason Grahl read the prayer, Al Gill led the pledge. We had a couple of visitors: Shasta (hope I spelled that correctly) wife of new member Matt Hall, another friend of his and I didn’t get the name, Rand McKinney came with dad and sat with him this time.
    Called board meeting: It’s that time again when you get to “step up to the plate” and help run this organization. With that said, we have a tentative list for you to look at and hopefully approve. These people will take office the first of July so we don’t have a lot of time to pick and choose. If you would like to serve on the board and no one has contacted you, let someone know. We will sign you up!

    And the winners are:

    Chris Kerr, President; Jacob Tippens VP Outreach; Alan Stuckey, VP Member- ship; Brett Grimm, VP Special Events; Andy Schoerner, Treasurer; Carol Mohney, Secretary; Carolyn Grimm, Sgt-at-Arms; Jason Grahl, Speaker chair & grid pick; Matt Hall, Parliamentarian; Allie Harmon & Mike McKinney, Visitation; Bob Rentenbach, Greeter. Board of Directors: Jerry Faerber, Chris Hoosier, Carl Asp, Marianne Greene, Kim Simpson, Linda Price, Mike Simpson. Rusty Farrell, Chairman of the Board.

    In a nutshell: Matt Hall is replacing Tim Curbow, Carol Mohney is replacing Andy Libby, we are adding Mike McKinney to Visitation and Rusty Farrell replaces Mike Simpson as chairman.

  • Dr. Beth Humphrey | UTK Speech and Hearing

    Dr. Beth Humphrey gave our last talk on speech and hearing. She stated she was not a politician but is involved in the current healthcare legislation. She stated 2-3 out of 1,000 children are born with detectable hearing loss. Now almost 98% of infants are checked before leaving the hospital. In the works is a hearing aid assistance tax credit for people without insurance and for us old folks hearing aids are not covered by Medicare. The over the counter hearing aids are more affordable and accessible (these are not for children) but you need to get a hearing assessment before trying one out. By the time our children and grandchildren need hearing aids they will sell them at Wal-Mart.

    Next week is a not to be missed. We will have Scott West, owner of 3 local restaurants in Knoxville. He is going to tell us all about his stay with the federal government.
    Housekeeping: Mike McKinney led the pledge and I don’t have a clue who read the prayer. My pen died and my extra had run dry so I’m trying to write most of this from memory. What I do remember is Andy Libby is back and looks good. Rand McKinney came with Dad and was pumping Janet for information.

    Don’t forget election of officers is coming up and you just might be called on to fill a position. Also, we will have a called board meeting after June 7.

  • Meeting 2-29-17

    We experienced another “no show” but someone came to the rescue with Lisa Skinner who took Joan Brown’s place at the Sertoma Center. For those not aware, Joan has retired. Lisa brought us up to date on what’s happening at the center and a picture of the duplex that is just one of many on the drawing board to house their clients. Seems the government doesn’t want people being put up in dormitory like housing, prefers them in separate homes. The building is a duplex and quite attractive. Don’t have a clue of the additional cost. Each house has 3 clients per side + a caregiver and they look nice; most neighborhoods wouldn’t have a problem with having one next door. The center is currently responsible for 125 people, 85 live in residential homes. Also, the powers that be, say all the clients must be “out in the community six hours a day. They attempt to get them employed with something they can do, the original win, win.

    P.S. We will need to forgive our “no show”. He was required to be at church to participate in the Ash Wednesday service.

    Next Week:  Caroline Grimm is bringing our speaker. Don’t have any information on who that will be but I’m sure he/she will be great!

    Coming Up:  Board Meeting March 14th.

    Don’t walk in silence April 22nd.

    Friendship Dinner, Butch Jones speaker, May 4th.

    Kenny Withers Golf Challenge May 19th

    Annual Gala, Nights in Havana August 19t