Weekly Letter Friday, July 23, 2010 - Friday, August 20, 2010
Greetings from the Mayor's office.
I hope you will find some fun things to do with your family this weekend. Probably the best thing to do is to lay around the pool, creek, or river and try to cool-off for a while. I hope the Good Lord will bless us with some more rain soon.
I apologize for having gone for almost a month to post my letter. Times are busy for me with work and campaigning. I will do better next time. Be sure to come downtown tonight and tomorrow for the downtown homecoming.
Friday evening, July 23, Kay and I went to Sarge's with Mark and Phyllis Whitt. This was a good short trip. I always enjoy riding up into Tennessee's hills and seeing the beauty there. I also enjoyed the chopped steak and dirty rice at Sarges. We saw several people from Athens, including Coach Jerry Davis.
Saturday morning, July 24, we slept late, did chores, hung around the pool during the day, and had an overall good day and evening with our family. I also did some political planning for my campaign.
Sunday morning, July 25, I went to the Deacon's prayer service. I always enjoy this early morning time with other Deacons at our Church. We pray for everything and everybody. I need to do this everyday.
Sunday at lunch the kids came over, and we spent time as a family at the pool. Kay and I attended Church tonight.
Monday morning, July 26, I had Cheryl Carter as my guest on my radio show. Cheryl is a very interesting person, and the mother of three young ladies who have finished college or will be graduating soon. One is doing her student teaching in Australia. Cheryl works as a P.E. Aide at Athens High School, and I have never seen anyone with more love for the job. She also works at Lawler's on Hobbs Street in Athens. She is the only person I know who is a vegetarian and working in a barbecue restaurant. I hope you got to hear the show.
Monday night the City Council met for a regular meeting. The following items of business received attention from the Council:
1. Held a public hearing to her comments on the rezoning request from St. Paul's Catholic Church, located at 1900 Highway 72 West.
2. Approved an ordinance to rezone the property for St. Paul's Catholic Church from R-1-1 to B-3. This is changing the zone from residential to highway business.
3. Held a public hearing to hear comments on an annexation request from Earl and Mary Marbut to have 130 acres at the corner of Pepper Road and Oakdale Road annexed into the city of Athens.
4. Approved an ordinance to annex the Marbut property into the city.
5. Approved an ordinance to zone the Marbut property in the Agriculture zone.
6. Approved travel expenses in the amount of $511.20 for Water/Wastewater Department for travel to Chicago to a Waterworks conference.
7. Approved a Special Use Permit for Open Range to co-locate equipment on a tower at 108 Commercial Drive.
8. approved an Economic Development project between the City of Athens and Custom Polymers PET, LLC.
9. Approved the purchase of a skid unit in the amount of $10,470 for the Athens Fire Department.
10. Approved the purchase of 19.18 acres of property for the Athens Gas Department for additions at the Leak City facility in the amount of $210,000.
11. Declared the Watercress Sub-Division to be a public nuisance.
Tuesday morning, July 27, I did my regular radio show at WKAC and discussed city business and last night's Council meeting with Kirk Harvey.
Wednesday morning, July 28, I went to the Marriott Hotel in Huntsville to meet with TVA personnel and get an update as to their activities. Kim Green is the Chief Financial Officer of the organization, and provided us with updates and information that was useful to our cities.
I later went to visit with my political consultants to get results of polls that have been completed in the District. My polls look very good after the run-off election.
Thursday morning, July 29, I attended the monthly Chamber of Commerce Board meeting at the new Tourism Center. This was a good meeting and was well attended by board members. Everyone is very proud of our new Tourism Center.
This evening I participated at Applebee's Celebrity Waiters event to raise money for the Cancer Society. David Siebert, Tom Butler, Henry White, Mignon Bowers, Harold Wales, and Shane Black participated in the event. We raised $1185 for the society.
Friday morning, July 30, I was busy in the office catching up on business.
Kay and I met Phyllis and Mark Whitt at Catfish Cabin for lunch. We saw Sandy Caudle and her son Micah having lunch. He is home from Arizona for a visit.
Friday night I went to the Tanner Tractor Pull to do some politicking. Kay and Dinah went to our Church Homecoming and heard former Pastor, Fred Lackey preach. The tractor pull had a large crowd of folks enjoying the noise and smoke from huge tractors and trucks. If you have never been to such an event, you need to go one time. The people attending seemed to really enjoy the show. Our Church homecoming had a big crowd, and the people enjoyed seeing and hearing Fred and Sue Lacky who spent many years pasturing the church.
Saturday morning July 31, we did several chores around the house and did our grocery shopping. I went to the pool at Charles' house this afternoon to relax in the water during the extreme heat.
I went back to the Tractor Pull tonight for more of the same politicking. I think it was very late when the event ended. Penny Pitts worked the event and told me that she got home Sunday morning around three o'clock.
Sunday morning, August 1, I went to the Deacon's Prayer service, then to Sunday school, and sang with the Choir. We had a visiting preacher today that presented a very good sermon.
The kids came to our house for lunch, with the exception of Daniel and his family. Kay had a great meal with shrimp casserole, fried corn, fresh tomatoes.
We went back to the pool this afternoon. We later rode up to Minor Hill, Pulaski, and Ardmore to see what was happening.
Monday morning, August 2, I went to Madison to talk with supporters and contributors to my campaign for the Legislature. I do enjoy it when they support me financially.
I came back to Athens and had Garth Lovvern Jr., Director of Habitat for Humanity, as my guest on my Monday morning radio show. Garth is doing a great job with the Habitat, and I hope you will consider supporting the program. I learned a great deal from Garth about the program. Many people think this is a give-a-way to people who are not deserving. It is not that. The family receiving the home has to invest their own sweat equity into the house, and they also take on a mortgage when they move in. Be sure to learn more about the program, and consider volunteering to help build a house.
Kay and I had lunch today at home.
Wednesday, August 4, I met with Tim Jackson who is working with my campaign. Tim is a young man just graduated from Mississippi State, and working full-time for the Republican party.
Friday, August 6, I spent the morning in the office writing my column for the local newspaper and discussing city business with Department Heads.
Friday evening Kay and I had dinner at LuVici's with Mark and Phyllis Whitt. After dinner we looked around town to see what is going on, and ended up our evening by having our dessert at Kreme Delite.
Saturday morning, August 7, Kay and I attended the Veteran's Coffee Call at the Veteran's Museum. There was a good crowd of people attending, and we all enjoyed the breakfast and fellowship.
After breakfast I went to Ardmore to see the Rodeo parade and talk to some people.
I came back home and went to lunch with our family. We went to the New China restaurant in the Publix Center. I love the sushi they have in this restaurant.
I went to the Square this afternoon for the Cruise-In, and later went back to Ardmore. I came back tonight and attended the Athens Golden Eagle Legends Banquet.
Sunday morning. August 8, I went to the Deacon's Prayer Service. We attended our Sunday school class, then heard a good sermon from Brother Jenkins during our worship service.
We had a Whitt's Barbecue lunch today. Whitney and her kids went to Huntsville to bring Asa back from spending the night with Luke and Jillian. They were not with us for lunch.
We spent a quiet afternoon at home. I went to Church at 5:00 for our Deacon's meeting. This was a good meeting, and a large amount of Church business was discussed.
Kay met me for the worship service, and we heard a good sermon from Brother Jenkins.
Monday morning, August 9, I had Dr. Jan Vinita White as my guest on my Monday Morning With the Mayor, radio show. Dr. Jan is a great guest and I hope to have her again soon. She is an expert on aging issues. She has been involved in many interesting activities in her lifetime. She is married to a retired two-star General, and I hope to have him as a guest on the show at a later date.
Kay and I carried our granddaughter, Alex, to the surgeon for a follow-up visit from her surgery last Wednesday. He said everything is progressing normally. He placed her foot and leg in a boot and told her to use the crutches for a few more days.
The City Council met for a regular meeting tonight and the following items of business were acted upon:
1. Held a public hearing to hear comments on the sale of alcohol for the Hobbs Street Mini Mart, located at 1001 East Hobbs Street.
2. Held a public hearing to hear comments on 308 Crestview Street for being a public nuisance.
3. Held a public hearing to hear comments on a lot on Widow Street for being a public nuisance.
4. Approved a Special Use Permit for Verizon Wireless to co-locate equipment at 208 Commercial Drive.
5. Approved declaring a 2003 Ford Expedition belonging to the Public Works Department as surplus property, and to offer it for sale.
6. Approved the purchase of a Ditch Witch for the Gas Department. The low bid was from Ditch Witch of Alabaster in the amount of $45, 942.76. The city had budgeted $46,000 for this item.
7. Approved an agreement between Athens Utilities and Central Service Administration to provide software for the utility departments. This will be done over a period of time and the city will pay a monthly or yearly fee for the service. The total cost has not been determined at this point.
Tuesday morning, August 10, I went back to WKAC for our regular show about the City Council meeting. We covered the city business in a short time, then I had Trish Black from Spirit of Athens Committee to come in and talk about the Hometown and Downtown Homecoming that is scheduled for next weekend.
Tuesday night I went to LuVici's for a phone bank time with one of our Republican consultants. We had several people come in to help. My wife, sister, son, and daughter came, and I was proud of them.
Thursday evening, August 12, I went to Belle Mina to the Limestone Co-Op Annual Meeting and barbecue. I arrived a little late and a good crowd was there. The Business meeting took about one-half hour. Jimmy Newby ran the meeting and did a good job. I saw John and Donna Curtis there. John is with Co-Op, and Donna will be State President of the Alabama Cattlemen's Association in 2012.
Kay, Dinah, and I ate supper at Jack's this evening.
Saturday, August 14, I went to the Sheriff's Rodeo grounds to attend the Antique Tractor and Engine Show. It was hot as blazes this morning, but there was a respectable crowd there for the event.
I left this show and went to Ardmore to the Antique Car Show. They had more than 1100 cars registered, and the temperature was out of sight. I don't know how the people were able to be out there all day today.
Sunday, August 15, I went to Church early to attend the Deacon's prayer service. Kay and I attended Sunday school, then I sang with the Choir at the morning worship service. We all went to Burrito Express for lunch today and enjoyed our time together. We rode for a while this afternoon, then spent some time napping and laying around the pool. Kay and I went to Church tonight and I assisted the other Deacons with the Communion service.
Monday, August 16, I had Kelli Powers, the new CEO of Athens/Limestone Hospital, and Amy Golden, Director of the Hospital Foundation as my guest on my radio show. We had a great discussion about the hospital activities, up-coming events, and how the foundation is assisting the hospital to meet its needs.
I had lunch at home with Kay today, then came back to LuVici's and spoke with Jerry Sandlin about a couple of campaign events that will be coming up shortly. I also saw and visited with Tee and Jackie Jackson. Tee caught me up on Pulaski and the school activities there.
I met with several agency representatives and others at the Family Resource Center this afternoon to discuss how homeless person's needs can be met in our community. I think the first thing we do will be an assessment to determine how many are present in Athens and Limestone County, then a plan will be developed.
Tuesday, August 17, I was busy at the office for a while, then attended the Chamber Monthly Coffee at the Regions Bank.
Wednesday, August 18 I spent the entire day with a film crew doing commercials for the campaign. Minda Campbell, daughter of Governor Bob Riley, is in charge of filming activities. She and her crew are wonderful people, and I enjoyed the day with them. We went to industry, health facilities, parks, farms, construction sites and other places.
Thursday, August 19, I attended the Economic Development Association breakfast at Athens/Limestone Hospital. This was a good meeting and we heard good reports from Lakin Collins about the BRAC activities at Redstone.
I went to the ballroom at Athens State to welcome the State Conservation workers to a meeting. These guys were from several north Alabama counties and they had an excellent turn-out for the meeting.
I later met several ladies from the DAR to sign a proclamation and make a picture.
Kay and I attended the North Alabama Mayor's Association meeting in Madison tonight. The speaker was Steve Raby, Democratic candidate for our district 5 Congressional seat. He gave a very good talk to our group. We will have Mo Brooks at our next meeting to hear the Republican side of things.
Friday morning August 20, I saw my coffee pals at Dub's that I haven't seen in some time. I also saw an old schoolmate, Bob Montgomery, who now lives in Durham, North Carolina, and has come in for the homecoming weekend. It was good to see him and his brother and both of them looked like they are doing fine.
I had lunch at LuVici' today with Brian Jones. We discussed our political campaigns.
I spent the afternoon in the office getting things caught up. I didn't have a lot of time to complete my bi-weekly newspaper column because I had almost forgotten it.
I hope you can come out tonight to join the band concert on the Square, and tomorrow for all the festivities for our homecoming weekend. See you there.
Take care and I will see you next time. mayordan