Maybe reporters should get trading cards
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The idea has caught on with such popularity, our reporters are lobbying for their very own trading cards. If police officers can have their own cards, then reporters should too, or so the logic goes.
It?s been pointed by members of our staff that reporters and police officers often run in the same circles. When there?s a car accident, we?re both there. When there?s a major drug bust, we?re both there.
However, I can think of one significant difference. When it comes to apprehending bad guys, police officers are the ones in the direct line of fire. Meanwhile crime reporter Duane Sherrill can usually be found hiding behind a car.
As for the police trading cars, I have to applaud Chief Charlie Sewell for bringing the idea to McMinnville. I?m sure school kids will absolutely love them and they might just have some value from a collector?s standpoint too.
If someone could put their hands on a Mark Gwyn rookie card, for example, that thing might just have some value. And I anticipate prolific trading. Kids might put together two cards, say a Derwin Adcock and Kenneth Seagraves card, if it leads to a rare Mark Mara card.
But when it comes to jackpots, the rarest of them all would have to be the limited edition Bryan Denton goofy salute card. I understand there will only be a few in circulation so if you get your hands on one, you have a real gold mine.
As for the Standard trading cards, I don?t think they will ever enjoy the popularity of the police cards, if for no other reason than the fact we don?t have arrest powers. No one has to pretend to like our cards.
Since I?m on the topic of police officers, I can?t resist telling the story that finally came to an end in Sunbury, Pa., last week. That?s when a woman who held police officers at bay by brandishing poisonous snakes was sentenced. For the record, Terry Jackson, 36, received two years probation with the first six months to be served under house arrest.
The confrontation occurred at Jackson?s home when officers tried to take her into custody. To prevent this from happening, she picked up two diamondback rattlesnakes and began waving them at officers. When this strategy worked, Jackson picked up a pigmy rattlesnakes and two copperheads in an effort to prolong the standoff.
However, the plan began to go awry when the snakes started biting Jackson. To make matters worse, officers also shot her with a stun gun. She recovered at a local hospital while the snakes were donated to a nearby zoo.
In my final police-related story, I have to scratch my head and wonder what the folks were thinking at the Kentucky Correctional and Psychiatric Center in La Grange. That?s where officers released a prisoner after receiving a phony fax that ordered the man to be freed.
The fax falsely claimed to be from the Kentucky Supreme Court and it demanded the immediate release of 19-year-old Timothy Rouse. The fax was not typed on letterhead, contained a number of grammatical errors and was faxed from a grocery store. Amazingly, prison officials did no background check and simply released Rouse as the fax instructed.
Did I mention he was free for two weeks before the mistake was noticed. That?s scary.
Late frost devastating to local nurseries
Much has been made about the abundance of manufacturing jobs that have left Warren County. While losing those jobs has been painful, it was Mother Nature, not corporate America, that?s to blame for the latest blow to the local economy.
The late frost that struck the county roughly a month ago is responsible for inflicting millions of dollars in damage to Warren County crops. Some nurseries lost virtually everything. All nurseries lost something.
?There are 10 families who depend on this nursery as their primary source of income,? said Phillip Pelham, owner of Cumberland Valley Nursery. ?There?s a good chance we could lose 100 percent of our peach crop this year, and that?s the bulk of our total income. There aren?t many businesses that can make it a year without any income.?
Phillip estimates he had around 800,000 peach seedlings that were all killed to the ground. He remains hopeful he can nurse a small percentage of those plants back to health but said he has no idea how many, if any, will eventually bud.
?Our particular type of operation got hurt as much as anybody in the county,? said Phillip. ?It?s going to be a terrible strain, but we?ll be in business next year.?
Phillip said Cumberland Valley Nursery has been in business since 1902 and this is the first time an entire peach crop has been wiped out by frost. He said maintaining a large nursery is extremely expensive and added it?s going to be difficult to pay his expenses without much money coming in.
On top of that, Cumberland Valley Nursery won?t be hiring any additional workers this year, which will hurt dozens of people.
?We usually have 70 to 80 people working here in June,? said Phillip. ?But with what?s happened, we?ll be able to handle it with our regular staff.?
Billy Jones, proud owner of Jones Nursery, echoed Phillip?s comments. He said the crop damage would result in a tremendous amount of lost jobs.
?This is really going to hurt the county big time,? said Billy. ?Nurseries are going to be laying people off, and nurseries will be going out of business. It doesn?t matter if it?s Americans, Hispanics or whoever losing their jobs. These are people buying food and people buying vehicles and people spending money in this county.?
Jones said his small plants like bare-root liners were hit especially hard. But he also lost big items such as 600 crape myrtles in 30-gallon pots.
Jones said it would be impossible to determine the ripple effects of the freeze. He said if local nurseries can?t fill their usual orders, customers will be forced to go elsewhere. And once customers leave, it could be difficult to get them back.
?We still have all our regular costs,? said Billy. ?There?s labor, fuel, marketing, trade shows. All that is still there. It takes a lot of money to operate so you?re going to see how this really hurts the county.?
Old Fraley?s building still ways from completion
Whenever I get in serious discussions about Main Street, the old Fraley?s building never fails to pop up. And considering it?s been around two years since owner Ken Roberts bought the building, I can see why there?s concern.
When I talked to Ken on Thursday, he says his plans remain very much intact to transform the building into seven luxury condominiums upstairs and offices on the main floor.
?It?s taken a lot longer than we anticipated,? said Ken. ?We still have the long-range plans we?ve been developing that will probably cost several million dollars by the time we?re through.?
Some folks may have noticed there?s been considerable dirt work next to the Fraley?s building at the empty lot on the corner of Main and Sparta streets. Ken owns that property too and he says it?s all part of getting the ground ready for when he?s ready to proceed further with the condominium project.
As for other downtown news, Ken also owns the old Touch O? Klas building and the empty building next to Keith Smartt?s law office. Ken says Keith could soon be expanding his law practice to add other attorneys and he?s getting that space ready for that expansion. Ken also has a crew doing major renovation work to the Touch O? Klas building, mainly to the floor, to get it ready for a new tenant.
Standard?s Web site honored as best in state
The verdict is in and this is one decision I agree with. The Tennessee Press Association has named the Standard?s Internet site the best non-daily newspaper Web site in the state. Hip-hip hooray.
Kyle Ward has been in charge of the Standard?s site for the past six months and he says that all the credit for the newspaper?s new-and-improved site belongs to me. OK, so those weren?t his exact words. To be truthful, those weren?t any of his words, but let?s pretend.
?Strong newspaper Web sites are no longer a goal to shoot for in the future,? said Kyle. ?The Internet is here right now and it?s becoming more and more ingrained in our society every day. For us, it?s a way to add another dimension to our news coverage. People like the interactive features the Internet offers where you can easily post comments and chat with other readers.?
Anyone who has a newspaper subscription can get a free password that offers unlimited access to the Standard?s Web site. There are Web-site only subscriptions for customers who want to read the newspaper online but who don?t want a hard copy. To subscribe, call the newspaper at 473-2191.
New business offers high-tech equipment
A Holland-based company that specializes in automated greenhouse equipment has set up its own distribution center in McMinnville. It?s called TTA USA and Steve Biles and Allen Buckner are the local representatives.
The two have a combined 30 years experience in servicing and selling greenhouse equipment and are justifiably proud of the machines they offer.
?This machine with three to four people operating it will do the work of 12 to 15 people,? said Steve referring to a pack planter, the company?s most popular piece of equipment. ?High-end automation is what we do.?
The sophisticated machinery offered by TTA is not for small greenhouses. Because the equipment operates very quickly, it takes a major greenhouse to have the volume of plants needed to justify such handy and expensive machines.
?It?s a low numbers industry because we?re not selling to the little bitty guys,? said Allen. ?You probably have to be looking at five acres of greenhouses to make this work and there just aren?t many of those operations out there.?
Steve said over the past two decades, the greenhouse and container-grown nursery industry has changed. These businesses are operating less and less like farms and more and more like factories, he said.
?It?s just amazing how the greenhouses have gone high tech,? said Steve. ?They are like little factories. All of the work can be automated. The pack planter is one of the single largest labor-saving devices for greenhouses.?
TTA established its own distribution center in McMinnville so it can have better control of the North American market. And since I?m using the term ?North American market? you can guess Steve and Allen do plenty of traveling. Through company business, the two have been to every state except Hawaii.
That type of personal service is a big selling point.
?If a customer calls and he?s down and not running, we?ll be at his facility, wherever it is, in 24 hours,? said Allen.
Steve says TTA customers have always been well satisfied with the equipment and service.
?We get repeat business,? said Steve. ?And one of our best sales tools is our customers. If someone is thinking about buying our equipment, we have them call a customer who already has it up and running. Then they can explain how well it works for them.?
TTA?s office is located on Vervilla Road across from the entrance to the high school. The phone number is 668-2518.
That?s all folks
If you would like to be one of the first people to reserve my trading card, give me a call at 473-2191. You can also call that number to report business tips.