There’s a video story at WKRN.com today about the battle for Bell Buckle. Among other folks, the reporter interviews several of my family members… There’s no way to link directly to the video. Just go to WKRN.com and click on the story with Bell Buckle in the title.
I’ve had many moments along the way when I realized I was becoming and then was a real grown-up: marriage, motherhood, being unable to drink red wine on a weeknight without nasty consequences the next day…
But today I experienced another milestone that made me realize I am, indeed, all grown up. I e-mailed a list of friends and family members — all in their 30s like me — with some info about my upcoming travel plans, and received at least seven auto-responder replies in which I was told the person I had e-mailed was out of the office, but that I could contact his/her assistant and/or secretary should I have urgent business.
When did my little brother get an assistant? Does this man look like he should have an assistant?
I feel old…
For Further Information Contact:
Sue Allison 931-389-9230/ suealli@hotmail.com
David vs. Goliath: A Small Town Fights Back
They gather at the local café on Saturday mornings, their numbers growing larger, their war chest richer and their resolve stronger.
The teachers, the airline pilot, the cotton farmer, Tennessee’s Poet Laureate, local merchants, the sculptor, retirees and others who show up at the Bell Buckle Café are planning a defense of what they view as an enemy attack on their community. They have established a legal defense fund, hired a prominent attorney, ordered yard signs and are vowing to defeat an out-of-town developer’s plan to annex 210 acres of scenic farmland to build up to 500 houses - a move that could more than triple the population and forever change the character of their beloved village. It also would open the door to further sprawl and a lifestyle change they say would break their hearts, rob their children of what they now have and ruin their town.
“It’s a defense against the pillage of a community,” said Eugene Strobel, who was mayor from 1978-1986. “Unlike so much of the nation, Bell Buckle has maintained the qualities Americans remember with nostalgia. It has remained unscathed by greed and unplanned growth. It’s not a cliche when we boast that children here ride their bicycles all over town, dogs roam the streets and we have virtually no crime. This is a lifestyle worth preserving and cherishing. That’s what we intend to do.”
Bell Buckle is an odd and eclectic place - a mix including farmers, artists, factory workers, educators and students at the local K-12 public school and a private prep school that has been part of the town since 1886. Small churches, modest homes and grand homes stand side by side along the tree-lined streets.
The café has been a gathering spot for years, but until recently, most of the conversation was about politics, crops, weather and families, interrupted occasionally by trains that roar past on nearby tracks as they have for more than a century. Now, though, at nearly every table filled with “locals,” the talk is about annexation or the latest edition of “The Patriot Commentator,” a newsletter spawned by the controversy and published by a local school teacher.
“We feel like David taking on Goliath,” said Robert Allison who grew up in Bell Buckle, left for college and law school, worked and married in Chicago, but returned with his wife to raise their children in the warm environment he missed. (Note from Katie: Robert and Nicole are my brother and sister in law)
“Now the dreams I have for my three young children are threatened with extinction,” Allison said. “My sisters and I loved growing up here and from the day my oldest child was born four years ago, I knew I wanted him to have that same experience and special childhood.”
Edwina Chilton, a resident for 20 years, said too many towns have just given up and given in, leaving few “national treasures” such as Bell Buckle remaining.
“It’s as though we have become conditioned to believe it’s inevitable and we might as well just accept it,” she said. “The destruction of small towns has done serious damage to the fiber of our country and we need to start fighting back. It’s all about money - huge obscene amounts of money - and we need to wake up and realize it before there are no Bell Buckles remaining. There is no price tag that should or can be placed on what we have. It’s not for sale.”
Until the past year, there was peace in the little incorporated town of about 400 residents, located 50 miles southeast of Nashville. For a brief time a couple of years ago there was a short-lived rift over whether the dry town should allow 82 Market - right across the railroad tracks - to sell beer. But, citizens were polled, the measure passed and the two factions were quickly over their disagreement as though it never happened.
This time it’s different though. The people of Bell Buckle are not divided. There is no question that the overwhelming majority of Bell Buckle residents oppose the planned annexation of the property owned by Sue and Billy Dean, who live outside town limits and operate an insurance business. Until the issue arose, their names were unknown to many, if not most, in the town. Today, they are household words.
The Deans bought the property in question in two parcels in 2000 and 2003 and have said they want it annexed before they sell it to Murfreesboro developer Roger Ritch. Annexation would put the burden for sewer, water and other services on the town, saving Ritch money and allowing him to sell more houses for greater profit. Annexation also would increase the number of houses he could build since the town’s zoning is more lenient than zoning in the county. Additionally, the county is grappling with the cost of rapid growth it already has allowed and may be reluctant to ask taxpayers to provide additional services for another development.
Twice, opponents of the Bell Buckle plan have circulated petitions, going door-to-door throughout the town. And twice, residents - who view themselves as stakeholders - have indicated they do not want the Deans and Ritch to carry out their plan. The most recent petitions netted signatures from 95 of the 118 occupied houses in town - an impressive number since almost 10 percent of knocks on doors were unanswered because residents were not at home. Only one person signed a petition favoring the annexation.
So what is keeping it alive? A big part of the answer is Mayor Linda Key, who has come down on the side of annexing the Dean property and led a 3-2 vote by the board of mayor and aldermen to deny residents the right to decide at the polls in a referendum. Ironically, the mayor’s brother had purchased the bulk of the land before he died and left it to his wife, who sold it to the Deans.
In February, the mayor disbanded the planning commission and appointed three new members. The two members who were not removed include the mayor. On one other occasion since the annexation issue arose, she also fired certain members and hand-picked replacements. She appointed Sue Dean to the commission, but then removed her too. Skeptics say it was not done to appease opponents, but because Dean could not vote on any questions concerning the annexation of her property. They believe the mayor shopped for members who would support her position and could cast votes leading to the annexation.
Monthly meetings of the town planning commission and the mayor and board of aldermen, which in the past drew only a handful of residents, now are filled to overflowing. Crowds of vocal citizens have attended every meeting in recent months, packing town hall and spilling out onto the sidewalk, demanding to be heard on the issue. The Deans also have attended meetings, accompanied by their attorney.
The question of Bell Buckle’s future remains unresolved while the town remains in turmoil.
“Old Glory gives us a right to vote. We need a referendum,” said Tennessee Poet Laureate Maggie Vaughn, who moved to town 23 years ago. “The young people of Bell Buckle will grow up with a civics lesson they never will forget. The things that matter in life are worth fighting to preserve. That, and a wonderful healthy community, will be our legacy to them.”
I am in love with bungalows. I grew up in one and own one now.
Not surprisingly, I’m also a huge Frank Lloyd Wright fan…and Chicago is one of my favorite spots on the planet.
So I sure do wish I had an extra $750,000 lying around to buy this house that no one else seems to want.
An important new study is getting big press this week. It determined that high levels of an ingredient in rocket fuel are present in American women’s breast milk.
This is alarming and needs to be remedied. It’s not a good thing.
However, what the press fails to make clear enough in the alarmist headlines (”Rocket Fuel Found in Breastmilk! Wean Now!) is that the study found that the SAME CHEMICAL was also found in cow’s milk, the primary ingredient in most infant formula. (The levels were not as high, but the testing on cow’s milk was limited.)
For the record, I’m anti-rocket-fuel-in-any-milk, but the infant formula industry is going to go to town capitalizing on the fear these headlines will create in pregnant and nursing women.
The good folks at WearstheBaby.com have asked me to answer some reader questions…
My new favorite, bad headline of the week.
This morning, my 7 year old, Elliot was going on and on about this coffee shop he wants to open. He was telling me all about the coffee and tea and donuts that would be available at Chez Elliot, and then he says, “But don’t worry Mommy. I’ll have plenty of beer and wine, and maybe some martinis for you there.”
I think my beloved Dell laptop is ready to move on to its eternal reward.
On the suggestion of several folks, and out of curiosity, I am considering getting an Apple laptop this time. I’ve never had an Apple anything except an iPod, which I love.
So I’m looking for feedback on what model I should consider, as well as where to look for the best price on an Apple notebook.
Basically, my laptop is a glorified PDA. I do all my writing on it, which is its primary purpose, but I also store a lot of photos and music on it. I never watch streaming video, so that capability isn’t important, and I don’t do any games or anything like that on it. It needs to be sturdy, extremely portable, and good for working online wirelessly and storing a lot of words, photos and music. That’s it. Not that complex.
So I welcome suggestions on where to shop and what to buy….
I can’t believe Sandra Dee is dead. She’s always been one of my more random pop culture obsessions. Here’s a really cool interview my grandmother did with her for Photoplay magazine in 1960.
As of 12 months ago, I work in TV news as my primary occupation, and coming from a print/online journalism background, it’s been an interesting transition. While I was growing up, my father was a television reporter/anchor and my mother was state capitol bureau chief for United Press International, as well as editor of a daily newspaper. So I’ve been aware of the cultural differences between TV and newspaper newsrooms all my life, but still, it’s been an interesting transition.
But anyway, my mother sent me a link today to this this hilarious article from the Nashville Scene about just how bizarre much of TV news — particularly at the local level — has gotten. It’s a must-read if you have any interest in where the news business is today.
PS: My two fave local (my market - not the station for which I work. Our writing is way better ;-)) TV news lines of the week:
Anchor: “Next, we’ll tell you how Bush’s budget bashes those who need it most.”
Reporter: “There’s nothing worse than a wet basement.” (This was the lead line in a a story on, what else, wet basements. It followed several stories about fatal car accidents and child abuse. Still, this reporter contends there is NOTHING worse than a wet basement.
I just found some pictures from last spring of my daughter Jane’s last horseshow on her pony, Lemon Drop (barn name: “Dickens”).
Jane rode Dickens for almost three years. He took her from the walk-trot division when she was only five years old, all the way through the short stirrup division.
Dickens was the absolute best first pony imaginable. He taught Jane how to switch her leads, jump, and get around a show ring. My son, Elliot, rode Dickens in his first shows when Elliot was only three years old. But Dickens iss elderly (about 17 now), and can’t do the bigger jumps that Jane’s ready for, so now he’s been passed on to another little girl and is teaching her how to ride.
Jane’s working really hard with the new small, green pony we’ve gotten for her to show this season, but he’s a bit of a struggle, making us appreciate good old Dickens all the more.
I think that every pony a child rides along the way teaches her something different. My first pony, Missy, taught me not to take her for granted. If I jerked on her mouth or tried to work her too long or too hard, she would simply dump me off. But if she liked the way I was riding, she’d jump any fence, wade through any creek, and run as fast as I asked her to.
But I digress…
Dickens really did play a big role in turning Jane into the rider she is today, at age 9. I wish we could clone him.
From his op-ed piece in today’s LA Times:
“And what’s so frightening is that we’re seeing the beginnings of the first post-9/11 generation — the kids who first became aware of the news under an “Americans need to watch what they say” administration, the kids who’ve been told that dissent is un-American and therefore justifiably punished by a fine, imprisonment — or the loss of your show on ABC.
President Bush once asked, “Is our children learning?” No — they isn’t. A more appropriate question might be, “Is our teachers teaching?” In four years, you can teach a gorilla sign language. Is it too much to ask that in the same amount of time a kid be taught what those crazy hippies who founded this country had in mind?”
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