YES, I AM STILL HERE looking out my window on Main Street, and I am thinking today of the huge challenges our town’s elected mayors have had to face on our behalf.
These are the biggest crises that I recall:
Mayor Bill Holliday got a letter from the Arkansas environmental department saying that Nashville would be punished PLUS he and all aldermen would be fined daily if the city did not do something about waste management. It was the start of the district sanitary landfill serving nine counties. It is located north of town in an old rock quarry.
Mayor Joe Ball was summoned to Dallas for an irate dressdown from the U.S. environmental department because of the town’s inadequate sewage treatment. The town was facing loss of any grant funds and would be fined daily. He got us out of that.
Mayor Bo Castleberry shivvered through the great ice storm of 2000 (or was it 2001) when almost everyone in our area lost electricity for weeks. The cleanup and recovery lasted for several months afterward, he recalls.
Mayor Mike Reese tried to keep the civil peace during times of racial upheaval in the town. He did it with a pure heart, and today our town has pretty good racial relations (always can be improved).
Mayor Billy Ray Jones kept things moving after the great flood of 2019 when brown waters from Mine Creek forced their way through the district courtroom and police station, and swept away vehicles of several firemen who were out trying to keep others safe.
Mayor Larry Dunaway, seven months in office, was hit the loss of one of the town’s biggest employers and its affect upon associated satellite industries, schools and the local economy. It may be the most severe challenge of all.
It’s still a mystery how this thing will work out but you can count on one thing: Like the mayors of past crises, we’ll have someone trying his best to lead us to calmer times.
Im sure that mayors before Mayor Holliday had their own crises, but these are the ones I’ve covered for the newspaper. There were other crises in these listed mayoral times, I’m sure, but these are the ones that stand out for me.
While I’m at it, let me pat the backs of the men and women who served on the city council and the chamber of commerce during those times. They all helped.
It really does take a village.
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THE GOOD EARTH. I am pleading with the powers-that-be at the Farmers’s Market in Nashville: PLEASE put up traffic arrows going into and out of the market. I go every week and practically every week someone has blocked the road so they can dash in and make a quick purchase. Of course they run into friends and relatives, and have a 45-minute conversation before remembering they’ve blocked the U-shaped single lane road around the market.
When I am blocked in for those 45 minutes I have no choice but to go ahead and eat the pound cake or fried pies I purchased while my own buggy was parked off the road so as to allow other vehicles to pass.
Get the message?
I intend to ask the mayor to extend my powers as Downtown J-Turn Enforcement Officer to include traffic control at the Farmers’ Market.
It only makes sense to me that the unruly customers and vendors at the market would behave themselves much, much better if an armed, duly authorized and uniformed officer was present. Hint, hint, hint, wink for the mayor.
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BETTER START LIVING RIGHT.
In mid-July scientists noticed an asteroid LEAVING near-Earth area. It was the size of a 20-story building, and it passed 1/4th of the distance between Earth and the Moon.
The scientists only noticed it two days after its passage.
Two whole days.
Skywatchers and perfessers are getting pretty good at noticing big things that fly dangerously close to Earth. They are on the lookout 24-7 and they have some mighty strong telescopes.
But they obviously aren’t perfect.
If this asteroid had hit Earth it would mean the end of humanity and the cancellation of the Little League World Series.
MORE SKY STUFF. Astronomers have noticed a Jupiter-sized (real big) planet being formed in another solar system. All we have to do is to wait around for another 45-50 billion years to see the formation completed.
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THINGS I LEARNED by opening another email: “A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you’re in deep water.”
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WORD GAMES. The Preacher twins: Hellfire and Brimstone. You’d better not nod off during the sermon.
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HE SAID: “Gardens are not made by singing ‘Oh, how beautiful,’ and sitting in the shade.” Rudyard Kipling, English poet and storyteller
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SHE SAID: “Girls are the future mothers of our society, and it is important that we focus on their well-being.” Miriam Makeba, South African singer and songwriter
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SWEET DREAMS, Baby
