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Signal Mountain Happenings

Check back often for all the latest Signal Mountain news between issues of the Mirror.

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David Kling Horses Around With History

8/20/2019

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By George Davenport

Among the distinctive features of our community is a unique carousel in Coolidge Park, resplendent with hand-carved and painted wooden animals. These animals, primarily horses, were carved in the late 1990s in a workshop in St Elmo, Horsing Around. The workshop, established by Bud Ellis, was the only carousel carving school in the country. He was a self-taught carver of wooden horse and wanted to make a lasting imprint on the Chattanooga story. And indeed he did. His dream to revive a 100-year-old carousel came to fruition and this story is wonderfully described in “Carving A Dream, the story of the Chattanooga Carousel.” Written by Mountain Mirror writer Carol Lannon in 2000, the book is available on Amazon. If you are not familiar with this little jewel in Chattanooga’s history, I strongly encourage you to find a copy of the book and read it.

A Signal Mountain resident, Cay Ozburn, together with numerous other residents of the local area and artisans from as far away as Maine, collaborated on the endeavor. One carver, James Bacon from Chattanooga, was a part of Horsing Around from its inception and contributed seven animals to the carousel. A couple from Morrow, Ga., carved five different animals. Their efforts were supplemented with many volunteers who helped create these masterpieces of wood and imagination.

However, this story is about one of the men who worked in the workshop, David Kling, a life-long native of North Chattanooga. He was a fledgling wood carver in 1998 and joined Horsing Around during that formative era. He is an excellent reflection of the people who made the carousel the jewel it is today.

David was born in 1932, attended Normal Park Elementary School, and graduated from Baylor School in 1950. After several years at Tennessee Tech, David joined the U.S. Army, ultimately serving in Austria during the Cold War. His stories of being a military policeman in that era rival the intrigue of “The Third Man,” the exceptional film noire about occupied Vienna that is based on the novel by Graham Greene.

After Austria’s independence was restored, he relocated to Frankfurt, West Germany. His remaining service in Europe was providing security on the German rail system of that era, providing protection for the mail and a variety of other transported goods (including AWOLs being returned to their units). To any student of history, David’s stories are a wonderful study of life in Europe during the mid 1950’s.

After leaving the army, David finished his education at Tennessee Tech as an industrial engineer. He married his wife, Marcia (nee Williams), in 1959, and they raised two children. Last year, Marcia retired from Channel 9 after 51 years of service.

For 15 years, David worked in the iron and steel casting industry at the Ross Mehan Foundry and later at the Phelps Dodge Corporation during the prime of Chattanooga’s manufacturing era. In 1973, he left Phelps Dodge and founded Casting Specialist Inc., which he managed for 25 years. In 1998, David sold his business and retired, and this is where the historic carousel re-enters the story. For a year, he worked on several different horse designs at Horsing Around.

Each animal was assembled from more than half a dozen individually carved sub-structures, which were then combined to complete the finished animal, which was then adorned with saddles, many coats of paint and other appurtenances. The final product was drilled with a hole where a pole was inserted for its riding inclusion on the carousel.

David completed three horses during his time in the workshop, two of them rocking horses. He gave one to his granddaughter; one was on display at Normal Park School for a year and now resides in his basement with the last one. The future of David’s magnificent wooden horses is not clear. After finishing his horses, he was reluctant disfigure them by drilling a large hole in them.
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One thing that is clear is David Kling’s zest for living – it truly belies his age, and he is a joy to be around.


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Siskin StarNight Presents Best-Selling Band Starship

8/19/2019

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by Sonia Young

Siskin Children’s Institute will present the multi-platinum selling band Starship, featuring Mickey Thomas, at StarNight, the much-anticipated annual fundraising gala.

Co-chairs Alnoor and Gina Dhanani of The Double Cola Company invite all to the event on Saturday, August 24, at the Chattanooga Convention Center.

Mickey Thomas has established himself as one of rock music’s most recognizable stars, making his mark in 1976 as lead vocalist with The Elvin Bishop Band. In 1979 he joined Jefferson Starship as lead vocalist, and the group immediately scored a No. 1 hit with “Jane.”  With this new sound and powerful vocals, the group was renamed Starship and continued to record an amazing string of hits, including Oscar nominated No. 1 hit “Nothing Gonna Stop Us Now” from the movie “Mannequin.” From that time on, every Starship album released since 1979 has gone Gold, Platinum or Multi-Platinum. In Addition to Mickey, band members include Jeff Adams, John Roth, Phil Bennett, Darrell Verdusco and Stephanie Bennett.

StarNight guests will enjoy a full night of entertainment, beginning with the cocktail hour featuring local vocalist Robin Grant and rounding out the night with Bizz & Everyday People, a Nashville based group, to keep you dancing at the StarNight After Party.

StarNight 2019 opens with a cocktail reception at 6 p.m., then moves to a formal dinner followed by a concert performance by Starship featuring Mickey Thomas.  The fun continues with the after party music and dancing from Bizz & Everyday People.

Sponsors for this fabulous event include Double Cola Company, Siskin Steel & Supply Company, SecurAmerica, Hamico, Southeastern Salvage, JoAnn Yates, CBL Properties, Athens Distributing, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Sinclair Broadcasting Group and Entercom.

The Siskin Children’s Institute has been serving children with special needs and their families since 1950. For more information visit siskin.org/starnight.
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Davidson Offers Logos Tutoring Program

8/13/2019

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By Ann Henley Perry
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Hunt Davidson was born in Atlanta, but spent most of his childhood in nearby Rome, Ga. However, the four years his family spent as missionaries in Bolivia during his formative years made quite an impression.

“After going to a public high school, I attended Covenant College, where I earned a B.A. in interdisciplinary studies. During that time, I studied abroad at Oxford. That semester re-oriented me from jock to nerd. After graduating from Covenant in 2011, I dabbled in a [master of science] program at Belmont, but dropped out to pursue my [master of teaching degree] at Covenant. After obtaining this degree, I began my teaching career at Chattanooga Christian School, punctuated in the middle with a year [of] grad school at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Md., where I earned a [master of liberal arts] degree.”

When asked how he became interested in teaching, Hunt expounded, “This is a simple and strange story. I never thought of myself as a teacher until I was 22. After a misbegotten grad school attempt in 2012, I had a conversation with Jim Drexler at Covenant. He encouraged me to consider the M.A.T., which I did.  I haven’t looked back since! I credit Dr. Drexler and the MAT program at Covenant for helping me see my calling. “

Chattanooga Christian School was home to Hunt in his first years of teaching. He taught history there for five years, including freshmen and junior courses in economic literacy, civics/government, U.S. history, and his personal favorite, ancient and medieval history.      

When he is not working, Hunt enjoys time with his beautiful family. Hunt met his wife, Tera, during his senior year at Covenant in 2010, which happened to be her junior year in college.

“I joined the running club just to get to know her - I hate running,” Hunt confessed. “We were married in the summer of 2012 and have been in Chattanooga ever since, with the exception of our 14-month adventure in Annapolis, Md., in 2016.”

Tera co-founded and helps run a local house cleaning business called Mountaintop Maids.  They are the parents of two sons, Roman Arthur Davison, almost 3, and Abraham Edward Davidson, 1.

While CCS was a wonderful fit for Hunt, he decided to take a chance on his dream. “In short, Tera and I decided that this was a good time for our family to take a risk: small children, no debt, and a clear and robust vision. So, we are going for it, and if we fail, we’ll be all the better for it. I’d rather be 70 and have taken a risk and failed than regret not taking the risk to begin with because I was a coward,” Hunt said.
With great courage, Hunt is launching the Logos Tutoring Program. Hunt formed a group of eight middle school-aged young men who will join with him to read books and spend time outside together, integrating their hearts, minds, and bodies into a whole along the path towards manhood. He will lead with the dual perspective of a teacher of the humanities and as a father of young sons.  

Hunt’s family has a 70-acre farm where he intends to take the boys to read and share good literature with them while also enjoying nature. During their time on the farm, the boys will build bonfires, scavenge for food, explore, recite poetry, and learn about the earth.

Casting his vision, Hunt contemplated, “I want to create a space for boys to grow together in heart, mind, and body, thus becoming more fully integrated in the path towards manhood. I want to teach them how to ask and pursue the right questions, and how to rest in ambiguity and paradox. I want to stir their vital energy of curiosity, which, if not cultivated mentally and physically, will atrophy. Having taught high school history for four years, I have seen too many boys remain boys during that vital time between 14-18. My heart is to spur my students towards true manhood through reading books and working with our hands together.”

Hunt’s plan is to guide them through a robust curriculum of great books where they can learn the arts of reading, writing, listening, and speaking through communal inquiry into some of the greatest books ever written. Boys will participate in a tutorial during which they meet with Hunt one-on-one once a week for an hour. During this time, they will discuss the student’s essay about a question regarding that week’s reading. The whole group of students will also meet together once a week for an hour or so for a seminar.
Hunt claims, “Students will meet to have a rousing, freewheeling discussion about the book that they have all been reading and writing about on their own.” Books the students may explore include such classics as “Lord of the Flies,” “Treasure Island,” “Hatchet,” “Sherlock Holmes,” “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Catcher in the Rye,” among many others. Hunt’s goal is to combine the seminar and tutorial to create a weekly rhythm for each boy that is both intensely personal and individualized through the one-on-one tutorial and intensely communal through whole-group seminar.    

Hillwood, the name of the family’s land on Lookout Mountain, includes 10 acres of bucolic cleared pasture, a creek, and about 60 acres of woods to explore. Weekly, Hunt and the boys will visit the property at Hillwood (located about 15 minutes south of Covenant College on Highway 157) to learn about the earth, fall in love with nature, and learn lessons out in the wild.
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While eight boys are enrolled now, Hunt has room for four more, with a capacity of 12. If interested, you can call Hunt Davidson at (706) 936-0125 or email him at hunt.davidson@gmail.com. What a tremendous educational gift this will be to our community!

Why Logos?

The guiding principle of the Logos Tutoring Program for Boys is centered within the Greek word Logos. This word has a meaning that grows deeper the more one delves into it. It has been translated as speech, reason, account, counting, ground, plea, proportion, discourse, gathering, ratio, word, plan, principle. The preeminent Greek-English lexicon Liddell-Scott describes it as “that by which the inward thought is expressed; the inward thought itself.” Logos is the Greek word in the Gospel of John that English-speakers translate as “Word,” in reference to Jesus, who is described as the Logos embodied. Logos is the foundational logic behind any good argument. It is the unifying principle that animates and rules the cosmos. It is that by which we live and move and have our being. It is the Tao. It is the divine spark that resides in every human. Logos is before all things and by it all things hold together.

Logos is fundamentally connected to language. The capacity for man to use language is divine. It is of God. In light of that fact, one of the most important elements of the Logos Tutoring Program is engagement in truthful speech - that is, to use our speech, both written and oral, to speak truth in love. To that end, truthful and brave dialogue is perhaps the essentil element of the program.

If one becomes a master of language, and if this mastery submits to love, he becomes competent enough to take on any problem or vocation, strong enough to pick up the heaviest load he can carry and walk forward, brave enough to get kicked in the teeth by the world and stand up again, compassionate enough to lay down his life for his friends.
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For those of you who are familiar with J. R. R. Tolkien’s masterpiece, “The Lord of the Rings,” you can consider the Logos Tutoring Program as a training ground for potential members of the Dunedain.
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Tennessee Department of Transportation to begin Slope Stabilization on U.S. 127 (Signal Mtn. Blvd.) in Hamilton County

8/12/2019

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TDOT contract crews will begin work later this week to stabilize a section of U.S. 127 (Signal Mountain Boulevard) in Hamilton County at log mile 16.1 near the Signal Mountain welcome sign and Shoal Creek Road.

Beginning on Tuesday evening, August 13, 2019 between 8:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. EDT, TDOT maintenance crews will be setting up the work zone between log miles 15.9 and 16.2. During this nighttime work, there will be times that crews will have to temporarily stop all traffic as they set up concrete barrier rails.
Once the work zone is established, crews from GeoStabilization International, LLC (GSI) will start work to make permanent repairs to an area of the roadway that has shown some signs of instability. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the repairs are expected to take approximately eight to ten weeks to complete. During the repairs, the road will be reduced to one lane and traffic will be controlled with a temporary signal.
During the work, loose material will be removed from the area and the slope will be stabilized using soil nailing.  Soil nailing is an on-site soil reinforcement technique where soil nails are placed into the natural ground at relatively close spacing to increase the strength of the soil mass. As the bars are being drilled, grout is inserted into the hole to ensure that the soil nail stays put. A steel reinforced concrete wall will be constructed that encompasses the soil nails to form a retaining structure along with means to drain water from the slope behind the wall. The upper portion of the retaining structure will be backfilled with new material and the roadway will be rebuilt. 

The work will be done using crews from GSI under a statewide on-call maintenance contract for soil nailing and slope stabilization. 

Message boards will be placed at each end of the work zone notifying the public of the one-lane condition.  Those who regularly travel on U.S. 127 should anticipate the extra time it will take to get through the work zone.

From your desktop or mobile device, get the latest construction activity and live streaming SmartWay traffic cameras at www.TNSmartWay.com/Traffic. Travelers can also dial 511 from any land-line or cellular phone for travel information, or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TN511 for statewide travel or Chattanooga area alerts @Chattanooga511 or any of TDOT’s other Twitter pages. As always, drivers are reminded to use all motorist information tools wisely and Know Before You Go! by checking travel conditions before leaving for your destination. Drivers should never tweet, text or talk on a cell phone while behind the wheel.
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In 2016, the Tennessee Department of Transportation lost three workers in the line of duty. All three were struck by passing motorists. Those tragedies bring the total number of TDOT lives lost to 112. We don’t want to lose another member of our TDOT family. We’re asking you to WORK WITH US. To learn more, go to the website at https://www.tn.gov/tdot/work-with-us.
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Support Stellar  SMMHS Band

8/6/2019

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Don’t you just love the stellar Signal Mountain High School Band? The award-winning band is outstanding, but their uniforms aren’t. Over 10 years old, the uniforms have seen better days, and these hardworking band members deserve to look as smashing as their performances are!
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As well, the SMMHS Marching Band needs to raise $110,000 for expenses, not including the new uniforms!
Show your support at two upcoming car washes. Have your car cleaned and shined by this dedicated bunch of students on August 10 and August 17 in the old Taco Bell parking lot.
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