Southern Middle TN Today News with Tom Price 9-19-24

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Daily News from MuleTown to Music City and beyond. Listen to Tom Price read the news of the day from Kennedy Broadcasting, WKOM & WKRM Radio.

WKOM/WKRM Radio
Southern Middle Tennessee Today
News Copy for September 19, 2024

All news stories are aggregated from various sources and modified for time and content. Original sources are cited.
We start with local news…
Tourism Major Economic Engine in Maury (Press Release)
Tourism has once again demonstrated its significant economic impact on the region, according to new data released recently by the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development. The second largest industry in the state continues a steady increase as the latest tourism data for 2023 reveals that visitors to Columbia and Maury County contributed a substantial $136.8 million in direct visitor spending to the local economy, representing a 7.96% increase over the previous year.

This impressive growth is a testament to the area’s thriving tourism industry, which continues to attract visitors from far and wide. Columbia’s diverse offerings, including the historic downtown district & Main Street, the arts district, historic sites, natural attractions, recreation, and vibrant cultural events, have made it a popular destination for travelers.
Visitor spending injects real money into the local economy, supporting small businesses while generating sales and lodging tax revenue. This economic impact is crucial for the overall health and prosperity of Columbia & Maury County. The local tourism industry supported 955 jobs in Columbia & Maury County during 2023, and generated approximately $13.9 million in state and local taxes. Additionally, visitor spending contributed approximately $34.3 million in labor income.
 
"I'm thrilled to see that our community's investment in tourism is paying off,” said Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder. The positive economic impact report highlights the significant contributions of visitors to our local businesses and economy. This data confirms that tourism is a crucial driver of growth and prosperity for our town."
Columbia & Maury County’s strong tourism performance has solidified its position among the top 20 counties as a leading destination in Tennessee. The county maintains its ranking at number 20 in visitor spending among all 95 Tennessee counties, demonstrating its continued success in attracting visitors and driving economic growth.
“Tourism is a vital industry for Columbia, providing jobs, generating tax revenue, and enhancing our quality of life,” said Kellye Murphy, Tourism Director for Visit Columbia. “The continued growth in visitor spending demonstrates the vibrancy of our local businesses and attractions as well as the dedication and effectiveness of our Visit Columbia marketing team to attract visitors and showcase our unique city.”

In looking at the broader economic impact of tourism across the state, Tennessee welcomed 144 million visitors in 2023 which generated an impressive $30.6 billion in direct visitor spending, supporting 191,522 jobs and generating $3.15 billion in state and local tax revenue.
 
The economic impact of visitor spending is a direct benefit to the citizens of Columbia & Maury County because it translates to approximately $352 in tax savings for every household in the county. And the positive impacts of visitor spending extend beyond economic benefits to include the thriving economy of local businesses, the preservation of cultural heritage, and the enrichment of the overall community experience.

WAWA Coming to Columbia (MSM)
Columbia’s Municipal Planning Commission tentatively approved on Sept. 11 plans for a Wawa chain gas station and convenience store at the corner of Napa Valley Way and Nashville Highway, next to the new Village at Carter’s Station residential development.
Megan Salvador, Wawa’s representative, requested that the city grant the store some minor deviations from normal Planned Unit Development (PUD) requirements. The deviations included glazing only 21-29 percent of the storefront, about a third of the legal requirement; having a one-story façade instead of the required two; putting the fuel station in front of the store and moving the building back into the parking lot, reversing the usual Planned Unit Development arrangement; granting wider exits to a larger-than-code parking lot and installing elevated signage.
The Wawa advocates justified these deviations by appealing to the store’s location, between a busy intersection and a new neighborhood, and to Wawa’s branding and visual standards. City planning officials, represented by Principal Planner Austin Brass, were not fully convinced. Brass emphasized respect for the city building codes, which are grounded in the same concerns for the safety and visual appeal to which the Wawa advocates were appealing.
Planning Commission members questioned Brass at length on the specific problems posed by the deviations, and ultimately decided they weren’t serious enough to warrant holding up the project. Mayor Chaz Molder pointed out that almost every approved building project has received a few deviations. He implied that the applicants would have to include an aesthetic landscape buffer between the restaurant and the neighborhood, in order to get approved by City Council.
After an hour and a half of discussion, the Commission voted to approve the Wawa location, with only one dissenting vote. The vote is not a final approval, but it moves the plan along to the City Council docket for approval in October.
Public comment on the proposed store was very favorable. Two native Northeasterners who now live in Columbia spoke of their home-state experiences with Wawa and said the brand would improve Columbia. Kimmy Williams compared Wawa to Twice Daily and Buc-ee’s, but emphasized that it’s much more than a convenience store.
“I drink their coffee every single morning here in Tennessee, because it’s that good,” she said.
Andrew Bannister told the Commission that a Wawa would absorb some of the business traffic from students, Ultium workers and commuters, easing the strain on other convenience stores and restaurants on the Nashville Highway. He also said that the chain’s reputed cleanliness and food quality would improve the area, including the neighborhood within walking distance,

Culleoka Performing Arts Teams Go To Hawaii (MSM)
Culleoka’s EcLipse Show Choir and Blue Knights Drill Team made history this summer with a six-day trip to Hawaii.
In June, the EcLipse Show Choir, led by Kim Sutton, and the Blue Knights Drill Team, directed by Butch Sutton, were selected through auditions to perform at the USS Missouri and Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum in Honolulu. These talented groups have performed across the U.S., including Washington, Pennsylvania, New York and Orlando. Their performances graced the decks of the aircraft carriers USS Intrepid and USS Yorktown while also entertaining leaders from 28 foreign countries at the NATO Parade of Nations in Virginia.
The trip, dubbed the “Paradise Performance Tour”, was a whirlwind of activities for the students. In addition to performing, they enjoyed a Pearl Harbor and city highlights tour, a visit to the Dole Plantation, a hike up Diamond Head, and a Polynesian Cultural Center experience. They also went on a catamaran snorkel cruise, attended a beach BBQ, and took part in a sunset dinner cruise.
After months of preparation, rehearsals and fundraising, the students were greeted at the airport with a traditional flower lei welcome.
Special thanks go to Performing Arts Consultants and Paradise Found Hawaii Tours for organizing the island excursions, as well as coordinating the travel arrangements.
Culleoka Principal Penny Love, the Maury County Board of Education, and Superintendent Lisa Ventura were also instrumental in making the trip happen, approving the plans. A huge thank you is extended to the Culleoka community, including parents, grandparents, family members, friends, teachers and local businesses, for their financial support.
“These spring tours are more than just performance trips. They are transformative, unforgettable and life-changing,” stated Kim and Butch Sutton. “Whether it cultivates a love for travel, entertainment, patriotism or leadership, we are empowering young minds to step into their destiny. The desire, discipline and determination they exhibit will shape their future and the world around them. Observing the impact these trips have had over the past 10-plus years is awe-inspiring and incredibly rewarding as teachers and directors. We are blessed beyond measure.”

Concert Raises Money for Homeless (MSM)
On Thursday, Sept. 5, Makky Kaylor, Brenda Lynn Allen and Jack Plant collaborated with Reverend Jeff Kane to put on a benefit concert for Room at the Inn. The Swanky Southern Nights concert was a success by any standard, taking in $13,000 for Room at the Inn and filling the venue almost to its 500-person capacity.
Room at the Inn has a decades-long history in Middle Tennessee. It was founded by then-priest Father Charlie Strobel, pastor of St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Nashville. Father Strobel allowed people living in the parking lot to sleep inside his parish. When word got around to other Nashville churches, 31 of them signed up within nine months to offer their facilities, and they took turns every week hosting homeless people.
Rev. Kane, the pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church at the time, was a friend of Fr. Strobel and was inspired by his project. In 2015, he said, “I asked God, ‘What do you want to do with me and this church?’… And God said, ‘Walk down 9th Street, see the people in the streets.’ “
Kane followed the command, but when he tried to send the people he met to a homeless shelter, he was chagrined to find that Columbia didn’t have one (and still doesn’t, though plans are being made). Kane couldn’t get other churches to agree to host Columbia’s homeless population, like the churches had in Nashville, so he and his congregants blew up some air mattresses in the Westminster basement and invited people to sleep there.
“We had no strategies and few dollars,” he said, “but we decided to go for it.”
The Westminster location was a stunning success.
“No one ever broke anything, there were no fights,” Kane said proudly. “They were able to get… and continue their jobs, get out of the hot summer – get out of guilt, shame, [and the feeling] that they were losers with nowhere else to go.”
They renovated Westminster’s unused upstairs rooms into pleasant sleeping quarters, intending this as an upgrade from the basement, but word got around to the fire marshal, who closed down the operation at Westminster for having insufficient fire protection systems. Kane wasn’t resentful of the shutdown.
“God came to the rescue, we found some rental units,” he recalled.
In 2019 they moved into the Columbia Inn and stayed there for a few years with the help of Inn manager Paresh Patel.
The Columbia Inn turned out to be transitional too, however. As the cost of boarding rose to $10,000 each month, the hotel’s clientele became more disreputable, and the difficulties of helping childless homeless people became more apparent, Kane and the other organizers decided to focus exclusively on transitioning homeless families into housing and a stable lifestyle.
The Westminster Room at the Inn greeted its first homeless family on Memorial Day weekend in 2016, and they soon noticed the drive and grit of the homeless parents – most of them, nine out of every 10 by Rev. Kane’s estimate, single mothers.
“The most ferocious creature on earth is a single mother with babies. They obeyed the rules, they got jobs, they got working,” he said appreciatively.
Still, having a father figure in the picture, like perhaps 10 percent of Room at the Inn’s client families, always makes a big difference in family outcomes. Kane praised fathers and stepfathers who stayed in the picture.
To prioritize helping families, Room at the Inn bought the Grace House, a former church on Mapleash Avenue in rural northeast Columbia, with the approval and support of its neighbors.
“It’s interesting how God works,” Kane mused. “We began at a church and now we’re back at a church.”
There were plans to have a benefit concert for the new Grace House around Easter, but the Mulehouse’s bankruptcy proceedings canceled that. When Kane told Brenda Lynn Allen, a longtime volunteer for local causes, she and Makky Kaylor decided to organize another benefit show.
Swanky Southern Nights raised money to refurbish the building into a kind of quadruplex, where four families will have private bedrooms and closet space and a larger shared area which includes a kitchen, a laundry room, a living room, and a yard with a playground. The goal is for families to transition into a stable living situation and self-support.
“We try to get them back on their feet… for as long as we need to, within reason,” said Room at the Inn worker Stephanie Hearst. “To get them to where they need to be: on their own, in their own place where they can take care of themselves and their families.”
Room at the Inn tends to board a family for six to eight months before they achieve self-sufficiency.
Constance Grandberry, one of the mothers now being helped, spoke onstage with Jack Plant during Swanky Southern Nights. She and her husband, with their new baby and her older children, have lived at Room at the Inn for several months.
“He made that possible,” she said of Rev. Kane, “for me to complete school comfortably and safely, and for us to have a place to get back on our feet.”
“[Constance] didn’t brag enough,” Kane joked. “She landed with us [while] going to college. And because she had a quiet place she could study, she didn’t have to worry about that 18-month-old baby or those beautiful high-school students. She could study and graduate with honors… and now is taking a course to become an LPN!”
Before the event, Stephanie Adlington and Aaron Lessard entertained guests in the cocktail lounge while Rev. Kane greeted those he knew.
The musical show itself was entertaining and heartfelt. Allen and Kaylor led his band, the Swanky South Players, playing classic country music and jazz with countrypolitan and sacred material. Between songs they bounced off one another in their stage patter and joked with Plant, who respectfully allowed his guests to do most of the speaking. The guest star was Marty Raybon, singer for the country band Shenandoah. Raybon was in fine entertaining form, telling jokes and stories and warming up a slightly stiff and polite audience. For 40-odd minutes he sang some of Shenandoah’s hits and a couple of his favorite hymns and bluegrass songs. Afterwards Allen and Kaylor closed out the evening with a few more songs.
Bethany Torino, director of the FriendFoundation, made the most important point during her time onstage: that the work of helping Maury County’s homeless population is not by any means finished, even if the lives of four families at a time will be greatly improved. Torino was aware of more than 200 homeless individuals in Columbia alone, only a few of whom appear at times on its streets – most live under bridges, in the woods, in abandoned houses, or on the couches of friends and family members.
“The face of homelessness, it’s not what it used to be,” she told the audience. “It’s children, it’s moms, it’s dads, it’s families. It’s not a dependency… The No. 1 cause of homelessness in Maury County is generational poverty.”
Torino’s Friend Foundation, run with her husband Jim, helps them take advantage of government services, freeing up Room at the Inn to focus on families. She thanked the audience one last time for having “a heart for the homeless.”
Kane, along with all the guests and performers, brought the whole event back to his Christian convictions about helping one’s fellow man.
The resulting Room at the Inn is meant not only to house, but to humanize, with church attendance, friendly and charitable interactions, and regular celebrations of the high points of life: graduations, birthdays, holidays.
“What we try to do is a 360 wraparound with shelter, love, Christian spirituality, worship,” Kane smiled.
Onstage and off, he emphasized that Room at the Inn was the work of God.
“We’ve not had to beg the government or be in a desperate situation,” he said proudly. “Thank you and God bless you for this privilege. I’ve never had so much honor and privilege at seeing Jesus in my 47 years!”

Taize Service at St. Peter’s (Press Release)
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Columbia is holding a Taizé prayer service on Sunday, September 29, at 5:00pm in the Sanctuary. St. Peter’s is located at 311 West 7th Street in downtown Columbia, next door to the Polk Home.
This type of service is comprised of meditative worship, periods of silence, and sung prayers by the congregation inside a candlelit sanctuary. The service originates from the Taizé community in France that is home to a brotherhood of Christian monks.
Dr. Peter Douglas, Director of Music at St. Peter’s and organizer of the service, describes it as “a contemplative service in which all are invited to take a purposeful pause in our busy lives to sing together, listen to the Word of God, and experience the power of silence.”
According to the Taizé Community, singing is one of the most essential elements of worship. Short songs, repeated again and again, give it a meditative character. Another key element of a Taizé prayer service is silence. The Taizé Community writes, “When we try to express communion with God in words, our minds quickly come up short. But, in the depths of our being, through the Holy Spirit, Christ is praying far more than we imagine. Remaining in silence in God’s presence, open to the Holy Spirit, is already prayer.”
This service is open to the public.

And now, Your Hometown Memorials, Sponsored by Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home…
Wanda Faye Crowe Nix, 75, lifelong resident of Columbia, died Tuesday, September 17, 2024 at NHC Maury Regional Transitional Care following an extended illness.
Funeral services will be conducted Friday, September 20, 2024 at 3:00 PM at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home. Burial will follow in Polk Memorial Gardens. The family will visit with friends Friday from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM at the funeral home.

And now, news from around the state…
Abolfazli Hopes to Defeat Ogles (Tennessean)
Maryam Abolfazli says she wants to be a voice for the voters who don’t fit neatly into the box of a political party platform. 
A native Nashvillian, with a background in international economic development, she's challenging incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles to represent Tennessee's 5th Congressional District because she wants to offer what she says is a more faithful, honorable representation.
“We have been neglected by everybody — by both sides — for at least 10 years,” Abolfazli said. “What we’re trying to do here is talk to each other, and offer real representation for the first time in a long time — especially in the gerrymandered parts of the district.”
The 5th Congressional District was once a Democratic stronghold encompassing all of Davidson County. But in 2021, Tennessee’s Republican majority in the state legislature split Nashville into three congressional districts — all favoring the GOP.
The new W-shaped 5th District now spans from Lebanon in Wilson County, through southern Davidson County, and south across Williamson, Maury, Marshall, and Lewis counties. It’s a wide mix of urban, suburban, and rural communities and includes some of Nashville’s most diverse neighborhoods.
Abolfazli is seeking to “beat gerrymandering through conversations and through votes.” She’s put 20,000 miles on her car driving to every corner of the district in recent months seeking to connect with voters who feel their voices have been ignored.
Abolfazli was born at what was then-Baptist Hospital two months after her parents emigrated from Iran. 
“I felt very much like a translator of worlds,” she said of her upbringing. “Inside my home was a very powerful Iranian family. Very warm and very family oriented community. And then outside was Nashville in the 80s and 90s.” 
She attended Hume Fogg High School, and graduated in 2000 from Oglethorpe University with a degree in international relations. After graduation, she began a career in economic development. 
“I realized that rights only go as far as you are able to financially support yourself,” she said. 
One of her first career stops was Afghanistan in 2003, working with the United Nations to rebuild the country’s irrigation infrastructure, something she considers “one of the most meaningful years of my life.” 
Abolfazli studied at the London School of Economics and holds a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She’s also worked with the Eurasia Foundation to spur economic development in closed societies in former Soviet states as well as Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq.
Returning to Nashville to raise her son in 2018, Abolfazli became involved in the nonprofit Awake Tennessee, which works on women's and children’s issues, and joined the Metro Human Relations Commission.
She’s part of a family of Nashville leaders – her cousin, Vanderbilt cardiologist Eiman Jahangir, recently went to space. Another cousin, Vanderbilt trauma surgeon Alex Jahangir, helped guide Nashville’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 
Abolfazli is a Democrat, but she said she is running to represent everyone – something she says her opponent is not doing. Her goal is to restore integrity and communication across the district.
In a gerrymandered district, challenging a well-funded incumbent, any Democrat will have a tough time. In 2022, for instance, Ogles won by a 13-point margin, earning 55.8% of the vote to defeat state Sen. Heidi Campbell, D-Nashville.
Abolfazli'smcampaign phonebanks every Thursday evening and knocks doors each Sunday. 
She raised nearly $175,000 in the last quarter, and has about $54,000 on hand ― to Ogles' $296,000 ― according to federal campaign finance disclosures. 
While she knows it's impossible to legislate to every single constituent's preferences, Abolfazli's goal is to listen to as many people as she can, especially people who might disagree with her.
"You're part of the district, so I've got to know what people are thinking," she said. "I'm not going to legislate to everybody ― I can't, that's impossible, and I'm clear about that ― but I need to know what's on the mind of people in this district. So if you've got a concern, I'm not going to be scared to hear that."
Final Story of the Day (Maury County Source)
The Hermitage Hotel, Nashville’s beloved historic icon, has been awarded two MICHELIN Keys by the 2024 MICHELIN Guide, the list of the most memorable hotels throughout the world. These select destinations are recognized for their excellence in design, architecture, service, personality, value for the price, and their significant contribution to the guest experience in their particular setting.
As one of only two Two Key hotels in the state of Tennessee, The Hermitage Hotel epitomizes excellence in all five MICHELIN categories. Every detail at The Hermitage Hotel, from the personally curated art collections that celebrate Nashville’s story to the one-of-a-kind cultural partnerships, to the globally inspired menu showcasing the abundance of Tennessee produce, to the hotel’s deep engagement with the local community, is designed to provide a uniquely Nashville experience, making guests feel connected to the city’s vibrant heritage.
The Hermitage Hotel was built in 1910 and designed by architect J.E.R. Carpenter, a Columbia, Tennessee native, who also designed the Maury County Courthouse.
Learn more at www.thehermitagehotel.com.