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- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 20 May 2007.
Blossoms find no comfort in cold
By: DAVID POPIEL
Source: The Newport Plain Talk
05-20-2007
May's blackberries and honeysuckle blossoms found no comfort from a blanket of cold air casually tossed across our hometown this weekend. Is this the final farewell of foul weather or something else?
The week was quieter than most with the main news being the deaths of long-time friends and citizens of the community. So, I'll tell you of a few things seen and heard traveling about the highways.
It was Thursday morning early when I glanced over to the Tenn. Highway Patrol "shack" next to the state garage. A black bird standing on the stoop repeatedly hurled itself against the door and window. Later, when I bumped into Trooper Mike Holt, who was on vacation, and mentioned this, he said it happens because the crows see their reflection. I thought they were jumping up to look Trooper Randy Hartsell in the eye.
You may have heard about some deaths that did not appear in our obituaries in recent days. A woman contacted us to check into the death of a Hispanic man. So, I wandered down to the courthouse and found Detective Bryan Murr lecturing folks. He moved to his picnic table desk at the courthouse lawn and chatted with me. The Mexican citizen was found dead in the back seat of his car. Bryan said that there was no foul play because the man was a diabetic and frequently sought medical help but disregarded doctor's orders and, so, died. He also told me of an oriental woman who was killed as a result of a traffic accident on I-40 several weeks ago. Apparently she was passing through to North Carolina and unknown to local folks.
Accidents happen. When I pulled out of the Valero station last week, I saw an older man chasing a shopping cart down hill from White's Foods. He did catch it and must have been concerned that the buggy would end up on West Broadway. And then there was the shiny penny lying in front of the ice machine at the Valero station. I didn't pick it up-you know what they say about picking up a head's down penny. Several hours later it disappeared. Store owner Rick Hansel said a head's up penny wouldn't have lingered. "What are the gas prices doing?" I wandered out loud to him. He has noticed an increase in lottery ticket sales and paid out $1,100 last Monday. At the current rate you will have to be a Power Ball winner to buy gasoline.
When I heard Bob Seay was serving his famous barbecue and trimmings at Bush Brothers last Tuesday, I decided this was the news assignment for me. Glenn Ray, a talented engineer and leader with Lockwood Greene, invited me to a celebration of 400,000 hours worked without a lost-time accident. By the way, Bob said he served about 300 people on Mother's Day. His barbecue pork is awesome. Anyway, I also got a chance to talk to an old friend, Steve Harrison, who is vice president and director of government and regulatory affairs. He is a Cocke Countian from Cosby-the family was raised just across the highway from Kyle Carvers Orchards. You know his sister, Wilma Williams, retired Cosby postmaster. It runs in the family, as their mother, Glennie McMahan Harrison, was Cosby postmaster for years-that's probably when stamps were a penny. (The other day at the Newport post office a customer was surprised that postage had gone up last Monday to 41 cents. He didn't even know it used to be 39 cents.) Steve's father was French Harrison, who operated a nursery selling shrubs and small trees to landscapers. I'm supposing this was before Kyle and Marjorie Carver started the orchard. Vic Valentine was already in the nursery business further south off Cosby Highway. Steve got a good education and was smart enough to marry Peggy Ford, who is a sister to Dan and Jerry Ford. Before Steve joined Bush Brothers, he taught at the old high school and recalled that Betty Ann Bullard was one of his science class students.
You older readers will recall Steve's grandparents: A.J. McMahan and John Harrison. A.J. McMahan was a school superintendent. Harrison farmed the land on which his son, French, started his nursery business. Steve and Peggy have three daughters: Stephanie, Glennie, and Rebecca, all of whom live outside of Tenn. There are six grandchildren. When National Bank opened in 1957, Peggy worked for a time with Tom Mooty's Mom, Josephine, at the new bank. I was surprised to learn that Steve is 67-the years at Bush Brothers have been good to him. The 42 years have been" fun" and a challenge from Chestnut Hill to Knoxville's corporate office now. He noted that in 2008, Bush Brothers would celebrate its 100th anniversary, and I hope we are there to celebrate with the bean wizards. Several of our friends passed quietly away last week and it was an extreme pleasure to me to have known Gene Rice from Stokely Brothers, Ed Turner, and Woodrow Allen-ambulance worker, among them. The last day of the week-an unusal one because we had several death notices placed by individuals at our office, rather than receiving them through the normal funeral home channels-Brown, Costner-Maloy, and Manes-a notice was brought in by Deanie Williamson for her daughter, Whitney Haworth, who had lost twins about May 9. The babies were one and three days old. They were premature.
In plain talk, we shouldn't weep for these good souls because they lived full lives among loving families. And don't babies become angels?
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