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September 30, 2007
Railroad Crossing
Does anyone know why CSX has placed heavy concrete barriers at the Main Street crossing in downtown Portland? In the past, they have resurfaced other crossings, but they have never used concrete barriers. It almost looks like they are planning to permanently close the crossing. Just curious.
Charlie
Posted by admin at 08:20 PM | Comments (21)
September 28, 2007
Smoke Free Tennessee
Monday, October 1, 2007 marks the day when Tennessee's restaurants (and a whole host of other public places) will become smoke free. I applaud Governor Bredesen and the members of the Tennessee Legislature who made Tennessee one of the few states in the nation with such a law. For more information on what places are affected, please visit this web site: http://health.state.tn.us/smokefreetennessee/index.htm
Posted by admin at 01:25 PM | Comments (23)
September 26, 2007
FRONT PAGE - Around the Town Week of September 26th
Post your thoughts about News worthy articles, events, happenings, garage sales,
and general information regarding our town.
Want to talk about something specific, post it here and one of the blog authors will start a topic for you!
Happy Posting - Judy
While we welcome and encourage your thoughts and ideas we must ask that you refrain from the use of profanity and/or personal attacks, these are not acceptable and will be deleted by the administrators of this blog.
Posted by judy at 11:38 AM | Comments (39)
September 24, 2007
Recycling
I just called the Sumner County Resource Authority in Gallatin to find out if there are any places in Sumner County where one can recycle cardboard. There are not.
Considering that:
1) Sumner County is Three-Star certified at Level 3.
2) Sumner County claimed the points for having an active recycling program on the 2007 Three-Star.
3) A rather famous environmentalist lives just south of Sumner County,
I am disappointed.
Charlie
Posted by admin at 01:54 PM | Comments (11)
September 22, 2007
20 Happiness Tips to Remember
The following article was published in Happiness magazine a few years ago. Sometimes, when I have to deal with a particularly unpleasant person, I pull the article out of my desk drawer and reread it.
20 Happiness Tips to Remember
By James Mouzon, Jr.
Hagerstown, Maryland
1. Compliment three people every day.
2. Watch a sunrise at least once a year.
3. Be the first to say, "Hello."
4. Live beneath your means.
5. Treat everyone like you want to be treated.
6. Never give up on anybody. Miracles happen.
7. Forget the Joneses.
8. Never deprive someone of hope. It may be all they have.
9. Pray not for things, but for wisdom and courage.
10. Be tough-minded but tenderhearted.
11. Be kinder than necessary.
12. Don't forget, a person's greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.
13. Keep your promises.
14. Learn to show cheerfulness even when you don't feel like it.
15. Remember that overnight success usually takes about 15 years.
16. Leave everything better than you found it.
17. Remember that winners do what losers don't want to do.
18. When you arrive at your job in the morning, let the first thing you say brighten everyone's day.
19. Don't rain on other people's parades.
20. Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.
Happiness magazine, by the way, is published by Wilks Publications right here in Portland, Tennessee. Thank you, Gilbert.
Charlie
Posted by admin at 06:02 PM | Comments (9)
September 21, 2007
Around Town
Water – The restrictions are still in place and if needed we will have to go to Stage 2, which some communities have already done. We are being subsidized with water from White House, but they can only give so much. Franklin, KY asked if we could help them but we are unable.
Even though the heat wave has broken, we are still in need of rain.
The Proposed Dam – We will have to appeal the issue, which means our chances probably go down. Without some political pressure from higher up the food chain this is going to be difficult. This not only hurts our city but many other communities in northern Sumner County.
The city has put a great deal of time and money in this over the years and based on what they perceive to be environmental concerns, they have denied us.
Somewhere in this process, human life has to out weigh that of impounding a stream.
This drought has proven how great a need we have for another water source.
City Hall – Finance will once again look at this issue this month, but support is waning.
This is not a perfect solution by no means, but based on the amount room we will gain verses the cost causes me to support this.
The Police department needs expansion and this plan will help in that greatly.
The cost of city hall is shared between the enterprise fund and the general fund; due the fact that public works shares the building; this is how the move would be paid for.
Building a new facility on 52W is probably the best, but we are looking at a multi-million dollar project that would probably have to have a revenue stream not presently available to pay for it.
HWY 52 Corridor Project – We have selected a firm to start analyzing and designing our 52 corridor. We feel this is where a lot of the retail growth will take place in the coming years, and we are putting a plan in place now to deal with it. Infrastructure, design standards, building setbacks, and traffic flow are all important areas to consider, and we look forward to this project being completed.
Codes enforcement – There are still several problem areas in town and I admit that, but the codes department has done a great deal in the last year. Some properties seem like a prime target for enforcement, but sometimes there are underlying circumstances.
We are making progress. People say Gallatin and Hendersonville do not have these problems but I say this is false. Most people are just driving through the newest parts of their town. I made an effort to go look at these cities; not just the new retail sections, but the older parts also and I can say with out a doubt that our city is in pretty good shape.
Some problems take several months to solve. Our people start out trying to be helpful and understanding and sometimes we have to go to the court system, and sometimes a place that looks bad may not be violating any codes.
The city is trying, and as our manpower increases we will do a better job.
We have a good city and I for one would not want to live anywhere else. Every town has problems and Portland is not excluded from them, but having people committed to the welfare of our city has made this a good place to be.
Thank you,
Alderman Mike Callis
cityofportlandtn.gov
Posted by Councilman Callis at 10:55 AM
September 20, 2007
1st Amendment
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
So . . . Are we free to say whatever we want, about whoever we want, whenever we want? Or are there limits? At what point does free speech encroach on another person’s rights? When is it slander or libel . . . Or harassment? Just because something is a fact, is everything fair game? Is there a distinction between public officials and private citizens?
To summarize what I am asking : Does the freedom to say what we want leave us free from the consequences of what we say?
It is my hope that we can have an intelligent debate on this issue. However I do not take responsibility for any comments other than my own. All editing and/or deletions will be at the sole discretion of the blog administrator.
Please review blog rules before posting. Questions, concerns or complaints should be directed to cfmyers@mindspring.com
Posted by Michelle Hanners at 10:45 PM | Comments (29)
Around Town Updates
Does anyone have any updates on happenings in our town? Such as, City Hall Moving, haven't heard anything about that lately. When is the open house? etc.
Did the city appeal the dam issue?
Anything else..........
Posted by DebraP at 10:03 AM | Comments (24)
September 19, 2007
Blog
Hello to all of the Portland blog users.
I have been attending a seminar in Longmont, Colorado, for the last week. My goal was to learn about new housing options for seniors and to figure out if we can get some of those options implemented locally. There is a very real need for programs like I saw in Colorado.
It was my hope that the Portland blog would be used to make Portland a better community. When Brian Ruckle suggested that we start the blog a few years ago, I expressed my concerns that Internet discussion boards tending to get negative fast. I had participated in three boards up to that point, and (unfortunately) people spent more time flaming each other than anything else.
Anyway, Brian told me it was important to have a blog in Portland, and we now have one. He also suggested that I do as little censoring as possible.
When I returned from Colorado and read my e-mail, it appears things got out of hand on the blog. I have e-mails from people who want stuff deleted, and I have e-mails from people demanding their rights to be heard.
Per previous discussions, I know you don't want threads deleted. You want them preserved for historical purposes. I am therefore leaving all of the posts for the last few weeks online. However, I turned off the comment flags on all of them, which prevents people from leaving additional comments.
It is time to start some new threads. Anybody in Portland may start a new thread; all they have to do is send me an e-mail, and I will give them a username and password. Personally, I would like to see more threads started on specific subjects. That will help everyone stay focused on that one topic.
Portland has good things, and Portland has bad things, so we'll have a mix of positive and negative on the blog. However, the purpose of the blog is to make Portland a better place by discussing real issues and suggesting real solutions. Please take your time in creating a thread or a comment. It takes a lot of skill and practice to communicate effectively in any group situation. It is especially difficult on the Internet.
Anyway, let's go forward from here and have some good discussions. Thank you.
Posted by admin at 11:08 PM
NOTIFICATION
I have shut down temporarily the last 2 (Around the Town) topics to comments that I have started until Charlie the Administrator of this Blog comes here to review what is going on. (He has been notified) You all can be angry at me if you like, that is fine, I feel things are getting out of control and perhaps a break in the action is warranted. You can also ask Charlie to remove me from being a Blog Author if you want, go for it, I would rather that happen than feel responsibility for the controversy that is taking place on this blog.
Judy
Posted by judy at 10:16 PM | Comments (2)
FRONT PAGE - Around the Town Week of September 19th
Post your thoughts about News worthy articles, events, happenings, garage sales,
and general information regarding our town.
Want to talk about something specific, post it here and one of the blog authors will start a topic for you!
Happy Posting - Judy
While we welcome and encourage your thoughts and ideas we must ask that you refrain from the use of profanity and/or personal attacks, these are not acceptable and will be deleted by the administrators of this blog.
Posted by judy at 07:25 AM | Comments (18)
September 12, 2007
FRONT PAGE - Around the Town Week of September 12th
Post your thoughts about News worthy articles, events, happenings, garage sales,
and general information regarding our town.
Want to talk about something specific, post it here and one of the blog authors will start a topic for you!
Happy Posting - Judy
While we welcome and encourage your thoughts and ideas we must ask that you refrain from the use of profanity and/or personal attacks, these are not acceptable and will be deleted by the administrators of this blog.
Posted by judy at 10:57 AM | Comments (74)
September 08, 2007
FRONT PAGE - Around the Town Week of September 8
As requested, I am starting a new thread for the remainder of the current week in Judy's absence,
Post your thoughts about News worthy articles, events, happenings, garage sales,
and general information regarding our town.
Want to talk about something specific, post it here and one of the blog authors will start a topic for you!
Happy Posting- Michelle Hanners
While we welcome and encourage your thoughts and ideas we must ask that you refrain from the use of profanity and/or personal attacks, these are not acceptable and will be deleted by the administrators of this blog.
Posted by Michelle Hanners at 01:06 PM | Comments (39)
September 07, 2007
I like my church because....
As requested I am starting a topic on churches in and around Portland. Please list why you like your church, is it casual dress, and what does it have to offer the youth and families, etc. I'm sure we have families in this town that are church shopping and looking for a place to call "their church home".
You can list pros and cons but PLEASE stay away from negative comments about religion and politics.
Posted by DebraP at 10:37 AM | Comments (6)
September 04, 2007
Need Help...
I really do appreciate all those who helped make a great benefit auction. From those who donated items and cash, to those who worked and help promote the event.
Friends and family help raise $3000.00 for Melissa.
She has been released from hospital and is resting at home.
Thank you,
pastormike
A local family is in need and could use your help.
Where: TGT Building (TGT Road Portland)
When: Saturday Sept. 22nd
Time: 5:00PM
Melissa Scott was recently stricken with a severe case of pancreatitis, which almost ended her life. She has been in Intensive Care at Vanderbilt for the last few weeks. This beneift auction will help offset some of the tremendous cost of her care.
Melissa is married to Steve and they have an 11 year old daughter. She is still extremly ill and the hospital stay is expected to be very lengthy.
While the family could use some help at this time, they would appreciate your prayers most of all.
Cash donations can be made at the Farmers Bank.
Items for the auction are also welcome.
For More Information Contact:
Sandi Fender 325-2515
Pastor Ken Stephens 325-2990
Pastor Mike Callis 325-4504
Posted by pastormike at 10:08 PM | Comments (2)