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City offers storm damage debris pick-up

May 4, 2008 |

Across the southern half of Montgomery County, the sounds of chain saws, raking, and the groans of aching backs has been the music of the day as residents clean up and clear out debris left behind by the four twisters that touched down shortly after midnight Friday.

Curbside piles of brush, branches, and chunks of chain-sawed trees are piling up with each passing hour.

In an effort to assist residents with the clean-up efforts, the City of Clarksville will pick up yard debris from the recent storms beginning Monday, May 5th. Citizens are asked to put the items that they would like to have picked-up close to the road.

If you have yard debris that you would like to have picked up, or for further information, please call the Clarksville Street Department at 645-7464.

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Weapons of war in the hands of children

By Christine Anne Piesyk | May 4, 2008 |

What were they thinking?

As I browsed the 1000+ photos taken by Clarksville Online photographer Bill Larson at Rivers and Spires 2008, I was impressed with the event and the attendance, weather notwithstanding. Still recovering from an illness, I was unable to attend such a big event, but my eyes scanned the images — just about all of them — one by one. In the interests of fair coverage, I included several shots I personally found to be repugnant . (The children are cute; it’s the context that’s debatable).

Despite my opposition to the Iraq war and my personal distaste for the Bush administration tactics and policies, I have every respect for our military, who are doing what they promised with less than optimal help from our Washington bureaucrats. Our soldiers are the front lines; we wish them no harm and want them back, whole in body and spirit.

At Rivers and Spires, our troops were amply and ably represented. But it was “too much information” for some of us. I scanned a photo of sandbags, a high powered weapon of some sort (machine gun), and a young child taking aim at the crowd with parent and siblings watching. My stomach turned. Technically it was a great shot. But do we really need to be placing our children’s hands on the trigger of such a gun? Another shot, well angled, beautifully lit, shows a small child perched on a tank with the gun barrel from the turret over her shoulder. I flinched, again. Stomach lurched. I didn’t have any Pepto Bismol handy. Darn! «Read the rest of this article»

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The Day After: Resilient residents on the road to recovery after midnight tornadoes

By Christine Anne Piesyk | May 3, 2008 |

• Red Cross scrambles to aid storm victims
• Palmyra families “lucky to be alive”
• Tornado shreds Fairgrounds Pavilion
• Massive clean-up underway across southern Montgomery County

The day after a night of storms dawned with many families still without power and emergency response teams pouring into Montgomery County to undertake the task of restoring power, removing downed trees from power lines and roadways, and setting the process of recovery in place. Weather officials estimate that four F-1 tornadoes touched down across the county, three hitting the Palmyra area. The fourth hit Clarksville. F-1s have winds ranging from 86-110 miles per hour.

No place was the pressure felt more than at the Clarksville-Montgomery County Chapter of the American Red Cross, which just two weeks ago sustained a disaster of their own when an arsonist torched the agency’s Emergency Response Vehicle [ERV] filled with disaster response equipment. Faced with the devastation of a tornado, its victims, and a horde of emergency responders to assist, Red Cross volunteers rallied, utilizing many of their own resources in the first hours after the disaster. «Read the rest of this article»

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Tornado strikes South Clarksville; fairgrounds pavilion demolished

By Christine Anne Piesyk | May 3, 2008 |

Power outages, downed power lines, extensive debris, property damage

In the dark of night, lit only by shards of lightning, families in the High Street area surveyed the damage from what at this writing appeared to be a tornado strike just missing downtown Clarksville. Several homes were damaged by trees; power lines, downed signs, blown transformers littered the landscape. Widespread power outages were noted throughout south Clarksville. Initial reports from police and fire crews indicate that at least one twister may have touched down. No injuries were reported at this time.

Along Highway 13/48, the fairgrounds pavilion was demolished and its debris effectively relocated across the street by Mother Nature. At Gary Matthews, transformer poles and power lines were blown down and draped over brand new 2008 SUVs. Police cordoned off the road to all but emergency vehicles as they worked close to the fairgrounds section. Red and blue flashing lights brightened the night sky across the area. «Read the rest of this article»

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APSU honors “Distinguished Teacher”

May 2, 2008 |

During a luncheon prior to Commencement today, the Austin Peay State University Distinguished High School Teacher Award was presented to a Stewart County High School teacher with a reputation for “going the extra mile for her kids.”

The Distinguished High School Teacher Award, given annually, recognizes a high school classroom teacher who had a significant impact on the success of a graduating APSU student. This year’s recipient, Cheryl W. Wooten, R.N., (L) was nominated by her former student, Sara Sexton, Dover, who received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing during today’s Commencement—thanks to the influence of Wooten. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Education, News | 3 Comments

City fields 14 ‘representatives’ to Vegas for shopping center convention

By Christine Anne Piesyk | May 1, 2008 |

Clarksvegas. Clarksville to Vegas. Fourteen people traveling on the city’s dime. Make that dollars. Just how many people does it take to represent Clarksville as Tennessee’s Top Spot? And whose money is it anyway? Oh yes, taxpayer money.

A 14-member city delegation headed by Mayor Johny Piper is heading to Las Vegas May 18-21 to represent the city at RECon, a real estate trade fair (read “convention”) sponsored by the International Council of Shopping Centers that attracts an estimated 50,000 visitors each year. According to the RECon website, the convention “has been renamed and branded as ReCon, emphasizing the R-E-tail, R-eal E-state, Con-gress, Con-vention, Con-ference, aspects of the program.”

The last convention attended by Clarksville officials was in Atlanta, Georgia, which saw the Clarksville delegation ill-prepared (or rather, not prepared at all) to professionally market itself. Things have changed, have run the gamut from no kill to overkill. «Read the rest of this article»

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Artists, photographers showcased in DAC First Thursday Artwalk

May 1, 2008 |

Downtown Clarksville will be overflowing with artistic activity on May 1st for the First Thursday Artwalk. The Downtown Artists Co-Op will kick off the festivities with a reception for Claudia Balthrop’s one person show in the DAC gallery at 96 Franklin St. from 5-8 p.m today. It is free and open to the public. The show will run through May 28th with Claudia presenting her Gallery Talk to the public from 6-8 p.m. on May 15th.

Carlton by Claudia Balthrop

Claudia is an amazing water colorist with local, regional and national recognition. She has a degree in Art Education and taught art in public schools for 18 years. She continued her art education with post graduate work at the University of Tenn; Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts; Savanna College of Art and Design; and numerous workshops by well-known artists. She was vice president of the board of directors of the Oak Ridge Museum of Art, served as chairperson for education and as a jurist for numerous art shows. «Read the rest of this article»

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Community School for the Arts offers youth concerts and recitals

By Christine Anne Piesyk | May 1, 2008 |

The Community School of the Arts at Austin Peay State University will present a day of recitals and concerts involving local youth on Saturday, May 3 in the Music/Mass Communication Building Concert Hall. The student recitals will showcase violinists, pianists, guitarists and other instrumentalists and vocalists of all ages. The recitals are free and open to the public.

The first performance will begin at 9 a.m. and will feature violinists and pianists from the studios of Elizabeth Langford and Carolyn Bunger.

Pianists under the direction of Sylvia Carver will perform at 10:30 a.m. Saxophone and piano students of Chris Gee, Simone Rothemel and Jared Wilson will perform at noon. Seth Gangwer and Phoebe Gelzer-Govatos’s violin students will perform at 1:30 p.m. Piano, cello and guitar students of Stacie Robbins, Ron de la Vega and Jerald Sparks will perform at 3 p.m. Students of Ryan Seay, Mingzhe Wang and Nora Lewis will perform at 4:30 p.m. «Read the rest of this article»

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