June 14, 2012, The Spring Hill Informer

Dr. Joe Doctora. What a great name for a doctor. He's an OMS specialist here in Spring Hill. Meaning he specializes in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. You will know exactly what that means if you ever need the treatment. +++      In the writing songs business, short titles are preferred over long ones. That maxim holds true in general, such as in annual event titles. Still, I really like this one: "The Heart of Downtown Spring Hill Antiques & Crafts Festival." The theme name has an artiness of its own. That event was held April 21-22 on School Street. In case you missed it, look for it again next year around the same date. +++      Chicago born Dave Bielawski took on the role as Narrator for Dianne Collins' 2012 production of Scathe. At age 79, his acting chops go way back. He was the "suave movie star" in Jean Kerr's Mary, Mary in shows held January 28-29, 1966, at China Lake, Calif., by the China Lake Players at the Naval Ordance Test Station (NOTS). Bielawski, now a Franklin resident, also appeared on stage there in productions by the Community Light Opera Theatre Association (CLOTA). An actor and sometimes director for CLOTA was Ed Romero, brother of Hollywood movie star Cesar Romero. +++      Billy Direct became the official 1:55 world record holder in the pacing mile in 1938. Dan Patch, the most famous pacer of the day, had run the same time in 1906 but the record was not allowed because of the use of a prompter. The record was not broken until 1960 when Adios Butler turned in a 1:54:3. Billy Direct was sired by Napoleon Direct at the Old Tolley Farm in Spring Hill, a location that later became Haynes Haven.      Several champion horses were sired at Haynes Haven. Some are buried on the property with their own headstones. Many of the roads on what is now General Motors property reflects the history of the place: Brown Hal Street, Hal Pointer Street, Little Brown Jug Trail, Billy Direct Street, Walter Direct Street, Haynes Peacock Lange, CeeLite [the horse's name was actually Cee Light) Road, Greater Glory Road, Tom Hal Street, Napoleon Direct Road, and Walking Horse Street. That is some real horsepower.      Haynes Haven Farm, by the way, has an airport. Sometime after 1967 when Jesse and Anne Dale Stallings bought the place, Jesse, one of the founders of Capitol Airways in 1946, had a landing strip built south of the house.      Some of the above information I gleaned from Coleen Farrell's article "Horses Once Reigned Where Horsepower Now Rules," in the current (June 2012) print issue of Historic Maury. +++      Spring Hill's Rawley Bishop has not yet received the call-up to the parent Detroit Tigers but he was promoted to the club's top farm team, the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens, meaning he is just a heartbeat away from making the big club. The big first baseman was at Double-A Erie. A record setting slugger while playing college baseball at MTSU, he appears on pace to join the Tigers soon. Toledo has current players Fu-te Ni, and Chris Bookcheck. Its most famous alumni though was the legendary Jim Thorpe.