March 8, 2012, Spring Hill Informer

A coupla years back, the state changed, at considerable cost, some highway signs at the 840 interchange, ones that did not reflect the actual name "Thompson's Station." Note the apostrophe. It was a totally unnecessary mistake to begin with. Somewhere there is an old adage about signmakers being poor spellers and inept followers of proper grammar in general, a slight slam on craftsmen being just that and not educators. Always doublecheck the signmakers.
Somewhere along the way, city officials must have determined that their city, with the apostrophe, was the proper spelling. That is good. Make it official. Many cities, however, with a similar name form have chosen to drop the apostrophe and some have not only done that but combined the words. "Bakersfield," for example, the city in central California, was originally "Baker's Field."
Amazing to me is how many people in Spring Hill spell the name as one word, "Springhill." The fact that we have a "Springhill Village Apartments" perhaps adds to that confusion. Thompson's Station has a "Thompson Station Baptist Church." Oh, well, I guess it cannot be expected that everyone will eventually get the same memo on the subject, and there is always more important things to dwell on. I imagine that is the main topic in that Baptist church.
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"You Are So Spring Hill If..."
Complete that incomplete sentence for us at The Informer and send it in. If we get enough of them they could see print.
Here are a couple of examples:
...your church used to be your hardware store.
...your church used to be your grocery store.
...you thought a Saturn plant was a flower.
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On a recent beautiful Sunday afternoon, I made a visit to the Rippavilla Plantation gift shop.
Actually, I was just driving around and saw some parked cars in back. Curious as to whether the gift shop was open on a Sunday at the top of the day, and if that was the reason for the cars, I parked and ventured forth. It was open, with visitors inside. I enjoyed looking around. It is a pleasant and interesting gift shop, with sale items including paintings, books, postcards, stationary, most all of which, of course, pertain to persons, events or incidents relating to the grounds.
Exiting, I saw a woman making some brush strokes on canvas. Plein art, I told myself. I politely interrupted at an opportune moment and introduced myself. She in turn informed me she was Susan E. Jones. She was painting the barn scene in front of her. She has a table with some of her art work for sale in the gift shop.
An interesting woman, she informed me she was a member of The Chesnut Group ("Plein Air Painters For the Land") and a current project involved raising money for the Duck River watershed program. More on that later.
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Count for the annual Dr. Seuss birthday blowout at the Spring Hill Public Library held March 2: 601
Most of that total was made up of kids. Surprise, huh?
For the first time, the entire library was turned into Seussville for the event. Previous attempts to confine it to one large room did not serve well, a library worker said.

February 23, 2012, Spring Hill Informer

The most stolen magazine in the Spring Hill Public Library: Consumer Reports.
Running a close second is People.
"People who like people..."
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Much missed by some is the now-defunct Mule du Gras once held annually in Columbia. Organized in 2000, Mule du Gras was a celebration of the mule in Mardi Gras fashion. At first a private event, it "kicked off" January 24, 2004, for the public with a parade, tossing of the beads, and food and music on the square. Funds taken in from the celebration supported local charities. The event eventually moved to May, after Mule Day, and ceased a few years later due to a lack of help in staging the show. The last Mule du Gras Queen was Spring Hill's Rachael Ethridge, later honored as the 2009 Mule Day Queen.
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Bob Stahl once worked at the Saturn plant in Spring Hill. Later on as a car salesman in Nashville in 2004, he adopted a motto to help attract future customers: "I Built Them... Now I Sell Them."
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It’s a ways off but I’ve already marked July 14 on my calendar to see bluegrass music legend Ralph Stanley and The Clinch Mountain Boys in Leiper’s Fork for the annual Lawnchair Theatre presentation of “Gospel in the Fork." A chance to hear “White Oak on the Hill” and “A Robin Built a Nest on Daddy’s Grave” is more than worth the effort to motor the 20 miles or so of scenic road to da Fork.
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How about those bluegrass dandies Simon Slick and the Grasskickers? Columbia-based, some in the group frequent the “Pickin’ at the Winchester” bi-weekly jams held every two weeks at the Winchester Community Center basement in Spring Hill… Bruce Peden, Phain Smith, Randy Drane, Eric Ivey and Tom Winters. The group entertains Thursday, March 29, beginning at 7 p.m. at Columbia High School as part of Mule Day activities.
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The Informer is fortunate to have regional columnists who faithfully and interestingly keep tabs on goings-on in their neck of the woods. I like to read them though I am not always familiar with the people or content. I attended a fish fry in Flat Creek a couple of years back after reading about it prior to the event in the "Bethesda News" column written by Joyce Smith. I thoroughly enjoyed the dinner and the people I met that day. History capsules they all are for future generations to find and sort for books, family histories, and all sorts of uses.
In addition to Smith's column, we have "Theta - From the Top of the Hill" (Mary Adkins), "Thompson's Station Signal" (Kaye Gibbs) and "Happenings in Hampshire" (Laura Hayes). There was a "Culleoka Courier" by Sherry Creps, but she was a GM employee who shipped out to a distant clime. Previous to Creps, Jeanette Richardson tapped the Culleoka community for news of note. Neapolis once had a correspondent. There's always room for more. Might we end up with a return of the vacated outposts, and some new ones? Perhaps "Berea Briefs"? Southall Slants"? Flat Creek Friends"? Enterprise Entries"?
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If Thompson's Station gets the distillery now being discussed as a future business, then the town will suddenly have a rich liquor history. That's because the new distillery, if it becomes a reality, will be near another business coming to Thompson's Station. Mars Petcare. That company started out as a distillery on the Kansas-Missouri border many moons ago. The Old Rock Distillery was located about three blocks from my birth home. As a youth I remember neighborhood dogs becoming drunk after drinking from the stream behind the distillery. A member of the Doane family was an owner. People discovered that some of the "mash" left behind in the process of making whiskey was good stuff to serve to their dogs. Doane decided later on to shelf the whiskey concept and start making dog food.

February 9, 2012, Spring Hill Informer

It takes a lot of work from The Friends of the Spring Hill Library in setting up and having a book sale to raise money to benefit the much-visited facility. In turn, it takes a lot of participation support from the public. Participate they did at the Saturday, January 28, sale. Total number of patrons who showed: 986. A nice feature offered was the free Bibles.
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In a recent article written by an Informer scribe, Michael Dinwiddie, our mayor, said he was not embarrassed by the “Festival Tennessee incident. "
He’s the only one.
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My bank in Spring Hill has several branches in the Mid-State. On a visit to one those in Franklin I noticed a sign posted on a wall stating that wearing sunglasses inside the bank was not allowed. My bank here has no such posting. I can only guess that Spring Hill is considered too small-town to warrant such an admonition. Maybe when we get real big and all grown up and nobody knows anybody we will get such a sign.
How many recall, or ever noticed, the door frame height markers banks and fast food places near interstates once used for security? It was after the fact security at that since the robbery height markers were in place to help law enforcement in identifying the criminals who tapped the till. The idea is likely a thing of the past what with all the advanced electronic surveillance now available.
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Barber shop poles are nearly a thing of the past. Rotating ones, those that are still operational, are even rarer. Dianne Colley, owner and operator of ABC Barber Shop on Main, said hers was not working when she took over the shop eight years ago. It's a nice add to the old-time city atmosphere fast disappearing. And what does the "ABC" stand for? "Audrey is my first name, Billy is my husband, and Colley, my last name."
See how The Informer keeps you informed?
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Did you know Middle Tennessee Paintball has been going great guns for several years now in Spring Hill? Not far off is the Winter Thaw Big Game event slated for March 24. Don't hesitate, however, if you want to be part of the action. Dates fill up fast for the entire year. It's a popular activity for companies such as Nissan who form teams and compete against other companies, and church groups, too.
Just .com their middletennesseepaintball website for all the details.

January 26, 2012, Spring Hill Informer

A Great Blue Heron is a frequent visitor to the creek behind my house in the Ridgeport subdivision. It moves slowly and cautiously, tilting its "S' shaped neck looking for amphibians and small critters to consume. It looks prehistoric taking off in flight, with its six-foot wingspan, long body and long beak. A year round resident, the Great Blue is often mistaken for a crane. The home for this one is inside the Wakefield subdivision next door where, about a hundred yards or so directly behind the new Church of Latter Day Saints located on Duplex Rd. and Commwealth Dr., a pond partially surrounded by a wooded area provides santucary. That pond is still undisturbed even after all the nearby development.
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Songwritin' buddy Jeff Carpenter is now a Spring Hill resident. Not that he lived that far removed beforehand, out near the Bethel community where his pals the husband and wife team known as Joey + Rory still call home. Jeff is a talented singer/songwriter originally from Arkansas. He has performed as a self-contained act (solo) regularly for the past two and half years at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge's airport location. Check Gary's Place to find when he plays next at that venue. You can sample his work on the 'net at ReverbNation. His "In the Mud" and "Trailer Park Queen" are country music gems.
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Food Lion employees and fans breathed a sigh of relief recently when the parent company trimmed its roster of underperforming stores and the Spring Hill location was not one of those lopped. I am a Food Lion fan and would have hated to see it disappear since it was one of the few places available to stock up on some grub when I first arrived in our fair city. It has historical significance from my point of view. I have been especially displeased over the years by journalists at The Tennessean who, when writing about the grocery shopping experience, refer to the activity as "Krogering," thus turning a brand name into the generic, as if Food Lion, Publix, Harris Teeter, Foodland, and other grocery stores did not exist.
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Thompson's Station held a slogan contest (see "Sprung" December 1, 2011) and in so doing found a winner. The brand it chose to single out its city: "Welcome Home."
What? I didn't say anything.

January 12, 2012, Spring Hill Informer

Art is where you find it.
Where you found it last month was hanging on the walls of the Spring Hill library from the hands of ink artist Bob Jones, who was profiled in the last issue of the Informer.
More on Jones. He was born in Old Hickory and has lived in Spring Hill for "about the last 12 years."
He was drawn to the area for the same reasons many of us uprooted for hereabouts. Back when the city had either none or one of most things bigger cities had.
"I never thought it would get this big," he said.
As an artist he started early.
"My dad said I started drawing at age four. We went to a carnival and when I got home I tried to draw the merry-go-round."
The art school in Nashville he attended for four years did not do him much good right off.
"My four years of art college didn't help me much right away. I got drafted. I think I drew every guy's girlfriend in the company."
As for tips to those aspiring to enter the pen and ink drawing field, Jones says, "You'll make mistakes. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Work at it regularly."
Jones does a pencil drawing first and then inks over that. "I like that the pencil adds a softer tone with the ink."
Where does he start first with his faces?
"I start with the nose. If you can get the nose drawn right, you're pretty much on your way."
Jones, in his 70s, is at work on the second floor of the Leiper's Fork Gallery Wednesday through Sunday of each week. He is busy mostly with commissioned pieces."I invite anyone to drop in anytime and say hello," he said.
"I don't have time for a lot of the fun stuff I like to do. I do skip around on some of projects to keep from getting burned out. I'll work on one for a few hours and then go to another."
It is a difficult medium to master, Jones said. He pointed out a drawing of a jazz musician where the guitar detail alone took two weeks to finish.
"I've worked two weeks or more on some drawings and ended up tossing them. My wife got on to me for that."
He said he plans to finish some commissioned work and then devote more time to another love, painting in oils. A favorite in that mold is Andrew Wyeth, primarily a realist painter.
Too busy over the years to teach art, Jones, said he is trying to plan out a schedule whereby he can conduct art classes some time next summer.
+++ Motoring down Maury Hill Street on the way to the city park, off to the right at its 518 address, sits the 150-year-old-plus St. Mark United Primitive Baptist Church. It is amazing it still is united after all this time. It did get a new roof nearly four years ago. Other work to keep it upright and presentable still needs to happen. A new paint job is the least of its needs. The church is on the National Register of Historic Places. Anyone interested in helping with its preservation can send a check to the church's Building Fund, P.O. Box 147, Spring Hill 37174.
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Talk about your legendary music types. Not only does one brother half, Don, of the Everly Brothers live in Columbia, Gram Parsons also has a connection to that city. Gram was born Ingram Cecil Connor III in Waycross, Ga., on November 5, 1946. His father, Cecil "Coon Dog" Connor Jr., was from a wealthy family in Columbia. Gram attended Harvard briefly and became involved in Boston with the folk music scene where he helped form the International Submarine Band in 1966. The next year he relocated in Los Angeles. After his pioneering days with the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers, he had just two albums under his own name. He died at age 26 in 1973.
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It must have seemed a good idea at the time. It is even a better idea today. A decade ago, plus or minus a year or two, Spring Hill had a business consisting of a miniature golf course, enclosed baseball pitching machines, and a building to serve refreshments. It was on Ferguson Rd., the last street to the right off Duplex Rd. going south and approaching the I-65 overpass. Parts of the complex are still visible. The street is now one-way toward Duplex Rd. to accommodate school buses leaving the Chapman's Retreat school.
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With the passing of Bill Hall at age 65 on December 23, I anticipated seeing the word "beloved" in his obituary. I wasn't disappointed.
In contemporary times, Hall was likely Spring Hill's best known personality. He grew up here and in addition to his several years as the weatherman for Channel 4 in Nashville, he hosted, often in camo, his own televised outdoor fishing and hunting program, Land and Lakes, for several years. Congenial and calm, he leaves behind wife Carolyn and three sons, and memories to the many he touched in the Mid-South for a multitude of reasons.

December 15, 2011, Spring Hill Informer

Even with a steady population increase in recent years, Spring Hill's population has been higher, if only temporarily.
On a historic day in November of 1864 General John Bell Hood and most of his 35,000 Rebel troops marched into Spring Hill to find some 28,000 Northern troops already there.
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A new sign at Jerry Erwin Park reads:
Park Hours
5 a.m.-Dark
I have no idea what prompted such a notice after all this time. Whomever erected the notice perhaps missed another sign, a small one close to the ground near the plank entrance. That advertisement sign has taken up exposure for five weeks now. I suspect that is a no-no for a city park. Sign blight takes on many forms. How about removing it and perhaps posting a new sign: Post No Bills. The “bill” part means “handbill,” or advertisement.
Also, cars for sale alongside the road on Children's Home property seems a little tacky. Too many restrictions takes away from the small town feel Spring Hill still retains in large part. Nevertheless, the posting of signs and guidlines for such matters within the city needs to be examined and measures taken to curb certain activities.
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In mentioning two former major league baseball players residing in Spring Hill in a recent column, I did not forget about current Atlanta Braves infielder Dan Uggla, who lives in nearby Columbia. I juat figured that most people knew that. But, since some have brought it up in conversations since, he is now duly noted. He's got some pop in his bat, now if he will just work out here in the offseason with the goal of getting that batting average up...
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Atlanta Braves second-sacker Uggla has relatives who are members of the Columbia Area Beekeepers Association (CABA). The group has more than 100 local members, some with just one hive and others with several. Honeybees are dying off due to a mysterious villain called Colony Collapse Disorder. No one is quite sure of the cause but one theory is referred to as "altruistic sucicide," meaning they fly away to die when becoming ill so as to not endanger the rest of the hive. Interesting, but probably not the cause. For information about joining CABA, check this newspaper's events page.

December 1, 2011, Spring Hill Informer

Spring Hill is home to two former major league baseball players, both pitchers and both of whom reside in the Ridgeport subdivision. Marty McLeary toiled from 2004 to 2007 and Paul Foytack toed the slab for 11 years ending in 1964. With the Detroit Tigers, Foytack was a teammate with current U.S. Senator from Kentucky and Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Bunning.
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In another life as a car salesman, I encountered Nashville songwriter Clarence Selman. He was looking for an inexpensive, safe "getabout" for a daughter. My sales manager arranged the deal and we both went to meet Selman at his Nashville office in the Music Row area. During a long and congenial talk session, Selman mentioned how singer-songwriter Tom T. Hall had commissioned him to research the history of Spring Hill to provide background for a novel Hall was writing. I have since delved to see if either Selman or Hall had found inspiration in their endeavors to write a song with "Spring Hill" in the title somewhere. Hall was especially fond of writing songs with place name titles. I found none by the two, but I did discover a song titled "Spring Hill Factory Assembly Line Blues," written by a Ralph Landis for Wherefore Music (BMI).
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How big was the $5 billion Saturn Project? Only "the largest single industrial investment in American history," according to journalist William Plummer in a piece he wrote for People magazine, August 19, 1985.
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A house for sale at 1074 Beechcroft Rd. has a going price of $8,980,000. It's a big package: 5,002 sq. ft., 445 acres. A little bit surprising for me is it and my little house have one thing in common: 2 bathrooms. Getting up in the middle of the night there might require something with wheels as an aide.
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Thompson's Station's mood molders are holding a slogan contest in hopes of using it to "brand" the community in a way that best summarizes what the place represents. Sort of a "Gracious and Growing" concept that Gallatin employed a few years ago. When I think of Thompson's Station I can't get beyond the whistle-stop name. I think of other such names, such as Minnie Pearl's "Grinder's Switch," and television's Green Acres spinoff "Petticoat Junction." I like Thompson's Station and think it is a good idea. I am already anxious to hear the finished slogan. It is a good idea for Spring Hill as well. "America's 14th Fastest Growing City" is getting stale, plus it always lacked in pizazz.