Lady Vols playing UConn on Feb. 6
photo by John Shearer
While trying to keep up with the national and even state governmental news and actions, I realized we politically weary people have another city of Chattanooga election on March 4, with early voting from Feb. 12-27.
Wasn’t it just yesterday when Tim Kelly and Kim White were busily campaigning for mayor and debating on TV at least once, and he was personally fixing a few potholes in his ads? Has it been four years?
When the election was held in 2021, our home near the Northgate Mall area was in District 2. We met future elected council member Jenny Hill when she came to our home twice campaigning, and I later interviewed her for a profile story after she won.
I have also run into her once or twice at events I have covered and re-introduced myself. I even heard Mayor Tim Kelly call her the hardest-working Council member on one occasion, or something like that. We also get her regular email updates.
I had seen where she did not have any competition and assumed this City Council election cycle would be a breeze in terms of voting preparation on my end.
But then I started seeing Jeff Davis and Tom Marshall yard signs not far from our house. One of the candidates also called my cell phone twice recently, and a representative of another one knocked on our door and handed me a flyer. That all confused me, since they are running for the City Council in District 3 to replace Ken Smith. I even told the woman who knocked that we were in District 2 in the last election.
Well, guess what? I began researching and did find a story from 2022 that said the City Council had voted to redraw district lines. So, yes, we are now in District 3, and I have to go back and learn a little more about Mr. Davis and Mr. Marshall.
I actually preferred being in District 2 because it encompassed North Chattanooga and maybe had more of a focus on more urban local issues like older neighborhoods and proximity to downtown Chattanooga, personal interests of mine. Whereas, District 3 is more typically a suburban-type district with perhaps slightly different interests, needs, and maybe collective outlooks among constituents That is, although both districts are dealing with interest in high-density apartment complexes by developers.
And if you don’t know the candidates personally or even if you get a five-minute conversation with them, it is still sometimes hard to figure out whom you would like to see serve in any office. Or, even more importantly, knowing who would be more effective representing the district is also challenging. We are all hopefully for good schools, safe neighborhoods, economic vitality, low crime, and, yes, streets free of potholes and high automobile numbers. But how do you discern which candidate is the best after that?
Regardless, best wishes to both candidates and thanks for stepping out in a sometimes-vulnerable way and wanting to run.
Speaking of politics, I saw where Republican Gov. Bill Lee in his State of the State address Monday outlined plans to allocate $25 million for the protection of farmland and $52 million for the creation of five new state parks. That seems like an issue that would be embraced by both sides of the political aisle and certainly by those more idealistic Tennesseans who love not only a mountain waterfall, but also an open field free of suburban homes and with only a tractor or a deer running across it.
Would you like to see any of the remaining undeveloped land in Ooltewah, Collegedale, and Soddy-Daisy be preserved in some way for food or fun in the form of unspoiled vistas? Maybe the areas could even become popular for picnics, combining food and pretty land in another way.
Although I did not get to see the talk, I usually always enjoy the State of the State address regardless of whether the governor is a Republican or Democrat. That is, even though it comes on during the PBS Newshour show I also enjoy watching at the same time.
Ironically, the subject of food and Collegedale came up on the Newshour show last week when noted TV and comedic food personality Alton Brown was asked if he has a guilty pleasure food. He replied that he loves a Little Debbie Nutty Bar, in part because he can take them apart. He admitted in the interview that his mouth was watering thinking about them.
As we all know, McKee Bakery is based in Collegedale and makes many of their snack cakes here. Nutty Bar is No. 2 on my list behind the Swiss Cake Rolls among favorite Little Debbie snacks. A little-known or perhaps forgotten fact is that the Oatmeal Crème Pie is their historic first snack that O.D. and Ruth McKee developed, I believe.
Also regarding food, did you make or at least enjoy any Super Bowl snacks this weekend? I saw a Facebook post from a friend who had all these good-looking chickens on a grill. He was doing as much prep for the game as the coaches.
In recent years I have gotten caught up in Super Bowl food hype a little, and this year used my minimal cooking skills to make a Mexican dip with premade queso cheese, cooked ground beef and some canned spicy tomatoes heated together. Hey, I had to have something to go with the corn chips my wife, Laura, recently bought at Aldi’s.
And as a complement food, I had some “pigs-in-a-blanket” hot dogs using some canned crescent rolls topped with mustard and sweet pickle relish. Needless to say, Martha Stewart would probably not have approved of my effort but maybe at least my enthusiasm.
I enjoyed them, though, and believe it or not, had my meal eaten before they even sang the national anthem. Hey, I was hungry!
I did save a Publix cupcake, which Laura and I enjoyed about the time the first series was beginning. She also tried one of my pigs in a blanket, although she was surprised that I had put sweet pickle relish on it like my mother used to do.
Although the Super Bowl has been close in score for most of the last 10 or 15 years, this one was more like some of the blowouts of the 1980s and 1990s, with Philadelphia somewhat surprisingly winning, 40-22.
The only other recent Super Bowls that were not fairly close were in 2021, when Tampa Bay beat Kansas City, 31-9, and in 2014, when Seattle beat Denver, 43-8. So, I can at least say I enjoyed my food while the game was still in suspense.
A much more intriguing sporting event of recent days locally was when the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team upset old rival Connecticut last Thursday night at Food City Center at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville.
Since I feel blessed to be getting to teach an adjunct introductory journalism class this semester at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville on Tuesdays and Thursdays after first starting when we still lived up there, I decided to stay for the game.
I was sensing, or at least hoping for, an upset, since the Lady Vols seemed more competitive this year under new coach Kim Caldwell with her more up-tempo style and the general confidence in the program that had seemed lacking for several years. And that is in part why I wanted to see the game.
I walked up to the ticket booth outside the arena last Tuesday and was somewhat surprised to be able to get a single ticket on the front row on the side of the court. I felt like a VIP, as I was near several former Lady Vols back for the night, as well as noted ESPN announcer Rebecca Lobo and sideline reporter Holly Rowe.
I could also look across at noted UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who actually seemed more stoic during the game than I thought he would be. I had seen these two teams play before two years ago, and I was impressed at how the tradition-rich UConn methodically warmed up before the game.
There were somewhat surprisingly many UConn fans at the game, and several young girls were wearing the jerseys of star player Paige Bueckers.
But Tennessee had plenty of fans as well, and the upper deck was almost half full, hinting of the old glory days under Pat Summitt. And they were loud and helped pull the Lady Vols through to an 80-76 victory and did not fold after Connecticut built a second-quarter lead.
It was quite fun to be part of the excitement as Tennessee scored its final basket in the closing seconds to put the game out of reach. It was a happy scene not enjoyed as much by the Lady Vols and their fans in recent years. They definitely woke up the echoes of the old Pat Summitt days in a wonderful way, even though they had a tough follow-up loss on the road Sunday to the competitive LSU squad under the successful coach Kim Mulkey.
However, the UT team even in the Sunday loss continues to look like it is in good hands under impressive first-year coach Kim Caldwell, who just had a baby son on Jan. 20 and missed only one game of coaching.
As a little sidenote, I happened to be in Winston-Salem, N.C., in December 2023 and saw the Wake Forest women beat Marshall on a weekday afternoon shortly before Christmas. And who was the coach of Marshall but Kim Caldwell!
I also just realized that about a month before that game – on Nov. 12, 2023 – coach Caldwell brought her Marshall team to UTC and left with a five-point victory, despite trailing 27-12 at the end of the first quarter. Then-UTC coach Shawn Poppie called the loss a “tough one to swallow” in a game probably witnessed by only a small number of fans.
This year’s UT team under her is showing signs of success with a few transfer players, although she has been using former regulars Tess Darby, Sara Puckett, Jewel Spear, and Jillian Hollingshead.
Gosh, at the rate she has started, maybe she could one day run for elected office. She would likely not have to explain who she is on a flyer, either!
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Jcshearer2@comcast.net