John Shearer: Random Thoughts About Recycling, Ross Home, Peyton’s In-Laws and 1980s

On Tuesday as I stopped to jog at the Red Bank Central Park – the cleared former school site off Dayton Boulevard - I saw three girls and a boy all about 16-18 years old suddenly break into a fight.

Not sure what it was about, although I don’t think it was about politics, I wondered what I should do. I ended up moving my car to another side of the land, and when I checked back less than five minutes later after feeling guilty that I did not intervene, they were gone.

As I got home, I read about another confrontation brewing about recycling, with City Councilman Chip Henderson discussing the potential of cutting out curbside recycling to save on the budget, and Mayor Tim Kelly disagreeing.

What are your views on any kind of recycling? I try hard to recycle as much as I can, often even carrying home my used plastic sauce or salad dressing containers or plastic forks from restaurants. After rinsing them, I throw them in my orange plastic bag for all plastics above No. 2 and eventually take them to the city recycle center off Access Road and put them in a special bin. I am impressed at how many other orange bags are usually in there, too.

I understand those plastics are used by private companies for alternative energy resources, secondary raw materials and plastic products.

I went in the toy section of a big box store recently, and I was amazed how many items are made of plastic. So, the plastic tsunami is continuing, no matter how much I keep trying to meticulously read the numbers on my plastic items and do my part.

I did find one bright spot recently when I got some ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s downtown, and they gave me a wooden spoon and not a plastic one! Maybe Clumpie’s can take note of that as well for lovers of a balanced ecosystem, even if a few extra – but renewable – trees must be cut down in the process.

And in another announcement that might bring about some conflict, on Wednesday, David Rose Jr., the president of the Chief John Ross House Association, said he thought the historic John Ross house in Rossville that dates to the late 1700s should be moved to Tahlequah. That is the Cherokee capital in Oklahoma where a John Ross museum is.

Mr. Ross was one-eighth Cherokee and was principal chief of the group. The founder of Ross’s Landing that developed into Chattanooga, he had lived in the home built near a spring by his grandfather, John McDonald.

Mr. Rose said it might be better protected somewhere like in Oklahoma, where one could assume it might be more visible and more heavily visited.

What do you think about that? My first thought was that it reminds me a little of the General train engine being taken from Georgia in a court battle after it had sat for decades in the old Union Station across M.L. King Boulevard from the Read House. Although, the whole Chattanooga area might not have a John Ross House opinion as was the case then with the General.

I must admit that I don’t think I had visited the house up close, so I drove there Friday morning and walked around it, with some ducks my only company. It is a beautiful old log home in a nice setting amid two small lakes, some grass and a paved trail. It is fenced off and I did not see any sign of when it is open. I certainly hope it has regular public tour opportunities, or maybe that needs to be revisited if not.

It is a beautiful setting, and some might think it belongs where it has always been – well, sort of. It was actually moved 100-plus yards from the main road back to behind the current Food City, where Rossville Boulevard curves and becomes Chickamauga Avenue.

I went to the Chattanooga Public Library to look up some information on it. John Ross had apparently lived in the home of his grandparents, the John McDonalds, as a child in the early 1800s and later used it as his headquarters for his various ventures. He died in 1866, and the home was later owned by generations of the McFarland family.

In the mid-to-late 1950s, while it was owned by Neal Morgan, the then-clapboard-covered home was becoming dilapidated, and the newspaper was full of articles over several years of local historical enthusiasts working to get it saved and moved with the blessings of the Morgans. It was disassembled and rebuilt on land donated by the Hutcheson family of Peerless Woolen Mills, with Osborn and John Morgan doing some of the intricate log reconstruction work.

It was dedicated during a well-attended ceremony on May 29, 1963, on what was called John Ross Day.

Let’s hope this situation can be handled in a way pleasing to all and better than some of the old Cherokee treaties of old or even that fight I witnessed in Red Bank, the latter probably over an issue that will not mean anything a month from now.

It is certainly an important piece of the historic preservation fabric of the Chattanooga area.

Another historic structure in the news has been the Medical Arts Building. As I have written about before, the leadership of First Presbyterian Church, which owns the adjacent tower, has decided to tear down the building to better meet the congregation’s needs and due to reported structural conditions with the building. A replacement building is planned for the location.

Some historic preservationists are disappointed in the plans due to the fact the building which dates to 1929, was designed by noted Chattanooga architect of yesteryear R.H. Hunt and that they believe it could be restored, perhaps as a residence.

One person mentioned to me recently that the view from its 10^th floor is more panoramic than that of the popular Walden Club on top of Republic Centre, due in part to the Medical Arts Building’s higher perch in the downtown area. I had not thought about that but would love to see that view sometime.

After I wrote a story a few weeks back mentioning the doctors initially in the Medical Arts Building when it opened and a few that located there in later years, Harriett Berman emailed to say her late father, Dr. William G. Stephenson, also practiced there from the 1940s until his death in 1974.

“He was a general surgeon and active in Erlanger positions and the founder of the Tennessee Valley Medical Assembly when he served as president of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Medical Assembly,” she said. “The Assembly brought renown specialty doctors to conference annually each fall from 1954 for the next 20 years.”

Another Chattanooga family connection related to firm foundations of both the rhetorical and tangible kinds was in the news recently when it was reported that former Tennessee and NFL quarterback Peyton Manning’s son, Marshall, will be enrolling at Baylor School this fall. He will be an eighth-grade day student and is said to be a blossoming quarterback. He also has a twin named Mosley.

That got me thinking about some of the long-established Chattanooga connections to this football royal family.

Peyton’s wife, Ashley Thompson Manning, grew up in Memphis, but her mother, Marsha Goree Thompson, is a 1964 graduate of Girls Preparatory School. According to family interviews given over the years and found online, one article said Peyton and Ashley were introduced by her parents’ next-door neighbors in Memphis, while Peyton recounts that they also met at a fraternity party before his freshman year at UT. He said he liked her because she was interested in what he was instead of who he was.

She attended the University of Virginia, but they maintained a long-term relationship and were married in 2001. Ashley’s parents, Bill and Marsha Thompson, have been involved in philanthropy efforts over the years, including a gift to the UT athletic department in 2002 in memory of Bill’s father, Van Thompson. He was a 1939 and 1940 Vol football letterman from Jackson, Tn.

Other sisters of Marsha Thompson have included the late Mrs. George (Corinne) McGee, a friendly and liked Realtor who sold my wife, Laura, and me a Signal Mountain home in 1996, and Mrs. Frank (Dottie) Brock and Mrs. Sandy (Allison) Willson. Ms. McGee had graduated from GPS in 1963, Ms. Brock in 1965 and Ms. Willson in 1970, according to a GPS alumnae book I purchased a number of years ago at an estate sale. Ms. Willson also holds the distinction of being a GPS May queen.

They had all grown up on Lookout Mountain.

Their father, William Marshall Goree (yes, notice that middle name), actually went to McCallie School after being raised at a home at 484 S. Crest Road on Missionary Ridge. He was a decorated World War II veteran of the Battle of the Bulge. His obituary published after his death in 2010 said he had worked in sales for the textile industry, primarily for Standard-Coosa-Thatcher. He had also remarried after the 2004 death of his wife, Liza Allison Goree, a 1942 GPS graduate.

His father, A. Wisdom Goree, had founded the Goree Ice Co. in 1929 and operated it at 2318 McCallie Ave. until selling the business to the Dalton Ice Co. in 1971.

Many are certainly wishing young Marshall well at Baylor. Former college head coach Will Muschamp’s son, Whit, who now plays at Vanderbilt, played at Baylor recently, and his familiar father was regularly at the games. And many years ago, golfing great Bobby Jones’ son went to Baylor.

And former Atlanta Braves’ owner and cable TV pioneer Ted Turner’s son, Teddy went to Mr. Turner’s alma mater of McCallie in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Mr. Turner was quite well known.

Speaking of the 1980s, those who feel an affinity for that decade were saddened to hear that Malcolm-Jamal Warner, the child star of “The Cosby Show,” recently died, as did rock musician Ozzy Osbourne and wrestler and cultural icon Hulk Hogan.

I looked in David Carroll’s book “Hello, Chattanooga!” and he points out that Mr. Osbourne apparently performed in Chattanooga only once – on July 29, 1986, at the McKenzie Arena at UTC along with Metallica.

He writes that Mr. Hogan appeared at the McKenzie Arena on Jan. 8, 1991, with Randy Savage and Sgt. Slaughter. The noted wrestler – who one commentator compared to being an evangelist of the mat with his enthusiastic manner – was also at Sir Goony’s Family Fun Center in Brainerd with his daughter, Brooke Hogan, a singer and TV personality, on Oct. 16, 2004. It would be interesting to learn more about that visit, including if he broke a putter on the miniature golf course in the spirit of tearing a T-shirt like he enjoyed doing.

I was not a big fan of any of those three and have never figured out if live wrestling is real or just a show, but I certainly appreciate their unique gifts and contributions to this world.

One aspect of the 1980s I do enjoy is the musical, “Les Misérables,” which premiered in 1980. I went and saw it Thursday night at Memorial Auditorium with my wife, Laura, and liked it. I could not tell you the full plot and could not hear the words of every line of song that was sung, but it is set in early 19^th century France and deals with redemption and honor on the part of one or two people.

I do know that I like much of the music, and I enjoyed hearing that. That included the famous “I Dreamed a Dream” sung early in the nearly three-hour musical, and others such as “One Day More.” I almost felt like getting to hear a professional sing “I Dreamed a Dream” and hear a professional orchestra play it was worth the price of the ticket by itself.

As a result of the music, I enjoyed the musical overall while also realizing my hearing and seeing without glasses at age 65 are not what they used to be.

And like what many hope to see with plastics, it is one show I am glad continues to be recycled and brought back for audiences to enjoy!

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Jcshearer2@comcast.net