First Donation: Christmas for the Children

I want to give a big shout-out to Dempsey Howard of the City Guide for Smyrna and LaVergne (he also has a City Guide for Nashville and Murfreesboro). This is an online directory for local busineses to advertise their services for our town folk. It is a commercial site, but a very handy directory when you're looking for information like where to find a wedding planner, a church, dentist, bail bondsman, etc. Dempsey has offered to donate $5 for every ad he sells in October and November.

And while you're checking out the City Guides, go to his local online auction called EBiddit (you'll see his frog saying "ebiddit ebiddit" instead of "ribbit ribbit"). Right now you can bid on a size 8 wedding dress, a hanging lamp, a direct TV satellite system, and more. Interesting stuff.

Our thanks to Dempsey for his generous offer. Business owners, check it out. Readers, check it out and please patronize his sites so businesses will know the City Guides work.

The Christmas Challenge

To coin what our sister blog has called it, The Christmas Challenge is here! I'm almost overcome with what has already started happening in our LaVergne and Smyrna communities. Immediately after I posted about Christmas for the Children possibly being cancelled, I received a phone call from Mark of Drama Llama. He talked to the Smyrna Skate Center and Pete generously offered to let us hold a "Skate Night". The cost of admission is $4, of which $2 will be donated to the Christmas for the Children Fund. Skate rentals will be an additional $2.50.

The "Skate for the Children" night is planned for Tuesday, October 10th from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. Mark is working to gather items for a silent auction, so please contact him by commenting on his blog about what you can bring... even if you can provide copying this week for a flyer we'd like to send home to schools.

Meanwhile, ThisIsSmyrnaTN has offered the following:

I want to go one step farther and let the businesses of Middle Tennessee know that if they donate money or toys to this initiative we will give you mention on our November Middle Tennessee Blogger and Podcaster's Group Meeting Podcast and will post a special Thank You Middle Tennessee page for all the businesses that participated right here on the Smyrna Blog.

This year this blog has received more than 24,000 visits. Now, ask yourself how much is it worth? Donate to the cause and you'll get:

• Mention on one of the best Middle Tennessee Podcasts
• Year long link to your website (if you have one) on this blog
• Phone Number, Address and contact information listed on this website all year long

I will extend the same invitation to LaVergne businesses. I started the "Stat Counter" in July(ish) for the LaVergne blog, and in these few months we've had 5,009 visitors. I think we're on track for between 24,000 to 35,000 visitors p/year on this page. Like our sister blog, how much is that kind of web traffic worth to you?

I really hope that the businesses in our community will donate because all of this really is about the children. I try to donate time and money throughout the year for a number of causes (American Cancer Society, United Way, Alzheimer's Foundation, American Heart Association, etc.). These are all wonderful organizations, but Christmas for the Children is where you can directly impact a specific child in our own community. Thank you for any support you can give.

AND COME TO THE SKATING PARTY ON OCTOBER 10TH!

Christmas May be Cancelled

Although it isn't yet Halloween - and even as we're getting ready for the awesome Trail of Treats - it's starting to look like Christmas may be cancelled this year for about 120-200 children from LaVergne and Smyrna.

Some background. Every year, Bob Parks Realty hosts Christmas parties throughout middle Tennessee for children who have been identified by school counselors as being in need of some extra support from the community. In the past, we have raised enough money to buy each child a set of clothing (including gloves, hats, and coats) and a toy. Many parents request that the children not open their gifts at the party because otherwise they won't have anything to open Christmas morning.

We need to raise $14,000 each year to make this possible. At this time, we've only raised $4,000. We've received support in LaVergne from one insurance agency (thank you Ernie Dunbar) and that's it. I am posting this to give our local businesses the opportunity to step up to the plate and make this event happen this year for the children of LaVergne and Smyrna who are not as fortunate as other kids.

If you read this and you own a company or work at a company, please please please be generous. Give us $10. Give us $100. Give us $1000. Ask your bosses if they can help. Pass the hat around the office if the company is unwilling to step-up and see if your colleagues can.

If you have any questions or you would like to make a tax-free contribution, you are welcome to contact me at 491-2161. If you don't want to talk to me, call my office and talk to my broker John Mayfield or our office manager Debbie Bricco at 459-4040. But please help. This is not for my company or for me. It's for our kids in this community. Can you help, LaVergne? Thank you.

Halloween in LaVergne

Here's a public service announcement for our kiddies who are looking for some Halloweeen fun that's FREE!

La Vergne Parks and Recreation will be hosting Trail of Treats on Saturday, October 28, 2006 from 2pm-4pm at Veterans Memorial Park.

Children should come dressed in costume and will enjoy treats all along the walking trail as they go through the park. Events for the day also include a hay ride, spider web obstacle course, jumping through the pumpkin patch, and digging for bones in the graveyard. All activities are free of charge.

Businesses and organizations that wish to participate in giving out treats should contact the LaVergne Parks and Recreation Department at 615-793-3224.

Congratulations LaVergne!

From the city of LaVergne:

The City of La Vergne has received five Local Government Awards. The awards were given on September 26, 2006 at the Greater Nashville Regional Council (GNRC) annual meeting in Clarksville.

La Vergne received awards in the category of Excellence in Parks and Recreation for both the new skate park and the renovation of the in-line hockey rink. The La Vergne Skate Park opened this past spring (2006) to the delight of many of La Vergne’s youth. With skate parks being hugely popular among young people these days, the public had been asking for one for quite some time. Finally, the city was able to accommodate those desires and created the park, which measures 80’ x 80’. It includes two modular platforms which merge into ramps, a center pyramid with ramps and street skate units and a picnic table which gives the young people plenty of space to ride and show off their talents.

The Park has been continually busy this summer with both male and female riders utilizing the space to perfect their craft. There’s not a day that goes by (except in extreme inclement weather) when one can’t drive by and see a pack of youngsters having fun at one of La Vergne’s top attractions.

After six years since the initial completion of the La Vergne in-line hockey rink, it was time for the popular facility to have a facelift. The procedure began in September 2005 with the dasher boards and player boxes at the rink being replaced, the surface was repaired, painted and sealed in the Spring of 2006.

Since the completion of the renovation, the rink has been busy with young people getting ready for the second of two seasons this year. The league, which is run by Youth, Incorporated, has a spring and fall season. The fall season begins September 9th. The re-grand opening for the facility was held Sept. 21st at 9:00 AM.

This renovation was a coordinated effort between the City of La Vergne and Youth Incorporated.

The La Vergne Seniors also received an award for its Excellence in Aging Programs. The La Vergne Senior Center was a host site in the You Can! Celebration this past September. You Can! - Steps to Healthier Aging is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Steps to a Healthier US initiative, which encourages Americans of every age to make healthier choices. The You Can! campaign is designed to increase the number of older adults who are active and healthy by using a partnership approach to mobilize communities. Together, they will create public awareness and make programs available to help older Americans improve their nutrition and increase their physical activity.

You Can! partners recruit older Americans who are ready to make lifestyle changes to improve their health and participate in local nutrition and physical activity programs. The La Vergne Senior Center was one of sixty-one partners across the United States that hosted a You Can! Celebration.

The celebration events raised awareness about the importance of making better food choices and being more physically active, and also showed that leading a healthier lifestyle could be fun.

Activities conducted during the La Vergne You Can! Celebration included: a Walk Across Tennessee Kick Off Event, Recipe Revamp and Taste Tests with a dietician from StoneCrest Medical Center, Creating a Healthy Recipe Cookbook, Fun Food Contests, Bowling, a Foot and Ankle Seminar by a local podiatrist, Exercise Class, Garden Planning by a landscape and turf specialist, a Heart Healthy lunch, spotlight on a member of the senior center who leads a healthy life and also encourages others to do the same, and an intergenerational dance to end the week.

The week was also highlighted by the grand opening of a walking trail located on the property of the senior center. This walking trail has enabled many members of the Senior Center to start their day off on the right foot by exercising prior to participating in activities at the Center. Not only were the activities a great success, but the La Vergne Senior Center was selected to receive pedometers by the Administration on Aging.

La Vergne also received the award for Excellence in Water and Wastewater for the city’s stormwater program. The City of La Vergne implemented a new Storm Water Utility Fee, effective Sept., 2005. The fee – which is being levied monthly on the community – will be used to fund the federally mandated stormwater Program. The fee will be $3.50/month for residences and a multiple of that amount for commercial businesses and industry.

The city was designated under the Federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Phase II rule as a regulated small municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4). In Tennessee, approximately 85 cities and counties, including the City of La Vergne, have been required to obtain coverage under a stormwater discharge permit and to implement a set of programs to manage the quality of stormwater runoff. In order to adequately fund this program and other stormwater requirements, the city has implemented a stormwater utility program.

The city’s Storm Water Utility Fee is calculated based on the amount of impervious area that each parcel contains within the City limits. “Impervious area” means areas that will not allow stormwater to seep into the ground. Examples include rooftops, asphalt, and concrete pavements. The utility comprises a residential user class and a non-residential user class. Residential users (single family homes, duplexes, apartments, condominiums, etc.) are charged one equivalent residential unit (ERU) per dwelling unit per month at a rate of $3.50 per ERU.

The ERU is the unit measurement for stormwater services and is defined as the average amount of impervious area per residential dwelling unit within the city limits. In the City of La Vergne the ERU is equal to 3,181 square feet. Non-Residential users are charged based on the number of ERUs on their property calculated as the quantity of impervious area on their property divided by 3,181 square feet, times $3.50 per ERU.

Since the implementation of the Storm Water Utility Fee, a staff of four has been hired to manage the day-to-day operations of the program under the guidance of the City Engineer. Semi-monthly inspections are performed for each building site and monthly for each development under construction. The Storm Water Department has initiated a mapping program to map the drainage system within the city. The mapping program includes two handheld GPS units used in the field to locate drainage structures and ArcGIS for input in to the County GIS system. Several small drainage improvement projects are completed each month by the staff and each year larger projects are designed and constructed by outside contractors. Staff responds to drainage complaints and assists emergency management personnel during spills of polluting materials to help prevent waterway pollution. Staff also communicate and work hand in hand with the Tennessee Department of Environment environmental specialists. Flooding, Sedimentation and Erosion Control, and Illicit Discharges in the City of La Vergne are being reduced due to the performance of the Storm Water Staff and the implementation of the Storm Water Program within the City of La Vergne.

Finally, the city received an award for Excellence in Communications for the semi-annual newsletter published by the City of La Vergne and edited by publicist Angie Mayes.

The Mayor and Alderman of the City of La Vergne decided in their 2005 retreat to produce a newsletter for the citizens of La Vergne. The newsletter was not meant to replace any web content, Channel 3 or media releases but rather to inform the citizens who do not utilize those methods or want more information on the city. Containing information about various departments and activities, the first newsletter was produced in January, 2006.

Printing in tabloid-style, the 12-page production was sent to more than 12,000 homes and businesses in La Vergne, ensuring city-wide coverage of information. The newsletter is scheduled to be produced twice a year with one coming out in the winter/spring and the other in the summer/fall. So far the response to the newsletter has been positive with citizens offering their ideas of what they’d like to see in future publications. A second newsletter was sent out at the end of June, 2006.

This form of communication the second type of newsletter which the city’s public relations coordinator, Angie Mayes, produces. She is also in charge of producing the monthly employee newsletter, which gets city government-based information to the 160+ employees of the City of La Vergne.

“We are pleased to receive these honors,” said La Vergne Mayor Sherry Green “All of these awards show that by working to implement special programs throughout the city, much can be done to improve the lifestyle of our residents and local workforce. As our city grows, we will continue to ensure that these type of positive improvements take place.”

The GNRC is made up of the 13 counties and 52 cities in the Nashville area. The Council provides assistance to its members in the areas of regional planning and economic development coordination, transportation, solid waste, loans and grants for water and sewer systems, housing, tourism promotion, SBA loans and air quality.

Nice job, folks. :)

Profiles of Candidates in DNJ

The Daily News Journal nearly gave me heart failure this morning. The headline: LaVergne Mayor Race Draws Three. I thought only three people had shown up so far for early voting! Instead (thankfully) the article profiles the three candidates running for mayor:

• Mary Harrigan
• Senna Mosely
• Ronnie Erwin

Go read the article. It gives good insight on the positions these candidates take on various issues. Growth, budget, safety, water/sewer issues are the big ones. Don't let your decision which will affect LaVergne's future be made by someone else. You decide.

Look in Left Column

I've added a new link to this LaVergne page ... a link to WKRN's weather blog. These weather forecasters keep the blog pretty updated, including forecasts, current conditions, radar, etc. Plus you can post comments to interact with the meteorologists. With today's weather, I thought it could be a pretty handy link to have at your fingertips. Here it is:

Nashville WX (dot) Com

Thankful Saturday

I am so thankful today... why? Because Oldtimers' Day was LAST Saturday rather than this rainy, nasty day.



Here's a radar image I took at 4:20 p.m. from the Weather.com site. I fyou don't have to go anywhere tonight, this may be a cozy night to stay at home. We have tornado watches out in most of the mid-state until 8:00 p.m. And with the way it's raining now, the flood watch is also quite valid. What a nasty rain... I'm watching for hail but don't see any (thank heavens!).

Ya'll stay dry out there, mmmkay?

Ga-Ga Over Google

I read a post at our sister blog, This is Smyrna TN, about whether they were "google-worthy." I thought I'd google LaVergne Tn and we're #4! #1 is the City of LaVergne (as it should be!). Of course, the Smyrna post was about whether their blog could be a news source for Google. It's an interesting read.

And speaking of news... my former hometown in Kentucky has a weekly newspaper with a population of only about 3,000'ish. We have more than 22,000 people here. I think a LaVergne weekly newspaper is something that would be really good for our town. Are there any publishers out there who want to start a weekly newspaper for us?

Oldtimers' Day Thanks

Mayor Sherry Green emailed this note today that was sent to area newspapers: I -- on behalf of the Old Timers' Day 2006 committee -- want to thank everyone who participated in this year's event. To the sponsors, to the vendors, entertainers, those attending the day's events, All Start Audio, Pyro Shows (fireworks company), emcee John Forcinelli, city workers and others who made the day the most special one yet, the committee offers a large thank you! This year's weather was perfect and the festival was a great day for everyone involved. We've had nothing but compliments about the event. Congratulations to the parade winners: The La Vergne High School Band (Mayor's Cup), Kum Sung Family Martial Arts (Best Youth Entry), Larry Yatuzis (Best Equesterine entry), La Vergne Senior Citizens (Spirit of La Vergne), Al Menah Shriners (Best Vehicle entry), LHS Band (Best Musical entry). Thanks to the judges who picked these winners. Next year's event is set for Sept. 15, so start planning now to be there. Also, entertainment packages can be sent to Angie Mayes from Nov. 1, 2006 - Feb. 28, 2007. only. The address is 5093 Murfreesboro Road, La Vergne, 37086. Vendor applications will be accepted after January 1, 2007. Thanks again, Angie Mayes Coordinator Old Timers' Day 2006 City of La Vergne

I know we've already said it, but no harm in repeating... you guys did a great job this year and really made the city shine! We're proud of you!

What is Wrong with People?

I hope this person goes to prison for a long, long time.

Worker pleads guilty from the Daily News Journal.

Wonderful Day in LaVergne!

Oldtimer's Day was a wonderful success in my book. It looked to be a great crowd and with plenty of events, great entertainment, and perfect weather, the day really was marvelous.

Here's the write-up in the Daily News Journal. I was there when the Red Hot Mamas were performing - I was very impressed with their music. I tried to put a link here for this talented group, but couldn't find one. But they were amazing. Need a wedding singer? Need someone to perform for a graduation party? Give them a try!

We watched the parade and really enjoyed the LaVergne High School marching band. Got to see our city's finest police officers and firefighters, along with our local politicians. My advice: when you're in a parade and throw candy to the crowds, try not to AIM it at people and throw hard. I mean, dang. One of our local politicians needs to try-out for the major leagues with that high speed pitch! ;) Just kidding.... the parade really was so much fun. The food was fantastic - from the fresh squeezed lemonade to the funnel cakes to the hamburgers! Yum!

I saw a lot of people working really hard to make it an enjoyable day for the people of our community. The day was a lot of fun - our city workers did an outstanding job pulling it together.

Now check this out: We're invited to Oldtimers Day 2007!

Local Bloggers Meeting

In addition to the fun Oldtimer's Day activities, Saturday is also the day for the monthly local bloggers meeting. We meet at 2:00 p.m. at Espresso Joe's in Smyrna (corner of Rock Springs and Old Nashville).

If you blog or are thinking about blogging, we're a pretty friendly bunch. Daily Diablogger and Big Orange Michael from our sister site (This is Smyrna, TN) usually record the meeting. They usually pass around a microphone and whoever is there has their say about whatever is on their mind. I've talked about home buying and selling, Michelle has interviewed gubernatorial candidates during the meeting (an open invite is extended for any politician who would like to attend to be a part of the pod cast), and there have been other various and interesting topics (finding a bra that fits, etc.) (ha).

Daily Diablogger has a big announcement to make at this meeting, so it should be a good one! I have a feeling I might have an inkling of what it's about, but we'll let her make the announcement! :) Don't be shy! Come by and say hello!

How Times Have Changed

The countdown is on until Oldtimer's Day! Here's a link to the city's web page which has a run-down of the day's events. It looks to be a great time! There's an "Event Zone" which includes activities like sack races, bubble gum blowing contest, hot dog eating contest, and Tammy Nannette, the famous goat!

In addition, the city's web page offers the following schedule, but be sure to check out details about these different activities, performers, and more!

6-10 a.m. Country Ham Breakfast, La Vergne Rescue Squad

11 a.m.Kyle Brooks

11 a.m.Parade

11:45 a.m.Spencer Ezell

12:25 p.m.Redd Hot Mamas

1 p.m. Opening remarks, Mayor and Aldermen
Prayer - Blair Goodman, The Connection Church
National Anthem - Alicia Newberry

1:20 p.m.Jessica Miller

2:05 p.m. Wild Ride

2:50 p.m.Southern Country Cloggers

3:25 p.m. Stephanie Corbin

4:15 p.m. Lance Allen

7:30 p.m. Fireworks

Also, there are booths set up for craft and vendor sales, plus tents for local businessmen to hand out info about their products and services. Ya'll come on out and show your support for LaVergne! Hope to see you there!

Cottage-Type Condos Coming to Lake Forest

One hundred and eleven "cottages" housed in 14 buildings are up for final review tonight by LaVergne's Planning Commission, according to today's Daily News Journal. The high density housing is being considered for 9.53 acres on Ace Wintermeyer Drive at the edge of Lake Forest Estates. The planning commission will also be considering several other agenda items, including subdividing the corner of Fergus and Sand Hill Road (across from Clayton Estates) into four lots.

Read more about tonight's 6:15 meeting here.

Meet (Met) the Candidates

Three of LaVergne's top political candidates hosted a barbeque tonight at the LaVergne Civic Auditorium on Old Nashville Highway and hundreds of folks showed up for the good time! There was great food, live music, and the opportunity to have some face time with our city decision-makers.



I :::love::: living in a small town! It was so neat seeing the friends and neighbors who were there! Shout out to Terrie B of Digital Teardrops, Ivy, Doug & Chris Shafer, Libby Sullivan, Tracy Halfacre, Denise & Gus, and so many more!

We at the LaVergne blog want to again extend an invitation for our local candidates to address the readers of this blog. We've already heard from a couple - check out the City Elections 2006 link on the left. Our only requirement is that you do not attack another candidate or person... no negative campaigning here. Send your thoughts or comments to us and we'll post them!

Meanwhile, Ivy and I met Jerry Gann for the first time. What a friendly, outgoing person! Jerry is running for reelection as Alderman.



We said hello to Ronnie Erwin, coach extraordinaire. Ronnie is currently our Vice Mayor and hopes to be elected Mayor. He is being endorsed by current mayor, Sherry Green, as well as Bad Bad Ivy herself.



And Sherry Green completed the terrific trio. It was delightful to meet her sister and brother-in-law, as well (I think Sherry must be a twin!). Sherry is stepping down as mayor, but wants to continue to be a part of our city government, so is running for Alderwoman.



Thanks for the opportunity to meet you! There will be another opportunity to meet the candidates at Veteran's Memorial Park on September 30th. I don't know the time yet, but my guess it'll again be at 6:00 p.m. See you there!

Karaoke Bar & Dance Studio

We have two new businesses in our area!

Nikkie's Family Karaoke has opened at 521 Old Nashville Highway (near Driggers Auto Sales). It is a smoke-free, alcohol-free family friendly business. Read all about this cool new place to go in this article published in the Daily News Journal. And I assure everyone that if I am ever seen approaching a microphone at a karaoke bar, you should run fast and run far. Unless you like to hear babies crying and dogs howling. And I am being oh-so-literal and painfully honest.

Also, a new dance studio, SpotLite Dance Studio, has opened in Smyrna and they are offering classes for all ages, including a tot class (3-5yrs) from 10:30am until 11:30am on Tuesday's and Thursday's. SpotLite Dance Studio, located at 113 Front St (The Roundabout), is offering a fall special. Try your first class free and if you refer someone and they sign up, you get a class free!! Meghan E. Lite is the owner and can be emailed at meghan@spotlitedancestudio.com. Or you can also contact Lyndee at lyndee@spotlitedancestudio.com. They want parents to know how excited they would be to have the opportunity to share the love of dance with their children.

Remember, support our local businesses!

Prank Gone Wrong

I'm feeling melancholy on behalf of the students who vandalized the high school football stadiums a few weeks ago. I know I posted that the students needed to consider their actions before pulling pranks that escalate from "pranks" to outright vandalism. $10,000 worth of damage to the LHS stadium and $2500 to the SHS stadium definitely rates as vandalism, destruction of property, etc.

Today's Daily News Journal said the students have been charged with vandalism, warrants issued for arrests, etc. Besides the legal ramifications, the students are being sent to the county's alternative schools. All this makes me grieve a little for those students and their families. I know I know I know they have to face the consequences of what they did, but I hope that after their punishment is complete, they can come back to their schools with a clean slate, that they continue to work hard to get into college, and enthusiastically (but not destructively) support their schools. Good luck.

Edit: Dear Anonymous, Thanks for the update... you're right. These particular students are not going to the alternative schools. But I still hope that when they come back from their suspensions, they come back with a better attitude. And I do hope that knowing future acts of vandalism will not be tolerated will be enough incentive to prevent it.

Let's Hear from You

We are adjusting this site somewhat to allow comments to be posted without administrator approval. Some background... the blog was originally set up to allow comments without jumping through any hoops. Then we added the word verification requirement (you know, the boxed words that are all squiggly) to keep out spammers. If we want to buy viagra online, we can google it - not find out on this site! Then we got a post that seemed somewhat libelous about one of our local politicians (it was an all-out-attack). After that, I switched over to the "needs administrators approval" before comments were posted.

So we are going back to the simple word verification to post comments. However, please know that any comments that are posted as an attack on another person will be deleted. Character assassinations will not be permitted. So read your comment before you hit the post or publish button.

But DO comment! Share your ideas, thoughts, and concerns. Gone to a local restaurant for the first time? Email us and we'll post your restaurant review. Did you get a great deal at merchandise liquidators? Let us know! Heard the new post office is moving forward? Tell us! We want to hear from you!

Front page, that's pretty good.

Many thanks to the Daily News Journal for the article today about the La Vergne Lake Elementary renaming situation. I think it was a great article.

Thanks to the article, we've gotten a lot of new visitors to the site. If you are a new visitor, welcome! Drop us a comment or two, we love feedback. If you like what you've read here, you'll love my personal blog, drop on by there and say hi as well. :)

Doug Salisbury for Alderman

We have offered all LaVergne political candidates the opportunity to let us know the platform on which they are running. Today we heard from Doug Salisbury. [Editor note: Sorry... we mispelled Doug's last name on the original post.]

Thanks for the opportunity to comment Kathy. By the way, my last name is spelled Salisbury.

I have been involved in tracking the monthly activities of the Board for two years through my web site www.lavergnepublicinfo.com. The information that I post consist of the information that should have been posted on the city's web site but is not. What I have seen is recorded on the web site and all information has the original city documents linked to it so the readers can make their own minds up on the various issues.

Government seems to operate better when information is made public and the opposite is true when it is not. My platform consist of Smart Growth where growth is based on infra structure needed to support it, such as roads, water and sewer. The myth that impact fees will pay for all this is just that, a myth. Last year La Vergne recorded $500,000 in road impact fees for over 500 homes. Hardly enough to pay for traffic signals much less widen roads.

Citizens that wish to address the Board should have more then three minutes and their comments should be recorded for the record. Currently, any Board member that does not like what is said can censure all or part of the presentation. A part of being in government is listening to what people have to say, even if you don't agree with it.

Some of the changes I have influenced consist of; changing the date of election to November in 2008. Asking the members of the Board to turn on their microphones during meeting so that every one can hear. Forcing the city to establish a water cut off policy for delinquent water bills and to establish a water bill write off policy for over $500,000 in bad debts.

I believe that this election will be the first election where voters have a complete record of votes taken and how those votes impact their lives by looking at my website www.lavergnepublicinfo.com

If you want a change in direction, then you can make a choice. If your happy with the status quo, then you have that choice as well.

Dear Anonymous,

Hey gang, Ivy here!

We've had a sort of back-and-forth going with an anonymous commenter, and the commenter left a comment that really deserved its own post, so here I am responding to it.

The commenter said:

If citizens were more concerned about the education their children were rec'ing than the "name" of the school, Tennessee wouldn't have such a low education level compared to the rest of the US. Just hearing people around town complain about every little thing makes me tired. Some people, NOT EVERYONE, need to get a life and fight for what really matters in life. If the shoe fits, were it. SOME of LaVergnes residents complain about any and every thing. Please, spend energy and efforts on things that improve peoples lives instead of making our community look so bad. We have enough bad publicity in the media without our own citizens doing it for us. If that offends anyone, maybe they should take a look at how they may look to other communities. Smyrna, Brentwood, Franklin,..hmmmmmmmm... Are we thought of as another Antioch or worse? Doesn't that bother any of you? I know this is not on the subject of how this all got started, but this is why I have a "chip" on my shoulder. Try improving the community and state and the future of our children, instead of complaining about a "name" of a school. What does it matter? What will it matter in 100 years? Nothing.

Anonymous, I think you may be surprised, but I totally agree on most of the points you raise. I think you might be unaware of where the writers of this blog are coming from, and where we're trying to go with all of this, so I thought I would do some explaining.

This is a group blog with three writers that all come from different, yet similar points of view. We are all homeowners, heavily involved with the school system and we all want what is best for the City of La Vergne. We are not trying to be troublemakers, rather, we want to effect change for the better within our city.

You said:

If citizens were more concerned about the education their children were rec'ing than the "name" of the school, Tennessee wouldn't have such a low education level compared to the rest of the US.

I agree that more parents should be involved. No, I really, REALLY agree. With *all* of our work with the school system, various activities, etc, one of the biggest things we have noticed is getting parental involvement can be like pulling teeth. Obviously, there are some fantastic parents that have really stepped up to the plate, but there are notorious others who dump all the work on everyone else. I think there are other reasons that the TN educational system is not the best, but that's for another post entirely, so I'll leave that alone.

The fact is, there is a lot that needs to change, but we are trying to change what we can. We know how to go about making this change, so we are working toward this change.

You said:

Just hearing people around town complain about every little thing makes me tired. Some people, NOT EVERYONE, need to get a life and fight for what really matters in life. If the shoe fits, were it.

I don't think the shoe really fits here. Read this blog in its entirety, and you will see we applaud the great changes that are taking place in this city, we are trying to be encouraging, yet bring out other things we think needs to change, as well.

You said:


Please, spend energy and efforts on things that improve peoples lives instead of making our community look so bad. We have enough bad publicity in the media without our own citizens doing it for us. If that offends anyone, maybe they should take a look at how they may look to other communities. Smyrna, Brentwood, Franklin,..hmmmmmmmm... Are we thought of as another Antioch or worse?

I don't know how changing the name of the school makes our community look bad. It seems to me that this would make our community look better, that we have active, involved citizens that really *care* about what is happening in our community rather than sitting back and just letting things happen.

Being thought of as another Antioch is something that bothers me terribly, as well, Anonymous. This is something we really, really would like to change. I have some ideas on how to start making changes and it sounds like you do as well. That's great. I think, underneath it all, we are really on the same side, Anonymous.

I'd like to issue an invitation to you, Anonymous. I'd love to meet up and talk about ideas we both have, and how we can work together instead of fighting each other. Please, email me at my personal email addres: ivy (at) badbadivy (dot) com so we can talk about this. I think we both really want the same thing, which is to make changes which will make our great city, even greater. (and I'd like a community pool. I mean, I would really, REALLY like one, haha)

Please email me so we can talk about this, because I think we have gotten off on the wrong foot and you have the impression that we are trying to fight you, when really, we want to work together for a common cause.

Sincerely,

Ivy.