13,000 Saved!

One of my favorite animal rescue groups in our area is the GoNorth Animal Transport Collaborative. Since 2012 they have rescued over 13,000 dogs from rural East Tennessee shelters that have high euthanasia rates and transported them to Northern states, where the dogs are adopted out.

When you have a second, please watch this short video about the history of the rescue:

And the main point of this post:

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An Interview With Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero

 

Madeline Rogero was elected the first woman Mayor of Knoxville in 2011 and was re-elected in 2015 with no opposition on the ballot. I’ve known Mayor Rogero for over 10 years and remember her first run for mayor back in 2003. We’ve had lunch several times over the years and I was honored that she agreed to be interviewed by me for my newsletter.

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The Crumpled Letter Solicitation

A recent Knoxville News Sentinel article highlighted that there are now more realtors in the Knoxville area than there are houses to be sold.

And along with that reality has come a hyper competitive environment for realtors. With that environment we are starting to see more unethical practices surface as some agents become desperate to get business.

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Perfecting The Sale In Pigeon Forge- A Case Study

                                 The Tolliver Cabin

My in-laws, Gerri and Harold Knott, several years back bought a cabin in Pigeon Forge, which they used to get away from the hustle and bustle and relax, and also to entertain family and friends. Back in the summer they told me of their plans to sell the cabin, so I prepared a plan for getting it on the market. Shortly after it was listed this fall it sold for a record price of $289,000 in literally just 8 hours of being on the market.

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Talking with a Legend- An Interview with the Reverend Harold Middlebrook

Reverend Harold Middlebrook

I sat down with Reverend Harold Middlebrook in mid-November to interview him about his life and its many rich experiences.

For those that don’t know him, Reverend Middlebrook is a legend within the civil rights movement, having spent considerable time working for change in his hometown of Memphis, then later in Atlanta and Knoxville, TN. He was a protégé of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and was with Dr. King when he was assassinated in Memphis in 1968.

Reverend Middlebrook has a wealth of knowledge and history about happenings and I’ve been blessed to become friends with him over the past several years.

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An Interview with Loida Velazquez, On How We Can Help the People of Puerto Rico

                        Loida Velazquez

I have been very moved and disturbed with the horrific carnage that Hurricane Maria left on the people of Puerto Rico. Like many Americans I’ve been wondering what I can do to help the efforts that are being done to help alleviate some of the pain the people there are feeling.

My good friend Loida Velazquez, who is very active in the community in Knoxville, was born in Puerto Rico and is leading local East Tennessee efforts to support the people there. I interviewed her to get her take on the situation and what we can do to help.

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Does Sam Have ESP?

                Sam Brooks

Lately I’ve been taking Samuel, my almost three year old mischievous Golden Retriever Lab mix  to Ijam’s Nature Center, located in South Knoxville, for both of us to get some exercise.

The good thing about Ijams is you can go for decent walks in the shade on their over 12 miles of trails, and thus paws don’t get burnt like they do on hot concrete sidewalks.

I think Sam has ESP (Extra Sensory Perception)- earlier today I began to prepare for our trip to Ijams, and without me making a move for the leash he began to act excitedly as if he knew we would be heading on a trip, doing his characteristic jumping on me with the “placement of the paws.”

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Getting Chased by Quicken Loans

 

The house I currently live in we bought in 2012, and the mortgage lender I used at that time sold the loan to Quicken Loans, and since then that is the company I pay my monthly payments to.

About once every three months, I get phone solicitations from Quicken with offers of a “mortgage upgrade” option that they’d like to present to me.

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