January 2017 Murfreesboro Pulse

LIVING

JAN. 2017 / VOL. 12, ISSUE 1 / FREE

A list of local fitness venues that could be a good fit for you

NEWS Residents may soon pay more for trash disposal

Middle Tennessee’s Source for Art, Entertainment and Culture News

Ongoing Series PART VI

NAVIGATING THE LOCAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Watercolors of Carol Curtis

Inside 940

This month at the Center for the Arts

IN MUSIC

AYE MAMMOTH, MAD GEAR, DUELING DULCIMERS, ROOT ROAD, JEANNIE SEELY, TICKET BOTS & MORE!

Features On the cover and below: Artwork by Carol Curtis

WORD FROM THE EDITOR A SINCERE THANKS TO ALL for your continued

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16

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FEATURES

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BATTLING THE BOTS

Obama signs ticket bot bill into law, but will it be enough to combat pricegouging scalpers?

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WATERCOLORS

BY CAROL CURTIS

Center for the Arts hosts colorful exhibit in gallery this month.

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Murfreesboro residents to soon begin paying $5 monthly fee for trash collection services.

Martial arts training can be fun and beneficial for the whole family.

Murfreesboro fitness venues: Find a gym, CrossFit, yoga or martial arts program that fits you.

PICKING UP THE TAB

8 Publisher/ Editor in Chief: Bracken Mayo

Art Director: Sarah Mayo Copy Editor: Steve Morley

Advertising: Jeff Brown Don Clark Leslie Russell Yost

Contributors: Dylan Skye Aycock, John Connor Coulston, Tanner Dedmon, Greg Crittenden, Jennifer Durand, Bryce Harmon, Joseph Kathmann, Kevin McDaniel, Zach Maxfield, Edwina Shannon, Jay Spight, Andrea Stockard, Sam Stockard, Norbert Thiemann; Phil Valentine

FITNESS IN MARTIAL ARTS

GET FIT

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To carry the PULSE at your business, or submit letters, stories and photography: bracken@boropulse.com 10 N. Public Square, Murfreesboro, TN 37130 (615) 796-6248

Copyright © 2017, The Murfreesboro Pulse, 10 N. Public Square, Murfreesboro, TN 37130.

Proudly owned, operated and published the first Thursday of each month by the Mayo family; printed by Franklin Web Printing Co. The Murfreesboro Pulse is a free publication funded by our advertisers. Views expressed in the Pulse do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. ISSN: 1940-378X

Sign up to receive our weekly digital newsletter at BoroPulse.com/Newsletter

support of the Pulse.

Since we launched our first issue in January of 2006, many, many members of the Murfreesboro community have voiced their support for the little Middle Tennessee entertainment and culture publication in the digital age, reading each issue, providing feedback on our coverage, sharing the publication with friends and family, visiting our sponsors.

And today, from the halls of Forrest York Guitars to the enthusiastic crowds in Sam’s Sports Grill, from the tranquil sanctuary of the Nurture Nook to the rocking sounds emanating from The Boro late at night, from the buffets of Chef Wang’s to the climbing walls of the Ascent, the calls are clear: we want the Pulse! (I have seen the mountaintop!)

Oh yeah, happy MLK Day this month. Try and judge all of those you encounter based on the content of their character, and not on the surface differences that may first appear to divide.

It always means a lot when someone says that because of the Pulse they discovered Uncle Dave Macon Days, MexiVen, a 5K, an art exhibit, a play, a band, a waterfall, a ministry, an ice cream parlor, a gardening workshop, a business or person or anything at all that adds enjoyment to their lives or brightens their family’s day.

Here, in this edition, the Pulse lists some of the area’s fitness-oriented establishments for your use in achieving your fitness goals in 2017. Surely, one of these organizations in town fits your unique personality and lifestyle and can help you make yourself the best you can be.

Also, do take advantage of all of the parks in the area.

They are there for your health and enjoyment.

You may often feel like you do not have the time to exercise, but I can almost guarantee that if you take some time to walk, stretch, climb, bike, lift, pull-up, play tennis or disc golf or just get some sunshine and fresh air for a moment, you will be glad you decided to do so.

Let’s see, 2016 recap in brief: the bustling town of Murfreesboro continues to grow, Prince, Bowie and Leonard Cohen are gone; Pokemon Go came and went; and somehow the American people elected Donald Trump as the new fearless leader.

There are plenty of ways that we can all work together to make the USA a better place, but after my limited research–not that I’ve been to many other countries in person—it very well may be the best country in the world.

I’d say it’s certainly in the running for the top spot, in the top 10 percent for sure. Yes, there is a risk of mass violence in the U.S.; yes, there is plenty of political and social disagreement; yes, the gap is widening between the 1 percenters and the middle class and the impoverished; yes, there are many people who are locked up or in the criminal justice system that probably do not deserve to be; yes, addiction and mental illness are wrecking many lives and families. But many countries must deal with far worse versions of these challenges than the U.S. Keep your head on a swivel. There’s not as much protection for the “defenseless” in real life as there now is on the football field.

May your 2017 be filled with music, good health, family and laughter. And in case your actual reality isn’t all that great, virtual reality is right around the corner.

Peace, BRACKEN MAYO Publisher/Editor in Chief BOROPULSE.COM

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Contents

10 IN EVERY ISSUE

5

Events

A NOD TO OUR TALENTED WRITERS

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Sounds

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Maudlin – Self-pityingly or tearfully sentimental, often through drunkenness Incredulity – Disbelief; the state of being unwilling or unable to believe something Abscond – To leave hurriedly and secretly, typically to avoid detection of or arrest for an unlawful action

Part VI—Lower 940 BUSINESS BUZZ

Helen’s Hot Chicken, Outpost Armory, Jug Creek Distillery, My 4 Dogs and more.

ALBUM REVIEWS

Aye Mammoth; The Mad Gear MUSIC NOTES

Old Time Jam Series at Mayday, Dueling Dulcimers, Root Road, Jeannie Seely appears on The Justin Reed Show, and more!

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Officers did not follow policy during April 2016 arrests at Hobgood Elementary.

RESTAURANT REVIEW

LIVING ...

EXCEPTIONALLY WELL

I Love Juice Bar RECIPE

Get grounded.

Brussels Sprouts with Walnut Gremolata

VIEWS OF A CONSERVATIVE

Art

Hillary lost more electors than did Trump.

EXHIBITS

POST ELECTION Q & A WITH STATE REP. BRYAN TERRY

Nature photos by Spears McAllester THEATER

Republican sees Trump election as good for state rights.

Rumors brings some mystery to MLT.

MOVIES

Allied; Passengers LIVING ROOM CINEMA

The Free Press GAME

Final Fantasy XV

Opinion THE STOCKARD REPORT

Food

Reviews

News NAVIGATING THE SYSTEM

LOCAL CONCERTS

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Those who follow his critiques of film know that each review should generally contain at least one instance of a gem of an uncommon word that could require even the most cunning of linguists to reach for the trusty old dictionary (or hit the modern merriam-webster.com).

Dearth – A scarcity or lack of something

Hip Hop at the Block, Honeyboy and Boots, Resurrection (Journey Tribute), Junkbox and more!

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Murfreesboro Pulse since late ’08.

Here, we explore the definitions of some of the more obscure words found in Spight’s reviews over the years. Enjoy!

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Polar Bear Plunge, Alberta Tolbert book signing, African American Cultural Night and more!

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MR. JAY SPIGHT HAS LOYALLY contributed movie reviews to the

So, the next time you see Jay hanging at Liquid Smoke, or printing shirts over at Worx, tell him you admire his vocabulary—he gets it all the time.

THIS MONTH

6

VOCABULARY TIME WITH THE FILM CRITIC

40

Sports

Kowtow – Grovel; fawn over; act in an excessively subservient manner Trope – Cliché; common figure of speech; commonly recurring literary or rhetorical device Glib – Slick and fluent, but insincere and shallow Macabre – Gruesome; ghastly; grim; emphasizing the symbols of death Penitent – Feeling or expressing humble or regretful pain or sorrow for sins or offenses Insularity – Ignorance of or lack of interest in cultures, ideas, or peoples outside one’s own experience Post-haste – With great speed or immediacy Oeuvre – The works of a painter, composer or author regarded collectively Ideogram – A written character symbolizing the idea of a thing without indicating the sounds used to say it Rife – Of common occurrence, especially of something undesirable or harmful Niggling – Bothersome or persistent in a petty, annoying, uncomfortable way Ingénue – A stock character in literature, film or theatre, generally a girl or a young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome Fustercluck – synonym for X-Men: Days of Future Past Cogently – Appealing forcibly to the mind or reason, having power to compel Paucity – The presence of something only in small or insufficient quantities or amounts

MTSU SPORTS

Aplomb – Self-confidence or assurance, especially when in a demanding situation

SPORTS TALK

Cephalopod – A class of marine animals characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head and a set of arms or tentacles modified from the primitive molluscan foot

Blue Raiders can’t contain Rainbow Warriors offense in Hawaii Bowl.

Peyton, LeBron and the Cubs all had a successful 2016.

Blockcorn popbuster – synonym for Pacific Rim Analogous – Similar, comparable

VISIT US AT BOROPULSE.COM FOR MORE! 4 * JANUARY 2017 * BOROPULSE.COM

Smarmy – Flattering in a way that is perceived as insincere or excessive

Events COMPILED BY

ANDREA STOCKARD

Send event information to murfreesboropulse@yahoo.com

JAN. 10 ALBERTA TOLBERT BOOK SIGNING AT LINEBAUGH Linebaugh Library (105 W. Vine St.) invites everyone to a book signing and selling with local author Alberta Tolbert from 10 a.m.–1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 10, as Tolbert discusses Poppa’s War, published by Wandering in

All Middle Tennessee entrepreneurs and professionals are welcome to attend this casual, no-obligation event, where they can meet other small-business owners and tap into one another’s experience and energy.

An open roundtable discussion will encourage participation from those in attendance, asking them to articulate their vision for their business and calling for examples of some of the business challenges and solutions they are experiencing. The series will continue the third Thursday of each month.

JAN. 21 BEER BREWING CLASS

the Words Press. Tolbert was born and raised in rural Minnesota, the setting of her novel, and the book is a coming-of-age story of the struggles of an 11-year-old girl in post-WWII times. Books are $11 each; for more information, call (615) 893-4131 or visit linebaugh.org.

JAN. 10 RUTHERFORD CABLE MEETING Rutherford CABLE welcomes Schwan Cosmetics Director Holli Montgomery for “Working with What You are Given” at the Stones River Country Club (1830 N.W. Broad St.) from 7:15–9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 10. At the first breakfast meeting of the year, Montgomery communicates that “while no one is in control of life’s occurrences, you can control your reaction to those adverse situations.” Members and guests are welcome. Reservations are available at rutherfordcable.org. Montgomery was appointed Managing Director of Schwan Cosmetics USA in early 2014, and Schwan would go on to celebrate the grand opening of a 173,000-square-foot U.S. headquarters in Murfreesboro. For more information on Rutherford CABLE, call (615) 713-4614 or email mnoblitt@sterlingorganization.com.

JAN. 19 THE CONNECTION, BUSINESS NETWORKING AT MAYDAY The Connection: An Evening of Professional Networking and Business Brainstorming will be held from 5–7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 19, at Mayday Brewery, 521 Old Salem Rd.

Members of the Mid-State Brew Crew lead an interactive discussion and demo on brewing some awesome beers and knowing how to save money without cutting quality at a workshop at Let’s Make Wine (109 E. Main St.) from 11 a.m.–1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21. Make reservations by calling or texting (615) 427-5084. For more information, find a Beer Brewing Class event page from Let’s Make Wine on Facebook.

JAN. 26 AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURAL NIGHT Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation along with Murfreesboro City Schools presents African American Cultural Night at Patterson Park Community Center (521 Mercury Blvd.) from 5–8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26.

The event celebrates our community’s rich African-American history through song, dance and the spoken word. For more information, call (615) 893-7439 or email gjenkins@murfreesborotn.gov.

JAN. 27 SKATE TO HYDRATE FUNDRAISER

JAN. 7 POLAR BEAR PLUNGE Wake up from hibernation and take the plunge at the 15th annual Polar Bear Plunge at the outdoor pool at Sports*Com, 2310 Memorial Blvd. All ages are welcome (children under 18 years must have a release form signed by a parent or guardian).

The event begins at 8:30 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 7, in the gym with an “Arctic Adventure” featuring games, inflatables, coffee, hot chocolate, donuts and registration.

At 10 a.m., everyone can wear their favorite costumes and swimwear as they make their way to the big slides at the outdoor pool with a 40-degree water temperature, before everyone warms up in the heated indoor pool. Commemorative Polar Bear Plunge T-shirts will be available for purchase. Each Polar Bear is asked to bring nonperishable food items to donate to Greenhouse Ministries. For more information, contact (615) 895-5040 or kgoss@murfreesborotn.gov. a music-filled evening as guests listen to Runaway Home perform some familiar classics as well as original songs. Enjoy coffee and good company at the Wilderness Station (697 Veterans Pkwy.) from 6:30–8:30 p.m. For more information, contact (615) 217-3017 or outdoormurfreesboro@murfreesborotn.gov.

FEB. 2 LOCALLY OWNED MURFREESBORO MEMBER MEETING

Blackman High School’s Key Club introduces the Thirst Project to build freshwater wells in developing countries. Join the club for a fundraiser at the Ford Ice Center in Antioch from 7:30–9:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 27. Admission is $10 per person or $6 for anyone under the age of 10. The evening will also include a coat drive for the Salvation Army. For more information, contact cody@ktkey.org.

Locally Owned Murfreesboro invites its members to Cultivate Coworking (107 W. Lytle St.) from 8–9 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, featuring Mayor Shane McFarland speaking about small business in Murfreesboro. Breakfast is provided by Simply Pure Sweets with a Q&A session to follow. Non-members may join Locally Owned Murfreesboro at the event. For more information, find Locally Owned Murfreesboro on Facebook.

JAN. 28

FEB. 7

MUSIC IN THE WILD

PURPLE PAWS

Warm up inside the Wilderness Station for

Let’s Make Wine (109 E. Main St.) hosts

Purple Paws, a monthly fundraising event for specific animal projects, the first Tuesday of each month. For sponsorship opportunities, contact (615) 530-0551 or purplepawstn@gmail.com. The event is from 5–7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 7; admission is $20 at the door and includes wine samples and light appetizers. For more information, visit purplepawstn.org.

SATURDAYS HISTORICAL SOCIETY OPENS RANSOM SCHOOL The Rutherford County Historical Society has opened the Ransom School (717 N. Academy St.) to the public on Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon. Stop by and visit the Rutherford County Historical Society for coffee and conversation. Learn about adventures experienced by those who lived here earlier. Even better, bring your treasured family photos and historical treasures to share with members of the Rutherford County Historical Society.

Leave with a better understanding and appreciation for our past. For more information about visiting or volunteering, visit rutherfordtnhistory.org BOROPULSE.COM

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Concerts

IF YOU GO: Autograph Rehearsal Studio 1400 W College St. 624-2954

Send show listings to Listings@BoroPulse.com View the monthly concert schedule online:

Bird Song Studio 213 West High St., Woodbury 772-6432

BOROPULSE.COM/CONCERTS WED, 1/4

WALL STREET

Ryan “Rooster” Lee

THURS, 1/5

MAYDAY BREWERY

Open Mic Night

NACHO’S MEXICAN RESTAURANT

Ivan LaFever

THE BORO

All Star Jam Hosted

by Stuart Montez

FRI, 1/6

CARMEN’S TAQUERIA

Joe West

COCONUT BAY CAFE

Zone Status

GEORGIA’S SPORTS BAR AND GRILL

Scott Steele Band

MAYDAY BREWERY

Clayton Colvin

THE BLOCK

Fischer's Kitchen, Father Cairo, Driftwood Exile, Ninja Dynamite

SAT, 1/7

COCONUT BAY CAFE

Robert Eskew Experience

GEORGIA’S SPORTS BAR AND GRILL

MAYDAY BREWERY

The Rough & Tumble

THE BLOCK

Carmen’s Taqueria 206 W. Northfield Blvd.

848-9003

MON, 1/9

Coconut Bay Café 210 Stones River Mall Blvd.

494-0504

Oh Grandpa, Erratic Band, Out of Order, Demonbelly

THE BLOCK

Dreamhouse, Castors Hollow, Brad Sativa, Crafter, Ruin

WED, 1/11 TEMPT

Girls Night Out: The Show

THURS, 1/12

MAYDAY BREWERY

Murfreesboro Old Time Jam

NACHO’S MEXICAN RESTAURANT

PULSE

THELMA & THE SLEAZE

SUNDAY, 1/15 @ MAYDAY BREWERY Catch Nashville rockers Thelma and the Sleaze at Mayday Brewery, located at 521 Old Salem Rd, at 8 p.m. Sunday, Jan 15. The scuzzy rock outfit, made up of drummer Chase and singer/guitarist LG, has remained at the forefront of Nashville’s rock scene for its unique approach to DIY rock ’n’ roll. The group’s unrelenting and high-energy stage banter always makes for a lively and rousing show.

Ivan LaFever

FRI, 1/13

CARMEN’S TAQUERIA

Joe West

COCONUT BAY CAFE

DJ TruFx

MAYDAY BREWERY

Everette Brown

NOBODY’S

Marshall Creek

Old Man Oblivion, Trigger

THE BORO

Tinderbox Circus Sideshow, Paige & the Texas Bargoyles

THURS, 1/19

Resurrection (Journey tribute), Celebration Day Band (Led Zeppelin tribute)

COCONUT BAY CAFE MAYDAY BREWERY

THE BORO

Robert Eskew

Joe West

COCONUT BAY CAFE

Karaoke with Hitman Walker

MAIN STREET MUSIC

Rubiks Groove

NOBODY’S

NACHO’S MEXICAN RESTAURANT

MEDIA RERUN

CARMEN’S TAQUERIA

MAYDAY BREWERY

Open Mic Night

SAT, 1/14 DJ RDP

FRI, 1/20

MAYDAY BREWERY

The Mesa Project

MAIN STREET MUSIC

PICK

Ivan LaFever

All Star Jam Hosted

by Stuart Montez

ILLUMINATE

The Hummingbyrds Zone Status

THE BLOCK

Michael Smith a.k.a.

Thrill, Illiminate, TCR, Toy Money, Cloud Colony, Johnny Queso

Honeyboy and Boots

THE BORO

Murder Suicide, Neufound Me, Spacegrass: A Clutch Tribute

MON, 1/23

MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING

Michael Arndt, Adam Clark

FRIDAY, 1/20 @ THE BLOCK

The Block, located at 123 SE Broad St., will host a hip-hop showcase on Friday, Jan. 20, from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. The free event will feature performances by Middle Tennessee-based artists including Thrill (Michael Smith), Illiminate, TCR, Toy Money, Johnny Queso and Cloud Colony, a local alternative hip-hop collective.

6 * JANUARY 2017 * BOROPULSE.COM

Candace Brown, Kristen Ford, Robert Sieben’s Sidecar Sazerac

MAYDAY BREWERY

Alexis Taylor

MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING

Hammer Time! Dueling Dulcimers from China and Appalachians

THURS, 1/26

MAYDAY BREWERY

Murfreesboro Old Time Jam

MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING

Avital Handler

NACHO’S MEXICAN RESTAURANT

Ivan LaFever

THE BORO

Open Fields, The Pills, Earl Burrows, Kyler Daron

Green Dragon 714 W. Main St. 801-7171 Handlebars 2601 E. Main St. 890-5661 Liquid Smoke #2 Public Square 217-7822 Main Street Music 527 W. Main St. 440-2425 Mayday Brewery 521 Old Salem Hwy. 479-9722 MTSU Wright Music Building 1439 Faulkinberry Dr. 898-2469

Junkbox

Nacho’s 2962 S. Rutherford Blvd.

907-2700

Sweet Cheeks, The Right Swipes, Geisha Facade, Echoes And Amplifiers

Nobody’s Grille & BBQ 2227 Old Fort Pkwy.

962-8019

THE BLOCK

Jesse Kramer

HIP HOP SHOWCASE

Graham Anthem Band

THE BORO

SAT, 1/21

MAYDAY BREWERY

PICK

Joe West

COCONUT BAY CAFE

NOBODY’S

COCONUT BAY CAFE

PULSE

CARMEN’S TAQUERIA

THE BORO

1/2 Watt Astronaut

TOY MONEY

FRI, 1/27

Georgia’s Sports Bar 555 S. Lowry St., Smyrna 267-0295

SAT, 1/28

COCONUT BAY CAFE

My July Band

MAIN STREET MUSIC

Slippery When Wet (Bon Jovi tribute)

MAYDAY BREWERY

Andrew White

Tempt 211 W. Main St. 225-7757 The Alley 223 W. Main St. 203-3498

MTSU Horn Day

The Block 123 SE Broad St. 393-9935

Third Motion, Foreign Birds, Fischers Kitchen

The Boro Bar & Grill 1211 Greenland Dr. 895-4800

MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING THE BORO

SUN, 1/29

MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING

Charles Asche

TUES, 1/31

MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING

Emily Bowland

The Wheel 534 SE Broad St. 295-2862 Wall Street 121 N. Maple St. 867-9090

ENTERTAINMENT

DJ, BINGO, TRIVIA & KARAOKE NIGHTS  MONDAYS

NOBODY’S Trivia, 7 and 9:30 p.m.

MT BOTTLE Karaoke, 9 p.m.–3 a.m.

PHAT BOYZ Karaoke, 7 p.m.

PHAT BOYZ Karaoke, 8 p.m.

LEVEL III Trivia, 7 p.m.

SAM’S SPORTS GRILL Trivia, 8 p.m.

WHISKEY DIX DJ Cliffy D, 8 p.m.

THE BORO Vinyl Spin with KM 9 p.m.

STATION GRILL Trivia, 7 p.m.

 SATURDAYS

 TUESDAYS

THE BORO Game Night, 8 p.m.

AHART’S PIZZA GARDEN Trivia, 6:30 p.m.

HANDLEBARS Karaoke, 7 p.m.

CAMPUS PUB Karaoke, 10 p.m.–2:30 a.m.

 THURSDAYS

LA SIESTA (CHURCH ST.) Karaoke, 6 p.m.

NACHO’S Trivia, 7 p.m.

CAMPUS PUB Trivia, 6:15 and 8:15 p.m.

NACHOS Trivia, 7 p.m.

OLD CHICAGO Trivia, 9 p.m.

COCONUT BAY Karaoke, 8:00 p.m.

NOBODY’S Karaoke, 9:15 p.m.–12:30 a.m.

TGI FRIDAY’S Trivia, 9 p.m.

HANDLEBARS Karaoke, 7 p.m.

WHISKEY DIX DJ Cliffy D, 8 p.m.

 WEDNESDAYS

NOBODY’S Karaoke, 9:15 p.m.–12:30 a.m.

 SUNDAYS

CAMPUS PUB Karaoke, 10 p.m.–2:30 a.m.

HANDLEBARS Karaoke, 7 p.m.

MELLOW MUSHROOM Trivia, 8 p.m.

WHISKEY DIX DJ Cliffy D, 8 p.m.

MAYDAY Trivia, DJ, 7 p.m.

 FRIDAYS

O’POSSUMS Trivia, 8 p.m.

LIQUID SMOKE DJ Night, 10 p.m.

SAM’S SPORTS GRILL Trivia, 8 p.m.

BOROPULSE.COM

* JANUARY 2017 * 7

Sounds

Read more about local music at

BoroPulse.com/Category/Music

FOO FIGHTERS BY HAYLEY MADDEN; ERIC CHURCH BY JOHN PEETS; OBAMA BY JOHN CONNOR COULSTON

PERHAPS MUSIC FANS WILL

be able to breathe a little easier when buying high-profile concert and event tickets in 2017, thanks to the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act of 2016. On Dec. 14, President Obama signed the bill into law, which makes the practice of using certain software to purchase large quantities of event tickets illegal. It makes the scalping of tickets bought this way illegal, as well.

This sigh of relief is much needed for the greater Nashville area after numerous highprofile shows over the last few years have been plagued by scalping issues. Nashville is becoming an increasingly popular city to stage last-minute secret shows and special engagements that are often more coveted than your average show, which means big business for scalpers.

One thing that remains to be seen is how these ticket scalping laws will actually be enforced. Jurisdiction is given to the Federal Trade Commission to enforce the BOTS Act, but it’s uncertain how aggressively they will pursue cases. It’s easy to see how they’d need cooperation with a resell giant like StubHub, which may be less than willing to see their cuts from bot scalpers disappear.

You could also see Ticketmaster join the fight by massively upping security features (beyond dated captcha pop-ups) to prevent these bots from gaining access in the first place. However, that seems unlikely, as they instead decided to get a cut of the scalping profits. You can now resell your own tickets on Ticketmaster and mark up the prices as much as you’d like.

Furthermore, run-of-the-mill small-time scalpers will easily go under the radar. With this system, we will still see people purchasing maximum amount of tickets through the normal means but then turning around and posting them on Craigslist, StubHub, Ticketmaster and the like.

So with all these moving parts, there’s really one entity that can curb scalping efforts: the artists themselves.

“The people that are scalping these tickets are the equivalent of crime rings, basically,” country star Eric Church told The Tennessean in 2014. “They’re using bots. They’re using automation. It’s not fair. It’s not that these people are saying, ‘I’m going to buy a ticket, mark it up and sell it.’ They’re buying 1,000 tickets and turning it into a criminal business. It’s no different than the mafia.”

Church, along with other artists such as 8 * JANUARY 2017 * BOROPULSE.COM

FOO FIGHTERS

FEDS BATTLE BOTS

Ticket bot legislation signed into law, but will it be enough to stop scalping?

STORY BY JOHN CONNOR COULSTON

Bruce Springsteen, Adele and Miley Cyrus, has taken the fight against scalpers into his own hands. He decided that ticket holders had to use a photo ID to get into his shows. That made scalping virtually impossible, unless scalpers accompanied the buyer to the venue.

A similar battle came to the Nashville

front in a much publicized way in 2014, when Foo Fighters came to Nashville for a surprise performance at Ryman Auditorium. Obviously, the arena-sized demand for the theatre-sized show was rough enough, but fans lashed out, saying scalpers and bots were to blame when numerous tickets

ERIC CHURCH

popped up online immediately after.

The band caught wind of this and instilled a photo ID policy upon entry to the venue, much like Church did on his tour.

They may not have deterred scalpers up front, but they were going to make them pay for it in the end.

I experienced the effects of this firsthand, as I was lucky enough to get tickets to the show.

As I sat down for the show I noticed several out-of-place-looking figures with several empty seats around them, even as the show started. I found this odd. Who would want to miss such a coveted show if they had tickets? As the night went on, I realized that many of these concertgoers were not actually fond of the Foo Fighters, but were scalpers who got screwed.

You see, aside from them being bored during the entire show, you can tell that they didn’t care about the event when they left four or five songs through one of the best concerts the Ryman’s ever seen. While I was glad to see these people go home with their tails between their legs, I wish fans were sitting in their places instead.

When the Foo Fighters came back for the next year, they wanted to face these problems up front. They set up a “Beat the Bots” presale at which fans were only able to buy tickets in person at the box office in order to cut out ticket scalpers and their respective computing programs. For those fans who went to the show, they thought it was a resounding success.

So, while this new legislation is welcome, it may not be the deterrent we need. Hopefully more high-profile artists will take the steps Foo Fighters, Church and company have taken to curb these scalping efforts.

From the BOTS Act of 2016:

“It shall be unlawful for any person . . . to circumvent a security measure, access control system, or other technological control or measure on an Internet website or online service that is used by the ticket issuer to enforce posted event ticket purchasing limits or to maintain the integrity of posted online ticket purchasing order rules”

ROOT ROAD INVITES LISTENERS TO ‘COME ALIVE’ Root Road, the upbeat Murfreesboro band with an unashamed Christian message, will release a new single, “Come Alive,” this month.

Made up of three brothers, John, Anthony and Nathaniel Gilkes, Root Road aims to entertain its audiences, but says delivering a Spirit-filled message that gets listeners thinking about a spiritual connection with Christ is the higher aim.

The joyfully rocking “Come Alive” sounds twangy, funky and straightforward rock ’n’ roll all at once, with a message reminding others that there is a higher level of happy living than pills or physical love can deliver. The song will be available on Jan. 7 through rootroad.com and on other online outlets shortly after.

MUSIC NOTE

BOROPULSE.COM

* JANUARY 2017 * 9

Sounds

Read more about local music at

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MUSIC NOTES

MTSU’S CENTER FOR CHINESE MUSIC AND CULTURE HOSTS DUELING DULCIMERS

JEANNIE SEELY, SNARE AND LANDIS AMONG JANUARY GUESTS FOR THE JUSTIN REED SHOW IT IS TIME TO GET “Back in the Saddle Again” as we start the eleventh season of The Justin Reed Show this January. As we start the new year, the great music continues!

ON JAN. 5, 2017, the show will welcome back Grand Ole Opry star and Grammy-winning

Two acclaimed hammer dulcimer performers will go head to head at MTSU on Jan. 27. The event, labeled as Hammer Time! Dueling Dulcimers from China and Appalachians, will see Chinese hammer dulcimer master Yuening Liu from Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music meet her American equivalent, David Mahler, a Nashville-based instrumentalist and hammer dulcimer national champion. The fast-paced performance will take place on MTSU’s campus at the Hinton Music Hall from 7:30–9 p.m.

— DYLAN SKYE AYCOCK

JEANNIE SEELY

to the show at 8 a.m.

This year is looking to be an awesome year for Seely, who will celebrate her 50th year as a member of the Opry in 2017 and will release her newest album, Written in Song, on Jan. 13. This new album features Seely singing songs she has written that became hits in versions recorded by other artists (“Leavin’ & Sayin’ Goodbye,” “Senses,” “Life of a Rodeo Cowboy,” and 11 others.

For more information, visit jeannieseely.com.

MURFREESBORO OLD TIME JAM SERIES AT MAYDAY Grab your banjo and head out to Mayday Brewery on Thursday, Jan. 12, for the inaugural Old Time Jam, a new all-ages, all-skill-level traditional music gathering. The event, slated to take place the second and fourth Thursday of each month, will focus on pre-1940s old-time, string band, jug band, country and blues music. Each gathering will meet from 6-8 p.m at 521 Old Salem Rd. Event organizers ask for acoustic instruments only. — DYLAN SKYE AYCOCK

AT 9 A.M., the very talented Hallie Long will drop by the show and play live. Long, an Alabama native, made the move to Nashville to pursue a career in country music—and she is making great advances.

Long is in the process of recording new music for later this year. She will discuss her life and her music and play some of her favorite songs. For more information, visit hallielongmusic.com.

JAN. 12 will reunite some frequent guests on the show.

At 9 a.m., Matthew Snare and Jake Landis will be in town and will drop by the show to play live. Snare has been on the show an amazing seven times, and Landis is making his second appearance. Both from the great state of Virginia, they bring a state full of tradition when they play together. Snare also hosts a songwriter’s night at the Hotel Preston on a weekly basis. They will play live and there is a good chance I will break out the washboards and play along. For more information, search @snareandlandis on Facebook.

Guests for Jan. 19 and Jan. 26 have not confirmed; however, the best way to see the most up-to-date calendar is to visit thejustinreedshow.com.

INDIE-ROCK ARTIST KRISTEN FORD PERFORMS AT THE BORO BAR AND GRILL JAN. 27 Nashville indie-rock artist Kristen Ford is touring her latest album, Rend & Render, across the country with an upcoming stop at The Boro Bar and Grill, 1211 Greenland Dr., on Friday, Jan. 27. The singer/songwriter, self-described as a “one-woman looping band,” plays guitar and drums in addition to layering harmonies and melodies. Since releasing her first album in 2009, Ford’s made touring a priority with shows in 46 states and six countries. Expect an eclectic live show that fuses indie, folk and blues with a side of rock ’n’ roll. The free, 21-and-up show will begin at 10 p.m.

— DYLAN SKYE AYCOCK 10 * JANUARY 2017 * BOROPULSE.COM

IN MARCH (Lord willing) I will travel to New York City to attend the 77th Annual International Conference from the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System. It is with great honor and surprise that I have been awarded a Golden Microphone for “Best Celebrity Interview” from interviewing Dolly Parton back in March. (The full interview can be heard at thejustinreedshow.com/dolly) All of this has been to say a massive “thank you” to every reader and listener of the show. It would not be nearly as fun without you. Here’s hoping you can tune in this next Thursday starting at 6 a.m. for the Warm Up Show, with The Justin Reed Show from 7–10 a.m. on 88.3 FM WMTS, thejustinreedshow.com, and now on the TuneIn App!

Peace, Love, and Ernest Tubb, — JUSTIN REED

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ALBUMS

BY JOHN CONNOR COULSTON

AYE MAMMOTH

THE MAD GEAR

Aye Mammoth’s new EP, Venomous Bones, was being recorded as we were reviewing the band’s third album, Lightning and Hellfire. And now, as they’re already preparing their follow-up full-length, Beast Infernal, we at the Pulse are sinking our teeth into this six-track effort.

The local hard-rock trio of vocalist/guitarist Micah Loyed, drummer Phil Stem and bassist Paul Haggard is back with a fast and hard-hitting release that taps into the classic-rock influences on their previous album while not leaving their sludge-metal roots too far behind.

Just like on Lightning and Hellfire, Venomous Bones kicks off with a dramatic, grand instrumental featuring a superb guitar melody that—while different from their primary styles—is a fantastic and unexpectedly elegant composition for such a heavy group.

The core of the EP then gets underway with “Ultranaut.” This just-under-three-minute cut features a driving, distorted riff, vocals that lie somewhere between Lou Reed and Ozzy Osbourne and an interestingly epic guitar solo fit for Guitar Hero. If that weren’t enough, the tail end of the track features an uptempo snippet that’s just begging to be fleshed out into a visceral rocker of its own.

The following two tracks (the bluesy, Deep Purple-like “Ocean Astral” and “Wyrmwitch”) feature some killer solos as well. Despite being brief, the solos on Venomous Bones are the best ones on a local release in 2016.

Closing out the EP are “Black Blood” and the outro instrumental “Testament of the Doom Slayer.” The latter sees the group embracing some of the fuzzy garage-rock tendencies that have been popularized by Nashville rock bands such as JEFF the Brotherhood, and they succeed tremendously. It’s definitely a sound Aye Mammoth should try out more frequently.

The only drawback with this fast and digestible listen would be the fact that, because all the instrumentals and vocal tones are just so good, the lyrics really get lost in the frenzy. Besides that, this is another strong outing from the band, and it’ll be interesting to see if any of these newly embraced styles show up on their next project.

Aye Mammoth’s Venomous Bones EP is available on Bandcamp, YouTube and Soundcloud.

While The Protomen may currently hold the ’Boro’s high score when it comes to video game-inspired tunes, a new challenger is approaching in the form of The Mad Gear, a five-piece instrumental nerdcore band, whose debut album is filled with nostalgia for anyone who played video games in the ’90s.

The band’s main inspiration is the beat ’em up game Final Fight, with the band taking its name from the antagonistic gang in the series.

The basic premise of The Mad Gear Must Pay is that the gang is roaming the streets causing havoc until they take a psychedelic detour. This concept is told through spoken-word interludes throughout the album, spaced between abridged covers of famous video game scores. The band covers pieces from classics such as Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Donkey Kong Country 2, Chrono Trigger and Star Fox. There are two levels for enjoying this album: from a gamer’s perspective and a simply musical perspective. Musically, they picked some strong compositions to reinterpret. The originally wellcrafted pieces are given a new flair by the band, who recorded the songs primarily on real instruments with very little editing.

Unfortunately, the album’s story-based concept impairs the enjoyment of the record. It starts out strong, but eventually the plot wavers, and it makes me just want the album to be streamlined without having to hear the many, many interludes. However, the interludes do make for some fun nods to the source materials, such as the famed Star Fox phrase “do a barrel roll!” and Diddy Kong’s laugh from DK2.

That nostalgia factor is what drives this album home, from a video game lover’s perspective. Personally I smiled ear to ear when the Donkey Kong cover “Stickerbrush Symphony” came on, bringing back fond memories of playing my Super Nintendo.

That extra level of enjoyment really pushes The Mad Gear Must Pay into something more than a simple instrumental rocker. The Mad Gear Must Pay is available on the band’s Bandcamp page.

Venomous Bones

A CLASSIC OUTSTANDING 12 * JANUARY 2017 * BOROPULSE.COM

The Mad Gear Must Pay

AVERAGE BELOW AVERAGE

AVOID AT ALL COSTS DEAD

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Food

Read more about local restaurants at

BoroPulse.com/Category/Food

Happy

Juice

YEAR

Murfreesboro I Love Juice Bar brings a healthy, all-natural alternative to town.

STORY AND PHOTOS

BY DYLAN SKYE AYCOCK

N

ew Year’s resolutions are often health-based, with fitness, healthy eating and weight loss among the most desired outcomes for the upcoming year. If one or more of these resolutions top your list, it’s time to start rounding up some local establishments that cater to a healthy lifestyle.

One of the healthy options in Murfreesboro is I Love Juice Bar, a smoothie, juice and juice cleanse destination located at The Gateway Village on Thompson Lane.

It opened in 2016 and is one of many Juice Bar locations to come from the Tennesseebased company.

Murfreesboro’s Juice Bar—owned by Franklin resident Anthony Anderson—presents a simple aesthetic: patrons are met with a whiff of fresh fruit upon entering and the pulsing sound of Top 40 hits pervades the store. The natural light and wood tables welcome business or casual meet-ups or perhaps an alternative study spot for students during the day.

You’ll likely run into Anderson, a former engineer, while stopping by, as he isn’t the type of business owner who stakes out in 14 * JANUARY 2017 * BOROPULSE.COM

the back of the store. He arrives early, greets everyone with a warm smile, engages in conversation and offers suggestions to new customers.

“I left corporate America to do volunteer work without the pressure of working a day job,” he says, adding that he discovered I Love Juice Bar during this time period. “I can’t say that I originally set out to open a juice bar or nutrition place, but I’m happy to say it all worked out in the end.”

The juices and smoothies are vegetarian,

gluten-free and made with natural ingredients. For health-conscious customers, there’s no added sugar other than what’s naturally in the fruit. When people approach the counter with uncertainty, Anderson says he usually offers two suggestions.

“I’ll ask, ‘Do you want something that feels healthy or do you want something fun . . . something fruity or sweet that you’d want as a kid,’” Anderson says.

He suggests starting the day off with Orange You Glad, a carrot-based juice with

apple, pineapple, lemon, ginger and mint that’s popular among regulars, or Sweet Greens (apple, kale, cucumber, parsley, lemon and spinach), another favored juice.

If you want something with a little bite, opt for the Mean Greens juice, which is basically Fresh Greens (celery, kale, spinach, cucumber, parsley and lemon) with added jalapeño.

Transitioning to smoothies, Mint to Be offers a surge of freshness with hints of mint, mango, pineapple, coconut milk and apple juice. The Doc, Anderson’s favorite, contains all the essentials including spinach, kale, juiced apple, ginger, mint, strawberries, blueberries, mixed berries, banana and a dose of spirulina and probiotics for good measure.

For those with a sweet tooth, try the Berry Good and Very Strawberry smoothies. And if you really want something that reminds you of a simpler time, try the PB&J (peanut butter, banana, strawberry, flax oil and apple juice).

To the adventurous spirits: there’s a mix your own option which allows customers to choose a base (carrot, cucumber or celery), two add-ins (apple, kale, spinach, ginger, lemon, beets, pineapple, jalapeño or garlic), along with the choice of parsley or cilantro, if interested. This is also possible for smoothies, with an apple juice, coconut milk or almond milk base and various fruits.

There are also a few food items on the menu, including daily soup specials (tomato basil, black bean, red lentil and butternut squash), salads and spring rolls. Like the juices and smoothies, many of the ingredients are organic.

Juice Bar also offers various juice cleanses, with many patrons opting for one-, two- or three-day cleanses with the option to keep going after the third day. Anderson says a cleanse provides an immune system boost, increased energy and an overall detox.

He adds that customers often seek out juice cleanses as a solution to weight loss, and says he’s even dropped some weight

 RECIPE

Brussels Sprouts Done Right

BY KEVIN McDANIEL I THINK IT IS FAIR TO SAY Brussels sprouts have taken their place at the table.

Whether you decide to sauté up some mushrooms and toss them together or shred them thin for use in a slaw, Brussels sprouts are incredibly versatile. Brussels sprouts’ history of consumption could reach back to as early as the 13th century, but certainly to the 16th century. In any case, since they are in the cabbage family they can be treated as such.

When I make a dish of Brussels, or anything for that matter, flavor and texture are indispensable. Brussels sprouts have a bitterness that pairs well with honey.

When blanched and sautéed, the sprouts’ bitterness transforms to an ethereal blend of natural caramelization anchored by delicate earth.

I have made this recipe for several years, and it is always well received.

The Dish since he began juicing. But frequent visits to Juice Bar shouldn’t be the only step in a fitness regimen, he notes.

“Think of juicing as one of the first steps” he says. “It helps take pressure off the stomach, but other things like exercising and eating right also contribute to weight loss.”

In addition to living a healthy lifestyle, Anderson operates Juice Bar with three goals in mind: to “provide excellent customer service, mentor the youth and keep a steady passion for community service and outreach.” He stays true to the latter goal by raising money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, GraceWorks Ministries and the Miracle Field, a rubberized baseball field that will accommodate wheelchairs and other walking devices at McKnight Park this spring.

NAME

I Love Juice Bar

Brussels sprouts are best during the winter months. Fortunately, Tennessee has a season for every vegetable. When spring comes along, feel free to replace the sprouts in this recipe with asparagus, or with yellow squash in the summer, experimenting with flavors to accompany.

LOCATION

804 N. Thompson Lane, Suite 1J PHONE

(615) 203-6900 HOURS

Mon.–Fri.: 7 a.m.–6 p.m., Sat.: 8 a.m.–4 COST

Sweet Greens Juice (apple, kale, cucumber, parsley, spinach and lemon): $6 Orange You Glad Juice (carrot, apple, pineapple, lemon, ginger and mint): $7 The Doc Smoothie (apple, spinach, kale, ginger, mint, strawberries, blueberries, mixed berries, banana, spirulina, probiotics): $9.75 Spring rolls: $5.95 ONLINE

ilovejuicebar.com

Brussels Sprouts with Walnut Gremolata INGREDIENTS: Gremolata: 1 Serrano pepper, thinly sliced 1 lemon, zested 2 cups of parsley, washed and chopped 1 cup of walnuts, toasted and chopped 1 tsp. lemon juice 1 ½ tsp. quality olive oil 3 cloves garlic, minced Pinch of salt Pinch of cracked pepper Brussels: 1 pound Brussels sprouts 1 tbsp. dark Balsamic vinegar 1 cup bacon, julienned ½ tbsp. butter ½ tsp. olive oil

DIRECTIONS: 1 Combine all ingredients for the gremolata in a bowl.

2 Heat a pot of salted water

over high heat. Have a bowl of ice water ready to shock the Brussels sprouts when done. Shocking helps to retain texture, flavor and color

3 Slice your Brussels sprouts down the center, lengthwise.

4 When the water comes to a

boil, drop in the sprouts to blanch.

This will take about 30–45 seconds. Do not overcook to mush!

You are going to sauté them, and overcooking them will cause you to have sprout soup.

5 When a knife or fork can easily

pierce the vegetable, remove the Brussels sprouts from the boiling water and plunge immediately into your ice water. Drain them.

6 In a pan, on medium heat, com-

bine butter and olive oil. When it is almost smoking, add bacon and cook until golden brown. Add Brussels sprouts and sauté for 30–45 seconds. Do not burn them!

7 Take the pan off the stove and add balsamic vinegar.

8 Combine the Brussels Sprouts

and gremolata in a bowl. Serve immediately.

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Art  EXHIBIT

WATERCOLORS BY CAROL CURTIS FEATURED AT CENTER FOR THE ARTS MURFREESBORO’S CENTER FOR THE ARTS hosts an art exhibit from Murfreesboro resident Carol Curtis through Jan. 24.

Curtis says she enjoys oil and pencil work, but that her passion is watercolor and that she aims to “capture the essence of still life and botanicals in exquisite detail.”

Her colorful watercolors feature plenty of fruits and flowers in a haze of vibrant natural tones.

Curtis, a former Hyatt employee, also works in needlepoint, and her needlepoint designs were commissioned to grace the White House Christmas tree in 1997.

Center for the Arts is located at 110 W. College St. For more information on art by Carol Curtis, visit carolcurtisart.com.

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 ART EXHIBIT

STUNNING NATURE PHOTOS BY SPEARS McALLESTER ON DISPLAY AT CITY HALL

T

HE NEXT ART EXHIBIT SHOWN AT THE MURFREESBORO CITY HALL Rotunda features the photography work of Spears McAllester. The gallery will display the collection Jan. 9–Feb. 13, with a reception coinciding with the Boro Art Crawl on Friday, Feb. 10, from 6–9 p.m.

McAllester’s beautiful work captures images of nature from various places he’s traveled all over the world.

“I have been an enthusiastic hiker, backpacker and admirer of the natural world as a source of balance in our often hectic lives since I was a teenager. A camera has been a standard part of my hiking and backpacking equipment for over 35 years, but until 2011 was used more for personal ‘documentation’ of my trips to beautiful places such as the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Sierras and the Swiss Haute Route than for serious photography,” says McAllester. “I decided to pursue fine art digital landscape photography in 2010, after a trip to Torres del Paine in Chile.

A February 2011 ‘Winter Light’ workshop in Yosemite Valley taught by professional photographer Keith Walklet led me to a new appreciation of the subtleties and beauty of light, and a passion to capture and share images of our wonderful natural world with others. My hope is that these images give voice to the beauty of nature and allow the viewer to appreciate and discover more of the world around them.”

McAllester is a native of Chattanooga, and he holds a Master of Science degree in biomedical engineering from Vanderbilt. He was the Director of Clinical Engineering at Erlanger Health System in Chattanooga from 1985 to 2015, when he retired to spend more time on his photography.

For more on Spears McAllester, visit photographybyspears.com. Murfreesboro City Hall is located at 111 W. Vine St. and is open from 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m. on weekdays.

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 THEATER

RUMORS BRINGS SOME MYSTERY TO MLT

M

urfreesboro Little Theatre is proud to present Rumors, from the Tony award-winning writer Neil Simon, this January.

On the eve of Charley and Myra Brock’s 10th wedding anniversary, a party is thrown with their closest friends invited to join in the celebration. But as the guests begin to arrive, it quickly becomes clear that things are not as they should be: the hostess is missing, the host has been shot, the food in the kitchen is uncooked and the help is nowhere to be found! First to arrive and discover the disaster, Ken and Chris Gorman do their best to protect Charley from certain scandal, attempting to keep the others from realizing that anything is amiss. But their lies get away from them once the other guests start to arrive and more and more secrets begin

to come out. It soon becomes clear that a superficial gunshot wound may be the least of their troubles!

Directed by Lacy Alex DeHoff, the cast features Rob DeHoff, Elizabeth Gass, Joseph Bican, Jess Townsend, RJ Polito, Lora Langford, JT Powers, KT Turner, Lisa Kathryn Bunn and Lee Allen.

Rumors opens on Jan. 13 and continues for two weekends through January 22, with a Thursday evening performance on Jan. 19. Thursday, Friday and Saturday performances begin at 7 p.m., and Sunday matinees begin at 2 p.m.

Due to strong language, this show is not recommended for young children.

MLT is located at 702 Ewing Blvd. For reservations or more information, visit mltarts.com or call (615) 893-9825.

 ALSO SHOWING THIS MONTH

ALICE: A WONDER FULL NEW MUSICAL JAN. 13–29 @ CENTER FOR THE ARTS

This original pop/rock opera version is like no Alice you’ve ever seen—it’s a “wonder-filled” musical full of surprises and twists on the classic story.

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Living

Some homeowners agree

PICKING UP THE TAB Murfreesboro residents to soon begin paying $5 monthly trash disposal fee. STORY BY BRACKEN MAYO

T

he City of Murfreesboro will soon require homeowners in the city to pay a monthly $5 waste disposal fee.

The Murfreesboro City Council gave this plan its seal of approval as part of its budgetary vote in July 2016, a move in response to the looming closing of the Middle Point Landfill in Walter Hill.

For years, trash from Murfreesboro and Rutherford County residents went to this landfill, and as part of the agreement for allowing the landfill to operate in the area, Middle Point collected no fees to dispose of trash from its home county.

However, the waste disposal facility estimates it will reach capacity within approximately eight years. At that time, costs for disposing of Murfreesboro’s trash will rise, thus the implementation of the monthly disposal fee now.

“The cost of disposal will increase significantly when the landfill closes,” according to Murfreesboro City Councilman Eddie Smotherman. “The proposed fee will help in covering the cost of preparing for the future, which will most likely involve a trash-to-energy system, a sorting facility, a compacting facility, a trash transporting operation and much more (none of which is cheap). Bottom line is: disposing of trash isn’t free today and it’s going to get more expensive in the future. We are currently studying every option and are open to any ideas you may have in addressing the problem, which isn’t a simple one.”

Smotherman hopes to persuade a group of Murfreesboro residents, many of whom exhibited displeasure with the additional fee, that even with the waste disposal fee increasing the cost of living for Murfreesboro homeowners, the city keeps taxes and fees to a minimum and does a lot with the funds it collects.

An advisory panel of government and community leaders has formed to hash out some of the details of Murfreesboro’s waste disposal future, but a likely scenario would be to tack the monthly fee onto Murfreesboro water bills, according to city officials.

“At the present time the residents believe that garbage service is free, as they receive no bill for collection or using any of the convenience centers located in the City or County. Changing that perception will be very difficult,” according to a passage 22 * JANUARY 2017 * BOROPULSE.COM

contained in the approved city budget.

Joe Liggett, who lives in Rutherford County outside of the Murfreesboro city limits but owns rental houses within the city limits, said that he feels there is “so much waste” in Murfreesboro city government, and that adding a monthly fee to residents’ water bills would not be a fair move.

“It’s an underhanded, sneaky way for the city to raise property taxes,” but done in such a way that still allows local officials to claim they are not raising property taxes, Liggett said. However, he continues, the $60 a year additional cost would raise the effective property tax paid by more than 20 percent for those who own the least expensive homes in the community.

Jim Crumley, Assistant City Manager with the City of Murfreesboro, took the time to answer some questions from the Pulse on the $5 fee, and what the next steps are.

MURFREESBORO PULSE:

I understand there will soon be a $5 fee added to residents’ water bills.

Is this correct?

JIM CRUMLEY: City Council approved a $5 per month/per can Solid Waste Fee in the FY 2016–2017 budget. How to bill for the solid waste service is still being studied; however, an existing utility bill seems to be the best alternative.

When will this begin?

No time frame for implementation has been discussed, as the information technology specialists complete their implementation strategy.

What is the reasoning for placing that on the water bill? Will the water and sewer department oversee the implementation of a new waste disposal process now that the Middle Point Landfill is soon closing?

Both water and electric utility bills were

examined as the vehicle for a solid waste fee.

Both have advantages and disadvantages.

Murfreesboro Electric is a close match with the city limits, but has 60,000 billing accounts compared to only 44,000 solid waste cans in the field. Their software is somewhat specialized to the electric industry.

Water and sewer billing would have to be split between Consolidated Utility District (CUD) and Murfreesboro Water and Sewer Department (MWSD) based on the current service boundaries. CUD and MWSD use billing software from the same vendor and CUD already bills sanitary sewer service for 19,000 Murfreesboro addresses.

Water and Sewer [Department] will have no operational control over the solid waste process. The utility may serve as the billing vehicle for the solid waste system.

Why have a separate $60 annual fee anyway, and not just use the funds collected from property and sales taxes to fund a solid waste program for Murfreesboro?

Several reasons. Many cities are establishing solid waste services as self-supporting enterprises, no different than electric or water/sewer services. Solid waste consultants Gershman, Brickner and Bratton (GBB) have been employed by all four cities and the Rutherford County government to study future solid waste disposal systems. This is one area they will be advising local governments on best practices.

Many Murfreesboro residents are interested in curbside recycling. While this service is part of the GBB study, there will be a cost for implementing and continuing such a program.

One of the discussion points of Council was to smooth out the cost of solid waste service to the customer instead of a single large fee increase. If the City Council chooses to operate solid waste as a self-supporting enterprise, then full-cost recovery for the current services provided (weekly garbage service, brush and leaf pickup and bulk items collected as requested) would be just over $10 per can per month. Recycling and future landfill costs might potentially add another $10 per month.

Lastly, the $5 per month/per can fee was meant to raise awareness of the looming issue of the closure of Middle Point. Neither the City nor Rutherford County have paid any landfill tipping fee for nearly 30 years, having negotiated no-charge service as a host fee for the landfill. When Middle Point closes, the existing city/county disposal bill goes from $0 to nearly $5 million. The billing provides a focal point for the needed conversations about Rutherford County’s solid waste disposal in the future.

that the local government should begin collecting more money from its residents to cover the rising costs of waste disposal, others would rather move to a model that better promotes recycling waste, while others feel the sales and property taxes already provided to the City of Murfreesboro should be more than enough to fund effective waste management services for the city.

Michael Finchum: The city should seriously look into promoting recycling and not taxing the citizens. If a person recycles, they should not pay this $5 per can fee. This gives some incentive to recycle.

Shirley Wynne Watson: This is ridiculous. How is the sanitation department using the water and sewer department to take more money? We already pay taxes for pickup. . . . I have very little trash because we recycle. I would opt to take my own trash away.

Debra Jenereski: People, do you stop and think about the trash and the paint and chemicals going into our dirt and eventually our water system? The wildlife that dies in the oceans from pollution and contaminated land from the landfills? I don’t care if I pay $20 a month as long as there is a system to clean up what we are polluting. Stop being so cheap and think of our children’s futures.

Teresa Rowland Parker: What is all the tax money going for? The people in the city pay their taxes, and that is partly to take care of the trash And now you’re asking for extra money each month for trash pickup. That is just plain BS! Melandie Cooley-Hauenstein: How great it would be if we only paid for what we individually used. I only put my can on the curb every other week and it’s only half full. Guess I’ll start putting it out every week so I feel I’m getting my fee’s worth.

Could this fee be optional if households find other alternatives for trash disposal, or is this a mandatory fee?

The fee could become optional if solid waste services are established as an enterprise.

I also understand that the process of a feasibility study for a new waste disposal solution is just getting underway. Is that right? When does the city council expect that report?

All four cities and Rutherford County have joined together to employ GBB to study the solid waste disposal future for the growing population. GBB is guided in this process by a 15-member advisory board appointed by each of the city and county mayors. GBB’s report is comprehensive in looking at how efficiently

each community is currently collecting and disposing of solid waste to the eventual disposal of that waste. Currently Murfreesboro is the only city in Rutherford County providing curbside garbage service. Study time is anticipated at being just over one year. (Results are expected in early 2018.)

Was there discussion of cutting the budget of another city department to cover the cost of trash disposal for Murfreesboro residents?

No, there was no discussion of cutting other department budgets to cover Murfreesboro’s over-$2 million future cost of landfilling or of any city-sponsored recycling program. There is not that amount of budget flexibility available without major changes of services offered by the City.

From how many households will the $5 per month be collected?

There are approximately 44,000 cans collected by Murfreesboro Solid Waste Department each week. Not all of those accounts are only a single can, but does include some commercial/apartment uses with multiple cans per stop.

?

GOT QUESTIONS

on the city’s solid waste disposal future, or on any other matters related to the City of Murfreesboro, contact Jim Crumley at jcrumley@murfreesborotn.gov.

MEMBERS OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE INCLUDE: Ernest Burgess, Rutherford County Mayor Mike Kusch, Rutherford County Commissioner Lynnisse Roehrich-Patrick, former Executive Director of Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations Dr. Kathy Mathis, Associate Professor at MTSU Merry Hickerson, Rutherford County County Highway Department coordinator Shane McFarland, Murfreesboro Mayor Kirt Wade, Murfreesboro City Council Member Paul Latture, Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce Joe Whitefield, Vice President for Facilities, MTSU Jeremy Harrison, All in One Recycling Kyle Brown, La Vergne Assistant City Administrator Garlon Russell, La Vergne Public Works Manager Harry Gill, Smyrna Town Manager H.G. Cole, Smyrna City Council member Eagleville City Manager Andrew Ellard

Farmers’ Market Education Series

BY EDWINA SHANNON

How You Can Affect Water Quality THE EFFORTS AND CHOICES MADE regarding our property impact the quality of our water—everyone’s water. If you think that negatively affecting the waterways is no concern to you if your property does not have a stream, creek or pond, realize that the runoff from your property does join your nearest stream, creek or pond and become part of your watershed via the storm drainage system. It is worth noting and telling others that storm drains empty directly into our streams and rivers.

A great visual for the watershed in your neighborhood can be found at arcgis.com.

Most of the population in the U.S. lives in urban or developed areas. These areas have been completely changed from their original landscape to fill a human need, including shelter. Any change in land use affects water quality. How? The most obvious change is the percentage of land that is converted to an impervious status when a housing development is built where open or forested space previously existed. An impervious surface is a hard surface such as a structure, driveway, sidewalk or road which prevents water from soaking into the ground in that area. A typical development is 25–35% impervious.

A water channel becomes unstable after the supporting area becomes 10% impervious, so most developments affect the natural water channel of their area. The shape of the channel alters due to the runoff which erodes the bed eventually causing a gully. This reduces water quality and biodiversity while increasing pollution. This sequence of deterioration is called “Urban Stream Syndrome.”

With a Tennessee Smart Yard analysis you choose to help Tennessee’s water by making changes that conserve water and support the biodiversity of our waterways. Correct application of fertilizers and pesticides plus the collection of excess fertilizers, pesticides, pet waste and any spilled oil prevent some of the pollution in our waterways by minimizing the contamination of the runoff. Storm water runoff collects from the impervious surfaces, general over-watering and poorly controlled sprinkler systems. Collected impurities from the location travel with the collected water to the storm drain or body of water.

To minimize water pollution traveling from your property to the waterway, assess

your property while it is raining. Is the rain water soaking into your lawn and gardens or is it pooling in areas? If the rainfall from your roof and driveway is flowing directly off your property, that is a lost opportunity to capture free irrigation water.

Soil is a natural pollutant filter. Consider replacing hard surfaces like driveways and walkways with permeable ones that allow water to soak into the soil. As the water travels through the ground, most pollutants filter out.

The filtration through the ground also minimizes ponding. There are permeable asphalt and permeable paver products on the market.

Consider replacing a rock- or concrete-lined ditch for water runoff with a broad-bottomed, grass-lined ditch, also known as a swale. This grassy swale allows a greater volume of water

to flow through it while it absorbs some it.

The swale also minimizes erosion both around and in a rock or concrete ditch. Erosion is a pollutant. The silt affects fish’s gills and the bottom dwellers. With permeable areas on our property, water flow goes into the earth and not across the surface.

Many properties have areas that collect water during and just after a storm. If you have an area that collects water, you want to consider a rain garden to assist Mother Nature with absorption and minimize runoff.

All small changes made on personal property combine with a neighbor’s efforts and on and on, so cumulatively we will positively affect the overall quality in the state’s waterways.

To get started, create a landscape design map of your property. Use some graph paper and do it to scale as much as possible. As you are laying in the home and outbuildings on the graph paper, add in existing plants, wet areas, rain collection areas, leaching fields. This map can be used to record plantings and to know where to avoid planting (underground utilities and sewage systems). This is the start of a personal stewardship that will help property owners embrace a multifunctional landscape.

What is stewardship? Stewardship is an ethic of responsibility. It unites responsible planning and the management of resources. The concept of the management of something under one’s care is applied to many fields—environmental issues, theological issues, health and nature.

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Living Fitness in Martial Arts

Finding the right workout program can be fun and beneficial for all.

STORY BY BILL TAYLOR

IT’S A FACT. The average American adult and child today are in worse physical shape then any other time in history. Obesity and diabetes now run rampant through our country. Most schools no longer offer daily physical education and exercise. While there are numerous opportunities for a family to get involved in an exercise program, many don’t.

With so many fitness programs available for both adults and children, how might you determine which program is best for you and your family?

One of the most important concerns, in my opinion, is in finding a program that you will

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stay involved in. We have all heard the clichés about gym memberships that are paid for but never used. What would make someone join a gym, go a few times and then lose all desire to attend? I think finding an engaging, dynamic, challenging workout system you actually look forward to attending can greatly help avoid this pitfall.

Cardio Kickboxing may just fit the bill for adults. Also known as Tae Bo, cage fitness or by any other of numerous names, most of these programs have one overall thing in common: they all use martial arts moves and techniques in order to exercise the entire body.

What is different about these adult programs is that they use martial arts in a non-traditional manner—no uniforms, no belts, no bowing, no actual fighting required. The emphasis is on fitness and not on tradition. Every muscle in the body is used. The punches of boxing exercise the upper body, arms and chest. Martial arts kicks build a strong core as well as strengthening legs and buttocks. Endurance is improved using jump ropes or working hard on bag drills. Cage fitness bags allow participants to practice punching while on the floor.

No muscle group left behind!

While all of this is going on, the participant is also learning simple, effective, hard-hitting self-defense techniques. While hitting the heavy bag, a cardio kickboxing student will learn how to throw a jab, cross, hood and uppercut. You will learn how to put these punches together into devastating combinations. Elbows, knees and kicks will also be exercised for fitness while also learning how to use them for self-defense striking. In personal self-defense, hitting hard is important. Practicing striking skills on a regular basis is not only fun and exhilarating, it is essential for self-defense confidence. As personal fitness improves, a person carries themselves with a new attitude of confidence, making themselves less of a target for an attacker.

If boredom is what often causes adults to give up on a fitness program, cardio kickboxing’s versatility may provide the answer to that problem. Since true cardio kickboxing is not rhythmic like aerobics, no two classes are ever the same.

For children, martial arts are a physical godsend! Children love the kicks and punches they see daily on TV. Parents can find a good, professionally run martial arts program, and channel their child’s enthusiasm into a hobby which will get them into better shape. Most martial arts schools also have programs for children designed to teach self-control, respect, focus and listening skills. Most schools should allow both you and your child the opportunity to try a free lesson or two so you can see what you think. Martial arts are one of the few activities you can practice alongside your child, no matter how young they are.

 Bill Taylor with Bushido School of Karate in Murfreesboro is a seventh-degree black belt in Wado Ryu karate, an honorary sixth-degree black belt in Niseido Ju jitsu, and was the No. 3 ranked bantamweight in the world in full-contact karate during much of the 1980s.

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Living Murfreesboro Athletic Club

Work OUT

Find a gym, CrossFit, yoga or martial arts program that fits you.

Iron Church CrossFit 1648 Memorial Blvd.

Crossfit Validity 710 Memorial Blvd. (in the MAC)

BARRE Barre 11 Fitness 2223F N.W. Broad St. Pure Barre 1970 Medical Center Pkwy. Suite C

YOGA Arden Yoga & Wellness 2223 N.W. Broad St. Murfreesboro Hot Yoga 1715 Old Fort Pkwy.

New Adventures Travel Yoga and Meditation 505 Cason Lane Suite A The Core Wellness Studio 118 W. Vine St.

STORY BY TANNER DEDMON WITH EVERY NEW YEAR COMES A WAVE OF NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS and commitments to self-improvement. People often joke about hitting the gym after the holidays to work off days (or sometimes, years) of poor health habits, but a new year can be just what some people need to set a firm exercise regimen and adhere to their new schedule.

To help start the journey to physical fitness, we’ve compiled a list below of several outlets for improvement, many unique to either Murfreesboro or the Middle Tennessee area.

Included are traditional options such as gyms alongside newer trends such as CrossFit and barre fitness. Many sites require appointments or memberships, so be sure to check their websites and contact trainers before making plans to attend courses.

FITNESS CENTERS 9 Round 2658 New Salem Hwy. Anytime Fitness 2397 New Salem Rd. Armored Body Gym 1411 Mark Allen Lane Blueprint Fitness 855 W. College St. Championtone Fitness 1180 Park Ave. Gold’s Gym 1713 Old Fort Pkwy.; 313 S. Church St. 1691 Memorial Blvd.

I Am Fortified 730-A Middle Tennessee Blvd., Suite 14 26 * JANUARY 2017 * BOROPULSE.COM

MaxT3 546 Brandies Circle, Suite 105 Murfreesboro Athletic Club 710 Memorial Blvd. #120 Olympus Athletic Club 810 N.W. Broad St. #206 Patterson Park Community Center 521 Mercury Blvd.

Planet Fitness 1954 Old Fort Pkwy.

Quality of Life Fitness 307 S. Church St. Suite D Sports*Com 2310 Memorial Blvd.

Transformations 4 Life 232 W. Northfield Blvd.

Transformazing Fitness 542 Uptown Square

CROSSFIT

Yoga on the Square 423 W. Lytle St.

CrossFit Barbell Battalion 520 W. Burton St.

MARTIAL ARTS

CrossFit Murfreesboro 831 Park Ave. CrossFit Rutherford 325 W. Rutherford Blvd.

Bill Taylor’s Bushido School of Karate 1820 N.W. Broad St.

CrossFit Rampage 1402 W. College St.

Black Dragon Martial Arts 242 Warrior Dr. CrossFit Murfreesboro

Hot Yoga

Chonburi Muay Thai 1400B W. College St. Gracie Barra Murfreesboro 1720 Old Fort Pkwy.

Guardian Mixed Martial Arts 1648 Memorial Blvd.

Nemesis Mixed Martial Arts 810 N.W. Broad St. (At Olympus) Stevens Family Tae Kwon Do 805 Commercial Court UFC GYM Murfreesboro 2812 Old Fort Pkwy.

ď ˝ CLIMBING The Ascent 831 Park Ave.

CrossFit Murfreesboro

The Ascent

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Reviews MOVIE

the motions. I have to say it was actually quite frustrating, if I’m being honest. On the one hand, Cotillard was clearly doing everything she could to drag Pitt along, but Pitt just wasn’t having it. He didn’t even try to have a British accent. Or anything other than an L.A. accent. I wasn’t 100 percent sure where his character was from, but it certainly wasn’t L.A. Equally as polarizing are the two halves of this film. The first half was massively gripping, as we watch these two characters meet for the first time and have to immediately convince a group of Germans that

they’re husband and wife, but this was as gripping as it was thanks to Cotillard.

She is given a lot to do and explains a lot of her motivations and reasoning in this half that I was, like Pitt’s character, captivated by. But then the second half rolls around and the story shifts over to Pitt, and it became a lot less interesting.

Additionally, I have to harp on the effects and cinematography. Zemeckis stayed

mostly invisible throughout the film, but the few times he did let his style come out it was not welcome. The effects, particularly as the Germans bombed Britain in the second half, were anything but great, and when Zemeckis decided to bring out some crazy 360-degree pans, it really took me out of the moment.

The most egregious offense was shortly after Pitt and Cotillard got married. There was some confetti during a 360-degree pan that just looked hilariously fake while we spun around with Pitt and Cotillard, like an effect straight out of Polar Express or Beowulf.

I’m being so hard on this film because, unlike a lot of disappointing films out there, I really wanted this one to be good.

And I did see some great sequences during this film.

There’s no doubt this film is better than Zemeckis’s last venture, The Walk, but I do also think Zemeckis is still struggling to find the success he had in something Gump, Cast Away like Forrest Gump Future. But there’s a or Back to the Future groundwork laid here that sets the stage (potentially) for finding it again in his next film. Hopefully by then he won’t have Brad Pitt around to ruin everything.

— JOSEPH KATHMANN

Lovable goof-bro-turned-glowering-beefcake Chris Pratt plays Jim Preston, a steerage class mechanical engineer whose hibernation pod malfunctions 30 years into a 120-year journey aboard the Starship Avalon. For a year, Jim’s only companions are Arthur the android bartender (Sheen), the female-voiced ship’s computer and an emoji-faced help kiosk.

These Siri-surrogates serve the perfunctory need of exposition, guiding Jim through his despair with cereal, sushi and spirits. While

Drew Goddard and Matt Damon were powerless to keep the Golden Globes from declaring The Martian a comedy, it must have taken an extraordinary whit to negate the awesome power of Chris Pratt’s natural charm (see also Jurassic World), but writer Jon Spaihts appears to pull it off effortlessly.

The set design of the bar and Arthur’s amiable, inhuman demeanor seem an obvious nod to The Shining, and as Jim’s scruff succumbs to full-on Grizzly Adams’ scraggle, one certainly couldn’t be blamed for expecting some kind of Jack Torrance-level breakdown.

But fear not, for Passengers deigns not to distress you with such intrigue, implications to the contrary be damned! Instead, poor Jim Preston, one year into his 90-year solitude, having exhausted all his mechanical engineering know-how, gives up—until, that is, he sees his sleeping beauty. Hopelessly lovelorn/lonely/horny, Jim does the equivalent of Facebookstalking, falls in love, then beats himself up for the span of a minute screen-time before doing the inevitable and condemning Aurora (Jennifer Lawrence) to join him.

His decision could be her force majeure, leaving her to deal with her unfair fate,

trapped with the man responsible, making Passengers a treatise on love and cowardice, The Loneliest Planet set in space. Recall that the film and the filmmakers mercifully spare us from such distressing intrigue. In another bold choice to pit the actors against their strengths, the woman who elevated Katniss Everdeen from the YA world to the popular lexicon is stripped of her agency, her power and her clothes. Later, when an external dilemma arrives and is dealt with, Jim’s seemingly unforgivable act is all but forgotten, somehow nullified by the outer force, though nothing has changed. It’s a psychological plot hole in a film riddled with plenty of practical ones.

Such an admirable aversion to anything challenging, emotionally or intellectually, still can’t quell every speck of inspiration.

Despite the dull futurism of the ship’s design, one can’t deny it: that space pool is cool. And buried somewhere, like a dormant blood clot, is the kernel of a thought-provoking film, one not so satisfied to be a safe, surface-level, scifi romance. Before I saw Passengers, I clarified, “it’s the pretty-people-in-space movie.” I had no idea how right I was.

— JAY SPIGHT

ALLIED DIRECTED BY Robert Zemeckis STARRING Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard,

Lizzy Caplan, Jared Harris

RATED R

Allied is solidly mixed-bag. Director Robert Zemeckis continues his quest to find his touch again, this time with Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard in two tales thrown into one. One of them shows up and does everything they can to help Zemeckis out, and the other does not. These polarizing performances, combined with a very rushed second half, leads to the mixed bag, despite a strong first half.

We have an extremely polarizing performance from our two leads. I bet you can guess which one was great, right? As terrible as Brad Pitt was, Marion Cotillard proved yet again why she is one of the most underrated actresses in the business. She props this film up with her performance and does everything she can despite getting absolutely nothing from her counterpart. For as mysterious, intriguing and emotional as she is, Brad Pitt is pretty much the exact opposite.

He is dull, boring and lazily going through

PASSENGERS DIRECTED BY Morten

Tyldum Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen

STARRING

RATED PG-13

A CLASSIC 28 * JANUARY 2017 * BOROPULSE.COM

OUTSTANDING

AVERAGE

BELOW AVERAGE

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

DEAD

LIVING ROOM CINEMA column by NORBERT THIEMANN

facebook.com/livingroomcinema

The Free Press One of America’s greatest assets is her freedom for the press, not to mention our general right to free speech afforded by the First Amendment. Without investigative journalism, there is not doubt that corruption would often go unchecked. These straight stories are excellent historical reminders.  All the President’s Men (1976) is directed by Alan J. Pakula. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman star as two hungry real-life reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Woodward and Bernstein blew the lid off of Watergate, which would eventually result in many arrests and force the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

 Spotlight (2015) is directed by Tom McCarthy. A special investigative unit was assembled at the Boston Globe to take a thorough look into the abuse of children within the Catholic Church. It proved to be a very sensitive issue for the Boston community, and one that the paper had to get right.

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 GAME REVIEW

BY TANNER DEDMON

FINAL FANTASY XV FROM ITS OPENING SEQUENCES, Final Fantasy XV promised to be a Final Fantasy installment fit for fans and firsttimers alike. And, as a newcomer to the series who had only heard the classic soundtracks and caught passing mentions of Moogles and Chocobos, Final Fantasy XV creates a captivating ride that coaxes players into the immersive Final Fantasy universe at a comfortable and enjoyable pace.

While still on the subject of the game’s opening; Final Fantasy XV has, without a doubt, one of the best video game openings I’ve ever seen, and it does so without employing action sequences or a summarized plot.

The team of the protagonist Noctis and his friends Prompto, Gladiolus and Ignis truly feel like a tight-knit group from the get-go, with each character’s appearance perfectly capturing their personalities before they even have the chance to speak. When their adventure is quickly cut short by something as mundane as running out of gas, the situation feels uncannily relatable in such a fantastic world. The camera panning upwards with Florence + The Machine’s rendition of “Stand By Me” setting the tone as the quartet quips back and forth is enough to make any Final Fantasy beginner fall in love with the series immediately.

But while the four directable characters charm players in the beginning, their

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commentary and performance in-game unfortunately hits a mid-to-late-game lull.

The post-combat dialogue becomes quite repetitive after a few short scuffles, to the point where you might find yourself finishing the character’s sentences before they have the chance. No matter how many skills and points I distributed into boosting the three teammates’ stats, I never really felt the impact of them in battle unless I was purposefully directing their movements. They were useful for some supplemental damage and convenient distractions, but I found myself taking more care of them than they were for me. Perhaps down the skill tree they’ll find their place, but it seems like quite the point investment to get to that point when Noctis can sufficiently handle most threats with just Gladiolus and an earth-shattering Dawnhammer.

Dawnhammer and other special team attacks are perfectly designed for the realtime combat that diverts from the turn-based combat Final Fantasy often employs. Each teammate has signature moves that can be unlocked to unveil their full potential, and the ingenious assaults provide some significant damage and much-welcome invincibility frames during the more hectic brawls. Noctis’ Warp attacks keep the combat free from delay as he blinks around the battlefield and crashes down upon enemies, but the camera doesn’t always keep up with Noctis’ speed. Locking onto one enemy requires holding a bumper and clicking a thumbstick, the thumbstick by default opening the map when pressed on its own. This led to me constantly opening the map mid-combat, a misclick frustrating

enough to break any combat immersion. Once you get locked onto an enemy, the camera doesn’t get much better. The angles it forces you into don’t seem intuitive for real-time combat, and targeting individual body parts on larger foes seems like more trouble than it’s worth when you can just smash the enemy’s center of mass for sufficient results.

The magic combat system could also use a complete overhaul, as using it now is unnecessary and, frankly, dangerous to Noctis’ already fragile teammates. Why magic was designed to inflict damage on friends and foes alike is beyond me; it’s not like the magic attacks are narrow and directed, they’re massive explosions that hit multiple targets at once. A simple combat tactic that makes the team back off when Noctis targets an area with magic seems like a smart move, but the attempt to make magic a risk-reward decision falls flat due to poor implementation.

But combat is only part of a well-rounded RPG; the real test of time lies in the adventure the game offers, and boy, does FFXV offer an adventure. The side quests delicately balance both repetitive and one-time quests that result in rewarding items and experience. The rewards are clearly stated at the quests’ beginning so you can see if it’s worth pursuing, and the diversity of the objectives that range from food-gathering to

dungeon-crawling to frog-catching provide options for any quest-seeker. The opportunity to further pursue these quests during end-game content relieves some pressure to get everything done at once, something that can be quite overwhelming in many RPGs. If you ever tire of running back and forth for quests, the bountiful Hunts available provide a burst of excitement as you hunt down wildlife and demons deep in their own habitats.

The story itself does have some moments that could be explained better. While it typically flows well, some parts do seems as though Noctis and the gang are thrown from place to place with little explanation as to how they got there. It’s mostly mid-game that this occurs; the early and late moments in the story are pretty tidy and pace the game well. The duration of the story when mixed with side quests and explorations creates quite the lengthy narrative while keeping players engaged throughout.

Despite the missteps during combat and some common AI faults that plague so many games with uncontrollable teammates, FFXV delivers a solid open-world RPG that definitely offers considerable replay value after completion. Longtime fans should enjoy the familiar universe, and newcomers to the series just might find themselves pulled in enough to take on past and future installments.

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News

NAVIGATING THE SYSTEM SERIES BY BRYCE HARMON

PART VI

Lower 940 ANYONE WHO HAS SPENT ANY AMOUNT

of time in The Rutherford County Adult Detention Center (located at 940 New Salem Highway), which doubles as our jail and the headquarters for The Rutherford County Sheriff ’s Department, has heard that the building with the tiny windows towering over the southwest corner of Murfreesboro is simply referred to as 940 (nine-forty).

Because of 940, Murfreesboro has received national, statewide and much local media attention throughout 2016 due to its combination of public relation gaffes, numerous alleged ethics violations committed by the highest-ranking officers of our Sheriff ’s Department, issues with overcrowding, the jail’s responsibility in the deaths of four of its inmates and the staff ’s failure to correct problems found by The Tennessee Corrections Institute (TCI) during an unannounced inspection at the end of the summer.

Upon re-inspection in November of 2016, 940 was decertified by TCI’s Board of Control in early December.

With that, local folks might wonder what happens in there on a day-to-day basis.

Once local law enforcement arrests someone within Rutherford County for an alleged offense, the offender is transported and placed into the custody of Sheriff Department’s jailers and held at 940.

From a small drive-through garage on the north side of the building, the handcuffed offender is escorted from a police cruiser into a hallway on the ground floor of the jail through a couple of heavy metal doors that loudly lock shut behind them.

A jailer’s frisk later and it’s into 940’s Booking Division, an active, bustling, fluorescent-lit white and gray room about the size of a tennis court. Among its contents are a long desk in the middle of the room, bolted-down tables with stools attached at the bottom and metal loops on the tabletops to shackle handcuffs, and a few silent jailers standing around keeping an eye over the place. Several more thick metal doors line all four of the walls. Individual holding cells, the drunk tanks for both sexes, small, glass-bisected conference rooms, a janitor’s closet, the nurse’s station, a showering room and an access route to the rest of the jail are behind all of those doors.

The Booking Division is where newly arriving offenders have their mug shots taken, fingerprints scanned and the rest of their personal information collected and filed into the Sheriff ’s Office computer system. This is all done before 32 * JANUARY 2017 * BOROPULSE.COM

the offender is assigned a mandatory court date by one of the booking officers behind the desk.

Commotion and raucous behavior from belligerent arrestees—as well as from alreadysituated offenders being moved around the Booking Division from the drunk tanks and solitary holding cells—fill the air, as do the jailers’ responses to these outspoken arrestees’ mix of reasonable questions, nonsensical frustrations and attempts to find humor in such a place.

When I first visited this room in 2007, one of the metal doors to the right of the entrance was the room where mug shots were taken and fingerprints scanned, but they have since moved that out into the booking room beside the desk and installed a massive stone inlay laid into the floor tile depicting The Rutherford County Sheriff ’s Department emblem with the words “Sheriff Robert F. Arnold,” curved over the top of it in big black letters. This décor was installed

the remaining time of my probation before it was violated. Thus, the fish sandwich. To me, it’s a better quality sandwich than the ones I’d be given in there for perhaps nine months, so I figured I’d eat on the way over during that stressful stroll, but I didn’t. When they let me through the first metal door from the outside, I stepped into the hallway dripping wet and Officer Z. Wooten, my jailer that day, slipped me the spoiler comment while he was patting me down that’d I’d be leaving on R.O.R. for bringing myself in and that I could also keep my sandwich as long as I didn’t eat it in there.

R.O.R., or “released on recognizance,” means I didn’t even have to make a phone call or have another person co-sign for my release (friend, family, bond agent), and I was released on my promise that I would appear at my court date.

This option is open to people who turn themselves in, and the best part is, it’s free. I was under my own recognizance to appear at my court date set before they let me loose without having to pay anyone to get out after they got my information, scanned my fingerprints, and took my mug shot. I remained still, quiet and obedient while I was in there for all of 25 minutes.

“When I was there, guards usually covered the small vertical window of the door with a piece of cardboard, though, to thwart anyone from speaking or waving to them for a couple of hours at a time until they had to come in and get someone for processing and put them back in afterwards.” sometime between March of 2014, when I turned myself in to serve seven days as punishment for a 2013 DUI charge, and March of 2016 when I turned myself in with two warrants out for my arrest for violating my probation.

“Looks expensive,” I thought when I noticed it in the floor last May. Anyway, once inside and a part of what can be sensed as chaos, there are a few variables to take into consideration in order to estimate how much time will be spent being “booked” at 940, both systemically and emotionally.

In an ideal situation for everyone involved, if the arrested is well-behaved, not inebriated, they can immediately reach someone via phone to bail them out, if the jailers are in a good mood and if the Booking Division isn’t understaffed and/or overwhelmed by incoming offenders, being booked can take only 20 to 30 minutes before the arrested is released.

This is the best-case scenario.

When I turned myself in on the afternoon of March 24, 2016, I had walked over to the jail in the rain from the downtown Murfreesboro area with a fish sandwich in my hand and two warrants out for my arrest. I was about to walk into a place where I could very well be locked up for nine months, which was

“If everyone in here acted like you, the world would be a better place,” jailer Wooten eventually said to me over the shouting of a man in a solitary holding cell screaming back and forth with another jailer who seemed to be taunting the captive.

A second scenario before getting out of there happens if the arrested is inebriated or has to call someone to bail them out of jail.

They are placed in a gender-specific holding cell with everyone else that is arrested and/or inebriated (the drunk tank), and can remain in there for up to 10 or more hours while sobering up, waiting to be processed and/or until someone comes to bail them out.

The drunk tank at a busy time has 20-plus people crammed into it and has nothing but a few phones on the wall next to the door, a metal toilet out in the open on the far side of the room that usually has no toilet paper with it, and a long concrete slab people sit or lie on that extends from beside the toilet down to entrance door, but on the opposite wall. There’s a camera overlooking the whole room just over the entrance door and a floor drain. On a busy night, there are people of all walks of life sitting, standing and lying on the bench and floor.

Some keep to themselves while others socialize

with one another or try to get the attention of the guards outside the room. When I was there, guards usually covered the small vertical window of the door with a piece of cardboard, though, to thwart anyone from speaking or waving to them for a couple of hours at a time until they had to come in and get someone for processing and put them back in afterwards.

The usual question is “Hey, what time is it?” to which the jailers always reply, “It’s 9:40.” If any of the drunk tank’s occupants started screaming because of the negligence, it was into a solitary holding cell with them. If any questions are asked about the jailer’s actions, the response will likely be, “It’s for your safety.”

The few phones in the tank are for those waiting and they may call, collect, one memorized number only twice before having to move on to another number. It can be anyone they know that is willing to bail them out of jail, such as friends, family, or a bonding agent—anyone who is willing to guarantee the offender appears at their court date. For example, if the offense is criminal trespassing and the bail amount is set at $5,000, a friend or family member of the offender can come to the jail with $5,000 and get the offender out of jail after the offender is booked. When the offender appears at their court date, the $5,000 is refunded by the court clerk’s office. If the bail amount cannot be met by a friend or family, a bail bonds agent can be called to post bail. Bond agencies charge 10% of the bail amount, so it costs the offender $500 on a $5,000 bond to get out and that amount is nonrefundable, ever.

Their numbers are listed next to the phones.

Though keeping everyone safe from one another is part of the jailer’s/booking officer’s jobs in that room, one of the four deaths at 940 in 2016 was a man who hanged himself on one of the phone cords in the males’ drunk tank.

Consequently, the phone cord was shortened.

The longest I have spent in the drunk tank was around 10 hours. The first time, jailed for public intoxication in 2007, I sat in that packed tank at attention for five or six hours, only talking to someone I happened to recognize from the photography lab on campus. The last time, my spirit was broken and I tried to take a nap on the floor using my flip-flop as a pillow.

How long the stay, the nature of release, and how much money it costs the offender is entirely up to their offense—and it can get expensive.

If no one can be reached and it looks like there’s no money coming to spring the offender, there is a third, worst-case scenario, which is—after being booked and served breakfast in the holding cells around 5:30 a.m.—to “go upstairs.”

TO BE CONTINUED . . .

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AROUND TOWN ’BORO BUSINESS BUZZ

will take over as Director of Golf for the City of Murfreesboro in January 2017 when Tracy Wilkins, who has served as director since 1987, will retire.

“I have a passion for teaching golf to players of all ages and skill levels and watching them improve their game,” McCurry said. “I look forward to using innovative ideas and technologies essential to growing golf in Murfreesboro.”

The City’s golf facilities include Old Fort Golf Club, Bloomfield Links and the Veterans Administration golf course.

McCurry began his career in the golf profession in Murfreesboro in 1989 at the VA Golf Course and was soon appointed Assistant Director of Golf that same year by Tracy Wilkins.

 PUCKETT’S GROCERY

which will soon call the downtown Murfreesboro square home to its fifth Middle Tennessee location, is holding a job fair to fill all staff positions on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, Jan. 4–6, at 225 W. College St. in Murfreesboro (at the Main Street Murfreesboro building).

Available roles include managers, servers, hosts, line cooks, prep cooks and server assistants, among others. Interviews will be held from 10 a.m.–2 p.m. and from 4–7 p.m. on all three days. Interested parties can fill out an application onsite and should bring a current resume and valid photo I.D. Puckett’s Grocery and its sister concept, artisan ice cream shop Hattie Jane’s Creamery, are slated to open their doors in Murfreesboro in early 2017.

Puckett’s, a community kitchen with live pickin’ performances just a few feet from diners’ tables, features authentic comfort food, barbecue smoked slow over cherry wood, home-cooked sides and even a few upscale dishes.

THE OUTPOST ARMORY will soon

open a new shooting range and retail store at 215 W. Castle St. in Murfreesboro. The 27,000-square-foot facility, located just off of the Broad and Church intersection in the heart of downtown Murfreesboro, will sit just 10 miles from the original Outpost Armory off of I-24 exit 89 near the Barrett Firearms headquarters and plant.

Chris Barrett, owner of Outpost Armory, president of Barrett Firearms and son of Barrett founder Ronnie Barrett, says the firing range will only be available for use by members of the National Rifle Association.

“I want to use this range to help the NRA double its membership,” Barrett said.

The new Outpost Armory will offer the opportunity for customers to fire the legendary .50 caliber Barrett sniper rifle M82/M107.

Development continues at the corner of St. Andrews Drive and Highway 99 (Salem Road). This includes the upcoming opening of another TACO BELL in the area.

O’RILEY KARATE has broken ground on a

new location at the corner of Enon Springs Road and Old Nashville Highway in Smyrna.

Sensei Steven O’Riley opened his first location on Bell Road in Antioch in 1994; this location later relocated to Morris Gentry Boulevard. In 2005 O’Riley opened his second location on Sam Ridley Parkway in Smyrna.

In April 2015 Sensei O’Riley purchased 1.35 34 * JANUARY 2017 * BOROPULSE.COM

acres of land and began the process of getting started with a new building for his Smyrna dojo. He says this will be a 6,400-square-foot facility also housing two rental spaces, one on each side of the new dojo.

Sensei O’Riley has been training in WadoRyu Karate for more than 33 years and is a sixth-degree black belt, having received hundreds of awards. Learn more about O’Riley Karate at orileykarate.com.

Gil and Jennifer White have opened MY 4 DOGS, a locally owned and operated doggy daycare, boarding and grooming facility, located in between Slick Pig and Sir Pizza on Main Street near the MTSU campus.

Visit my4dogs.net for more information on the services provided by the new business.

MARTY McCURRY

 HELEN’S HOT CHICKEN has

taken over the restaurant space in the Kroger shopping center at Lascassas Pike and Rutherford Boulevard formerly occupied by Brooklyn Boys Pizza.

Helen’s has experienced rapid growth since launching its hot chicken trailer in Nashville. The Murfreesboro location joins Jefferson Street and Lebanon Road locations in Nashville in addition to outlets in Antioch, Madison, Hendersonville, Clarksville and Portland. A Helen’s restaurant outside of Dallas, Texas, makes the company’s ninth location.

According to helenshotchicken. com, the establishment will serve a chicken breast quarter, served plain, mild, hot or “hella hot,” for $6.

 Kyle Luttrell and Heath Frazier have opened JUG CREEK DISTILLERY in Lascassas on Oregon Road, a couple of miles from the Lascassas Pike/Jefferson Pike intersection. Jug Creek is now open for tours on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and the property also houses an event venue available for private rentals. Jug Creek produces whiskey, gin and vodka, a banana liqueur, a chocolate cranberry liqueur and Grand Dad’s Coffee Creamer, a liqueur featuring coffee, vanilla, sugar and cream.

For more information, visit jugcreekdistillery.com.

ANGELA JACKSON

will take over as Director of the Murfreesboro Parks & Recreation Department after serving as interim director since August 2016 following the retirement of longtime director Lanny Goodwin. As director, Jackson is responsible for coordinating the management and operations of the City’s park system that includes approximately 1,238 acres, 29 sites, 74 buildings and more than $155 million in assets. The Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation Department has 75 full-time and 275 part-time/seasonal employees with an operating budget of approximately $12.5 million.

Jackson began her work for the City of Murfreesboro in April 2001 at Wilderness Station at Barfield Crescent Park. Jackson is also currently serving as a board member of the Tennessee Recreation and Parks Education Foundation.

DONALD LESTER,

owner of L&L Contractors, will take over as president of the Downtown Murfreesboro Business Association in 2017. DMBA is an organization of downtown area merchants committed to making beautiful downtown Murfreesboro a destination that customers will love to visit again and again.

“I look forward to an awesome 2017,” Lester said. “I hope to bring new life to our group, with new ideas, a better sense of direction, and most of all more business for us all.”

BOROPULSE.COM

* JANUARY 2017 * 35

Opinion Some Officers Did Not Follow Policy During April 2016 Arrests at Hobgood Elementary MPD internal investigation concludes . . . eight months after the incident.

EIGHT MONTHS AFTER Murfreesboro Police arrested 10 children in connection with a bullying incident, handcuffing two at Hobgood Elementary School and carting them off to juvenile jail, they issued this proclamation: We screwed up. Well, at least six of us did.

PUNISHMENT IS COMING SOON.

True, new Police Chief Karl Durr put Maj. Clyde Adkison on administrative leave shortly after the April 15 incident for failing to do anything, and he reassigned Officer Chrystal Templeton for starting the whole mess.

Durr also ordered an internal investigation, in addition to seeking an outside investigation by Metro Police while taking steps to make sure this type of skullduggery doesn’t happen again. He deserves DURR some credit there.

But eight months? Come on, man. Murder investigations have been made in less time.

The internal investigation didn’t turn up much more information than an initial review found. It went, more or less, like this.

Templeton got hold of cellphone video showing a group of kids encouraging bullytype activity. They were egging on a little boy to continually hit an older child, who did little to defend himself. Was it acceptable? No. Were some of the children involved really bad kids?

Yes. Was it criminal behavior? Highly unlikely.

In fact, even though the victim’s mother wanted to press charges against the other kids, “criminally responsible for the actions of another,” the victim wound up becoming friends with the one hitting him, according to the recent report.

This is what happens when we put our lives into the hands of law enforcement instead of allowing children and parents to police themselves.

Rutherford County and Murfreesboro school officers spend a lot of time resolving conflict. They’ve even saved students’ lives.

But this overzealous officer, who wasn’t even stationed at Hobgood, went too far.

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The

STOCKARD REPORT

BY SAM STOCKARD sstockard44@gmail.com

Templeton, according to the report, was determined to arrest the children, no matter what other officers said, and found a judicial commissioner to go along with her. Why Rutherford County hasn’t punished that person is another question.

The officer’s only proof is a really bad video that was weeks old when the arrests were made and the word of some kids who identified their classmates and had no idea arrests were to be made. So much confusion ensued that police and Hobgood administrators didn’t even know which children to arrest and wound up sending one to juvenile detention by mistake.

The reports show police officers definitely didn’t agree about how the matter TEMPLETON should be handled, and Murfreesboro City Schools officials didn’t want anyone embarrassed, especially after the sheriff ’s office went ripping into Hobgood earlier in the year and arrested children there for a more heinous crime.

In fact, Officer Mark Todd, who was responsible for overseeing Hobgood, got so stressed out about the pending arrests he thought he was having a heart attack. Todd made up a story about being sick so he could leave early that day.

Another school officer, Chris Williams, who came in to relieve Todd that day nearly broke down after the arrest incident. Williams wanted to quit his job and wound up telling First Baptist Church Pastor James McCarroll

what happened. The preacher posted a Facebook video talking about the arrests, which led to a community meeting with police that Sunday, April 17, at the church.

The reports show a police force not only in disagreement but in complete confusion, with one communication breakdown after another and arguments at the last minute over when and whether the kids should be arrested.

This is a sad commentary on society on every front.

What may be worse, though, is that some of the police thought they could make the situation better by having these kids hauled to juvenile detention.

Their mindset is: It’s always good to put elementary-age children into the justice system. That way they can learn to maneuver their way through our jails and courts at an early age.

Fortunately, one of the items coming out of this is that Murfreesboro Police Department is setting up a method to issue citations to juveniles instead of continuing what it calls the “court-mandated practice” of taking custody of all juvenile offenders.

Durr ran into this situation only a couple of weeks after taking over the police chief ’s post.

To say this was a rude awakening is an understatement. It might have given him more insight, though, into a double standard typical within Murfreesboro.

Nobody made racism allegations in the report, but it shows things may be handled differently at some schools. Hobgood, which has a large number of black and Hispanic students, apparently has a different set of rules than, say, Erma Siegel.

Officer Williams himself wonders whether students at a predominantly black schools are treated the same as those elsewhere, according to the report.

He and Officer Todd also contend in the report things are handled differently in the “hood.”

So here we stand more than eight months later, looking at the report and waiting for the final disciplinary measures, wondering if anyone can remember the initial incident.

There’s no outrage, no demand for change, because most people are so focused on hus-

“The reports show a police force not only in disagreement but in complete confusion with one communication breakdown after another and arguments at the last minute over when and whether the kids should be arrested.”

tling to stay alive they can’t remember what happened in April 2016.

Meanwhile, a 2018 federal court date is set for a child whose parent is suing Officer Templeton over what could be a false arrest.

So much for teaching children a lesson.

OUT OF ISOLATION

Somewhere in the recesses of my heart during the holiday season (sort of like the old Grinch), I found some sympathy for our indicted and incarcerated sheriff.

It took some prodding by his attorney, Tom Dundon, during a hearing in federal court when he asked the U.S. District Court judge if Sheriff Robert Arnold could be moved out of his segregated cell into an area with other people, albeit a small group. The judge said he didn’t mind if the jail didn’t care and Arnold didn’t care.

Dundon pointed out Arnold hasn’t been convicted of any crime yet but is in a worse place than if he had been convicted on federal corruption charges. To protect him from other prisoners while he awaits his Feb. 7 trial after having his bond revoked, Arnold has been in what he calls a “dungeon” at a Kentucky county jail. He has no contact with anyone else during the day. He can make phone calls periodically, as the evidence ARNOLD presented in court shows. But typically he gets out only for an hour or two late at night when he can go into a room and watch TV or stretch his legs a little.

For someone who was out running around just a few months ago with a gun and badge while under indictment, it’s a harsh reality.

He was on top of the world until authorities found out he’d been drinking and drugging and wrestling with his wife. Now, he’s in the pokey, maybe a little more than the pokey.

His co-conspirators wanted the trial postponed so their attorneys could take more time to go over the information provided by U.S. prosecutors. Arnold, though, wants the trial held as soon as possible so he can get out of jail, even if it’s just to go to the courthouse in Nashville. The holidays were especially tough, with two young children at home while he was stuck in jail. (That is not sarcasm.)

Unfortunately, Arnold wasn’t thinking about this when he was getting hammered during a Labor Day pool party and fighting with his wife or when he lied to his probation officer about what happened at their home on Sept. 5.

Or when he was allegedly hatching plans with his uncle, John Vanderveer, and former Chief Administrative Deputy Joe Russell to set up

an e-cigarette company and profit on the backs of inmates and local taxpayers.

Another theory is that his wife’s boyfriend set him up by secretly recording conversations of her describing the Labor Day domestic incident. (This is all according to court evidence.)

Rarely, though, does anyone think about the consequences of their actions when they’re concocting an alleged conspiracy or battling with a spouse. And, often, it’s the little ones who pay the price.

MORE TRAINING NEEDED

In the wake of Arnold’s indictment and incarceration, Rutherford County commissioners want the state Legislature to pass laws requiring more education, training and experience for sheriffs.

About all they’re required to have now is a high school diploma (or something akin to it) and certification by the Police Officer Standards Training Commission. No college education, no previous experience as a deputy chief, no FBI Academy training: Nothing like that is required.

Only the votes of the people to win an election.

The result is a long list of criminal charges against Tennessee sheriffs over the course of time.

But under existing law, sheriffs also are constitutional officers, and changing anything to do with them takes years of work and numerous votes by the Legislature and people of Tennessee.

It ain’t easy to change the state Constitution, and even though the Tennessee Sheriffs Association is considering getting on board with some proposed legislation, don’t look for the Legislature to pass any type of law allowing the public to recall elected officials from office for dastardly deeds. They’re afraid they’d be the first ones out. Of course, they have to run for office every two to four years, so what’s the difference? If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.

Sam Stockard can be reached at sstockard44@gmail.com BOROPULSE.COM

* JANUARY 2017 * 37

Opinion Live Exceptionally ...Well!

BY JENNIFER DURAND

Each part of the process contributes to the depth of how solid our ground is.

• Having your feet on the ground; being sensible and down-to-earth. You can have this state of mind while branching out and reaching higher. Having your feet on the ground represents your stable “home” that keeps you from floating or wandering aimlessly.

Get Grounded

W

hile considering my business theme for the new year, the word “grounded” came to mind. The word by itself resonated with ideals I want to weave into my business and personal life. I explored other meanings and found my excitement escalate as I discovered all the expanded ways of being grounded.

Initially, we think of grounded as being centered or stable. It is fundamental to have a solid foundation. Being rooted enables us to balance as we explore the variations available to us. If we wobble while finding or uncovering life’s mysteries and adventures, it is good to have structure to come back to—mental or physical—to check in with our core values and belief system. This helps balance the unstable or shaky thoughts, but also allows us to soar and move more freely with change knowing we are grounded at the core.

Exodus 3:5 – “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

The above quote doesn’t mean that the ground itself was “holy” but rather that being in the presence of Omnipotence—where divine ideas and inspiration are found—is to be honored, respected and revered.

That line of thought creates the foundation or core place for you to return to when questioning what life brings you.

What are other ways that getting grounded can serve us?

• Really thinking things through, not being impulsive. One of the meanings for the word “ground” is to “reduce to fine particles or dust,” to break a surface down to reduce its transparency. This “breaking down” means not settling for what’s on the surface, but really refining our process to see things for what are. After grinding out the particles that surround the truth, we can make better, more informed decisions. This grinding will smooth things out. It’s okay to have rough edges, knowing we can practice “grinding away” to reveal their hidden smoothness.

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• Common ground. What connects us to others, to purpose, to life, to the Source of all existence?

A powerful, more rooted feeling of belonging can strengthen our core. I encourage finding common ground with a good premise, that is uplifting—not the negative, sick or unhealthy. These will not elevate your thinking.

• Breaking ground. Establishing something new can be exciting. You still start from the foundation of whatever it is you are building, so, make it steady, solid and stable. Take your time. Be patient.

• Ground rules. Basic or governing principles can help you act in any situation or endeavor. It’s good to know where you stand—it’s forthright, it keeps things simple, honest and makes it easier to refer to when issues arise.

• To ground; burrow into a den or into hiding. There is a time for this. To escape from all of the noise of suggestion, opinion, information, temptation and activity. Snuggle in. Take time to reflect, gestate, gain clarity. The answers are always within you. Pay closest attention to “the still, small voice.”

• Often grounds; the underlying condition prompting an action, based on what we believe. We represent or voice our point based on what we feel strongly about.

This interaction can be revealing. It can show us just how strong our resolve is, where we stand on a matter, or it can illuminate new ways of thinking.

• Ground. The connection between an electrical conductor and the earth. We need the ground (earth) to prevent the “high voltage energy” from dangerous voltage arising between them and other objects. I love this! Metaphorically, high energy brings excitement and power to what we are doing, but we also need the stability of being grounded to keep that energy from exploding into unmanageable pieces.

Everything has its place, function and purpose.

Focus on being grounded first, then let your imagination roam, your body move. Then you will find yourself making better decisions and taking more positive action in all that you do.

Be like a tree: rooted, strong and focused from the trunk down, but graceful and flexible on top. — M Jennifer Durand is the owner and operator of The Nurture Nook Day Spa & Gift Shoppe; she is a certified QiGong and Breathe Empowerment instructor, a skin care and makeup specialist, an InterPlay leader and is licensed in massage therapy, body work and somatic integration. Let her help you find your personal “ahh . . .” factor by visiting nurture nook.com or by calling (615) 896-7110.

After Electoral College Vote, Hillary Lost More Electors Than Did Trump

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ell, the liberals are 0 for 3. Hillary Clinton lost the general election, she lost the recount and now she’s officially lost the Electoral College. All the talk leading up to the Electoral College count was how many electors Trump would lose. In the end, it was only 2, while Hillary lost 5!

The prospect of 37 electors turning on Trump and pushing the election—and liberal hopes—to the House of Representatives was so high that stories abounded the morning of the Electoral College. The morning after there was not a single story about the Electoral College on CNN’s front page.

That’s because the story of the Electoral College was that electors abandoned Hillary Clinton at more than twice the rate they abandoned Trump. MSNBC did mention Trump in several stories on their website, the lead being “Trump’s win is anything but historic.” True, it VIEWS OF A may not be historic in terms of electoral votes, but this election has certainly been historic in COLUMN BY terms of whining.

PHIL VALENTINE Remember when George W. Bush won a philvalentine.com hotly contested race in 2000 with hanging chads and Supreme Court decisions? He needed 270 electoral votes to win and ended up with 271. That would’ve been the perfect year for “faithless electors.” I don’t recall any effort on the part of the Democrats to steal that election for Al Gore.

I guess that presents the question why now in 2016?

It has everything to do with Donald Trump. You would think someone who used to be a Democrat and who once gave money to Hillary Clinton would be the least of their worries.

Truth is Trump is their worst nightmare.

Let me explain.

The Democrat strategy for years has been a numbers game. Their plan has been to flood the country with immigrants, largely illegal ones, in the hopes of one day giving them amnesty. I refer to these people as undocumented Democrats. They’ve been hugely successful in California. George H.W. Bush won California by about 300,000 votes in 1988. He was last Republican to do so. Trump lost California by more than 4 million votes.

What happened?

Immigration to California—both legal and illegal—exploded after 1988. According to 2010 Census figures, 25.4% of Californians are now foreign-born. That number is certainly higher by now. Compare that with a state like Texas, which everyone assumes has a large foreign-born population, and it’s 10.8%.

Unfortunately, Democrats see immigrants as fertile ground. Used to be you had to live in this country five years before you could get any kind of welfare assistance. Not anymore.

According to the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), 51 percent of households headed by an immigrant are now on some form of welfare. This is not by happenstance.

The immigrants of old came to America for the opportunity. Too many of today’s immigrants come for the benefits. The Democrats are only too eager to provide those benefits.

Food stamp recipients, for example, are up 42% under Obama. You create a dependent class and you create Democrat votes forever.

The centerpiece of the Trump administration will be stopping the flood of illegal immigrants. These illegals are the farm team for the Democrats. Trump and the Republicans have a better idea. Create jobs and, thus, create independence instead of dependence. The Trump strategy is to help everyone who is able to become self-sustaining. He believes Americans are more productive and happier when they have good jobs. This is something the liberals still don’t quite understand.

The Democrats are still banking on dependence. Trump is banking on hope.

CONSERVATIVE

Phil Valentine is an author and nationally syndicated radio talk show host with Westwood One. For more of his commentary and articles, visit philvalentine.com.

State Rep. Bryan Terry Sees Trump Election as a Good Thing for State Rights BRYAN TERRY WAS RECENTLY reelected to be the representative for District 48, which is the eastern half of Rutherford County. Having been asked various questions from constituents, friends and co-workers following the election, Rep. Terry has submitted and shared some of the questions along with his answers.

What are the big takeaways from the presidential election?

REP. TERRY: I think there are a few lessons that can be learned. The Democrats should

learn that calling a large portion of the country derogatory slurs like deplorable, racist or phobic just because one holds a different opinion is not productive. The American people rejected a divisive message based on polarization and Saul Alinsky tactics. On the Republican side, there was a repudiation of the establishment’s business-as-usual politics. Back in 2014, as a self-governance candidate, I ran as a complete outsider with a belief that “we the people” were tired of those choices. I think that sentiment holds true not just locally, but nationally.

How will a Trump administration affect the state of Tennessee?

Tennessee had very little flexibility in education, health care, economic and other policies under the Obama administration. A Clinton administration would have worsened the Federal stranglehold. Assuming President-elect Trump’s administration is friendly to the 10th Amendment, the 50 states can serve as the laboratories of democracy as intended by our founders. We will have the opportunity to advance our policies to better serve Tennesseans.

You didn’t have a primary opponent, and you had a general opponent with very little name recognition, yet you ran an extensive campaign. Why? As a self-governance candidate and legislator, I think it is important to talk to people one on one either at their door, at events or just in the community. You get a better pulse of the community and district than when you stay in an echo chamber or just run a poll. It is truly an honor and a privilege to earn someone’s vote, and the people of District 48 need to know that I am earning their vote and support both on the campaign trail and as their voice at the Capitol.

As you campaigned this year, what did Rutherford Countians ask you about the most, or express interest in seeing happen the most?

A lot of the talk was about the presidential race. But when talking local and state issues, the burdens of Obamacare and skyrocketing insurance costs, education, jobs and transportation were frequent topics. Most liked me being an active voice at the Capitol and locally.

They encouraged me to keep doing what I’m doing. For me, receiving positive feedback and outperforming election expectations provides encouragement as we move forward.

What will the priorities of the next General Assembly be?

It is my hope that Governor Haslam and the General Assembly will see the opportunity that has been presented to us with the election of Donald Trump. We have the potential to put forth proactive, conservative legislation dealing with health care, transportation, education and the economy that won’t be stonewalled at the federal level. I think those will be some of the priorities. The questions will revolve around the substance of those bills.

What will your personal priorities be in the next General Assembly?

As a representative, you often have to wear different hats and juggle various responsibilities or issues. Right now, I’ve been talking to legal services about some of the potential bills that have been brought to me by citizens. I think it is important for people to know they have a voice working for them at the Capitol. Additionally, outreach is a passion of mine. I’m looking for various ways to get people all across the spectrum involved. I’ve, also, been asked, as an opinion leader, to help forge some of the proactive measures that our General Assembly will be putting forth the next session.

What can citizens do to get involved or make a difference?

A lot of people have asked what they can do to make a difference. I would encourage people to bring forth their issues and ideas to any elected official. My office can be reached at (615) 741-2180 or via email at rep.bryan.terry@capitol.tn.gov. I’m more than happy to visit with someone at the Capitol or in Murfreesboro.

BOROPULSE.COM

* JANUARY 2017 * 39

Sports MTSU Basketball Posts Big Wins Defeat Vandy and Belmont; falls against VCU, Georgia State.

T

he Blue Raiders rolled into the month on a five-game win streak, but a tough December schedule posed a great threat to that streak. MT started the month on the road against South Alabama.

Although the Blue Raiders got on a early 24–2 run to jump out to a 26–9 lead, South Alabama went on a 15–5 run of its own to make the score 31–24 at the half. The Jaguars cut the MT lead to four early in the second half, but never was able to catch up with the Blue Raiders. MT came away with the 67–55 road victory.

JaCorey Williams led all scorers with 16 points while pulling down seven rebounds.

Reggie Upshaw stuffed the stat sheet, as has

BLUE RAIDER SPORTS BY GREG CRITTENDEN

become expected of him. He contributed 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

The Blue Raiders next hosted the Vanderbilt Commodores in what was expected to be a hotly contested match. Vanderbilt had just come off a historical shooting night against High Point, but the Blue Raiders saw to it that there was no history made against them.

MT limited Vandy to just 32 percent shooting in the first half, building a 31–23 lead at the break. The second half featured an even more intense defensive effort as the Blue Raiders pulled away for a 71–48 victory.

Giddy Potts wholly dominated the Commodores inside and out with 27 points and nine rebounds. Upshaw once again played the “doit-all” role with 14 points, six rebounds and five assists. JaCorey Williams scored a doubledouble with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

The Blue Raiders took on another Nashville-based opponent next, Belmont.

MT opened the game with a 13–0 run,

however, the Bruins did not shy away from the fray. The Blue Raiders would only lead by three at the half, 31–28. The Bruins took the lead about halfway through the second half, but a 27–10 MTSU run would all but clinch the game.

Not only did Reggie Upshaw lead the Blue Raiders in scoring with 21 against Belmont, but he also joined the 1,200-point club. Upshaw also pulled down six rebounds, while Williams posted another double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds along with five assists. Potts chipped in 17 points on 3-for-4 shooting from beyond the arc.

The Blue Raiders next went on the road for the biggest game of their non-conference schedule to take on Virginia Commonwealth.

If they were to win this one a spot in the top 25 was all but guaranteed.

Unfortunately for Middle, the Blue Raiders stumbled out of the gate.

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Clockwise from below: Giddy Potts throws down a monster slam in a contest against Vanderbilt in the Murphy Center; Reggie Upshaw and Ed Simpson celebrate a big basket; Upshaw drives with the ball.

“We have to start out stronger. The first few minutes we had five turnovers. We have to start coming out ready to play,” said Potts.

That slow start saw the Blue Raiders fall behind 7–0 before scoring their first basket, and, just before the midway point of the first half, MT trailed 21–10. But that’s when Giddy Potts caught fire.

Potts scored all 17 of his first half points from that point, which helped MT take a momentary lead until VCU regained it just a few seconds before the half.

Middle came out of the half strong, regaining the lead early, but VCU went on another run to pull back ahead. Though they got back within two several times before

Clockwise from left: Coach Rick Stockstill arrives in Hawaii; Richie James; I’Tavius Mathers practices prior to the Hawaii Bowl; Darius Harris.

Blue Raider Defense Couldn’t Contain the Rainbow Warriors in Hawaii Bowl the end of the game, Middle never was able to pull back ahead. A Giddy Potts buzzerbeater missed the mark as VCU claimed the 80–77 victory.

The Blue Raiders led nearly every category a coach hopes to see his team lead in, but it was ball security that did them in.

While their 12 turnovers weren’t terrible, VCU committed only five.

Potts led the way again for the Blue Raiders with 25 points on the strength of 5-of-7 shooting from the arc. Williams recorded his third straight double-double with 17 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Upshaw added 15 points and six rebounds while freshman Tyrik Dixon contributed 12 points.

The Blue Raiders next returned to the Murphy Center to close out their nonconference schedule against Georgia State.

Though the Blue Raiders were heavily favored, a number of runs and strong defense from the Panthers forced the upset.

GSU opened the game with a 15–3 run, but a 19–4 MT run helped the Blue Raiders gain the lead. However, the Panthers closed the half with a 14-3 run to regain a lead they never relinquished.

Although Middle won the turnover battle, they could not overcome losing the rebounding battle or their poor shooting. The Blue Raiders made only 35 percent of their shots, and shot a dismal 27 percent from the three.

Potts again lead the team in scoring with 19, and in rebounding with six. However, he shot only 2 of 11 from the three.

Despite back-to-back losses, the Blue Raiders still received a vote in the Top 25 Coaches’ Poll.

Avoiding a three-game losing streak will be a challenge, as the Blue Raiders start their Conference USA schedule on New Year’s Day against league favorite UAB.

A

fter a week of luaus, hula dancing and relaxing on the beach, the Blue Raiders finally got a chance to play the game for which they made the trip to Hawaii.

The defense forced a 3-and-out on the first possession of the Hawaii Bowl, and the MT offense was able to capitalize. It took only four plays for the Blue Raiders to hit paydirt, as I’Tavius Mathers capped off the 74-yard drive with a 20-yard run.

After another 3-and-out from Hawaii, the Blue Raiders scored in a hurry once again.

After a pass interference call placed them at their own 49, Brent Stockstill hooked up with Richie James on a 51-yard touchdown pass.

However, the game turned on a dime on the Blue Raiders’ next possession. Hawaii linebacker Ikem Okeke blitzed Stockstill’s blindside and stripped the ball. Hawaii got its first touchdown of the game on the first play of the ensuing possession, which would also be the first of four unanswered touchdowns for the Rainbow Warriors.

The Blue Raiders finally got back on the board late in the second quarter with a 3-yard touchdown reception by Ty Lee, but

Hawaii came back scored quickly on the following possession to maintain a 35–21 lead going into the half.

MT received the opening kick of the half, but the Rainbow Warriors defense forced another 3-and-out. Hawaii’s offense followed up with a field goal.

Middle responded with 75-yard scoring drive, capped off by a Dennis Andrews touchdown reception, to pull within 10.

However, that was the closest they would get to catching up with Hawaii in the second half.

The Rainbow Warriors came away with the 52–35 victory in front of their home crowd.

Playing in his first game since Nov. 5, it was apparent that Stockstill was a bit rusty.

He did throw for 432 yards and four touchdowns, but he also threw two interceptions, one of which went back for a touchdown.

Stockstill also appeared somewhat indecisive at times, which is rather uncharacteristic of the star quarterback.

The biggest story, however, was the defense.

The MT defense allowed 500 yards of total offense, and, as it had all season, struggled to stop the run especially. The Rainbow Warriors rushed for 205 yards, with 170 of those coming from starting running back Diocemy Saint Juste alone.

Four days later, MTSU parted ties with defensive coordinator Ty Nix. Nix joined the Blue Raiders as co-defensive coordinator in 2012, aiding the defense in showing drastic improvement in several statistical rankings from the previous year.

The unit continued to show improvement in 2013.

Nix took sole leadership of the defense in 2015 and the unit again showed improvement, but in 2016 they showed regression in nearly every major category while looking completely lost at times.

On the same day MT also cut ties with receivers coach Kez McCorvey. McCorvey was hired after Kodi Burns departed for other coaching opportunities.

McCorvey led a unit that had been decimated by injuries before the season began, and the unit played well in spite of that fact.

While it is not entirely clear why McCorvey was let go, it has been speculated that his coaching philosophy did not mesh well with the rest of the staff.

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* JANUARY 2017 * 41

SPORTS

TALK

COLUMN BY “Z-TRAIN”

titanman1984@yahoo.com

PEYTON, LeBRON AND THE CUBS ALL HAD A NICE 2016, TITANS FINISH A RESPECTABLE 9–7 THE TRAIN DADDY IS BACK, as always, bringing sports news, life lessons and politically incorrect talk to you, the loyal reader. Good riddance 2016 and hello 2017. You’re looking sexy, 2017. Oh yeah, turn over and shake that tail, mama, be good to me, honey, because 2016 was, frankly, not very pleasing. I have faith in you, 2017. It’s to be the year of phenomenal sporting events. That’s the fantastic thing about sports in general— no politics, no left or right, just pure competition. Read that last sentence again. Maybe that statement isn’t so true for the NFL anymore . . . nip it in the bud, Goodell.

Take a moment, people, and ponder (meaning “think carefully”) about what you have, where you live, and all of life’s little problems. Not so hopeless, right? I mean, if you’re reading this, you probably live in America, and even America’s worst off have a shot at happiness through hard work! It’s laughable when compared to 90 percent of the rest of the world dealing with true poverty, true starvation and true oppression. Yet people continue to protest, cry, whine and demand change here in the land of the free. In layman’s terms, be thankful you live in America, respect yourself, respect your neighbor, be humble and, dammit, smile. It’s 2017, folks, and you live in America.

So let’s get it on! Let’s break down 2016 and move into 2017. If the media is to be believed, I heard the Cubs won something, and a sports team in Cleveland actually won a championship. The big news appears to be a reality star named Mr. Trump, who was democratically elected president.

There is even a rumor that a sevenfoot alien was captured hiding in the mountains of Colorado, surviving on weary hikers. It’s all just speculation, but if I learned one thing, it’s that anything is possible. Let’s take a look at my favorite moments of 2016.

I love entwining sports with politics, crazy stories and patriotism.

I could stick with just sports, rattle off statistics or focus on only football.

Enough of you have asked, “Train Daddy, I thought this was a sports article?” This is no normal article, my friends. I am a unique sports writer.

42 * JANUARY 2017 * BOROPULSE.COM

I feel that the key to success is having an equal share of people who despise your writing and give you pushback.

My main purpose in journalism has always been to make people laugh.

Love it or hate it, I don’t care; just know I appreciate you reading it.

PEYTON RETIRES A CHAMP PEYTON MANNING had a big

year in 2016. That’s right! In 40 days he went from being accused of PED use, won his starting job back, played terrible, won a Super Bowl while barely able to throw the ball 15 yards and retired a Super Bowl champ. At least now he doesn’t have to sit around the holiday table listening to his brother brag about having more rings. For now, they’re both tied with two as Eli finishes out his career. Granted, Peyton is sure to be a Hall of Famer. Eli Manning can’t yet say that with conviction.

Let’s not forget the dominance that was and wasn’t the 2016 Golden State Warriors. The sharp-shooting Warriors broke all kinds of records, most impressively eclipsing the ’96 Chicago Bulls for the best regular season record in NBA history, finishing 73–9. A dominant high-scoring team, popping three-point shots from all over the court, led by twotime MVP, the always gracious and humble Steph Curry. The warriors started the season with a 24-game winning streak, yet they couldn’t cap off a magical season, eventually losing to the Cavaliers in the finals. The Warriors did surprise the basketball world this past summer, signing Kevin Durant and creating a superstar-heavy team. Oh my!

CAVS DEFEAT WARRIORS

I guess this is where I talk about who actually won the NBA Championship. I am no fan of LeBRON JAMES. I was rooting for STEPH CURRY all the way, but LeBron did bring it home. Down 3–1 to the defending champions the Cavaliers looked dead in the water. Yet LeBron and company came on hard and tied the series, creating a game 7.

It was a thrilling game, and came down to the final seconds. LeBron was a superstar early in his career with Cleveland, then turned traitor and angered the fans of Cleveland signing with Miami and winning back-to-back championships for the Heat. Finally LeBron returned home to Cleveland and brought the city a much deserved 2016 title, he may bring them a few more before he retires.

So you all know I hate baseball, yet some sports fans and people out there have told me this is the biggest story of the year: The Chicago Cubs. Yeah, yeah, blah, blah! I get it, it was 108 years, the curse is lifted, Bill Murray was singing, dancing and drunk for weeks after. Sorry baseball, I don’t love you, but 108 years is a long time to be cursed by a goat in a tavern. It’s over now. I congratulate you.

SAYING FAREWELL

In the sports world we lost a few big names in 2016. Tennessee legend PAT SUMMITT passed away after being diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. She holds the record for most wins in NCAA Division I Basketball. Gone is the

man, the legend, the greatest, MUHAMMAD ALI—float like

a butterfly, sting like a bee, R.I.P. We also said goodbye to Mr. ARNOLD PALMER, who made one deli-

cious mixed beverage and was one hell of a golfer—some say the best.

Of course, we all recently said goodbye to Princess Leia Organa (a.k.a. CARRIE FISHER), one of the greatest leaders, fearless on the battlefield and dedicated to ending the tyranny of the Empire. Very soon after, Fisher’s reallife mother, DEBBIE REYNOLDS, passed away as well. R.I.P. In 2016 we also said goodbye to WILLY WONKA WILDER, Knock ’em Out KIMBO SLICE and say-no-to-drugs NANCY REAGAN. We also lost KENNY BAKER, the original actor who played R2-D2 Good riddance, FIDEL CASTRO!

We will miss BUDDY RYAN,

the creator of the greatest NFL defense ever, the ’85 Bears.

These artists didn’t listen to Nancy and say “no” to drugs: the talented DAVID BOWIE, Mr. Jitterbug GEORGE MICHAEL, the “Okie from Muskogee,” MERLE HAGGARD and the great Purple Rain, Mr. PRINCE. All of these artists acknowledged, and dealt with, heavy substance abuse.

Maybe people close to you passed away this year. With all seriousness, remember them, live for them. I pray for you and your family if you lost someone. It’s easy to joke about pampered celebrities passing away, but when it hits close to home, you realize how important family truly is.

PRESIDENT TRUMP

This may be the biggest news of the year, definitely a game changer in the

history books: Mr. DONALD TRUMP was elected president. Sure, he is a narcissist, a little odd, and has no filter, but he was elected. If he can deliver on these promises, creating jobs, growing the economy and patching up America’s crumbling infrastructure, he has my full support. Donald may blow us up, he may blow something else up, he may start a reality TV series filmed in the oval office, I don’t know. . . . I do know we all need to be united in 2017. Let’s move forward.

LET'S TALK TITANS

I wasn’t going to discuss the Titans. I was pretty distraught after MARCUS MARIOTTA suffered a broken leg in December.

Titans fans were jacked up, after beating two solid teams in Denver and Kansas back to back. I mean, all we had left was a horrible Jags team and a Texan team with no signal caller, and Titans become AFC South champs, headed to the playoffs. The Jags must have pumped up some juice. They did not look like a 3–13 team; they dominated the Titans and Marcus was carted off the field.

In retrospect, it’s all good now. The Titans outshined all their critics, finishing a healthy 9–7. The future is sweet, and MIKE MULARKEY deserves a lot of credit. After trading away the No. 1 pick to the Rams last season, the Titans have accumulated a

bundle of picks for this upcoming draft. The Titans will have the No. 5 overall pick and another first-round pick. The Titans need to grab a playmaker early at wide receiver. The future is bright, Titans fans—young talent all over, rising stars in the duo Marcus and DERRICK HENRY. I am excited, and I promise you critics won’t overlook the Titans come 2017. They have earned respect around the league after this season. With so much young talent and numerous upcoming draft picks, the Titans are poised to burst out with a magical season very soon.

Congrats ORAKPO, MURRAY, LEWAN and CASEY for making the Pro Bowl cut.

Tennessee’s nine victories are the most for the team since the 2011 season. The Titans won five games combined in previous two seasons.

That’s it, folks! The Train Daddy is ready to roll out the station! I wish you all a truly happy 2017! Let’s focus on uniting this year.

Try to understand the point of view of someone you totally disagree with. People seem to love hearing their own voice, I know I do, but I learn to sit back and listen and not always be so defensive. I realized I was more interested in proving someone wrong rather than listening and discussing. I pray we all listen to each other this New Year and give America the respect she deserves. Choo-choo!

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