18—Cleveland Daily Banner—Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Editorial “I have a strong moral sense — by my standards.” — Rex Stout, American writer (1886-1975)
Cheryl Dunson epitomizes passion for people service
O
nce again in the Cleveland and Bradley County community, an honoree has been named recipient of a prestigious award that is a perfect fit for someone of her convictions to people and service. We speak of Cheryl Dunson, executive vice president of marketing for Santek Waste Services Inc., who last week earned the 2016 Robert W. Varnell Jr. Leadership Award at the 90th annual meeting of the Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce. Dunson’s was one of two special accolades presented at the festive Chamber gala. The other, which is an even longer-standing honor, is the M.C. Headrick Free Enterprise Award which was presented to Stephen D. Wright, president and CEO of Wright Brothers Construction Company Inc. and Wright Brothers Contracting Inc. Both are outstanding examples of why Mayor D. Gary Davis often refers to Bradley County as “... Tennessee at its best.” We will have more to say of Wright’s much-deserved award in a later edition. For today, we offer a few thoughts on why Dunson is the epitome of community service. A Chamber of Commerce news release aptly addressing Dunson’s honor found the right means to bring perspective to Dunson’s selection. It quoted a beloved American poet, the late Maya Angelou, who once offered, “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor and some style.” Each trait is a mirror reflection of the life of Cheryl Dunson. Why? Because such passion for people, and their needs, best defined Varnell in his living years. Subsequently, the Varnell award recognizes those whose lives exemplify the passion in business, church and community leadership reflected in the life of the popular Cleveland attorney. Those who don’t know Cheryl Dunson should meet her. Those who do know her are among the first to acknowledge they are better for the knowing. One is the Rev. Guinn E. Green, pastor of Kinser Church of God where Cheryl and her husband, Charles, attend. Pastor Green is especially thankful for Dunson because of her commitment to the church’s Practical Christianity Sunday school as secretary and encourager, and for her willingness to go above and beyond in the planning and organizing of church events. A Bradley County farmer, Dunson also cooks for Men’s Fellowship breakfasts and is active in Vacation Bible School, sometimes even bringing farm animals to VBS for petting by the children. She also writes for the church’s monthly newsletter. “Cheryl has a servant’s heart, and I have the highest esteem for her compassion and work for God’s kingdom,” Pastor Green stressed. “We are honored to work with her in our church and through community projects. What a blessing she is!” She’s also another form of blessing for another group of people. Margaret Schenck, a name long accepted as an industrial leader and civic activist, served as a nominator. Schenck is executive vice president of operations for Polartec Tennessee Manufacturing (formerly United Knitting Inc.) and is no stranger to community awards. Just last year, the Polartec executive earned the highest award possible from Junior Achievement of the Ocoee Region; that is, the JA Ron Braam Award. Schenck nominated Dunson for the Chamber honor for many reasons, one of which is her volunteer work with hospice. “Even with family demands,
farm chores, club meetings and a very busy work and travel schedule, Cheryl still makes time to visit her hospice patient weekly,” Schenck said. “Not only does this wonderful person minister to the patient, but to the family as well. She has been known to cook meals for the families even after the patient has passed.” Schenck also has another way of describing Dunson by stating, “... She is as good as her word, a straight shooter who lives by her Christian beliefs.” Another side to Dunson is one best seen by Bradley County’s top elected official, the mayor. That’s because D. Gary Davis works with Dunson regularly in her Santek role. Santek operates the Bradley County Landfill under contract with county government, and for Santek — as well as Dunson — it’s far more than just hauling the trash. It’s about environmental commitments that include conservation and recycling. “Her dedicated and exceptional service has not only helped this private enterprise, but our community and all of the communities across nine states benefit from the Landfill Management & Waste Collection Solutions,” Davis said. “From construction, to acquisition, to management, to financing, her unstoppable energy has been vital to help their public partners remain in control of their landfills.” And yes, there’s more. Dunson serves as president of Cleveland Associated Industries, and is an active participant and board member of Cleveland/Bradley Keep America Beautiful. She also has served on the Chamber’s board and as the Chamber’s vice president of membership development. And, Dunson is a 10-year member of the Junior Achievement board. In 2010, she received JA’s prestigious “Above and Beyond” award which exemplifies integrity, respect and excellence. She also hangs out with Bradley Sunrise Rotary, serving as a civic club member since March 1999. Dunson has been described as “the heart” of Sunrise Rotary; plus, she is a sustaining Paul Harris Fellow and a member of the Paul Harris Society. As a Sunrise Rotarian, she not only epitomizes the group’s “Service Above Self” motto, she also authors many of the club’s publicity pieces, is a former Rotarian of the Year, and has been directly involved in critical fundraising efforts for causes dear to the civic group. She’s also a believer in education and the opportunities it brings. As such, Dunson assures that Santek continues to serve as a staunch BEST (Business & Education Serving Together) partner with Prospect Elementary School. Prospect Principal Steve Montgomery said of Dunson, “She wants to make sure every child has the same opportunity and resources no matter their economic station in life, often funding projects personally if they are not Santek projects. However, with [Cheryl], it is not just about giving money. It is about making sure that all children have equal experiences.” Those who have worked closely with Cheryl Dunson, and who call her friend, know this about this Bradley County bundle of energy. She dives head first into her projects. She brings passion and compassion into all she touches. She bears deep witness to a vast and unstoppable love for her faith, family, career and community. As we said, Cheryl Dunson is the epitome of people service. It’s who she is. It’s what she does. It’s why others long to emulate her strengths. It’s also why the 2016 Robert W. Varnell Jr. Leadership Award is her perfect fit.
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More thoughts on ‘Thunder Road’ History of bootlegging might surprise folks; it didn’t really start in the South
I received an unusual number of calls concerning a recent column I wrote on the 1958 movie “Thunder Road,” so I thought I’d write a little more on bootlegging from the first half of the 20th century. The movie, considered a classic today, starred Robert Mitchum. Mitchum was recognized as one of the “tough guy” actors in Hollywood. He wrote the story for the film, and spent considerable time in East Tennessee doing research. One of the calls I received after the column was published came from a Cleveland resident who has his own copy of the film. He told me he watches it every week or two. This caller also told me President Dwight D. Eisenhower would not allow Mitchum films to be shown at the White House, because the actor smoked marijuana. I don’t know where he got this information, and it’s something I can’t confirm ... but it sounds interesting. But, I did discover a lot more information about bootlegging, which is very interesting ... such as the origin of the word. It seems that the word “bootlegging” apparently found its way into the English language in the 1880s in the Midwest. It supposedly explained the practice of concealing flasks of illicit liquor in boot tops when going to trade with the Indians. According to the britannica.com website, the word became part of the American vocabulary when the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution effected the national prohibition of alcohol from 1920 until its repeal in 1933. Bootlegging, in U.S. history, was the illegal traffic in liquor in violation of legislative restrictions on its manufacture, sale, or transportation. Most of us think bootlegging originated in the South, in the hills of North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. The word generates thoughts of hillbillies of the Appalachian and Smoky mountains, and terms like white lightning, sour mash whiskey and copper stills. My grandfather, on my mother’s side, was Greene County’s chief deputy for several years in the early 1900s. One of his responsibilities was locating, and destroying, moonshine stills. Early in my career as a reporter in Maryville, I accompanied members of the
LOOKING BACK Larry Bowers Banner Staff Writer Blount County Sheriff’s Office on a number of raids on illegal moonshine operations. I remember questioning two young moonshiners after a raid on “Still Hill” in the Rocky Branch community of East Blount County. Asked why they spent so much time and effort making moonshine, and running the risk of being arrested and facing a prison sentence, they replied, “Our fathers made moonshine, the government makes moonshine, so why can’t we!” When Prohibition ended the legal sale of liquor in 1920, it created demand for an illegal supply. The earliest bootleggers were not from the hills of the South. They began smuggling foreign-made commercial liquor into the United States from across the Canadian and Mexican borders, and along the seacoasts of the Northeast. Usually the liquor came in ships under foreign registry. The favorite sources of supply were the Bahamas, Cuba and the French islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, off the southern coast of Newfoundland. At the start, a favored rendezvous of the rum-running ships was a point opposite Atlantic City, N.J., just outside the threemile limit beyond which the U.S. government lacked jurisdiction. The bootleggers anchored in this area and discharged their loads into high-powered craft that were built to outrace U.S. Coast Guard cutters. This type of smuggling became more risky and expensive when the Coast Guard began halting and searching ships at greater distances from the coast, and using fast motor launches of its own. Bootleggers had other major sources of supply, however, since demand created a huge revenue source. Among these were millions of bottles of “medicinal” whiskey that were sold across drugstore counters on real or forged prescriptions. In addition, various American industries were permitted to use denatured alcohol,
which had been mixed with obnoxious chemicals to render it unfit for drinking. Millions of gallons of this were illegally diverted, “washed” of the noxious chemicals, mixed with tap water and perhaps a dash of real liquor for flavor, and sold to speakeasies or individual customers. Finally, bootleggers took to bottling their own concoctions of liquor, and by the late 1920s stills making liquor from corn had become major suppliers. Poorly distilled batches of this “rotgut” could be dangerously impure and cause blindness, paralysis, and even death. Despite the risk, these ventures continued, and many people died from drinking “bad” liquor. Bootlegging helped lead to the establishment of American organized crime, which persisted long after the repeal of Prohibition. The distribution of liquor was necessarily more complex than other types of criminal activity, Britannica notes, and organized gangs eventually would control an entire local chain of bootlegging operations, from concealed distilleries and breweries through storage and transport channels to speakeasies, restaurants, nightclubs, and other retail outlets. These gangs tried to secure and enlarge territories in which they had a monopoly of distribution. Gradually the gangs in different cities began to cooperate with each other, and they extended their methods of organizing beyond bootlegging and into the areas of narcotics trafficking, gambling rackets, prostitution, labour racketeering, loansharking and extortion. The notorious national crime syndicate that came to be known as the Mafia arose out of the coordinated activities of Italian bootleggers and other gangsters in New York City in the late 1920s and early ’30s. When Prohibition was abandoned in 1933, bootlegging did not become extinct, however. Following the appeal, Prohibition continued to exist in many U.S. counties and municipalities across the nation, and bootlegging continued to thrive as an illegal business. Little did the Indian traders realize what would evolve from a little “innocent” trading in the 1880s.
ANNIE’S MAILBOX Dear Annie: Several years ago, I had a much talked about affair with an older married man at my office. It lasted for several years. I was single at the time, and I met him at a very low period in my life. He told me I was smart, pretty and fun to be with. He showered me with flowers and gifts. He led me to believe his marriage was loveless and his only happiness was seeing me at work and talking to me on the phone. We did everything leading up to sex, but never actually completed intercourse due to religious reasons. After a few years, I met the man I am now married to. The older man became very angry and began harassing me, emotionally and verbally. I reported
him to my supervisors several times, but it only made matters worse. He has finally retired, but I still feel him watching me. I can’t prove anything, and I can’t tell my husband because he has no idea how involved we were. Aside from warning other women to beware of married men bearing love and gifts, what can I do? — Learned My Lesson Dear Learned: If your affair did not include intercourse and it happened before you met your husband, he may be more understanding than you think. Everyone makes mistakes. Also, if the people in your office are aware of the relationship, your husband may find out about it anyway. A loving spouse can be a tremendous source of support,
TODAY IN HISTORY The Associated Press Today is Wednesday, Jan. 27, the 27th day of 2016. There are 339 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Jan. 27, 1945, during World War II, Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland. On this date: In 1756, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria. In 1880, Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp. In 1901, opera composer Giuseppe Verdi died in Milan, Italy, at age 87. In 1913, the musical play "The Isle O' Dreams" opened in New York; it featured the song "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" by Ernest R. Ball, Chauncey Olcott and George Graff Jr. In 1944, during World War II, the Soviet Union announced the complete end of the deadly German siege of Leningrad, which had lasted for more than two years. In 1951, an era of atomic testing in the Nevada desert began as an Air Force plane dropped a 1kiloton bomb on Frenchman Flat. In 1965, "Up the Down Staircase," Bel Kaufman's novel about a young, idealistic teacher at a New York inner-city school, was published by Prentice-Hall. In 1967, astronauts Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a
flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo spacecraft. More than 60 nations signed a treaty banning the orbiting of nuclear weapons. In 1973, the Vietnam peace accords were signed in Paris. In 1977, the Vatican issued a declaration reaffirming the Roman Catholic Church's ban on female priests. In 1984, singer Michael Jackson suffered serious burns to his scalp when pyrotechnics set his hair on fire during the filming of a Pepsi-Cola TV commercial at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. In 1998, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, on NBC's "Today" show, charged the sexual misconduct allegations against her husband were the work of a "vast right-wing conspiracy." In 2005, Condoleezza Rice, in her first day on the job as Secretary of State, reached out by phone to European allies and partners in the war on terrorism and echoed President George W. Bush's inaugural charge to promote liberty across the globe. Frail survivors and humbled world leaders remembered the victims of the Holocaust as they marked the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz. Ten years ago: Salzburg, Austria, held an exuberant 250th birthday party for its native son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Western Union delivered its last telegram.
and your husband may be perfectly willing to forgive this lapse in judgment. Nonetheless, it will help you to talk to someone, and if your husband is not the right person, please consider discussing your fears with a counselor or clergyperson. The more serious problem is the possibility that the ex is stalking you. If you ever catch him watching your home, car or office, or following you anywhere, please notify the police immediately and, if necessary, get a restraining order. Dear Annie: I have read many letters in your column from mothers-in-law who don’t understand why they have a strained relationship with their daughters-in-law. May I add a perspective from the other side? We lived a couple of miles from my in-laws. We had a good relationship until our children were born. Then my MIL dropped in unannounced at least once a day. She refused to call in advance, despite numerous requests to do so. Her attitude was overbearing and critical. She had nothing positive to say, and criticized our house, child rearing and financial decisions. She loudly and repeatedly accused me of putting my kids in front of the TV all day, which was blatantly untrue. A new job across
the country helped separate me from her venom. Her terrible behavior and her efforts to hang on to her son cost her a decent relationship with my husband and any connection to her grandchildren. Perhaps the letter writers need to honestly examine their own behavior to determine the cause of their family strife. It isn’t always the daughter-in-law. — Been There, Survived Dear Been: How sad for everyone. We hope all estranged family members will make a genuine effort to consider whether their own actions need adjusting before placing the blame on the other person. ——— (About the writers: Annie’s Mailbox is written by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, longtime editors of the Ann Landers column. Please email your questions or comments to anniesmailbox@creators.com, or write to: Annie’s Mailbox, c/o Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd St., Hermosa Beach CA 90254. You can also find Annie on Facebook at Facebook.com/AskAnnies. To find out more about Annie’s Mailbox and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.)
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