Today, two topics.
First, a humble plea from a Marion County grandmother, Sally Beene-Scott, whose house is literally sinking into the ground.
Beene-Scott lives in a 100-plus-year-old farmhouse in the Battle Creek community about 8 miles from South Pittsburg, Tenn., with her husband and two elementary-school-age grandchildren, a boy and a girl.
Mark KennedyView other columns by Mark Kennedy
"I was brought home from the hospital to this house," said Beene-Scott, 66, a retired office manager and lung cancer survivor. "I've only lived away [from the house] for about five years."
The house was built as shelter for mule handlers back when Beene-Scott's grandfather operated a nearby sawmill in the early years of the 20th century, she said. In the 1920s, when a twister tore the roof off the main house, Beene-Scott's grandparents - the McConnells - moved into the smaller quarters.
Over time, the timbers in the foundation have begun to rot. The recent troubles started in the bedroom about a year ago, Beene-Scott said.
"The floor started creaking and popping," she explained.
Next, the bedroom floor suddenly dropped about three inches in places. Under the house, some of the main beams in the foundation have begun to splinter, setting off a slow-motion chain reaction in several other rooms. The floors creak so badly in some rooms that the family Labrador retriever, Bubba, refuses to go in.
Beene-Scott warns her grandkids not to play too energetically in the house for fear the floors will drop more.
"We are raising our grandchildren, and they like to run and jump," she said in a phone interview. "They don't want to sit still, but it's a constant battle to keep them from falling though the floor."
The cost estimate for fixing the foundation is about $2,500 for labor and materials. Beene-Scott said the family has no savings for such a big-ticket repair.
"We've done all we can," she said. "We live on a fixed income."
Beene-Scott said a relative told her about gofundme.com, a crowd-sourcing website that helps people raise money for such things. It's the 21st century's answer to the donation jar.
So far, the online effort has raised about $1,300, including $500 from a cousin.
"I sent him a text message telling him that I was in shock about his generosity," Beene-Scott said.
To read more about the effort, and/or to contribute to the cause, visit www.gofundme.com/Sallys-floor-repair and follow the directions.
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Book No. 2 of a two-book set about former Chattanooga Judge Raulston Schoolfield.Some months ago in this space we told you about Chattanooga attorney Jerry Summers' two-book biography of former Judge Raulston Schoolfield, one of the more colorful figures in Chattanooga history.
The first book, "Rush to Justice? Tennessee's Forgotten Trial of the Century" (Waldenhouse Publishers Inc.), traces Schoolfield's life from his early days as a rebellious teenager who drifted from school to school, to his fight-filled young-adult years as a local attorney, to his apparent political demise after being impeached as a judge in 1958.
History will remember him chiefly as a Hamilton County Criminal Court judge who ran unsuccessfully for governor of Tennessee in 1954 on a segregationist platform.
Just published is the second volume, "Schoolfield: Out of the Ashes, 1958-1982," which chronicles a 24-year span in which Schoolfield experienced efforts by the state and local bar associations to take away his law license. Book No. 2 also covers his years as Hamilton County General Sessions Court judge.
As before, Summers has meticulously laid out the good and bad in School-field's career and leaves it to readers to make final judgments about School-field's character. For lovers of local history, the books are rich in details about Hamilton County politics in the second half of the 20th century.
The books can be ordered by contacting Summers' office at 423-265-2385 or jsummers@summersfirm.com.
To suggest a human interest story for Mark Kennedy's Life Stories column, contact him at 423-757-6645 or mkennedy@timesfreepress.com.