2014?
Yeah, it had its share of lumps.
There were neo-Nazis.
And a busted TCAP and a disastrous poverty rate and a defeated domestic partner ordinance.
Someone threw tacks on the Ironman race course. Teachers lost benefits. Nurses lost a raise.
And we lost Luther.
But the sad and bad news can always be separated — wheat from chaff — by the good news, which seems to arrive in the form of just and beautiful people — always, the just and beautiful — who help us remember what it means to be alive.
* The graceful persistence of Helen Burns Sharp, whose watchdog activism stalled a mountaintop development, put county and city leaders on their heels and made “tax increment financing” a household word.
* Collegedale detective Kat Cooper, who continues to fight in the name of equality, love and acceptance for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Chattanoogans. In 2014, she co-founded the Nooga Diversity Center. In 2015, the center — fingers crossed — becomes a household word, too.
* The rousing Chattahooligans, who presided over the best year of football in our city’s history.
No, the other football.
The Chattanooga Football Club had a banner year, reaching the soccer finals, which was played in Somewhere Terribly Faraway. But the semis were played here, and Finley Stadium was packed with nearly 9,000 fans.
Yes, 9,000.
Several months later, the Mocs football team would pack the stadium as well, having reached the playoffs for the first time in 30 years.
That afternoon, nearly 9,000 people filled Finley again.
Yet the CFC game had more fans than the Mocs did.
To be exact: 8,878 to 8,419.
It may be the most underreported stat of the year. Has CFC become more popular than the football Mocs?
* The light of LaToya Holloman, whose unsung work continues to uplift and restore. An old soul, Holloman leads “Loving My Community,” her own organization that loves, mentors and marches for the East Lake community.
* The endurance of Anders Swanson. Last spring, he was pepper-sprayed and attacked while cycling on Raccoon Mountain. In the face of neglectful law enforcement he said was more injurious than the attack itself, Swanson was persistent when many others would have given up. His story served to galvanize the cycling community while opening up the conversation on what it’s like to cycle on many Chattanooga roads.
“I’ve been lucky I haven’t been hit or killed,” one cyclist admitted.
* The resistance of Koch’s Bakery.
Owner and grandmother Barbara Davis wanted to beautify a forgotten wall of her Broad Street bakery, so she hired an artist to paint a mural of flying doughnuts. They’re head-turning: pink, sprinkled and floating.
And illegal, a city inspector said.
“But it’s art,” said Davis.
“No, it’s a sign,” said the city.
So you stepped in, signing a petition with 500 signatures and ordering up 420 donuts that were delivered to City Council in the sweetest protest this city’s seen in years.
* The legacy of Karl Epperson, known as the unofficial “Mayor of the Westside.”
Motoring in his wheelchair, wearing that leathered cowboy hat with his border collie Rocky in his lap, Epperson was a model of love-thy-neighbor activism.
He advocated for handicapped Chattanoogans, organized youth sports in College Hill Courts, helped addicts find sobriety, protested for housing rights and safety.
City Hall once gave him a key to the city. Epperson ran for mayor and city council, calling himself an independent; to me, he was really a populist with a servant’s heart.
“Why do all the big dogs get the bones?” his campaign asked.
A member of Renaissance Presbyterian Church and a veteran, Epperson, 68, had long suffered from lung disease. Work was underway to pass a City Council resolution honoring him.
He died Sunday.
* I’d also like to send thoughts to Van Townsend, former running coach and English teacher at Baylor School. It’s hard to find a runner in this town that hasn’t known Van; he is a punk-rock-patron-saint of local running. He didn’t just coach the ultra fast, but anyone who asked. And he did so joyfully.
And cancer’s got a hard grip on him.
* Finally, no 2014 list is complete without Cookie and Chris Rolle.
The retired couple live on Dodson Avenue and each morning serve breakfast to dozens of school kids. Many come hungry. Some come barefoot. Others, traumatized.
Like surrogate parents, the Rolles hug and care and love and counsel and cheerlead. It is Hansel and Gretel in reverse: children lost in the woods, finding their way to a place of safety, encouragement and beauty.
May we all be so lucky in 2015.
Contact David Cook at dcook@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6329. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter at DavidCookTFP.