Foster to open writer's festival and other news from the areas around Chattanooga

Foster to open writer's festival

CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Poet and Renaissance scholar Brett Foster will open Lee University's Writer's Festival on Friday with a reading and book signing.

Foster, associate professor of English at Wheaton College, also will speak Saturday during Lee's 10th annual Sigma Tau Delta Literary Symposium, according to a university news release. The symposium begins at 9 a.m. in the Humanities Center.

Foster's poetry reading is free. The $7 registration for the symposium includes breakfast and lunch.


Low-cost event to spay/neuter set

DECATUR, Tenn. - Citizens for Animal Rights and Education will hold a low-cost spay/neuter day Dec. 10 at the Meigs County Fairgrounds.

Dogs are $50; cats are $40. A $12 rabies vaccination will be required for any pet without a valid vaccination certificate. Other low-cost services also are available.

Appointments are required. To sign up or for questions, call 423-344-9451.


Prison-camp float wins at parade

ATHENS, Ala. - A float built by Alabama Marines to replicate a prisoner-of-war camp is the top-prize winner in the Athens Veterans Day parade.

AL.com reports the Marine Corps entry took grand prize honors in the parade held Saturday, a good eight days before the actual Veterans Day holiday.

The grand marshal was World War II veteran Dempsey McLemore, a former prisoner of war who served as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne.


Marathon called success

SAVANNAH, Ga. - Savannah officials say the city's second Rock 'n' Roll Marathon was a fist-pumping success.

Organizers say more than 17,000 runners competed in the 26.2-mile race -- and its much more forgiving half-marathon -- through the oak-shaded squares and historic neighborhoods of Georgia's oldest city on Saturday.

Savannah is the smallest of 26 cities on the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon's U.S. tour. The event will return next year for the final race of a three-year deal.


Voters weigh pension plan

KNOXVILLE - Voters in Knox County will get to decide whether to close a pension program for future employees of the Knox County Sheriff's Office, but it's not clear what will replace the plan.

The propose charter amendment on Tuesday's ballot deals with the Uniformed Officers Pension Plan, which was approved by voters in 2006.

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