Hamilton County's longest-serving employee retired this week after nearly six decades of service.
Edna Camp worked as chief deputy Criminal Court clerk since 1977.
"She is an institution around here," Criminal Court Clerk Vince Dean said Friday. "And she has so much institutional knowledge that we will never be able to replace."
Think about this: Her first day at the Hamilton County clerk's office was less than two months after the presidential inauguration of some hotshot speech spinner named John F. Kennedy Jr.
That's right, Miss Edna, as she was called around the county courthouse, started work as a deputy clerk on March 15, 1961. That also makes her the state's longest-serving deputy clerk, Dean noted.
"She was the personification of grace," said Dean, who has been the Hamilton County Criminal Court clerk for the last five of Cook's 58 awe-inspiring years.
Miss Edna, also known as the "First Lady of the Courthouse," was treated to a retirement reception at the courthouse earlier this week.
He is what he is
Popeyes got almost $70 million of free advertising by challenging the undisputed king of the chicken sandwich that is the Chick-Fil-A.
It started as a social media storm. And it morphed into an old-school run on the local Popeyes.
Well, now comes the fallout, led by East Ridge resident Craig Barr, who according to this story from TFP reporter Mark Pace is suing Popeyes for $5,000 for a litany of hardships.
Jay Greeson"It's totally deceptive. Who runs out of chicken? It's a big fiasco. Someone has to stand up to big corporate," Barr told Pace. "Everyone is captivated by these sandwiches. They've got everyone gassed up on them."
According to the lawsuit:
- Barr wasted "countless time driving" trying to find a Popeyes chicken sandwich;
- He was swindled out of $25 for a black-market Popeyes chicken sandwich;
- Wrecked his car chasing said chicken sandwich, causing $1,500 in damages to a tire and rim;
- And Barr has suffered humiliation when his friends laughed at him.
Well, there's a lawyer this side of Matlock who could refute the humiliation.
But not sure how that's Popeyes' fault since Barr is airing his own dirty sandwich addiction to the masses.
Be better
Hey, we're all busy. We're pressed for time and hustling to this event and that appointment.
But know this: We have to be better drivers, especially around school buses.
Buckets, people, there have already been 13 confirmed accidents, and we've been in school in Hamilton County less than a month.
Sure, some are the fault of the drivers, and that's no good either, but please make sure you are giving those drivers as much room as you can.
Remember the basics. Imagine that your kid or your cousin or your neighbor is riding in the bus in front of you.
And the jackwagon who hit the bus and ran last week, may you wreck your rims on your way to the Highway 58 Popeyes only to be told that they are out of chicken sandwiches.
Flavor of the season
We have all become accustomed to the quick-trigger Christmas decorations that pop up earlier and earlier. It's a monster time for retailers and, after all, a bunch of you could use a quick jolt of Christmas spirit year round.
But we have to draw the line in the sand at the explosion of pumpkin spice this and pumpkin latte that.
And we must do it now.
It's still August, it's still summer, and it's going to hit 90 degrees this weekend.
Pumpkin-stuff? Now?
No thanks.
Obit observations
The tragic shooting death of a young mother and the heart-breaking death of another in a car accident on Lookout Mountain remind us of the huge holes these families will never be able to fill.
I know; my mother died almost three years ago.
That appreciation makes the almost 100-year maternal umbrella that Edna Hakes gave her family even more of a blessing.
Hakes, a lifelong Rossville, Georgia, resident, died Wednesday at 99, and according to her obit, she had four kids, six grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and 14 more great-great-grandchildren.
That's a legacy, friends.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.