280 Living
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November • A1 November 2013 | Volume2013 7 | Issue 3
neighborly news & entertainment
New heights
The gravity of grocery With Winn-Dixie expected to open this month, Inverness Corners is seeing an increase in new tenants
By JEFF THOMPSON
This month’s Race to the Heights 5K will see hundreds join in the fight against human trafficking. See inside for more.
Community page B6
Walk to remember
Olean Kenny has seen the Georgia hills and the dense Maine forest — and everything between. Read the story of her decades-long conquest of the Appalachian Trail inside.
Community page B1
INSIDE Sponsors ...... A4 280 News ..... A5 Business ....... A8 Food .............. A13 Sports ........... A18
Opinion ............. A22 Community ...... B1 School House ... B17 Calendar ........... B21
Gayle Davison’s retirement came and went, and it left her with an important question. For 31 years she served as a math teacher, her final 10 with Shelby County Schools. After leaving the classroom, she relaxed and traveled for a brief period before deciding that life had more work for her to do. “So what’s next?” Davison said she thought to herself. She loves shoes, so she considered selling them. And she loves flowers, so she thought about selling those as well. But after mulling it over, she decided doing either would be a fast track to falling out of love. Her next venture turned out to be on the radio. She heard an advertisement for a tutoring business called Mathnasium and decided that starting a franchise on the U.S. 280 corridor was the answer. Then, deciding where to put it turned out to be the easiest decision she made. “The reason I came to Inverness Corners was because Winn-Dixie signed a lease there,” Davison said of her Mathnasium location that opened in October. “When I found this building, I felt really good. But as time has gone by, that green
Gayle Davison launched her business, Mathnasium, in Inverness Corners in October. She said she selected the location when she heard Winn-Dixie signed a lease to occupy the former Bruno’s Supermarket spot in the shopping center. Photo by Jeff Thompson.
light that led me here has just gotten bigger and bigger.” Representatives with WinnDixie said the store in Inverness Corners could be open by the end of November, filling a general grocery gap in the market along the corridor. The store is anticipated to
be a flagship store for the company and should include a host of features to serve 280 residents. “The amenities in our new Birmingham store offer a onestop shopping experience unlike any other,” said Tim Flavin, Montgomery Region vice president
of Winn-Dixie Stores, in a statement. “We’ve fine-tuned our store to reflect the needs and preferences of the local community, providing our customers with exceptional service and the freshest products at the
See GROCERY | page A20
From Spain Park to Carnegie Hall By REBECCA WALDEN When Charles Henry first walked the halls of Spain Park High, the school choir hardly had a pulse. The newly minted choir director knew he had his work cut out for him, especially when he realized his freshman membership numbered all of six singers. For Henry, though, passion meant a lot more than having an impressive head count. “Really my job is to teach
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Spain Park choral students Morgan Whetstone, Blaise Brackett, Patrick Ritchey and Adam Baroody prepare for their upcoming performance at Carnegie Hall in New York. Photo courtesy of Charles Henry.
See CARNEGIE | page A21