A look inside...
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6 Re-Birth of Hobbies
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12 Downtown Promise
Editor Nathan Bonar
Contributors Dave Marshall Alex Zapetis
Publisher Creative ink
Financials for the New Year
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Covid Travel Tips
Winter Reads
Happy 2021! The end of the year has come and gone. A new year is upon us. First, let's take a look back at the year we had and how we made it out. The hobbies we found to keep us occupied during quarantine kept us entertained and taught us about some new passions we have in life.
Creative Director
Let’s start 2021 with a new list of financial goals to help us plan for the year.
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We have also provided some guidelines to follow if you plan on traveling in this new year.
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Finally we are happy to take you for a small tour of the highly anticipated Multi-purpose Event Center downtown where the Preds and the Govs will be hosting tons of events.
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Kristi Williams 270-484-0463 kristi@creativeinktn.com Paula Hallett mixthatdrink.com
Here’s to a great new year, everyone!
Nathan Bonar, Editor nathan@creativeinktn.com
Deposit Photos: Cover, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 15, 19
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For many, the word quarantine is one they never want to hear again, but the silver lining of this year’s tumultuous turns is that we returned to our hobbies. Work takes a big toll on many people’s home lives; they are simply not there enough to enjoy it. The quarantines that have taken place across the US have seen people enjoying their home life again. Here in Clarksville, it was easy to see what people intended to do with their time working from home because they were all at Lowe’s. In my own life, I returned to tinkering in the garage and building things again. Many of my friends were able to invest in projects they had been putting off like painting, learning a new trade such as woodworking, returning to the kitchen to learn new recipes, and spilling out into the yard for a new garden or some repairs to the exterior of their home. While I was in my garden this year, I noticed my neighbors found their way outside, too. I had only glanced at my neighbors in the driveway as they left over the years, but this year allowed us to return waves and exchange words. One neighbor was remodeling, and one began to tend to the wild grown shrubs and trees in their yard while also constructing a privacy fence. With retirement often comes extra spare time. We should plan to use this time to reinvest in our hobbies again. Our first hobby keeps you indoors with over 2,000 courses you can take in your free time to expand your knowledge on subjects you enjoy like literature, engineering, math, etc. The website http://www.edx.org has a list of tons of classes that you can take online. These classes are free and have universities such as Harvard, Georgetown, Berkeley, MIT, and Michigan among their ranks to name a few. If school is in your past, then you can still enjoy some new experiences by visiting the surging number of museums which have begun to put their exhibits online for people to see. While not all these museums allow free admission online, there is usually an abundance of cool free material you can view. The price of admission is to keep the museum running until we can return in person. But look at it this way, you do not have to wait in line and there will not be a man in a 3
tall straw hat blocking your view. Some museums to choose from are the Louvre, the American Museum of Natural History, George Washington’s family home, and D.C.’s museum of Natural History, or Machu Picchu! Some of us like to keep our hands busy, so we invest our time in creating things. If you like to learn a new skill, try out http://wwwskillshare.com.
Here, you can learn a million new skills from people with experience. These are people that will teach their skills to you for free. There are multiple levels and a great number of students. In one class that I started, there were 334 students watching the same video as I was. The class was about drawing, and I had a great time learning some new concepts. Maybe you do not consider yourself so creative, well, how about auto restoration? This is a great hobby to begin, although your wallet will not thank you, in the end. While it may be an expensive hobby, it has its rewards: knowing you have built a running machine that can get you from point A to point B in fashion.
Some of my friends have revitalized their love for the outdoors with trail running and trail hiking. The quiet of nature and the perfect social distancing environment, make for a wonderful release. Others have jumped headlong into exercise regimens. http://www.YouTube.com has made learning new things easy and you can look up plenty of new work out trainers on YouTube who are uploading new content daily. Maybe you are ready for that next gain in your bench press or that next level in your squat. No matter your forte, you are sure to find a community of people locally or online that enjoy your hobby enough to share their skill and experience with you, so don’t hesitate to take advantage of their knowledge.
The end of the year can always put a financial strain on the budget after forking out money on Christmas and every other expense that seems to tally up by the end of December. This past year was probably no different. The budget was probably exceeded, and the coffers are looking bare. Well, we can return to some financial basics to help us rebuild the path to our financial goals. Hopefully, these easy tips will help guide our spending and rebalance our portfolio. First, we must ask: did you make a financial resolution last year? How well did it go? Was the goal attainable and did you meet the goal? If not, take what you learned from this initial experience to help you plan for this new year. First, smart financial advisors tell us to calculate our net worth. This is key, they say, to checking your financial well-being. After you have your net worth calculated, you can see where you stand with your financial goals and where you want to go with them. While you are retired from the military, you may not be fully retired. If you have found your way back into the workforce, then you need to check into your 401(k) plan to see how it is matching up with your plans. Are you saving enough for your future? Can you save a little extra now to have a better later? When you have the hard numbers in front of you, you can make these decisions that ultimately lead to a more enjoyable and stress-free retirement. If you are retired fully, then you need to make a budget of your monthly expenses and see how these can be adjusted for you to begin a high yield savings account for those retirement expenses we all want, like a boat...! Of course, there is a lot to be said about how we get to a point where we own a boat. Making a new plan to pay down debts is important. Making dedicated payments that are over the minimum payment amount will help you bring that total down. It is also a great idea to pay as much extra toward your mortgage principal as you can, especially with Clarksville’s property values on the rise. Credit cards are another big one on the list. If you are like most Americans, you have several credit cards to choose from. Taking on this debt will be a great pay out not only in available credit on your cards for emergencies, but your credit score will grow accordingly. These easy steps to building a credit score come with some nice benefits like lower APR’s on your credit cards, loans, and other lines of credit. When you have good credit, you pay less back in the end, and this means you can save more dimes and nickels for the future you see yourself in. Thinking about the future is a must when you are looking into your stock portfolio. Keeping abreast of the stock market’s fluctuations and the direction it is headed can help you secure a big score on a stock. With so many new inventions and companies making their way onto the market, you never know which one is going to be the next Apple or Google. Be on the look out for things like medical companies, especially who have rights to a COVID vaccine. Alternative energy is a steady choice that may be ready for another break out year. Streaming services are another surprise stock with Disney+ and HBO Max having phenomenal ends to the year with a substantial number of new subscribers. The final place we can save and make a buck is to review all your insurance policies to make sure you are not paying for things you don’t have or don’t use. It should go without saying that if you are having trouble with the daunting task of your finances, there are plenty of people who enjoy this as a job and would love to help you make your financial goals a success. 6
MSG(R) Andrew Kester I had the chance to meet Dr. Kester at his office at the Veteran Services Organization (VSO) in Veterans Plaza. He is an accomplished soldier, teacher, family man and is married with two kids. He is the current director of the VSO and we got to chat about his path here. This is what he had to say. Andrew, tell me a little bit about where you come from. And what you did as a kid up until you got into the military. I grew up in western New York, a small town called Cuba, just like the island, but it’s Cuba, New York. It’s a small dairy community in western New York near Buffalo. I grew up on a dairy farm. When I was 18 I graduated from high school and joined the Army. My mom was a nurse. My dad was a farmer. So, what spurred me into the medical field was my mother. During “go to work with your parent” day, they say career day, I went to the hospital with my mother. She was an operating room nurse, so I couldn’t go into the operating room but, she let me hang out with the X-ray techs. I got that kind of spark as a freshman in high school that I wanted to be an X-ray tech. When I graduated high school, there was no money for me to go to college. I went to the Army recruiter and said, “Do you have X-ray?” and they said, “yeah, we have X-ray.” When I went to MEPs, they said, “you’re in luck. We happen to have two X-ray tech slots available. We have a regular X-ray tech and an airborne X-ray tech.” Of course, being 18 years old, I wanted to be an airborne X-ray tech. Unbeknownst to me though is when you become an airborne, anything, you’re in the field for your whole career. I was a field X-ray tech for most of my career, which no regrets for that. I was in combat hospitals, combat field hospitals, and MASH. I came in the Army when I was 18 and after 20 years of service retired at age 38. Next, I was airborne. I was at Bragg. I was a Fort Bragg guy for most of my career, back and forth to Bragg. I went to Honduras, and then went to Germany. And while I was in Germany, being a field guy, I got deployed twice to Bosnia. Then I went to Fort Lewis. I started in the X-ray program and did field maneuvers, did deployments and then they wanted me to be an instructor. I guess that was one of my best career opportunities in the military was teaching and that spurred my teaching interest. I taught the radiology program at Fort Sam for four years. And then I had the opportunity again, being an airborne guy, to be selected as their Special Forces radiology instructor. I taught for four years. I thought I was going to retire there, and I made E8. But both slots were full at Fort Bragg, and they basically said, “We love you, brother, but you got to go.” With two years left in the Army, I had to find a job, and the opening Fort Campbell 86 CASH was open for the senior X-ray tech. I came to Fort Campbell in 2008 and was chosen to be the 1st SGT of the 501st air support medical company. I got here and within 11 months, we went from no soldiers just unflagging the unit to a full complement of soldiers and we deployed fully trained in 11 months. From zero to 100 miles an hour in 11 months. I deployed in ’09 and then came back and retired in 2010. Following my retirement from the Army I worked for MinXray Inc. in sales. I’ve had teaching experience in the military. I really have a passion for teaching. I enjoy that transferring of knowledge. And so, when I retired from the Army in 2010, I chose to stay here and the schools were good, the economy was good and it’s got the hometown feel Clarksville does, and it has all the amenities that you need. You have the movie theaters, you got the different entertainment venues, you got the downtown, there’s just so much here that you don't have to leave Clarksville. And we enjoyed it. The schools were great: Rossview, Austin Peay. My son was able to stay at the house and go to college here. Two years after I retired, I started looking around for educational programs, and I said, I want to do an educational doctoral degree. 7
I applied at Vanderbilt and at Western Kentucky, and I got accepted to Western Kentucky. From 2012 to 2017, I was at the resident program every other weekend up at Bowling Green. I was going to Western Kentucky University, and I completed my educational doctorate while I was there. Right now, my emphasis is on organizational leadership. Once I got my doctorate in ’17, I said, I need to make a change. So, in ’18, is when I said, I'm stepping away, I want to be home more, and I would look at something more local. And in my mind, it was teaching at Austin Peay. This job here at Montgomery County Veterans Service Office position came open in 2018, and one of my friends that works at the VA, he said, “Hey, I think you should go out for this director position.” And I said, Well, you know, I'm just an X-ray tech, I don’t know the mayor. You know, this is a political move.” He said, “Just put your application in, and I got a call. And it was kind of ironic, because this was January of ’18, and I had never met the mayor before. But two weeks apart of my interview, a friend of ours, their daughter was getting married, and he officiated it. So that was the first time I actually saw Mayor Durrett. I just kind of observed him and watched him. And if you know him, he’s a real personable guy. And you know what, I saw him, he helped move tables, and he helped set the tables and he helped pull out the map. And I said, that’s a leader I can work for. So, I introduced myself at the end, I said, “you know, I really appreciate the service you gave and the biblical references you use.” And I said, “by the way, I applied for this position. I’ve got an interview with you in two weeks.” I interviewed with him, and he selected me for the job. The staff and I just moved over to this location. We were over here in the corner, but we moved in here in July. This was a three-year project. So, when I came on board the mayor said, “I want you to increase awareness.” I said, “I’ve been in sales for seven years, I could do that what’s easier to sell than free service?” I want you to decrease the backlog. I said, “I’m in the healthcare field, I’ll use my medical ID to treat the schedule like a health care schedule.” And he said, “Oh, yeah, I want you to do a building project.” I can do that. So, all I did was pick out colors. Yeah, the engineers did all the hard work. We have the largest service office in the state of Tennessee, we have got nine officers, most counties only have one or one part-time. Yeah, we have 37,000 veterans in Montgomery County. We’ve got Austin Peay. And I found that of the 37,000, less than half are getting benefits. Where are those other 10,000? They're students. They're at Austin Peay. They're in Nashville State. So, we got students, they're working-class veterans, like myself that say I don't have time to go to do this. There are nursing homes. Homeless veterans, unfortunately, you know, we don't like to talk about that. Well, we got homeless veterans. And that's where we found them. And that's one of the things that I started, after I got here was an outreach program, all nine of us have an outreach.
So, is there anything that people are unaware the VSO does? Well, you know, I’m a prime example. I didn’t know this office existed till I applied for the job. And I think some of it was location, we were down in the corner. I would come to the Clerk’s office twice a year to register my vehicle, I came to the Election Commission, which is now my neighbor, every other year to vote, but I never looked further down in the plaza. But I think now that we’re right here, that it's more visible. Mayor Durrett has tasked me with increasing awareness of VSO. Part of what we have accomplshed is getting on Five Star Media, and we do a lot of press releases with the county and take advantage of that. Before the COVID hit. I was speaking, once or twice a week at organizations around the community, providing insight into the mobile setups that we offer to all veterans. This allows for us to come to them, if they can come to us. If they’re house bound, we’ll go to the residence and help them.
What advice do you give for just anybody who's retiring into the area? I think the biggest thing is find your purpose. We had that 20 or 25 or 30 years of camaraderie, we had that leadership. And then when we step out, it’s like, what now, and that's what I felt when I retired in 2010, I stepped into to the civilian world, and I got into this sales position, it was like, is this what I’m going to do for another 30 years. And I said, this isn’t me. And that’s why I chose education as my purpose. There's a lot of places here in Montgomery County to volunteer. There's over 200 different veteran entities here that provide services, nonprofits, for veterans, so there's a lot of volunteer opportunities. If you need to find a job, there's plenty of job opportunities here. Workforce Essential is a great program to help veterans with their resume and convert that resume from military jargon to civilian jargon. But I think that's the biggest advice is find your purpose. And it could be a passion, it could be a job, it could be a hobby.
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The past several weeks, while working in my campus office, I have heard a metallic ping with a metronomic beat. I was so curious what this sound could be on the first day I heard it. When I left work that day, I drove through downtown to see what might have been the source of this noise. When I passed by the North First Street side of the new downtown convention center block, they were putting in huge steel beams for the foundation. I have lived in Clarksville my whole life, and this is the biggest project for the downtown area ever. The Predators and Austin Peay have partnered up with Clarksville County Mayor Jim Durrett to bring a new convention center to our, thankfully, re-emerging downtown. County Mayor Durrett loves his city, and he has been consistently working with the Nashville Predators and the Governors at Austin Peay to create a successful sports and entertainment enterprise in downtown Clarksville. Downtown has seen some great care this last decade with the new businesses that have taken off, like Strawberry Alley, Madeleine’s, and Yada, as well as the Downtown Commons that brings wonderful outdoor entertainment and a family play area to view. The Nashville Predators are a major player in this convention center’s creation. They have agreed to the management of the facility and Austin Peay has agreed to be its main tenant, with the coaching and staff offices being moved into the arena in 2022 when the building is expected to be completed. Along with Governor’s games, the Predators will host a slew of hockey camps and training events. The new metric of major sports entertainment in the downtown area is sure to have some wondering where they will park. The leaders of this build are also pleased to announce plans for a new parking structure that can hold up to 400 cars. Not only will this be a blessing, but there are also a wealth of spots in lots owned by APSU and approximately 400 more spots available on the city streets, and meter parking is free after 5pm. In total, there should be around 1,600 spaces in the downtown area that will make parking less stressful. However, the event center holds up to 6,000 people, so there are quite a few people that will need to carpool or catch an Uber. The convention center is poised to be a modern gem of the downtown area nestled next to historic buildings like the oldest bank building in Tennessee across the street, built in 1854, or the Leaf Chronicle which began in 1808, or the Historic Poston Building. The convention center will not only have three levels: a main event level, the entrance level, and the upper level, but it will also spill over into a practice building that will be used for league hockey for adults and kids on the first floor and the Governor’s basketball teams will have a dedicated practice court on the second floor. The event center will prove to be a top notch entertainment experience for Clarksville and surrounding area residents. The experience will be similar to that of Bridgestone, the multi-floor layout with restaurants, stores, and private or club-level rooms. Money for this project will come from several areas. The plan is to use a “facility fee” for tickets, selling the naming rights, a facility tenant fee, and a modified tax plan for companies in the area in lieu of payments, as well as a recently increased hotel/motel tax. All sales tax that is generated in the building will be used to pay the debt until it is paid in full. Mayor Durrett has hopes that the convention center will be paid for in 20 years and that the event center would produce up to $20.1 million in the downtown community. 11
While COVID may still be affecting quite a bit of our daily life, sometimes we just can’t escape having to travel. If you are one of those who must travel during this time, here are a few tips to consider while you’re out and about. •
Make sure that you understand the risk of visiting those that are at high risk while you are traveling. • Wear a mask when you cannot be socially distant up to six feet. • Check the state’s cases at covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker • Inquire ahead of time about any restrictions at your hotel, the office(s) you will visit, and the airline you are traveling with. You can check here to help your travel planning: cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers • If possible, receive the flu shot before travel. • Always carry a couple extra masks and some hand sanitizer. • Be sure you have enough of your medications for the entire trip (including a quarantine). • Wear a mask while inside of large public settings like the airport, train station, or bus depot. • If you want to clean and disinfect your room, here is a site for CDC guidance to help: cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/cleaning-disinfection • Wash your hands frequently. • Avoid touching your nose, eyes, and mouth as much as possible. • Consider getting tested before you leave and after you return. • Carry your results with you, and do not travel if you test positive. • When you return, reduce your non-essential activities for up to 7 days. • Keep a watch on your health and if you begin to exhibit symptoms get tested and seek medical assistance. Every home gains a sense of completeness when the landscaping is on point. When you pass by a home that has exquisite landscaping, you see the house as it was meant to be seen. Many people may ask: what are the best shade trees? Or how to plant for privacy? Even perhaps, what plants are good for a home in the woods? Most problems with choosing the right plants for your garden boil down to color, texture, and form. When planning a garden for your home, whether it is a new home or your well-loved forever home, keep in mind some of these tips. First, you need to find inspiration, go drift up and down the aisles at the garden store and find plants that you gravitate toward. If the plants you like are well-suited for your location, these can be the base of your design. You want to make a composition that is pleasing, so sticking within the color choice(s) is important for a more striking design. While choosing plants, you need to think to the future and plan for their mature (full-grown) size. When you go to put them in the ground, you want your plants to have the space they need to grow, otherwise, they can quickly outgrow their dedicated spot and wreak havoc on surrounding fauna. Not only does considering the mature size help in maintaining a healthy garden, but proportions are pleasing to the human eye and, when used in your garden design, it pays dividends on your curb appeal. When you choose colors, you need to maintain a balance because the eye can spot imbalance in the design quite easily. Sticking to a color theme and using the mature proportions for planning will showcase your property like you have never dreamed. No matter if you have a symmetrical or asymmetrical home front, you can plant with either design to make a mark on the neighborhood. Next, we must consider the three important areas you are planting around your home: the approach area, the outdoor living areas, and the service area. The approach area is the path to your front door and should be full of life year-round. This is where you can place your award-winning selections, the multi-seasonal bloomers, and varieties of miniature fruit trees. The outdoor living area is used for playing sports, a pool, lawn areas, and grilling and seating areas. Here in these areas, you can place flowering shrubs or shade trees to your taste as well as carpet plants. You might even think about using a vinca minor (myrtle) or some other variety of flowering plant to get a sea of color in your yard. The service area is used for flower gardens, vegetable gardens, or a compost pile. This area can help keep your cupboards full of produce, and if you are willing, jams, pickles, and other canned goods. You can create a rather symbiotic relationship for your home where the scraps feed the compost pile, the compost pile feeds your gardens, and your gardens feed you and the compost pile. Now all that is left to do is choose the right combination of plants for your home, budget, and taste! Here is a list of suggested trees and shrubs that can help you get your design started. Trees: Cornus florida, Kousa chinensis – flowering dogwoods Gleditsia triacanthos – honey (thorny) locust Ilex opaca – American holly Malus floribunda Arnoldiana – Arnold crabapple Tsuga canadensis – Hemlock Ground cover: Pachysandra terminalis – Japanese Spurge or carpet box Vinca minor - Myrtle
Shrubs: Azalea ‘gumpo’, mollis, ‘Rose Greeley’ – Azalea Ilex Aquifolium Aquiperni – Dragon Lady Holly Ilex glabra – Inkberry Kalmia latifolia – Mountain-laurel Pieris japonica – Japanese Andromeda Pyracantha coccinea lalandii – Firethorn Rhododendron ‘boule de neige’ – Rhododendron Vaccinium corymbosum – Blueberry Viburnum prunifolium – Blackhaw
Winter is a fabulous time to check out new book releases. What is better than snuggling up with a cozy blanket near your fireplace and cracking open a fresh new book? If this sounds like your own little slice of heaven, then it is time to add a few of these books to your checkout cart and get to reading. Do you know which one you want to read first? Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline This is the highly anticipated sequel to the worldwide phenomenon Ready Player One. “Days after winning OASIS founder James Halliday’s contest, Wade Watts makes a discovery that changes everything. Hidden within Halliday’s vaults, waiting for his heir to find, lies a technological advancement that will once again change the world and make the OASIS a thousand times more wondrous—and addictive—than even Wade dreamed possible.” The Return by Nicholas Sparks Nicholas Sparks is back with the story of an injured Navy doctor, and the two women whose secrets will change his life forever. “Trevor Benson never intended to move back to New Bern, North Carolina. But when a mortar blast outside the hospital where he worked sent him home from Afghanistan with devastating injuries, the dilapidated cabin he’d inherited from his grandfather seemed as good a place to regroup as any. Tending to his grandfather’s beloved beehives, Trevor isn’t prepared to fall in love with a local . . . yet, from their very first encounter, Trevor feels a connection with deputy sheriff Natalie Masterson that he can't ignore. But even as she seems to reciprocate his feelings, she remains frustratingly distant, making Trevor wonder what she’s hiding.” The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante This New York Time’s bestseller and soon to be Netflix series is a must read this winter season. “Giovanna’s pretty face is changing, turning ugly, at least so her father thinks. Giovanna, he says, looks more like her Aunt Vittoria every day. But can it be true? Is she really changing? Is she turning into her Aunt Vittoria, a woman she hardly knows but whom her mother and father clearly despise? Surely there is a mirror somewhere in which she can see herself as she truly is. Giovanna is searching for her reflection in two kindred cities that fear and detest one another: Naples of the heights, which assumes a mask of refinement, and Naples of the depths, a place of excess and vulgarity. She moves from one to the other in search of the truth, but neither city seems to offer answers or escape.” The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel This thrilling novel is in the middle of a massive Ponzi scheme failure and the mysterious disappearance of a woman from a ship at sea. “In this captivating story of crisis and survival, Emily St. John Mandel takes readers through often hidden landscapes: campgrounds for the near-homeless, underground electronica clubs, the business of international shipping, service in luxury hotels, and life in a federal prison. Rife with unexpected beauty, The Glass Hotel is a captivating portrait of greed and guilt, love and delusion, ghosts and unintended consequences, and the infinite ways we search for meaning in our lives.” Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth Veronica Roth is back with another thrilling novel that is sure to take readers on an amazing journey. “Fifteen years ago, five ordinary teenagers were singled out by a prophecy to take down an impossibly powerful entity wreaking havoc across North America. He was known as the Dark One, and his weapon of choice—catastrophic events known as Drains—leveled cities and claimed thousands of lives. Chosen Ones, as the teens were known, gave everything they had to defeat him. After the Dark One fell, the world went back to normal . . . for everyone but them. After all, what do you do when you’re the most famous people on Earth, your only education was in magical destruction, and your purpose in life is now fulfilled?”