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Volume 110, Number 37, Wednesday, January 30, 2013
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Henco closing doors forever
INSIDE THIS WEEK
Iconic Selmer furniture store announces going out of business sale By Christen Coulon Editor
CHEWALLA FIRE
An afternoon fire in Chewalla leaves local man injured
PAGE 3A
It’s official. In a letter to its preferred customers, Henco Furniture announced that it will be going out of business. The store, which boasts 280,000 square feet (about four football fields) of total display and warehouse space, is one of the largest furniture retailers in the nation. In the letter sent out this week, the furniture giant invited its most loyal customers back for a special sale to thank them for their years of business. “Our Henco family would like to express our immense gratitude by inviting (its preferred customers) to attend this special sale before we publicly announce our going out of the furniture business sale in the newspapers and on TV and close our doors forever,” said Tom Hendrix, Henco’s owner and founder in the letter. “As founder of Henco Furniture, I am grateful for every mile driven to Henco,”
Hendrix said to his customers in the letter. “Many of you have driven hundreds of miles to visit us at home shows or at our store here in Selmer. I have had the pleasure of greeting many of you and want to thank you, my loyal friends and customers, for your continued support which has made our business a success worth celebrating. “After 55 years in business, including the past 15 years in furniture, it is time to turn the page. I plan to retire and write a book about the lessons that I have learned as an entrepreneur and hope to encourage people to live their dreams as I have.” The furniture store is well known around the region for its incredible atmosphere. Each year it has brought in thousands of out-of-town visitors to McNairy County, as well as thousands of dollars in tax revenue. Its closing will certainly impact the city of Selmer and McNairy County as a whole. “Henco has been a positive impact in our county for a number of years, and it
will certainly hurt to take the number two tax producer out to the economy,” said Ted Moore, Executive Director of the McNairy Regional Alliance. “Tom himself has been a positive impact on the community, but he has reached the point in his life where he needed to focus on other things.” Moore said that Hendrix’s presence has meant a lot to the area and that he would be dearly missed. “We are certainly sorry to see them close,” said Selmer Mayor David Robinson. “We will definitely see an impact in the loss of tax revenue and loss of visitors to the city. I would like to wish Tom (Hendrix) well in all of his future endeavors.” Hendrix said that he wanted to explain the store’s closing directly to the residents of McNairy County and has scheduled an interview with the Independent Appeal to voice his reasoning to the local residents. Hendrix’s interview detailing the closing and its long history is scheduled to run in our Feb. 13 issue.
Michie mother gives birth to 6 kids: Sextuplets may set new world record By Christen Coulon Editor
A Michie mother gave birth to sextuplets on the evening of Jan. 21 inside the barn in which she lives. All six kids appear to be healthy, and the mother is now recovering at home. You may be wondering why this mother lives in a barn. Well, this mother happens to be a Nigerian dwarf goat named Blondie. You may also be wondering whether six kids is an unusually large litter for a goat. In fact, it is. Blondie’s litter of six surviving kids may set a new Guinness World Record for most goats in a single litter. According to the Guinness World Records website, the existing record of six kids in a litter was set on March 12, 2006,
STATE BOWLING CHAMPIONSHIP Lady Cards make first tournament appearance PAGE 1B
by a pygmy goat named Lucy in Julian, Pennsylvania. However, in the existing record, only five of the goats survived. “Should the evidence provided be thorough and accurate enough, a record of six goats in a litter would tie the current world record achievement for most goats in a single litter,” said Mike Janela, Head of U.S. Records Management for Guinness World Records. The large litter and news of a possible world record surprised Blondie’s owner Lynn Sultan, who is no stranger when it comes to assisting in the birth of farm animals. Sultan has run a farm with llamas, alpacas, miniature horses, chickens and, of course, goats for more than 15 years. Despite her experience, Sultan said that she had never seen anything
like this. “I have had triplets and quads, (on the farm) but I have never had six,” Sultan said. “I was cleaning them up as fast as
she was having them.” Sultan said that she has only heard of one other farmer who
See SEXTUPLETS, 3A
Staff Photo by Christen Coulon
Blondie gave birth to six kids on Jan. 21. The feat makes her the first goat to ever give birth to six surviving kids in a single litter.
MRA banquet leaves attendees in stitches
SELMER METH ARREST
Second meth arrest in three months for local man
PAGE 3A
COMING MARCH 2013 the
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Staff Photos by Christen Coulon
The McNairy Regional Alliance held their annual awards banquet last Saturday night. The event, which was held at the Crazy K Ranch in Michie, featured entertainment by comedian Taylor Mason and a wonderful three course dinner served by volunteers from McNairy Central High School’s Cats in Action group. During the event the MRA unveiled their new ‘I Love MC’ logo. During the event, Russell Ingle and Jack Martin became the unwilling stars of the evening as comedian Taylor Mason ribbed Ingle’s remark about a bar of handmade soap from the Broomcorn Festival reminding him of Jack Martin. Read future issues of the Independent Appeal for feature articles on this year’s awardees...Next week Patsy Pearson. For photos of each of the award winners from the event, see page 2A.
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