Gatti’s Pizza: Great food, fun and value for all
Clarksville has its fair share of pizza options, to be sure. This means to secure survival, there must be something special to make one stand out. With Gatti’s Pizza, 1273 Northfield Drive, that something special is the combination of a great selection of menu choices, in an enjoyable and accommodating atmosphere at an unquestionably great price.
Gatti’s Pizza, located within the Great Escape Commercial District on Trenton Road, past the Tiny Town Road intersection, is a family-friendly pizza/pasta/salad emporium that has been open just over five weeks. Business hours are Sunday to Thursday: 11 AM to 8 PM; Friday and Saturday: 11 AM to 9 PM. It is also accessible from the Tennessee Exit 1 on I-24. [Read more]
Used toys exempt from new product safety mandate
August 14th, 2008, former President George Bush signed and set in motion The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. This Act was brought about by the large amount of recalled toys and baby products in the year 2007.
The CPSIA calls for any children’s product exceeding the amount of 600-ppm (parts per million) lead content cannot be sold in the United States. Items that fall under this Act are children’s toys, cribs, pacifiers, children’s jewelry, baby bouncer seats, walkers and jumpers. Any product that can be mouthed, or ingested by a child under the age of twelve must be tested for safety.
This Act will begin today. One year following this date the lead count will drop to a strict 300-ppm, then continues down to 100 ppm. This law will also prohibit against children’s items containing PVC (polyvinyl chloride ) and the chemical phthalate. [Read more]
Matthew Walker Health Center gains Dispensary of Hope Support
Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center in Clarksville now providing free medications, dispensing hope to the uninsured. This solution was made possible through partnership with the Dispensary of Hope.
Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center , which has served the Middle Tennessee community for over 40 years, announced today a new partnership with a growing network of pharmacies and clinics to provide free prescription medicines to uninsured individuals in Montgomery County .
This network of care is powered by Nashville-based, Dispensary of Hope, a statewide and national network of dispensing sites, sourcing partners and financial partners that assist poor and underserved individuals in getting the medications they need for the short and long-term. [Read more]
Matthew Walker Clinic’s Dispensary of Hope to offer free medicine
The Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center, which has served the Middle Tennessee community for over 40 years, announced today a new partnership with a growing network of pharmacies and clinics to provide free prescription medicines to uninsured individuals in Montgomery County.
This network of care is powered by Nashville-based Dispensary of Hope, a statewide and national network of dispensing sites, sourcing partners and financial partners that assist poor and underserved individuals in getting the medications they need for the short and long-term. [Read more]
SRO crowds celebrate President Obama
Silke’s Old World Breads on College Street was the place to be Saturday night (Jan. 24).
To celebrate the inauguration of President Obama and “change” for America, Silke’s offered an all-you can eat after-hours buffet, which in tandem with the extensive art on exhibit in this shop, made the $8 per person event a popular choice. The crowds proved it.
Advance tickets were sold, and little more than a half-hour into the event, Silke’s was turning away people (who had not purchased advanced tickets) at the door.
A full house at Silke's
The SRO crowd was vibrant, chatting about the election and taking a “yes we can” attitude toward the new presidential administration. Around the room, interspersed with works by local artists, were images of the January 20 inauguration. Here are images from this unique event.
Photos by Bill Larson
Retirement: Are you financially ready for it?
The probing question “Are you ready to retire?” is more perplexing today in the light of our financial plight. There is uncertainty about the place we call retirement. As I write I have a “happy face” coffee cup staring at me; one that has been diverted to a container of pencils, markers and pens. I wish we could don a happy face as we ponder our retirement and a secure financial future. Instead, for many our dreams for that better future had taken on a sad face.
It’s hard to maintain a happy face about our future when our personal finances and monetary worth for retirement are steadily declining, when our retirement plans are going bankrupt. In our communities, cities and states are raiding their rainy day funds to prevent raising taxes. International governments and their citizens are also in financial straits. Presently, places from our own Clarksville, to Mexico City, to Heidleberg, London, Asian cities are all experiencing financial world. Such unfortunate events precipitate the “sad face” facing retirees. [Read more]
Kindermusik: parents and children making music together
Beth Britton and Elle-girl
This morning Elle-Girl and I attended an event held in an upstairs practice room at the incredibly renovated new Mary’s Music Store downtown. The event was a preview Kindermusik class taught by Tiffany Hilliker.
Kindermusik is a free form way of teaching children music by positive parent interaction and helping form a well rounded child. The class starts out with a happy hello song where you bounce your young child in your lap while singing “Hello” to the other children. The class then continues to teach predictable routine practices and interactive song and dance opportunities. The children get to experience different musical instruments and play with bright colorful streamers. The classes are completely child centered, however I must admit, the parent has a really good time as well.
As a mother of a busy toddler I thought that Elle-Girl would really get into this class. She always dances whenever music is on, she enjoys throwing mommy’s scarves up in the air and running through them, and loves singing silly songs and playing the drums on pots and pans. [Read more]
Taxpayers can access satellite offices
Brenda Radford, Montgomery County Trustee, has announced SmartTrips and the following information on tax relief/tax freeze.
The Montgomery County Trustee’s Office is coming to a Volunteer Fire Department near you. With ever-rising fuel and grocery prices, everyone is looking for a little help. On the following days the locations listed below will serve as an optional, satellite Trustee’s Office and offer county residents the convenience of paying their County Property taxes or to apply for any of the (5) Tax Relief/Tax Freeze Programs in their respective areas of Montgomery County: [Read more]
Making memories is a “Scrapper’s Delight”
Carol Miller creates "torn papers" for scrapbook pages
Imagination. That’s the only limit to what you can create at Scrapper’s Delight Etc., a year-old locally owned Clarksville business that just moved and reopened in a new Fort Campbell Boulevard location in time for the holidays.
When owner Connie Parkerson wanted an investment, she turned to the booming business of memories and to store manager, Carol Miller, whose passion for the craft of making memory books was the perfect match. Miller’s son, Jonathan, also works at the store, handling a myriad of tasks including an increasingly popular online scrapbooking network.
“Scrappers” are the millions of men, women and children captivated by this craft.
“People scrapbook for all kinds of reasons and use all kinds of forms,” Miller explains. “Hobbies. Memories. Making gifts. Some people don’t use pictures. instead, they use recipes, or work on tins or boxes.”
Hemlock to invest $1.2 billion for polysilicon plant
Shining Today — To Energize Tomorrow. That slogan blazed across the stage as the vintage vinyl tune “Here Comes the Sun” played to a packed house at the APSU Communications Building Monday afternoon.
An SRO crowd at APSU gets offical word on a $1.2 billion industrial development megasite
A “Who’s Who” roster of state, county and local government officials and business leaders from Michigan and Montgomery County gathered on the Austin Peay State University campus for the “historic” official announcement of Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation and Hemlock Semiconductor LLC multi-billion dollar development at Clarksville’s megasite in the northeastern edge of the city.
This is a “watershed of economic development in Tennessee,” said Matt Kessner of the Economic Development Council. “New jobs in the development of sustainable energy.”
After a two-year global site search, Dow Corning and the Hemlock group opted to make an initial $1.2 billion initial investment in the construction of a new polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) manufacturing and development facility. Polysilicon is key to the development of solar industry. Groundbreaking on the new plant is expect early in 2009, creating up to 1,000 jobs in construction and related crafts during the building phase; the facility is earmarked to open in 2012.
Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen joined Hemlock’s CEO and President Rick Doornbos in making the announcement. “It’s the right company in the right community at the right time,” Bredesen said of what will ultimately be a $2 billion investment. “What they make is what has to happen to make solar energy. The numbers are staggering.” Bredensen noted that t is not simply the immediate creation of new job but the ability to also attract related industries and suppliers to the state and the region.
“This announcement offers solar industry leaders confidences that polysilicon supply will be available as the solar and electronics industries continue to grow and innovate. The exact scale of this investment will be determined by market conditions. Making this investment in today’s volatile economic climate is a testament to both the long term outlook of the solar industry, as well as Hemlock Semiconductor’s ability to add capacity to meet the needs of customers.” — Rick Doornbos
Doornbos said his frm looked at “over two dozen sites around the world” before settling on Clarksville and cited the importance not just location but the community itself as key to the final decision.
Polysilicon is used in the production of everything from cell phone and computers to solar panels. The total investment by Hemlock in Clarksville will be at least $2.5 billion and at its onset of production will initially produce 1o,000 metric tons of capacity at the site, with the potential to expand to a production level of 21,000 metric tons. When the site is ready in 2012, some 500 permanent jobs will be created, with a potential increase to 800 when expanded. Construction of the site will employ 1,000 workers over a five to seven year period.
Most of the polysilicon produced at the Clarksville site will be consumed by firms in the solar industry but the facility will also be capable of producing pure silicon for the electronics industry as well as solar-grade material. The energy required for polysilicon manufacturing will be recouped “eight to fifteen times over” in future use and applications, Doornbos said.
Stephanie A. Burns, Dow Corning’s President and CEO, said her company was “committing our resources, know-how and technology because we are confident that solar technology represents a tremendous opportunity for both clean energy and economic growth.
In conjunction with this new industrial development, APSU has received a $6.4 million grant to develop and implement training programs in related fields from microbiology to engineering.
“We are (making this investment) for a 21st century America. We will retrain workers. We will encourage solar investment and call for a national commitment to environmentally responsible and renewable energy goals.”
Clarksville Mayor Johnny Piper thanked the hundreds of people involved in bringing this industry to the city.
During the announcement, Hemlock and Dow Corning presented two checks of $25,000 each to the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System and to the Imagination Library as an indicator of the start of their investment in the social fabric of the community.
Partners in this business venture are:
Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation headquartered in Hemlock, Michigan. The company has produced high-purity polysilicon for over 45 years.
Henlock Semiconductor LLC is a newly formed venture between Dow Corning Corporation, Shin-Etsu Handotai, and Mitsubishi Materials Corporations.
Dow Corning Corporation is a global leader in polysilicon innovation and technology. Dow Corning of Midland, Michigan, which manufacturses more than 7,000 products and services, is a joint venture owned by Dow Chemical Company and Corning Inc.
