*No outs are counted

*No runs are counted

*Everyone gets a turn to hit

*Everyone plays the field

*Games Last at least an hour

*No Practices

What kind of game is this where no outs are counted? It is Miracle Ball of course! As stated by their President Aggie Laughery: “Miracle Ball of Dickson County is for kids and adults starting at the age of 4 and up with special needs, such as Autism, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and so on. Our goal is to increase their physical fitness by developing their self-esteem and confidence. Also by teaching them self-awareness while they play with others like them. We will always view our kids as athletes, not as kids with disabilities. We want to give them the freedom to enjoy the spirit of the game.” Miracle Ball is in it’s second season and consists of baseball, basketball, soccer and cheerleading. A League all their own, they have no connection with Special Olympics or Little League.

In Miracle Base Ball, everyone plays and swings until they get a hit and runs the bases no matter where the ball lands. The end result is that each child gets a home run every time! AND everyone wins! Sounds like a great game to me!

Buckner Park hosted gladly made accommodations for Miracle Ball to be played  on their fields.  Unfortunately, the rain only allowed one game this year for this fully uniformed and sponsored group. They split into two teams and play each other: the Orange Team is coached by Robert Laughery and sponsored by Gosseet Insulation, and the White Team is coached by Shane Hunter and sponsored by White Bluff Car Care. It’s all friendly and everyone cheers for everyone else.  Volunteers called “Angels” help these athletes run the bases ( pushing the wheelchairs when necessary) and assist and give direction in the outfield as well. Most of the players swing and hit the ball off of the T stand, but for those youngsters in wheel chairs there is a metal stand with a bat on a hinge-type device they are wheeled up to allowing the batter to pull back on a giant rubber band and release which causes the bat to swing and clobber the ball.

Glenn, father of Alyssa, who plays ball while in her wheelchair, says that she is his “special baby. She doesn’t know the world as we know it, she knows her own world and it makes her happy.” He considers Miracle Ball to be positive stimulation for Alyssa , and he sees great benefit in the stimulation and her being around other kids. It is a delight to see Alyssa’s excitement and hear her joy as she is whisked around the bases.  She enjoys the applause and now thinks that any applause, even at her sibling’s soccer games, is meant for her!  Stormie, Alyssa’s mom, says “Mircale Ball is a real blessing to us.” Glenn adds that parents get involved and are reminded that they are not alone. Faith, Benji’s mom, echoes that sentiment and includes that  “The benefits are getting to know other families with similair struggles and sharing ideas on how to overcome them or even getting opinions about other things that are available for the kids. Plus forming friendships.” Faith and her husband Jeff are happy their son gets to play and has coaches that know the children’s limits. Faith added. “ Seeing Benj have fun while playing brings the joy of knowing that for an hour he feels like a normal kid playing ball.”

This past Friday night was the end of the season party for these two teams and included fun, food, 2 innings of a wiffle ball game and trophies. Hearts and Hands,  a ministry under the leadership of Judy Overton and Mary Bernard, exists to assist and encourage people with disabilities and is a part of Dickson First Assembly Church where the party was held. Some of the Hearts and Hands volunteers assisted in running bases and playing the outfield as well as serving the food donated by Subway. At the end of the evening, to the delight of the children and parents, each child received a trophy. Of course there were team pictures made as well.

It is heartwarming to see parents and siblings cheering for these special athletes  as they play their hearts out and wear their joy where everyone can see it.  Aggie and Robert have created and environment where these children can do what other kids do and their noise and exuberance is widely accepted! Although they are learning new skills, no one is telling them not to be who they are….which is nothing but pure happiness.

www.miracleball.org

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Last year the event included a Grillin N Greens contest of the best barbque and turnip greens. That event was a huge success and now has its own date. The cook-off will take place the following weekend, October 17th.

You may buy a craft booth for both weekends at a price of $50.00 or a booth for only one weekend at $30.00. The booth space is 10 x 10, and is a empty space. We will also be looking for performers to entertain at the Main Street Festival.

If you are interested in a booth for either event or performing at the Main Street Festival, please call Town Hall @ 615-797-3131.

The Park Board was consulted, and in the City Council Meeting on July 7th,   Dixie Kerr reported the board’s opinion was that some kids don’t know how to stay away from dogs and may wander off from their parents and get too close. In this case, the Park Board didn’t think that kids and dogs would be a good mix. Although they are not against a dog park, they just did not see the area in Veteran’s Park as a good place for dogs with all the kids already using the park for ball games.

Vice Mayor, Jeff Martin, countered with the fact that if we are enforcing a leash law, we are sending the wrong message if we do not try to accommodate the request for a dog park and that the park would be an improvement to that piece of property. Mayor Linda Hayes desired to be fair in  that everyone in town pays taxes but do not all have the same interests ( such as using the baseball fields).  She and  Martin agreed that the park should be a multi-use facility.

Other areas under consideration for the park were beside the Field of Dreams and behind the new library.

Despite the Park Board’s objections, the City Council voted  (3 yes, 1 no, and 1 abstention) to allow the Rover’s Playpen Organization use of the land in question in Veteran’s Park. It is the organization’s intention to fence in the area to allow dogs the freedom to run off their leashes and play. The money for the improvement to the land and the fencing will come from private and corporate donations.

In respect to the concern that the 5 and 6 year old kids that practice in the field closest to the dog park can be distracted by a slushie, Buford Woodard, Chairman of Rover’s Playpen, suggested that they could plant a hedge around the park to keep the distraction to a minimum.

The idea for a dog park is not a new one, it was brought up about 2 years ago and has been discussed on and off since then.  Misty Johnson, Treasurer of Rover’s Playpen, shared with me that statistically 41% of households have dogs, and that they have witnessed huge successes in dog parks in Kingston Springs and Nashville, however, locally, White Bluff, Burns and Dickson do not yet have dog parks.

Although there are some health and safety regulations and governing rules, including that all dogs and puppies must be properly inoculated and all poop must be scooped, the park will be regulated by signage on the honor system. Both  Johnson and  Woodard were adamant that most people who take their dogs to such parks are responsible dog owners and that the dogs are very well socialized.

So, good news for local dog owners and bad news for the neighbor with all the cats.

No dates were set for the opening of the park, however, for more information contact Buford Woodard @456-2036.

If there was any doubt that we need a library in White Bluff, those concerns have been put to rest as Vice Mayor Jeff Martin said we are already moving quickly toward outgrowing the space we have. Many people are taking advantage of the computers to look for jobs, take college classes and do research. It is my understanding that the books, DVDs and CDs that have been donated are in high demand as well.

So, don’t sit home on Saturday, come join the community in an afternoon of celebration and support for the new volunteer library in White Bluff.
While you are at it, become a fan of the library on FaceBook at Friends of the Jennie Woodworth Library of White Bluff

For more information: whiteblufflibrary@yahoo.com
Office: 615-797-9553 or 615-797-3131
Library Location: 1014 Taylor Town Road White Bluff, TN

“Drumroll Please…
Let me again thank everyone of the multitude of entries in this contest, dicksoncommunity.com,for their coverage of the event, FaceBook for the webspace to promote, Sissy and The Dude for sponsering the contest, and last but not least White Bluff Town Hall for allowing us to have these wonderful and quite impressive potholes.
Now on to the results with Sissy. Billy “WHITEBLUFFMAN” England. His pothole is located on Trace Creek Road at the middle school and can be viewed at anytime.”

There was a second place winner, Mrs. Bobbye Phillips of Park Street in White Bluff, because her whole street was a mess, it seemed only fair.

There is even talk of crowning a “Pothole Festival Queen” whom you may see in the Christmas Parade, “weather and potholes permitting.”

In a world plagued with so much trouble, I enjoyed the laugh. All in all, I would say that this was a clever way to poke fun at a common but aggravating occurrence. Perhaps next year we can enlarge the competition and pit county against county or just don our swimsuits and dive right in!

WORST POTHOLE IN WHITE BLUFF, TN(city limits)
runs through July 4th, 2009
at stake is a gift card for $20(american) to Cracker Barrell.
Donated by Sissy & the Dude, who will also be judges for the event. (all decision will be final)
Send the pics to voicesonthebluff@bellsouth.net or a post a link on the messageboard from any other site you have posted them on. Send directions and dimensions of the offending hole.

A pothole picture and its measurements were sent in to the BluffWatch message board (and verified) for a hole 3 feet long, 2 feet 1 inch wide and 6 inches deep at the deepest part, an unofficial entry is approximately 5′long, 3′wide and 6-7″ deep. These do not seem to be annoying little bumps in the road, but more like gaping craters willing to eat tires and jerk cars out of alignment! Not that they are big enough to lose small animals in, but I would hate to see a motorcycle hit one unexpectedly in the dark!

Web Master Nickey McNeil has been posting pictures and running commentary for this event on his web site . The conversation seems to be friendly enough and a great way to vent legitimate grievances without inciting rage and reaction. Part of the local complaint seems to include the lack of funds for repairing the streets around the newly built ~and costly~City Hall which has been dubbed The Palace. In general the tax payers would like to know why they have a large new city hall while the roads are going to pot.

Carol Harmon, Assistant City Recorder of White Bluff and very nice lady, assured me that the county is aware of the need for repairing potholes after all the spring rains and that they are on the Street Department’s agenda for the “next few weeks”, weather permitting. Ms Harmon also explained that some of the Street Department’s attention has been on helping with the White Bluff Library and on mowing the sides of the streets. Asked if they were aware of the Biggest Pothole contest, she said that it had been mentioned in the City Hall but had not been a topic of discussion nor has it made a difference in the scheduling of road repair.

Linda Hayes, Mayor of White Bluff, agrees that White Bluff has big potholes, apparently she drives in White Bluff too, and says the street department is ready to get started- “this is repair work as usual each year”.  When asked about the funding for the new City Hall vs the  funding of street repair and paving, Mayor Hayes stated that(in reference to the Fire Hall/Emergency Center and the City Hall) “Those two capital projects have no bearing or impact on repairing potholes in our streets. This is ongoing maintenance and repair work that has to be done in every town, city and state. Bottom line, the money in the budget which pays for capital projects does not in any way have anything to do with repairing or not repairing the streets and potholes.” She also said that there is a paving project each 7 years funded by state gasoline taxes . While the last paving project should be paid off in 2 years, they will begin looking at the next set of streets and roads to be completely repaved next year.

Tax payers want their streets safe and drivable~ a reasonable request. The City Government has a budget and wants to provide all the services the good folks of White Bluff need~ plain and simple.

Tune in next week to find out the winner of the Biggest Pothole in White Bluff- coming to a street near you.

During a recent county commission meeting, you deliberated the need for an ambulance in White Bluff. Arguments for and against were stated and when the vote was taken, a majority of the commission voted against an ambulance for the White Bluff community with a role of 6-5 against. When word of this was received, needless to say, everyone was shocked by the decision. General consensus and opinion is how could the commission deny an ambulance to the second largest and fastest growing area of Dickson County and how could the commission deny the White Bluff area when the communities of Dickson, Charlotte, Burns, and Vanleer are provided this valuable service?

As we discussed this decision with County Commissioners McMillen and Dawson, Mayor Stone, and EMS Director Steve Manley, your decision making process became clearer and more understandable. Due to the budget constraints that we are all feeling in this downturn of the economy, discussions and votes seemed to center on whether or not to move an existing ambulance from another community in the county – namely Vanleer or Burns – to White Bluff. While I believe that the county commission should always look at ways to provide maximum services in the least political and most cost-effective way to the citizens of our county, let me be the first to say that we in White Bluff do not support gaining ambulance service at the expense of another community until all options have been explored. We are not here to hurt our neighboring communities.

On Thursday, May 28th, White Bluff Vice Mayor Jeff Martin and I met with County Mayor Stone and EMS Director Steve Manley to discuss this situation. We were told the county currently has five ambulances on active duty across the county at any one time with three fully-stocked back-up ambulances in reserve. Each ambulance must be staffed with at least one EMT and one paramedic at all times. We understand that this issue is not about equipment, but about personnel.

We all understand budget shortfalls. We are currently working on our own budget and are having to come up with creative ways and make hard decisions to have a balanced budget. I would remind you that the citizens in the White Bluff area contribute their fair share of county taxes due to population and growth. We will be helping to fund the new jail in Charlotte, the new school in Burns, and reducing the deficit of the county. In return, we feel strongly that we should be provided the same services as the other communities in Dickson County. At this time, we can offer accommodations for an ambulance and personnel in the new Zollie Bibb, Jr Fire Hall at no cost to the county. Until September of 2008, we were unable to make this offer due to extreme space limitations. To remedy this situation the White Bluff council approved design, construction and funds of $652,000 for a building to be used as a fire hall and ambulance station.

During 2008, our fire department and first responders responded to 391 total incidents in the White Bluff area alone. Approximately 90-95% of these calls were medical related, which means they came through the 911 call center and required the service of an ambulance response also. So, I would estimate that an ambulance out of Burns or Charlotte responded to the 350 or so calls alone in our immediate area. This is the most viable number I can give you from any reports we have seen.

Campaign promises have been mentioned in this issue. I can safely say that any person running for office in our town during the past ten years or so have probably mentioned trying to work for an ambulance as well as any county official campaigning in our town. So, yes it has been always mentioned.

In closing, we would ask that the commission bring the issue back to the table for discussion and reconsideration before making any final decision on budget. In your deliberations, please remember that minutes matter in life and death situations for all county citizens.

Once again, thank you for your time and for your service to our county.

The Town of Whitle Bluff is having their open house for the new library.  The White Bluff Library Open House will be on June 6 and starts at 11 a.m. There will numerous fundraisers including a bake sale, book sale and a horseshoe tournament.  To support the new White Bluff Library, please bring something for the bake sale and join the fun. Bake goods will need to be there before 11.  The open house will end at 4:30 Saturday evening.

Sean: What really initiated the higher education center being in White Bluff?

Jeff: About two years ago in the Fall of 2006, Linda and I were both invited to participate on the county three star strategic planning committee. And that committee was comprised of about forty-five individuals from across the county. It represented every community in the county. It represented every walk of life in the county. There were professionals, there were elected officials, there were homemakers. . .it was a cross section of the county. And the purpose of that group was to come together and develop a five year, rolling strategic plan for the county.

And out of those discussions, one of the initiatives that we discussed was the need for higher education in Dickson County. We in turn took that concept of that county wide strategic plan, we brought that back to White Bluff and we put our own community leadership group together and we went through the same process at the town level. It was amazing to me how the town goals dovetailed into the county goals. And higher education also came up in our White Bluff strategic plan as a desire from the citizens of the community. At that point, Linda approached Mayor Stone in Charlotte and inquired as to what would be the next step to bring higher education to Dickson County. His first priority was to see if they could acquire donated property and Linda approached Richard Bibb, who has been a strong community advocate and has done a lot for White Bluff as well as Dickson County. After some contemplation, Richard came back with the desire to donate the ten acres of property in White Bluff. We approached Mayor Stone at that point and it’s taken off from there.

S: When did you approach Mayor Stone initially?

Linda: After we had our community leadership seminar, I talked to Jeff and we decided if Dickson County was ready for a college, there’s no reason in the world that it could not be right here in White Bluff. No reason in the world. So, I approached Mayor Stone and said, “If I could get you ten acres, ten or twelve acres, would you consider White Bluff for the foundation?” And that was based on the fact that Humphreys County has ten or twelve acres, so I thought that would work. I didn’t know at that time if it was the county or if it was the foundation, I really didn’t know what the next step was. And he was just ecstatic, so I said, “Well, I think maybe I can.” So, I went to our friend Richard Bibb and at first he was like everyone else, like, “Oh, gosh. A college in White Bluff. . .that’ll never happen.” The more he thought about it and after we had a couple of meetings and we showed him the transportation route, the commuter route coming in and how we were in a hole and the closest colleges around, and how it would fill a void for this region. Then he said, “You know, you might be right. It may make some sense. Yeah, let’s go for it. Let’s try it.” Then I went back to Mayor Stone and told him we got the land.

J: There were some other concepts that came out of the county wide strategic plan, and one of those was that we need to adequately use our limited resources. I mean, the county is a certain size, and we have a certain amount of land and road ways and those types of things. So, as we grow as a county, we want to make sure that we adequately use the resources that we have. There’s the consideration of road congestion and things like that, and we feel like the White Bluff location really solves a lot of the county issues of how to grow in the future. The other concept that we discussed was that there are certain things that have to be in your population center such as your Wal-Marts, Lowes, and larger chain restaurants. If you’re going to get those in your county, you’re going to get those in your larger population centers. A facility for higher education is not an entity that has to be in your population center. It can be in a more rural area, because people are going to come to that facility. And the other thing is where do you get the biggest economic impact for the county? If you put a facility of this nature in an area, what our position is that we can put this campus in a White Bluff location or for that matter another rural location and it will have a larger economic impact for the county than putting it in an area that is already basically filled out economically. So we feel like from a county perspective, and quite frankly from a town perspective, this would be the beginning of establishing a second economic center in your county. And we don’t see that as a bad thing. We don’t see this as taking away from any existing activities. We see this as really enhancing the county’s desire to grow. I think, of course we’re partial here, but we really see benefits at the county level by putting this facility in an area outside of your population center.

S: You mentioned that you have some resource limitations such as the road system. Anything else?

J: Now, don’t misunderstand. I said that county-wide you have certain areas that you will have resource limitations. You have a lack of large tracks of develop-able land in certain areas of the county. In White Bluff we have large tracks of land. You have congested transportation networks in part of the county. We do not have that congestion here, so we feel like this is an appropriate place to put a facility of this nature. We would never spend time trying to court a Wal-Mart or a Lowes. Those things would naturally go in your population centers. But this particular entity, the reason that we’re going to fight as hard as we are for this is we feel like it fits the bill for the county’s strategic direction.

S: Awesome. What type of education can people expect to get from this facility?

L: That really is more of a question for the board. I don’t want to be so presumptuous as to answer for them. From the meetings that I’ve attended so far and observed and different board members I’ve spoken with, it sounds like it would probably be wise to go for the two year college program with maybe certified courses available, maybe three month certified courses available. There will be a needs and assessment study and I know in that study and in that survey, they will be talking to all of the industries around here asking, “What do you need for your labor force? What kind of certificate so that you don’t have to go outside the county and outside the area to maybe try and get people to move in.” So, we’re looking right now probably, I would say, when it’s first built it would be like most other colleges have started out with a two year program that could be transferred on over to a four year university. Obviously, we would like for it to go into some four year degrees.

S: Okay, so we’re looking more at a two year college, hopefully eventually progressing into a four year, but this is not certain.

L: No. (in agreeing of uncertainty)

J: And I think Linda’s point is absolutely appropriate. That would really be more of a question for the Dickson County Higher Education Board.

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Thanks for reading and comments are always welcomed. By the way, the image at the top is a photo of the proposed site to be donated by Richard Bibb.