I lost a friend on Thursday with the passing of Bud Sharp. Bud was a character for sure, a guy blessed with a booming personality who wasn’t shy about voicing his opinion on any topic. His no-nonsense approach was always refreshing.
Bud’s law office was across the street from the Standard so we’d see each other all the time. His bouncy dog Princess was always about two steps behind.
When Bud discovered the Standard drink machine sells 20-ounce SunDrop for $1, he began to stop by on a near-daily basis. He’d hit the candy bowl in Pat Zechman’s office, grab a SunDrop, then come into the newsroom to talk about whatever was on his mind that day. Nothing was off limits.
Bud was known for his rare ability to wolf down six or eight fun-sized Snickers in about a minute while never letting the chocolate interrupt his sentence. As much as he dismissed any dietary restrictions for himself, Bud would never allow Princess to be given junk food. He had what I can only describe as a superpower that enabled him to know if someone was trying to slip Princess a potato chip anywhere in the building. Bud loved that dog.
He dabbled in just about anything from a powder coating business, to cattle, to rental houses. An attorney by trade, Bud always let it be known that justice is not blind and that his white clients always got better sentences than his clients who were black or Hispanic.
Pretty blonds don’t go to jail, Bud would say, and I don’t remember many who have. He didn’t think anyone should ever serve time on a drug possession charge and said it was a waste of our tax dollars.
When Bud found out I followed the market, he would always want to talk stocks. I could tell if the market was up or down by the look on his face as he walked down the stairs.
Bud convinced me to buy Disney stock years ago by saying, “They’re never going to stop making 4-year-olds.” In what would be our last chat one day before he suffered a stroke, Bud said, “Buy Tesla! It’ll be $1,500 by the end of the year.”
It never entered my mind that Bud, at age 54, wouldn’t be around at the end of the year. I’m already missing our conversations.
New company
eyes Warren County
Industrial Development Board director Don Alexander breezed over this topic at Thursday’s monthly meeting and that was by design. He doesn’t want to say much about a company that’s said to be interested in a building that’s available in the Morrison area.
Don referred to the potential deal as Project Modeling and said it’s a very high probability this company will choose to locate in Warren County. After last week’s big announcement about Apollo Medical Products starting production at the old Aquatech building, this could be another win for our community, although Don said it would not approach the same number of jobs as Apollo, which projects up to 200 jobs later this year.
While that’s the good news, I also come bearing bad news. Ames Tool Company has gone out of business in the Campaign area. The most recent Business Directory listing for Ames showed the company with a workforce of 13.
Don told me when he stopped by last week there were just a few employees on site closing down operations. When I did an online search for Ames Tool, the internet describes the business as “permanently closed.”
Sandwiches
And sweets
There’s something I just love about bakeries. I think it’s the sweets.
Sam’s Deli & Sweet Box Bakery has opened at Three Star Mall to give the mall a sugar high. I think it’s a great addition. Sam Hunsberger is the owner.
The restaurant is located next to center stage in the spot formerly occupied by Claire’s. It’s a high-traffic spot and it gives the mall a mini food court combined with J’s Restaurant.
When I stopped in Friday, Sam was busy putting her secret glaze on chocolate bunt cakes. She bakes throughout the day and also had a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies and two cheesecakes.
“It’s more of a New York style cheesecake that’s very filling,” said Sam. “We’ll also have cookies, bread, cakes, pretzels and bagels.”
There’s a coffee bar with a variety of flavors to splash in your coffee to give it some jazz. But the shop is much more than tasty treats. There are soups and sandwiches for lunch and dinner and also items for breakfast.
“Our meats and cheeses are the highest quality with no fillers,” said Sam. “We serve an actual turkey breast that’s slow roasted and delicious.”
The turkey club is a playful arrangement of turkey, bacon and American cheese. The Bada Bing Hoagie is loaded with meats and is definitely one to try. The meatball hoagie is also eye-catching with meatballs that look bigger than golf balls.
There are two soups made daily. On Friday, the choices were minestrone and broccoli and cheddar.
The bakery is clean and inviting. There are a few tables, a sofa and a couple nice chairs if you want to relax for a few minutes and enjoy your food.
Sam says she’s happy to be open at the mall and has already received several positive comments. It’s a great stop for folks visiting the newly opened VA Clinic or for mall customers doing a little bit of shopping.
Sam’s Deli & Sweet Box Bakery has the same hours as the mall itself. It’s open seven days a week and can be reached at (931) 414-4200.
The hype about
Steak N Shake
It was last week in this column when I was talking about Fiesta Ranchero No. 3 next to AutoZone that I mentioned the location would be a great place for a Steak N Shake.
Someone took that suggestion and decided to have a little fun by posting an announcement on Facebook that Steak N Shake would be coming to McMinnville. Anyone who clicked on the link on that announcement ended up getting Rick Rolled.
To Rick Roll someone, as urban legend has it, is to get them to click on a link that takes them to the video of Rick Astley performing his 1987 one-hit wonder “Never Gonna Give You Up.” Those who see the video will then know they’ve been pranked.
I’m not ready to close the door on Steak N Shake and declare it will never come to McMinnville. We have landed Fazoli’s and Zaxby’s in recent years.
In the meantime, J’s Restaurant owner Junior Petit says he would like to add milkshakes to his restaurant at Three Star Mall to provide his personal version of Steak N Shake. J’s Restaurant is widely known for its great burgers already, some would say the best in town, so adding shakes would make sense.
That’s all folks
Sunday is the first official day of spring. It’s a great time to see what the outdoors has to offer. We’ll be hunting Easter eggs before long.
