You may have noticed the clever commercial slogans to your left. They are some of the great advertising lines that have stuck in my head over the years.
One of my favorites was always the commercial with the two rich guys. One rolls down the window of his luxury car to ask the other, “Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?”
Well that commercial may have been cute in the 1980s, but there’s no place for that kind of tomfoolery in today’s society. It was just a few years ago in Murray, Utah when a car full of teens almost got shot imitating the famous commercial.
According to the police report, the teens pulled up to a traffic light, rolled down their window and asked the driver of the other car if he had any Grey Poupon. That driver answered by pulling out a gun.
According to Murray police detective Kenny Bass, the other driver produced a handgun, racked the slide back and said, “Here’s your Grey Poupon.” The teens got his license plate number and he was arrested.
I realize we’ve become a violent society, but how does a request for mustard lead to the threat of deadly force. I’d hate to be working the Taco Bell drive-thru if this guy was shorted a pack of hot sauce.
As for other breaking news, the big story of the week surrounds a 78-year-old Mississippi man who woke up in a body bag at a funeral home after being mistakenly pronounced dead.
The man, Walter Williams, had his story go viral after he woke up at Porter and Sons Funeral Home just as employees there were ready to embalm him. Funeral home employees halted the embalming process when Williams started to move.
Doctors say a mix of medicines may have caused his vital signs to appear unresponsive and thus he was pronounced dead Feb. 26. Unfortunately, this story doesn’t have a happy ending. Williams died again Thursday – and this time medical professionals believe it’s for real. It was unclear at press time if the family was going to get him in the ground really fast or wait to see if he wakes up again.

Wilma Jean closes
her kitchen

It’s been a memorable 11-year run for Wilma Jean Young, owner of the popular Wilma Jean’s Kitchen on Sparta Street. After 11 years of restaurant grind, Wilma Jean has decided to sell her business with Friday being her last day.
“I’m 67 and there’s a lot of hard work and long hours that go into the restaurant business that most people don’t know about,” said Wilma Jean. “If I was five or 10 years younger, no one could get this away from me for $1 million. But now it’s time for me to do something else that doesn’t require me to pick up so much heavy stuff.”
Having worked for three different restaurants before settling in the newspaper business, I can tell you the hours are rough. Working nights and weekends come with the job and that’s when the rest of the world is off work.
Wilma Jean said she would get to work at 1:30 a.m. to begin preparing for the breakfast rush and opening the restaurant at 4 a.m. After closing at 2 p.m. and doing paperwork, she wouldn’t usually leave till 3 or 4 p.m. Those are some long hours.
Wilma Jean admitted there were tears shed Thursday and Friday as she said goodbye to her regular customers.
“I want to thank all my employees for all their hard work because most of them have been with me for eight or nine years,” said Wilma Jean. “And I especially want to thank all my loyal customers who supported me.”
Jerry Elrod was one of those regular customers who enjoyed his last meal at Wilma Jean’s on Friday.
“The food was always good and the cakes and pies were amazing,” said Jerry. “I liked to order cakes here for my wife’s birthday.”
As for the building on Sparta Street, it won’t be empty for long. Wilma Jean has sold the business to Debbie Foutch, who plans to be open for business on Monday. Gelico Foutch, the grandson of longtime Billy’s owner Billy Foutch, will be running the restaurant.
“It’s going to be called Sparta Street Kitchen,” said Gelico. “We’ll be taking over Monday and we will be open seven days a week. I’m 27 so I’m still young enough to do it.”
Gelico said regular weekday hours will be 4 a.m. to 2 p.m. so they can serve the breakfast and lunch crowd. I will provide more information about Sparta Street Kitchen in next week’s column.

Fabric building
coming to town

There have been tons of questions about the land getting cleared on S. Chancery Street near Depot Bottom. If I had $1 for every time I’d been asked about that property over the past two weeks, I’d probably have $10.
Melinda Breedlove is the property owner. She owns S. Chancery Mini Plaza and recently purchased this new piece of property because it’s adjacent to hers.
Plans are for a 60x100-foot fabric building that’s scheduled to be delivered March 25 and be constructed in about a week. A concrete slab will be poured after the building it up.
“This is a new type of building for Warren County,” said Melinda. “It will be made of a patented fabric that’s strong and enduring. It’s going to be pretty with gray trim. I first looked into this company 20 years ago. At that time it was a 10-year-old company. Since then, I’ve kept it in the back of my mind and continued to do research and homework. One of the advantages is it gives you clear, open space inside.”
The company is called Clear Span Fabric Structures. Its website – www.clearspan.com – shows a variety of uses for this type of building. Because it doesn’t require beams in the middle, it’s great for gymnasiums, indoor pools, warehouses and even manufacturing. To show how sturdy the fabric is, there’s a picture on the website showing it holding up a full-sized pickup.
If Melinda’s timetable holds up, the new building should be up by early April. She says she already has a tenant ready to move in.
“I have someone who is going to lease the building, but they don’t want to be identified at this time,” said Melinda. “I’m sure they will be in touch with you before they are ready to open.”
Melinda doesn’t own all the property at that spot. She says McMinnville Manufacturing owns some of it too, but took advantage of the heavy equipment in the area to get its property cleared at the same time.

Southern Charm
opens on Main St.

With restoration work finally taking place at the Park Theatre, there’s a new business located across the street. Patsy Pool and Brenda Buchanon have opened Southern Charm, a delightful new craft shop on Main Street. The business opened Tuesday.
“We were doing so much at my house, my husband told me it was time to get a shop,” said Patsy. “There is not a lot of homemade stuff around and this is what I like to do. So far we’ve had some customers, we just haven’t had a lot of customers.”
Patsy has participated in the Autumn Street Fair and Rock Island Craft Fair, but this is her first permanent shop. One of her specialties is sewing as she and Brenda have made an assortment of pillows, boot socks, scarfs and ladies handbags with a number of boot socks already sold.
“We make all of our own pillows and we also make aprons,” said Patsy.
There are also one-of-a-kind items like homemade chandeliers and distressed furniture, which has become a hot decorating item. As for seasonal work, the ladies have made a number of Easter wreaths which are pretty.
The craft shop is only the initial stage of the business. Patsy says there are also plans to have art and painting classes down the road. She would also like to get a nice consignment store up and running in a back area that’s currently not being used. She said the consignment store would only carry quality clothing.
Southern Charm has convenient hours, open Monday thru Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The phone number is 808-3090.

B&M Cheernastics
springs into action

Longtime cheerleaders Brittney Fann Daniel and Marcy Estes Romans have spirit, yes they do. They have spirit, how about you?
The two ladies are opening a new cheer and gymnastics studio at 101A Mullican Street behind Ace Hardware. If you are interested in learning more about the business, two open houses are scheduled for this coming weekend. The first is this Friday, March 21, from 5 to 8 p.m. The second is this Saturday, March 22, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The two are seasoned cheerleaders who were both members of the WCHS cheer team. Brittney went on to cheer in college at Lee University.
Classes will be up and running in the afternoons and evenings after open house. Gymnastics and cheer classes will be offered for individuals or teams. There will also be a highly skilled class for competitive cheerleaders. Classes will be offered from age 3 to adults.
“We’ve had a lot of adults ask us about classes,” said Brittney. “Why work out in a boring gym every day when you can get in the best shape of your life while learning a new skill or brushing up on an old skill.”
Marcy and Brittney emphasize they will have a clean and safe environment that’s welcoming to children.
“What is unique about our gym is that although we welcome everyone, we are a Christian-based business which puts God first in all of our business endeavors,” said Marcy. “Each of our employees are well trained and certified.”
Class schedules and teachers will be available during open house. If you are not able to make open house, you can contact Marcy at (931) 952-3357 or Brittney at (931) 808-5318.

Jarden gets grant
for worker training

The state has awarded $25,000 to our Jarden plant in McMinnville. This is cause for celebration.
According to information provided by the state, the grant will provide 35 Jarden employees with Mechatronics and high performance leadership training.
The state says it will award similar grants to 37 companies throughout Tennessee this year. In all, $750,000 has been earmarked to benefit worker training. The idea is to upgrade the skill set of our workforce – and I think this is a great idea.
Jarden says its investment in more automation requires its employees to have greater knowledge for trouble shooting and repairing automated equipment.
Said Gov. Bill Haslam, “Incumbent worker grants provide critical training and education to employees across the state in the continued effort to have a workforce that meets current marketplace demands.”

Unemployment
statistics

I always like to take a few paragraphs to provide the latest unemployment information from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
According to the latest figures released Thursday, the state unemployment rate is now at 7.2 percent. Of Tennessee’s 95 counties, unemployment decreased in 34, increased in 49, and stayed the same in 12.
Warren County saw its unemployment rate increase. Local unemployment is now 7.9 percent, up from 7.5 percent.
The lowest unemployment rates in the state are Williamson County (4.5 percent) and Lincoln County (4.9 percent). The highest are Scott County (15.9 percent) and Pickett County (13.2 percent).

That’s all folks

Business news is starting to spring to life as we escape the grasp of Old Man Winter. To get your business news in this column, give me a call at 473-2191.