By Clint Confehr COLUMBIA, TN — After months of reorganization and a continuing membership drive, the Columbia, Maury County NAACP Branch elected officers last Saturday. Hernando Paco Havard, a former branch president who was appointed by the Tennessee State Conference of the NAACP to help reorganize the branch, was elected president by a significant margin. Elected without a challenger was Larry Patton, the new first vice president. Patton joined the association 23 years ago and has held nearly every post in the branch. Experienced leaders are needed especially for a branch that’s just been reorganized to resume operations, according to…
Author: Clint Confehr
Clint Confehr
Clint Confehr — an American journalist since 1972 — first wrote for The Tennessee Tribune in 1999. His news writing and photography in South Central Tennessee and the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area began in the summer of 1980. Clint's covered news in several Southern states at newspapers, radio stations and one TV station. Married since 1982, he's a grandfather and is semi-retired from daily news work.
COLUMBIA, TN — Maury County’s school system settled a racial discrimination and retaliation lawsuit Wednesday with an elementary school counsellor it fired in December 2015. “I’m alright,” Patricia Hawkins said after a two and a half day federal court trial was cut short with the announcement by her attorney, John J. Griffin Jr., to U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Holmes. No written order has been issued in the case and there’s no indication that the county has acknowledged any wrongdoing. No dollar amount was stated for the settlement reached with Leitner, Williams Dooley & Napolitan, a firm retained by Maury…
By Clint Confehr COLUMBIA, TN — Latiaa Sneed seems uniquely qualified for one of her assignments at Fire Hall No. 1. Sneed majored in theater with a minor in psychology at Middle Tennessee State University and so she likes her role as a Dalmatian dedicated to fire safety. Technically, she wears a costume manufactured for a safety promotions company that portrays the “Fire Pup” in coloring books. However, most children see the costumed crusader as “Marshall” the fire dog on “Paw Patrol,” a children’s cartoon show that’s not standard fare for adults, unless they’re parents, baby sitters, or close relatives.…
By Clint Confehr NASHVILLE, TN — Metro Nashville Public Schools Director Dr. Shawn Joseph spoke March 16 in the Airport Marriott Hotel where Les Gemmes, Inc., held its 12th Annual Literary Luncheon. Dr. Joseph spoke of a place where everyone in the community prospered. “Wakanda” may be known best as the primary place for the hit movie “Black Panther,” but for metro’s schools’ director, it’s how he saw Nashville, according to the speech he named “Fighting for Equity.” Les Gemmes (the Jewels) is a non-profit organization founded in 1955 in Norfolk, Va., by four ladies who grew up as childhood friends.…
NEW YORK, NY — The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America is offering a free educational conference in Nashville at the Country Music Hall of Fame on April 23, a foundation spokesperson has announced. A free memory screening will be available. With nearly 120,000 people living with Alzheimer’s disease in Tennessee, the foundation is reaching out to families affected by Alzheimer’s disease, caregivers, and anyone interested in learning more about Alzheimer’s disease, foundation spokesperson Sandy Silverstein says. The foundation’s Nashville conference will be conducted 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m. in the Country Music Hall of Fame, 222 5th Ave., South, Nashville. Foundation headquarters are…
COLUMBIA, TN — Officers for the branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People here are to be elected on Saturday, March 23. Ms. Gloria Sweet-Love, president of the Tennessee State Conference of the NAACP, made the announcement on Thursday, March 14, about the branch that’s being reorganized with the help of the state conference. “Election of officers and at-large members of the Executive Committee for the Columbia Maury County Branch of the NAACP will take place … at the Elks Lodge, 906 Bridge St., Columbia,” Sweet-Love said. The branch election is being supervised by the Tennessee…
By Clint Confehr NASHVILLE, TN — A spiritual intuition motivated a young man in Mississippi to seek and find his destiny. Following that nudge, he’s now an author and wide awake. “Finding a better relationship with God is what ‘The Awakening’ is all about,” author Terrance Dye says of the book he’s signing 1-4 p.m. Sunday at ALKEBU-LAN Images Bookstore, 2721 Jefferson St. “The Awakening” is self-published and a sell-out at every signing. “It seems like the right people come to the book signings,” Dye says. A practical man, Dye has only 50 books printed per signing. “‘The Awakening’ came…
By Clint Confehr NASHVILLE, TN — Bruce Buckner was an inmate. A surviver, Bruce says he’s following a directive from the highest authority: share life lessons learned the hard way. “I was in prison,” says Buckner, 33. “It was hard on me. One night, God spoke to me. He told me to warn others; use my life as guidance and I started writing about being in prison.” The result is “Living Life in Terre Haute; From Thinking Negative to Thinking Positive.” His cautionary tale includes nearly six years in the federal penitentiary at Terre Haute, Ind. Buckner’s incarceration ended May…
By Clint Confehr COLUMBIA, TN — The NAACP branch here — now in a reorganization period — may rise again this spring, according to officials with the association’s state conference. Membership in the Columbia Maury County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was seen by national association officials as less than 50 nearly 18 months ago, the officials said after a Jan. 20 report saying the branch closed. Branches need at least 50 members. For about three months, the NAACP’s Tennessee State Conference has been helping the branch under the supervision of Paco Havard, a…
By Clint Confehr The President’s offer — money for the border in exchange for Dreamers’ relief — isn’t what NAACP branch presidents in Tennessee noticed about his speech Saturday. They’re dismayed he didn’t address furloughed federal workers. “It’s shameful that he would hold Americans hostage, have hundreds of thousands of people not get paid for their labor, and use Dreamers as a bargaining chip for a wall that he really doesn’t want as much as he wants the fight,” said Rev. Keith Caldwell, president of Nashville’s NAACP Branch. “It’s a diversion, a distraction from the chaos of his administration,” Caldwell…