VOL. 129 | NO. 57 | Monday, March 24, 2014

Highland Church of Christ at 400 N. Houston Levee Road in Cordova has filed a $3 million permit with the city-county Office of Construction Code Enforcement to expand its church campus.

The permit, filed by general contractor Linkous Construction Co. Inc., calls for a multipurpose and classroom addition. No architect was listed on the permit.

Highland Church of Christ formerly Highland Street Church of Christ moved into its $8 million, 67,000-square-foot multi-building church campus in 2010. Linkous also was contractor for that project.

The church had relocated there from its former home of 80 years on South Highland Street. Its Cordova campus sits on 36 acres on the east side of North Houston Levee Road north of its intersection with Walnut Grove Road.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

Daily News staff

The Memphis and Shelby County Airport Authority has awarded a contract to raze a vacant hotel.

The Airport Authority chose DeNovo Constructors of Chicago to raze the vacant Regency Inn & Suites adjacent to Memphis International Airports cell phone lot. DeNovos $791,350 offer was slightly lower than Chris Woods Construction Co.s bid of $842,000.

Demolition should begin in the spring and the Airport Authority will use part of the hotel site for an expansion of the cell phone lot.

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Highland Church of Christ Files Permit for Addition

In the Dunedin chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are member Gwen Marshall (seated) with longtime members and friends (from left) Judy Stone, John Blazey, Bill Stone and Thelma McLeod. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.

She was working at a florist's shop until she was old enough to go nursing, when by chance she met a girl who was ''a Mormon''.

''I had never seen anyone who was a Mormon before. She was so securely happy. That's what struck me.''

A friendship blossomed and after a while, Mrs Marshall said the girl invited her to meet her friends, who used to gather at St Clair Beach on Saturdays.

''They didn't believe in alcohol, cigarettes or swearing. There was an aura of goodness about them.

''I think they went to the beach as a good clean Saturday activity.''

When she was invited to join them at their church one day, she said it was a great shock.

''They were meeting in very humble circumstances. It was upstairs in an unused government building. It was dingy - not what I was used to.

''But it was the sincerity, the wholesomeness of the people . . .''

She joined the church in 1947, and later became an integral part of the construction of what is the present day chapel on Fenton Cres, in St Clair.

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'Chief cook and bottle washer' helps mark 50th

DeMoura

Sun staff photos can be ordered by visiting our Smugmug site.

Fred C. Church Inc., a Lowell-based insurance agency, recently made the following personnel announcements:

* Shawna L. Lamarche, of Dracut, was recently hired as a commercial account manager. She brings 20 years of insurance experience, is a licensed insurance producer.

Lamarche holds the designations of certified insurance counselor, associate in general insurance, certified insurance service representative and construction risk and insurance specialist.

* Ana LeMay, also of Dracut, recently earned the designation of certified insurance service representative. The program stresses the understanding and analysis of risks and exposures. It consists of five daylong courses that cover all aspects of the insurance customer service representative's daily work.

LeMay has worked at Fred C. Church since 2011. She is a personal insurance account manager in the agency's Haverhill office. She is a licensed property and casualty insurance producer with eight years of industry experience.

Digital Federal Credit Union recently announced the following appointments:

* Thomaz S. DeMoura, of Shrewsbury, has been named regional branch manager. He will assist in managing the day-to-day functions of DCU's branch network, including overseeing branches in Tyngsboro, Lowell and Westboro, as well as overseeing the Small Business Specialist Department and operation of DCU's full-service mobile branch.

DeMoura brings more than seven years of experience in the financial-services industry, including stints as small business specialist, branch manager, assistant branch manager and loan origination representative at DCU. He is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish.

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Fred C. Church hires Lamarche; LeMay earns new designation

BOTKINBURG On the morning after an EF2-rated tornado tore through his church last April, reducing much of the structure to rubble, Ester Bass stood by the devastation and vowed to build back.

Less than a year later, the 64-year-old Bass is proving to be a man of his word.

The Botkinburg Foursquare Church, where Bass has served as pastor for about 17 years, will hold a grand opening of its new facility April 6, just four days short of the anniversary of the 2013 tornado that destroyed its previous incarnation.

Bass isn't quite sure yet what words he'll deliver to the congregation that Sunday morning. But he expects it will incorporate themes he's experienced over the past year about finding the strength to overcome a terrible loss.

"It's all by the grace of God that we're here and where we're at now," Bass said. "If he can do that with how he's worked, then he can do anything in our lives. That's the focus."

The tornado touched down in the small Van Buren County town north of Clinton the afternoon of April 10, 2013, destroying much of the church, taking the roof off an adjacent home, obliterating a nearby residence and damaging about 30 other structures. Four injuries were reported, but none was life-threatening.

That was a Wednesday and the church still held service the following Sunday. A large tent was set up on the grounds of the damaged building, which was only 10 years old, and a crowd of 300 people came out to hear Bass' sermon. The congregation usually draws about 100.

"That was just a way of showing them we're here to stay," Bass recalled in a recent interview. "We're going to come through this."

It took a little while to get the wheels in motion, but a few weeks later, demolition and removal of the damaged church began. Before long, the structure was reduced to the concrete slab it had been built upon and rebuilding could commence.

The congregation, meanwhile, didn't miss a Sunday. First, they moved to a gymnasium at a nearby church, but it didn't have air conditioning. Then, they moved to a church in nearby Dennard. The space was small, but it was enough for Bass to keep his congregation going in a tumultuous time.

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Botkinburg church rebuilt a year after devastating tornado

Police seek suspicious man Police seek suspicious man

Updated: Friday, March 21 2014 11:04 PM EDT2014-03-22 03:04:38 GMT

Parents in Buckhead are on alert tonight.

Parents in Buckhead are on alert tonight.

Updated: Friday, March 21 2014 10:51 PM EDT2014-03-22 02:51:42 GMT

Georgia had just one school representing the state in this year's NCAA Tournament. But the Mercer Bears did not disappoint.

Georgia had just one school representing the state in this year's NCAA Tournament. But the Mercer Bears did not disappoint.

Updated: Friday, March 21 2014 6:18 PM EDT2014-03-21 22:18:03 GMT

Carolyn Phillips says she paid to park, but a PARKatlanta officer gave the motorist a ticket anyway. The frustrated senior citizen is fighting that ticket and this one PARKatlanta battles that she is likely to win.

Carolyn Phillips says she paid to park, but a PARKatlanta officer gave the motorist a ticket anyway. The frustrated senior citizen is fighting that ticket and this one PARKatlanta battles that she is likely to win.

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Man searches for missing drone in Fayette County

HOUSTON -

Harris County sheriff's investigators are searching for the thieves who broke into a storage container behind a local church and got away with thousands of dollars worth of equipment.

It happened at around noon Monday at the Church of Champions on Cutten Road in northwest Harris County.

Church surveillance video shows two men getting out of a Ford F-150 pickup after backing up to the steel cargo container. Workers found the locks had been cut and more than $4,000 in equipment, including a welder and generator, were missing.

The surveillance video shows men loading up the equipment and driving off.

"I hope people return the stuff. If not, our church, we're a strong church," said church member Tremayne Dortch.

Volunteers were using the tools to build an obstacle course beside the church.

The equipment belongs to Sam Sann. Sann tried out for "Ninja Warrior," owns his own gym and wants to share his passion for fitness. He is building an obstacle course beside the church for the community.

"I guess there are a lot of desperate people out there," said Sann, of IronSport. "Just get a real job instead of going around stealing people's stuff."

If you recognize the men in the surveillance video, please call the Harris County Sheriff's Office or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS. You can remain anonymous and could earn a cash reward.

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Thieves who stole equipment from church wanted

As Ann Northrup stood in the middle of an empty, blighted, pothole-filled lot in Spring Garden nestled between a church and school, Ann Corcoran, who lives nearby, shouted at her from a sidewalk.

"Stop spreading lies, Ann!" said Corcoran, her miniature schnauzer, Clooney, in tow.

For the next few minutes, the two went at each other over the future of the decades-vacant lot on the 1800 block of Green Street. The clash was another skirmish in a long-simmering squabble that has pitted residents against each other over the future of the property.

On one side is the Spring Garden Community Development Corp., which wants to buy the quarter-acre parcel from the Philadelphia School District and turn it into an off-leash dog park. The CDC has a long list of allies in its corner, including City Council President Darrell L. Clarke and several hundred area residents.

On the other side is a group led by Northrup that opposes the park.

They and members of the Enon Baptist Church and parents with children at Laura Wheeler Waring School say a dog park between a church and a school poses serious safety and hygiene concerns.

"It's not only a bad idea, it's disrespectful to the school and church," said Northrup, 65, a 30-year Spring Garden resident.

The fight has been going on for months, and there is no clear end in sight.

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Proposed dog park in Spring Garden pits neighbor against neighbor

Artist impressions of the Burleigh Waters Church Project. Source: Supplied

AUSTRALIAS largest Catholic parish has had its prayers answered, with Burleigh set to become home to the citys second-largest church.

The Burleigh Catholic Parish has submitted plans for a $7.1 million church with seating for up to 700 people to Gold Coast City Council.

What do you think of the proposed development, could the community benefit from such a large church development? Tell us in the comment sections below.

That would make the proposed church, earmarked for land on the Marymount College site, second in seating only to the Clear Island Waters St Vincents.

If approved, construction will begin in July before the house of worship hosts its first services at Easter next year.

Parish priest Father Ken Howell said he was overjoyed the project could finally be bearing fruit after more than 15 years on the drawing board.

The plan was always to create a central parish church here but obviously it has taken a lot longer than anyone anticipated, he said.

Burleigh parish has more than 32,000 people living in it who list themselves as Catholic, based on census data, and this church will give them an appropriate place to worship and will be a tribute to them.

It is important to consolidate what has happened in the past as we move into the future with confidence.

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Church prays for approval

FAYETTE COUNTY, Ga. -

A reward has been offered to help a Fayette County man find his missing drone that he used to videotape construction at a church. It happened to Newnan resident John Stevenson who is a member of All Saints Anglican Church near Georgia Highway 54 in west Fayette County.

Recreational drones have gained in popularity. And people like Stevenson get amazing aerial video using high definition cameras. Stevenson has used his Blade 350 QX with a Go Pro camera attached to shoot aerial video of the church under construction. He's posted the video to the church's Facebook page so the very excited congregation can follow the construction.

And why not use a drone to do the Lord's work? Construction sites can be hazardous places. And John's aerial view was great and safe alternative.

On March 11, John was flying his quadcopter around the church property when it started acting funny. Stevenson says the aircraft drifted sideways and simply flew away, never to be seen again. Stevenson has, of course, searched for it. He told FOX 5's Doug Evans it had enough battery power to fly for miles before crashing.

The Federal Aviation Administration allows hobbyists like Stevenson to fly drones for recreational purposes. No one, however, can fly a drone in the U.S. for commercial reasons nor can anyone profit from the use of the drone. Those restrictions could change later this year.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the drone can contact Stevenson at 770-400-9124.

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Man searches for stolen drone in Fayette County

(Part 2 of a series following the U.S. Supreme Courts ruling last week to let stand the lower court decision that the property of the historic Falls Church in Northern Virginia belonged to the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, and not an arch-conservative pack of defectors from that church who voted to leave it in December 2006, but subsequently occupied the property for five and a half years. For part one, click here.)

The City of Falls Church, Virginia, both is and isnt a small, sleepy residential enclave inside the Washington, D.C. Beltway, seven miles from the White House. It used to be truly country, a getaway destination that residents of the capital could ride to on weekends and relax under large shade trees. But in recent years, the press of urbanization crept in, swelling the schools and replacing tree shade with the multistory building type.

But always, since the 1730s in this region rich with early American colonial history, the center of small Falls Church has been The Falls Church. Built in 1735 as an outpost of the Anglican church in Alexandria where George Washington was a vestryman, it is a small box-like structure whose exterior has gone unchanged for going on 300 years. It has been a functioning church the entire time, named for its proximity to the Great Falls on the Potomac. With the American Revolution, its ownership remained with its Alexandria mother church as it transitioned from Anglican to Episcopalian. A small graveyard on its heavily-shaded perimeter is the final resting place of persons dating back to its founding. During the Civil War it was held at different times by both Union and Confederate forces pushing back and forth in the area, and was used as a hospital.

The grounds are modestly imposing, even as a portion of them were used for the construction in the 1990s of a large sanctuary adjacent the original building.

The church provided an ideal social and spiritual center for its surrounding community, which after World War II incorporated into an independent city so it could develop its own progressive school system, now nationally renowned for its excellence. It was the first in Virginia to integrate after the Brown Vs. Board of Education decision in 1954.

A founder of that school system was a leading member of The Falls Church since she moved to the area in 1941. Upon her passing at age 100 last year, a new school building in the City was named for her. The longtime superintendent of that school system was also a member of the church.

But the positive symbiosis between this venerable church and the community around it was sharply disrupted in the mid-1980s when it fell into the hands of new leadership that sent it in a very different direction. A young rector from North Carolina started shaping it into something unlike almost any other Episcopal church in the U.S.

It is not too simple to consider it an aspect of the Reagan revolution. Among other things, the shift happened in the context of the radical neo-conservative political thrust sweeping the nearby nations capital. New parishioners who shared the rectors arch-conservative views began flooding into the church from outside its community.

In 1991 I founded a weekly newspaper for the City of Falls Church. In almost no time it began chronicling the churchs new form of harsh interventions into the community around it. A zealous youth minister spoke at a funeral for a family life teacher at the local high school, a very generous and accepting soul enormously popular and beloved by all the students, and he used the occasion to rail against her tolerance of homosexuality.

Next, the student editorial board of the high school paper voted to accept an ad from a national pro-gay tolerance group and the church put up such a fuss that the faculty adviser to the school paper was almost fired, and was on the receiving end of ferocious hate mail for months.

The rest is here:
Church Defectors Acted Immorally, Part 2