1. Grand Slam Collectibles Helping Tennessee Family Cover Teen’s Liver Transplant Expense
by Laura Lindsay
Fifteen-year-old Drew Stines likes fishing, playing baseball and watching baseball, particularly when the Cubs are playing.
When a friend of Drew’s father, Nathan Burns, opened Grand Slam Collectibles in Murfreesboro, Drew began writing to Burns, who started sending him baseball cards, launching an enjoyable hobby. Drew and his father, Jackson (TN) police officer Jeremy Stines, would also come into town to visit the store occasionally.
“Nathan got Drew into collecting,” the elder Stines says. “We’ve known each other a long time, and when Nathan started his store, Drew really got into it. Nathan and I went to school together in Huntingdon, Tennessee. I can’t say enough about him.”
“Drew is a huge Cubs fan and a normal kid,” Burns says. “But he’s been having health issues, so it has gotten to the point now where he needs a liver transplant, and we are just trying to help him out.”
Drew has had medical issues most of his life, says Drew’s mom, Donna Stines, who works for the American Cancer Society. “Nathan is very generous, and when he saw Drew was listed for a transplant, he decided to help.”
He started a GoFundMe page for Drew and matched the first $5,000 in donations with his own $5,000 donation. As of late June, the fundraiser is about halfway to the $25,000 goal to help Drew and his family.
“I’m thankful to Nathan and everyone for helping,” Drew’s dad says.
Drew has been diagnosed with a rare condition called non-cirrhotic portal hypertension. He has an enlarged spleen and liver issues, Stines says.
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2. Happy Hour in Murfreesboro: Specials on Food and Drinks
Several Murfreesboro restaurants and bars offer a broad selection of happy hour deals.
Try something new!
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3. Murals in Murfreesboro: Art Friendly or Art Fascists? Be Careful What You Paint Outdoors
by Bracken Mayo
The City of Murfreesboro and Building and Codes Department officials have taken a recent interest in murals painted on the walls of businesses.
A press release sent by city staff in October included comments from Robert Holtz, Director of Murfreesboro Building and Codes: “Murals can be interesting and enjoyable, even help define a community and encourage artistic expression and conversation,” Holtz said, also encouraging artists to stay within the lines of local ordinances when creating their artwork on outside walls of businesses. The city even helped promote a community mural project on the exterior wall of a Vine Street business through official city channels.
Some took this as a sign that Murfreesboro was becoming more welcoming of original paintings on buildings, more “art friendly.” However, one local business owner didn’t find city officials to be very art-friendly after being served with a notice that a mural—one that has been on his building for 25 years—was in violation of city ordinance.
Thor’s, on Medical Center Parkway, which sells model trains and handcrafted furniture, had an artist come out in the mid-1990s to paint a train station scene on its exterior wall, according to business owner Thor Rankin.
In October 2019, the building owner, Dr. Jerry Compton (a dentist who practices in a building nearby, who has leased the Thor’s building to the Rankin family for decades) received a letter from Murfreesboro Building and Codes, stating that the mural was in violation of the sign ordinance. This letter threatened that the city “may cause the sign to be removed AT THE EXPENSE OF THE OWNER(S), AGENTS(S), OR PERSON(S) having a beneficial interest in the building on premises on which the sign is located,” and threatened fines, a citation to city court and payment of court costs.
Thor’s crime: having a mural on the front of his building.
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4. Young Local Musician Ellie Austin Wins First Walnut House Middle Tennessee Songwriters Series
by Melissa Coker
Walnut House’s Middle Tennessee Songwriters Series of shows wrapped up on Nov. 20, and organizers presented contest series winner and Murfreesboro native Ellie Austin with a package including a Walnut House recording package for a five-song EP professionally recorded and mastered with a full band, a year’s worth of guitar strings and other prizes.
“Everyone gave a tremendous performance. There’s a huge abundance of talent here in the middle of Middle Tennessee,” says songwriter series co-sponsor Ricky Martini of the Walnut House. “We want to help people show the talent they possess and get started—or continue—with their music career.”
Austin is a senior at Central Magnet School who counts Brandi Carlile, The Secret Sisters, Lewis Capaldi and Adele among her influences and says songwriting has been her passion for as long as she can remember.
“You can imagine the kind of songs a six-year-old writes,” she laughs. “My mom got me hooked on country music from a young age, and some of my favorite country influences are Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum and Taylor Swift’s earlier albums. But in dealing with chronic illnesses and other issues for the past five years, writing songs quickly transformed from a favorite hobby into a necessary form of catharsis.
Despite the occasional “happy” song, Austin tells the Pulse that she tends to write about heartache.
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5. Murfreesboro City Officials Propose 40 Percent Property Tax Increase, Many Residents Suggest Cutting Spending
by Bracken Mayo
As the Murfreesboro City Council considers City Manager Craig Tindall’s proposed 2019–20 budget—one which calls for a significant property tax increase for those residing in Murfreesboro—many voters say that city leaders should keep the rapid growth of city government under control.
The proposed budget, if adopted in its current form, would raise the Murfreesboro property tax rate from about 94 cents per $100 of assessed value to a rate of $1.31 per $100 of assessed value, an increase of about 40 percent.
“Leave property taxes alone,” said Murfreesboro resident Susan Westerfield. “We are being robbed as it is!” She referenced the recent institution of a Murfreesboro trash pick-up fee, a mandatory $60 per year per garbage can that residents must now pay and a mechanism that critics say was really a property tax increase in disguise.
“The simple fact is,” said Steve Lane, “this council, led by [Murfreesboro Mayor Shane McFarland], has engaged in profligate spending that has far outpaced the city’s ever-increasing revenues.”
The proposed Murfreesboro rate of $1.31 per $100 of assessed value would compare to tax rates of .417 in Franklin, .607 in Lebanon and .758 in Hendersonville, according to comptroller.tn.gov. (Those figures reflect the city’s tax rate only; all homeowners must also pay a county property tax as well, which is $2.099 per $100 of assessed value in Rutherford County; Davidson County residents pay $2.755, while Cannon County residents pay $2.383.)
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