Concerning the 411 Hiwassee Bridge collapse, a major --probably the best-- source of Polk County history in the middle years of the twentieth century is Ralph Painter, the "old Conasauga boy," now an expatriate in Chattanooga. Ralph, who had a dry cleaning business on the west side of the School House Hill at the time, remembers the owner and make of the car that slid backwards into the river. It was Wes Harbison and his 1941 Ford that went trunk first into the water. One of the Culpeppers was with him.

The car's trunk had a special significance for Ralph, which I will now explain. Wes Harbison and Ralph's father-in-law, Roxy Campbell, in their time were Benton's premier practical jokers, some of their exploits reaching legendary proportions. One incident that I remember well -- though I did not recall that Wes was the perpetrator until Ralph so identified him -- was when one hot summer weekend someone broke into Roxy Campbell's oil distribution office and left a bunch of very unhappy and unruly roosters and hens which had created what could only be described as an unholy mess by the time Roxy opened up on Monday morning.

According to Ralph, Roxy's response, assisted by Red Wilson, was to find a dead dog and somehow get it into the trunk of Wes's car where over a period of days in the hot summer heat it developed into an unholy mess, not as far-ranging as in Roxy's office, but vastly more distressing. Several years later, probably with some faint traces of the ill-fated dog's story still present, that was the part of the car first in the Hiwassee River..

Concerning my account in early July article on the visit of the Antique Roadshow to Chattanooga, a reader who chooses to remain anonymous reports that I was too negative, for she had a wonderful day getting some jewelry appraised. She didn't divulge how much her jewelry is worth but told me that the lady in front of her had a diamond necklace in its original box bought by the owner's grandmother in New York near the end of the nineteenth century. When the lady was told that her necklace was worth three quarters of a million dollars, she began to shake and had to be given a chair!

Then, according to this source, the now-much-richer-than-she-previously-knew lady regained her composure and tried to get away, taking her necklace with her. But the producer of the show prevailed and everything stopped at the jewelry tables for close to thirty minutes while there were three attempts to film an interview with the necklace owner. The producer finally deciding the third version was acceptable. My reporter stated that she tried to stay out of the two cameras' focus during the filming, though her place as next in line--which she had no intention of giving up--put her directly in front of one of them. This information causes me to be even more eager to watch the program next year for the possibility of seeing her. She also indicated that she saw, talked with, and got the autographs of the Keno brothers, the twins who are antique furniture specialists.

Concerning the therapeutic nature of homemade blackberry jelly in a June article, some cold morning later in the year when I am feeling low and in the need of comfort food, I will get my iron skillet our, fry some bread in butter, and open my jar of homemade Polk County blackberry jelly, a much appreciated gift from Susan Caldwell of Lindsey's Beauty Shop, Benton, and spread it generously on my "toast." As I bite into this special breakfast from my younger days, my spirits will soar as my taste buds rejoice. Thus fortified, I will be equipped to face the day.