Published: October 23, 2007 06:46 pm      

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Updates on this and that

Several weeks ago "Random Thoughts" compared the careers of two women’s basketball coaches, Judy Conradt who just retired from the University of Texas, and Lady Vols’ Pat Summitt. Conradt held the title of the “winningest coach” but Summitt tied her record and then took the title the next year.

The week after that column appeared, an announcement was made that Summitt would receive the John R. Wooden Ward’s Legends of Coaching award in April 2008. She is the first women’s basketball coach to be honored. Described as college basketball’s all-time “winningest coach” with 947 games and seven NCAA titles, she trails only Wooden’s 11 national championships. Only four needed to pass that record. Go Vols!

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A number of other updates on earlier columns have come to light.

The Sputnik column recalled the shock felt round the world 50 years ago. For Fairfield Glade residents Louis and Louise Wirbel, the 50th anniversary will be remembered for a personal reason. Their son Loring lives in Colorado Springs and has been involved in military conversion and peace work for 25 years. He is known as an expert on space and in 2004 his book STAR WARS: US Tools of Space Supremacy was published.

Loring was invited to appear as a panelist on the Aljazeera television network to discuss the progress in space in the 50 years since the launch of Sputnik. Three experts involved in different aspects of the space programs were questioned. Appearing from Amsterdam was the head of the Science and Applications Division of the European Space Program; from Boston was the director of the Direct Remote Program at Boston University; from Colorado Springs was Loring, introduced as a member of Citizens for Peace in Space.

The Wirbels received a copy of the program and shared it with me. It was well balanced and praised the many ways humans have benefited from the knowledge transmitted from satellites back to earth. They listed improvements in agriculture, weather, communications, navigation, water sources and medical technology. Loring agreed with those truths but he cautioned that technology could be used in much less peaceful ways and there would always be need for critical concern by the citizenry.

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Several times "Random Thoughts" has mentioned those kudzu-eating goats in Chattanooga. Because of the publicity they have received in that city a number of citizens have become interested in using them to clear private property. The goats not only clear away kudzu but also other invasive plants such as star and bull thistles, blackberries, poison oak, coyote bush, willow, cattails and mint.

Because of the increasing interest the city officials have rewritten their livestock ordinances to allow for a goat-leasing program. If the demand is great enough by spring and study shows it is economically feasible, the development coordinator for the city Public Works Dept. will have more than earned the name he is known by now, the “goat dude.”

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A July column reported that the 44-year old Dunlap Drive-In Theatre was closing. Last week USA Today took a look at these disappearing outdoor theaters. The very first one opened in 1933 and by 1960 there were at least 5,000 across the country. It seems the decline in drive-ins was brought about by the rising value of land but higher insurance rates and property taxes played a part too.