TTA Annual Meeting

Officers:
Millette Jones- President
Carolyn Miller- Vice President
Brenda Clampitt- Treasurer
Diane Manas- Secretary
Ron Dunn- Membership
Nora Beck- Middle Tennessee Regional Rep

Awards:
Bill Stutz Award - Don Dresser
Tennessee Trails Award - Anne Paine
Bob Brown Lifetime Achievement Award - Bertha Chrietzberg

Synopsis of Each Nomination:

Our Nominee for the Bill Stutz Award, Don Dresser, member of the Jackson chapter, has faithfully served our organization in the offices of West Tennessee Regional Representative, Treasurer and President. As most board members know, our elected Treasurer was diagnosed with cancer and unable to fulfill her duties. Don has continued to serve as the interim Treasurer during his tenure as TTA President. He has performed many other untitled duties e.g. Don chaired the Bylaws Revision Committee which updated TTA's bylaws and produced the first set of bylaws that the CTC ever had. We have all been the beneficiaries of Don's legal expertise, and we are most grateful for his guidance.

Our Nominee for the Tennessee Trails Award, Anne Paine, is a longtime journalist for Nashville's daily newspaper, The Tennessean. She primarily reports on environmental stories, and she has produced exceptional articles highlighting the scenic wonders and recreational opportunities in our state. For an example of her recent work, you can read her story about the acquisition of Cummins Falls which was threatened with residential development: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110727/NEWS11/307260070/Deal-Cummins-Falls-land-like-buying-Niagara-Falls .
Please note, when our committee started to consider Ms. Paine for the award, we contacted her and told her she was a nominee. We asked if she would be able to accept the award if so approved by TTA's Board of Directors. Her editor is satisfied there is no conflict of interest, and she may accept the award if the board approves.

The Bob Brown Lifetime Achievement Award is not necessarily presented each year - only when there is a person whose extraordinary efforts and devotion to hiking in Tennessee merit the award. We felt it particularly appropriate to nominate Bertha Chrietzberg this year when her own chapter (Murfreesboro) is hosting. Bertha has been a tireless and effective champion for outdoor recreation and protection for more than 50 years. She was a founding member of the Tennessee Trails Association in 1968 and the Tennessee Scenic Rivers Association created in 1966. She has been a dominant force in many other non-profit, citizen based organizations including the Tennessee Environmental Council, Tennessee Wilderness Planning, Friends of Fall Creek Falls State Park, Friends of the Stones River Greenway, The Black Fox Wetland League, The Stones River Watershed Association and the Tennessee Native Plant Society. She has served in a leadership role in every one of these organizations.

Bertha taught outdoor recreation at Middle Tennessee State University for many years and is remembered and well loved by her former students. She is a true environmental educator by vocation and inclination. She serves as an example for all. She has rescued rare plants, prevented gravel mining in the Stones River, championed the Stones River Greenway route. cleaned up toxic dumps and conducted numerous wildflower hikes.

Over 170 TTA Members were in attendance this year for the meeting. Numerous hikes and activities.

Well, after a year of planning and hair pulling...screaming....cussing...and losing sleep, the annual meeting finally came.....and went.

It was wonderful to see the entire Statewide organization in one place and to put some faces to the names that I have been seeing for the past several months in registration forms and e-mails. Turns out, I know quite a few more people than I thought I did.

On Saturday, I was too busy for a long hike so I took an hour or two off to do some sightseeing around the Sewanee/Tracy City area. I joined seven other event goers: Tom Bentley, Bertha Chreitzberg, MaryBelle Ginanni, Cathy Bingham, Glenn Turner, Dale Simms and Sandra Simms on a pilgrimage to the Natural Bridge then to the Sewanee Campus where we visited the chapels and the cross and Green's View. We then went to Tracy City for a nice lunch at the Dutch Maid Bakery followed by a really nice impromptu tour of the Tracy City Historical Society Museum. Lots of interesting history in these rich coal mines around Tracy City. We then finished up the tour by visiting the Monteagle Sunday School Assembly, which to my shock and surprise was not a church assembly at all but a really, really nice "community" filled with lots of houses that are way above my payscale and dots of B&B's. Then it was back to DuBose (for me) to get ready for the live auction and then the final dinner and next day breakfast before saying goodbye and passing the torch to the Clarksville Chapter who will be in charge of the meeting in 2012.