38—Cleveland Daily Banner—Sunday, January 3, 2016
www.clevelandbanner.com
East-West Media gives $50,000 to TWC’s campaign
Special to the Banner
Fifteen years ago, East-West
Media began a relationship with
Tennessee Wesleyan College
when it constructed its billboard
located on TWC’s campus.
The Mizer family business was
started 45 years ago by Bobby
Mizer and is now operated by his
three sons: Brad, Charlie and
Sam Mizer. Today, East-West
Media has more than 400 billboard faces and is the leading
billboard company in the region.
Because of their long-standing
ties with TWC, East-West Media
has committed $50,000 to
TWC’s Proud Heritage, Strong
Future Campaign.
“We must be good stewards of
what this community has given
to our family,” East-West Media
President Brad Mizer said.
“TWC trusted us before we were
the market leader, and it is our
duty to make sure we help TWC
reach new heights.”
The Mizer family saw stories
of many other local businesses
contributing to the campaign
and was inspired to take action.
“Gifts from organizations such
as Athens Federal Community
Bank, Citizens National Bank,
AUB and Jackson & Runyan
CPA inspired us,” Mizer said.
“We want to do our part.”
The Mizers hope their gift will
move other businesses in the
region to give to TWC as well.
“TWC attracts the type of people from other parts of the country and world that we need in
our community. Creative and
talented students arrive in
Athens and stay for a lifetime.
They are business owners, civic
leaders, teachers, and professionals. TWC imports the best
and brightest young adults into
PARTiciPATing in the donation to Tennessee Wesleyan College are, from left, Brad Mizer, Sam
Mizer, Sarah Mizer, Bobby Mizer and Charlie Mizer of East-West Media.
our community,” Mizer said.
“We expect that TWC will continue to add a broader range of
academic fields and embrace
the digital age that we find ourselves in. The recent addition of
the MBA and communication
studies programs will serve this
community well. We know the
college will use our gift to make
Athens a better place.”
TWC President Dr. Harley
Knowles thanked the Mizer family and East-West Med ia for this
contribution that will allow
TWC to remain a strong center
of higher education in the
Athens community and beyond.
“We are grateful for the Mizer
family’s generous gift to the
Proud Heritage, Strong Future
Campaign,” Knowles said.
“Tennessee Wesleyan is proud
to have a strong relationship
with East-West Media and the
Mizer family.”
The Proud Heritage, Strong
Future Campaign at Tennessee
Wesleyan College will accelerate
change and improvements outlined in the college’s strategic
plan. This $16 million campaign
has four funding priorities that
will help the college attain
excellence: annual fund support, student scholarships, academic support, and facility
enhancements, including the
construction of a new 30,000
square foot campus center. For
additional information about
how you can support the college
during this campaign, please
contact the Advancement Office
at (423) 746-5330.
Tennessee Wesleyan College,
founded in Athens, in 1857, is a
comprehensive liberal arts
institution affiliated with the
Holston Conference of the
United Methodist Church.
The college’s dedicated faculty and staff believe in providing
the resources and support students need to become socially
responsible,
intellectually
skilled, and spiritually developed members of our community.
www.twcnet.edu
Watson
From Page 37
THE RFK PRojEcT recently donated a variety of food, clothing and blankets to the Wesley Memorial
United Methodist Church’s Cold Weather Shelter.
The RFK project donates snacks, goods
to Wesley Memorial Cold Weather Shelter
The RFK Project donated 136
snack packages, 120 hygiene
packages, 50 warm clothing
items, 58 blankets and canned
food to the Wesley Cold Weather
Shelter at Wesley Memorial United
Methodist Church.
Jack Burke, founder of The
RFK Project said, “The Project was
built for the purposes of assisting
those in need, and creating awareness as well as involvement
opportunities within our community.”
This the second year of operation for the WMUMC Shelter,
which provides dinner, showers,
overnight accommodations and a
light breakfast for homeless
guests when the outside temperature is 30° or below.
“This amazing donation extends
our outreach with necessary supplies that our guests will need
throughout the day,” said Leah
Walker, WMUMC youth minister.
“We are excited to again be able
to provide this ministry to assist
our homeless community,” said
Amy Mott, administrative assistant at Wesley. “Last season we
served 24 different guests with the
help of 100 volunteers.
“The Shelter began as a dream
of a 16-year-old youth who wanted to establish a place for the
homeless community during the
harsh winter months,” she continued. “She had the heart and the
courage to start the program, and
we adults can continue to live out
her ministry.”
Walker stated, “The program
has plugged into the community,
and people from other churches
and organizations have become
involved. We have been able to
build partnerships with several
groups in town.”
The decision to open for the
night is made by 3 p.m. the prior
day. This information is also sent
to New Life Community Soup
Kitchen, Cleveland Public Library
and Lee University Campus
Corner Kitchen Ministry.
Burke concluded, “We are
pleased to be able to extend our
assistance to the Wesley Cold
Weather Shelter, and look forward
to working with them and other
community groups to combat the
issues of poverty and need in
Bradley County.”
For information about the
Wesley Cold Weather Shelter, call
the church office at 423-4729578.
For information about The RFK
Project, visit the website.
www.therfkproject.wix.com/getinvolved.
Reservist tracks down the deck bell
from USS Chattanooga for memorial
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — The
deck bell of the World War I-era
USS Chattanooga will become
part of a memorial to the five
servicemen killed in an attack
on the Naval and Marine
Reserve Center this summer.
A Chattanooga newspaper
reports the ship that was once
the flagship of the U.S. fleet was
scrapped before World War II
but its 200-pound deck bell survived and somehow made its
way to Shelbyville, where it
remained for 85 years.
Gowan
Johnson,
a
Chattanoogan and petty officer
in the U.S. Navy Reserve, heard
about the bell’s existence several years ago and eventually
tracked it down to a recently
shuttered American Legion post.
In
September,
Johnson
retrieved the 21-inch-tall bronze
magnesium bell. Since then, he
has been preparing a place for it
at the reserve center. Johnson
said a cast-iron yoke is being
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fabricated for the bell, and the
shrine will be anchored to a
black granite base with a plaque
honoring the dead. The
emblems of the U.S. Navy and
Marines also will be part of the
memorial, he said.
“We are thinking that we
could toll the bell five times on
July 16 when the names are
read for the ceremony (on the
anniversary of the attack),”
Johnson said.
Johnson also has another
idea for honoring the fallen servicemen, now that the Navy is
commissioning a new class of
ships bearing the names of
American cities.
“How about another ship
called the USS Chattanooga?”
Johnson said.
We do all we can to help this
positive change happen. If they
desire, inmates can have access
to faith-based programs and
counselors. They can work to better themselves with educational
opportunities and more.
I tell our inmates no matter
how long they are incarcerated, it
is never too late for positive, personal change.
I hope your holidays were good.
Schools will reopen this week,
which means school buses on the
roads and school zones in operation.
Your Bradley County Sheriff’s
Office is ready, with school
resource officers in each county
school. If your child has not met
their SRO yet, now is the time to
say hello.
These fine deputies are dedicated to their schools, the teachers,
principals, staff and, of course,
the students.
I am excited about DARE in
fifth grades and look forward to
hearing about the successes the
Drug
Abuse
Resistance
Education program has.
Yes, the new year is here! I am
excited about the challenges and
opportunities 2016 will bring.
Wishing you and yours a happy,
healthy New Year!
Bible translated to
modern Alaskan
language writing style
BETHEL, Alaska (AP) — The
Holy Bible is now available in the
modern Yupik writing style.
The translation to Yupik —
spoken by an estimated 18,000
Alaska Natives from Norton
Sound in the western part of the
state to Bristol Bay on the eastern end — was produced after
nearly half a century of work by
fluent Yupik speakers and the
American Bible Society, reported
KYUK-AM. Yupik is the secondmost spoken language in Alaska,
after English.
The first missionaries translated the New Testament into an
early form of Yupik writing, said
Moravian Pastor Jones Anaver of
Kwigllingok. But today, Yupik
textbooks and dictionaries in the
local schools use a newer and
easier to read script developed
by linguist Steven Jacobson in
the 1980s.
The team rewrote the New
Testament Jacobson’s style and
translated the Old Testament
into Yupik using the Revised
Standard Version of the Bible.
“We wanted the youngest of
our generation to be able to read
and fully appreciate the Holy
Bible,” said Anaver.
Bethel elder Elsie Jimmie
agreed that the earlier translations took more learning to
read. She’s been part of the
translation project for the past 6
years.
How end to phone
discounts will
help customers
NEW YORK (AP) — AT&T will no longer offer discounted
phones with two-year contracts starting Jan. 8. Before you
rush out to beat the deadline, consider that you might be
better off paying full price for the phone.
That’s because phone companies also reduce the monthly
bill for voice, text and data services when you buy your own
phone or bring a used one. Some may pay a bit more, some
a bit less, but the overall bill is roughly the same. What you
get in return is more flexibility in which phone you buy and
how long you stay with the carrier.
AT&T’s decision comes as no surprise. In the third quarter,
only 1 in 5 customers chose a contract plan when they
signed up with AT&T or upgraded their phones. T-Mobile
broke away from contracts completely nearly three years ago,
and Verizon stopped offering contracts to new customers in
August. Sprint also has been weighing dropping contracts
completely.
Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure told The Associated Press in
September that discounted, contract phones — including his
company’s — amount to “a gimmick, a trick. You tell people
I’m going to give you a free phone, but really the customer
pays in a more expensive service plan.”
Indeed, phone discounts mask the true costs of phones
and phone services.
Here’s an explanation of the changes:
—WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS NOW?
Most people now buy and pay for phones in monthly
installments, though you can also pay the full price upfront.
You can also bring a used device, such as one from a friend
or family member who has upgraded to a newer model.
Sprint and T-Mobile also have leasing options — you pay
less each month, but you don’t get to keep or resell the
device in the end.
—WILL I PAY MORE?
Not necessarily so, even though you now have to pay the
full price for a phone.
When you got a discounted phone under contract, you
were already paying the balance in the form of fees. For
instance, the full cost of an iPhone 6s is $650. Although you
pay just $200 at the contract rate, the phone company passes along the remaining $450 in higher monthly fees for voice,
text and data. Over two years, the $450 comes to $18.75 a
month. Put another way, your phone company is subsidizing
your phone by $18.75 a month and tacking that on to the
phone bill for voice, text and data.
If you forgo the contract, your monthly bill for voice, text
and data is typically reduced by $15 or $25 a month. The
$25 discount applies for higher data plans — usually ones
you share with family members. In such cases, you’re actually better off buying the phone yourself, as you’re getting a
$25 bill reduction but giving up only $18.75 in subsidies.
If your discount is only $15, and you’re giving up $18.75
in subsidies, then technically your bill is going up slightly.
What you get instead is flexibility.
—WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY FLEXIBILITY?
Because phone companies were subsidizing phones, there
was an incentive to get the most expensive model, even if you
didn’t need that. These days, there are many mid-range
Android phones that do what high-end phones did just a few
years ago. If you choose one of those models, you keep the
savings. That’s also the case if you get a friend or relative’s
old phone. You no longer feel that you’re losing out by not
claiming the most expensive phone in a contract renewal.
And if your phone lasts longer than two years, there’s no
longer the pressure to upgrade just to claim the phone subsidies. You simply pocket the savings.
More important, you’re no longer tied to two-year contracts.
—DOES THIS MEAN I CAN SWITCH WHENEVER I LIKE?
Yes and no.
If you buy a phone under an installment plan, you’re still
stuck with the phone company until you pay off the phone.
That said, rival companies often have promotions to pay off
the balance for you. And if you pay the full cost of the phone
upfront, you own the phone and can switch whenever you
like. Just be aware that certain phones work on limited
number of networks, so it’s still not total freedom.
—WHAT IF RATES INCREASE ONCE I PAY
FULL PRICE FOR A PHONE?
Phone rates can go up at any time, but that historically
hasn’t happened because of stiff competition. In fact, phone
companies have been offering more data for the same prices,
an effective price cut.
And if your phone company does increase the rates, just
go to another. Again, rivals typically offer promotions to
switch. You can always take your phone number with you as
long as you sign up with the new company before cancelling.
—CAN I STILL GET A SUBSIDIZED PHONE?
Sprint still offers contract plans, though they aren’t
emphasized and they may disappear any day. Verizon offers
contracts only to existing customers who renew. At AT&T,
contracts will be offered only under certain business plans.
Geo rgia cities eye Disney
World-style mode of transport
BROOKHAVEN, Ga. (AP) —
Three Georgia cities are expressing interest in a form of transportation from another world: A
monorail, like one at Walt Disney
World.
The city of Brookhaven, just
northeast of Atlanta, is already
committing tax dollars to study
the idea, WXIA-TV reported.
Sandy Springs will include the
idea in a long-term planning
study, and a Chamblee city councilman is also interested in the
concept, the Atlanta station
reported.
Brookhaven already has a
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid
Transit Authority rail line linking
it to downtown Atlanta. But
WXIA reports that its surface
streets are often choked with
automobiles.
Brookhaven City Councilman
Joe Gebbia says he envisions a
12-mile
loop
connecting
Brookhaven’s MARTA station to
places such as the Century
Center commercial area and
DeKalb Peachtree Airport.
“It’s all going to evolve around
money,” Gebbia told WXIA. “So
we really just need to find out
what are the facts, what is the
potential, is it affordable, are
there ways to fund it?”
Brookhaven is about 7 miles
northeast of downtown Atlanta.
Thomas Hogan, a city councilman in Chamblee, said he’s optimistic the monorail idea may
have merit. Chamblee officials
will be interested in seeing the
results of Brookhaven’s study,
Hogan said.
Monorails have operated for
years in some cities, such as
Seattle and Las Vegas.
In the Florida Keys, county
commissioners
agreed
in
November to work with state
transportation officials to study
whether a light rail or monorail
system would be feasible for the
island chain, The Key West
Citizen reported.