Look who's living in tree houses!

This summer, families can spend some quality time hanging out in the trees with a visit to the Discovery Center’s newest exhibit, Tree Houses. Tree Houses will open to the public on Saturday, May 26 and run through September 7, 2012.  This new hands-on exhibit is the second created by the Environmental Exhibit Collaborative.

The focus of this exhibit is in, around and even underneath trees. Tree Houses includes fun, hands-on ways to explore the important roles that trees play in providing homes for all sorts of wild things (including people!). Incorporating all of the senses, this popular exhibit engages forest explorers of all ages in indoor nature explorations and the ecology of sustainable harvesting of this important natural resource.

In this exhibit, families can:

• Look for signs of animal tree dwellers as they walk through an indoor tree house and across a wobbly connecting bridge
• Play a computerized forest game where they can harvest trees without harming wildlife
• Watch how a forest becomes house
• View the tree houses people have built around the world— even design and build their own
• See stereoscopic 3-D images of some of the smaller animals we can find living in New England’s trees
• Listen for animals inside the tree house and try to guess their sounds on an “animal dance floor”
• Peer down from inside a “crow’s nest” (and peer down at the folks “on the ground”)
• Revisit favorite fictional tree dwellers, from the Ewoks of Star Wars to Winnie the Pooh
• Wander through a “kitchen” to discover not-so-obvious tree connections in our own houses

The exhibit was produced by the Environmental Exhibit Collaborative (EcoTarium, Worcester, Massachusetts; ECHO at the Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, Vermont; and the Children’s Museum of Maine, Portland, Maine) with major support from Jane's Trust. Additional support was provided by Cabot Family Charitable Trust and the Institute for Museum and Library Services. It will be at the Discovery Center through September 7.

MEMBERS-ONLY TREEHOUSES NIGHT

On Friday, May 25 from 5:30 - 7:00 PM, Discovery Center will be open for members only to explore TreeHouses and enjoy hands-on activities based on the exhibit.

The exhibit is included with museum admission. It is open Monday – Saturday from 10:00AM to 5:00PM, and on Sunday from 1:00PM to 5:00PM. Discovery Center is closed on Monday, May 28 and Wednesday, July 4 during this exhibit run. Admission is $6 per person; children younger than 2 are free. Members are always free and family memberships start at just $75. The museum is located at 502 SE Broad Street, Murfreesboro, Tennessee 37130. For more information, call (615) 890-2300 or visit www.discoverycenteronline.org.

Celebrating 25 Years of Discovery...

Serving more than 130,000 children and families each year, the Discovery Center is a non-profit youth museum dedicated to inspiring exploration, enhancing learning, and building confidence through diverse programs and exhibits.

We are located at 502 SE Broad Street, Murfreesboro, Tennessee 37130. Discovery Center is open Monday – Saturday from 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM and Sunday from 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM.  A nominal door fee of $6 is charged and annual memberships are available. For complete details, please call (615) 890-2300 or visit us online at www.discoverycenteronline.org.

Murfreesboro, TN - A Chapel Hill woman was injured by a flying golf ball while riding her motorcycle Saturday afternoon in Murfreesboro.

Susan Westerfield, 53, and her boyfriend, 52-year-old Paul Ballard, were traveling on motorcycles on South Church Street when a golf ball shot from a nearby golf course struck Westerfield in the face.

Westerfield was able to keep from crashing even though the golf ball knocked out several of her teeth and sliced her lip.

Westerfield was wearing a helmet but it did not have a protective face guard.

She was taken to nearby Middle Tennessee Medical Center where she was treated and released.

Click here for full article and video, courtesy of WKRN Nashville News 2

Murfreesboro, TN - Students, faculty and staff at Northfield Elementary School in Murfreesboro opened a time capsule on Tuesday buried at school 25 years ago.

The capsule contained magazine pictures of cars, fashion and trends popular during the late 1980s.

Northfield Elementary student council members helped dig up the capsule originally buried by the school's computer club, Northfield Micro-Chips.

The items inside the capsule were unveiled on Tuesday morning as the entire school gathered in the gym, anxiously waiting.

Click here for full story and video, courtesy of WKRN Nashville News 2

The Todd Gallery at MTSU will host the remarkable work of five MTSU photography students in “In Light: Works from Five Photographers” through Thursday, May 31.

Photos by Patrick Casey, Malina Chavez, Bradley Marshall, Chris Donahue and Darby Campbell will be included in the new exhibit, which is free and open to the public.

“I offer no philosophy, no deep meaning and no striking social observation,” Casey says of his work. “Instead I only wish for you, the viewer, to look at my work and to find yourself.”

Chavez’s focus is “about connectedness, loss … and personal desires in a world full of mediated social programming.” She says that she intends her photos to help observers consider “how our interactions with new technologies constantly force us to rethink our current notions of what it means to be human.”

For Marshall, photography is an ongoing study of the contemporary landscape and the imprint that humanity makes upon the natural world. He says he is exploring “the tensions and relationships between suburbia and the ever-changing Southern landscape that we continue to shape over the years.”

Campbell’s photos are selections from her series “A Short Commentary on the Female Condition.” She deals with women’s issues, roles and place within the social landscape. Campbell also has included sculptural and installation elements that are drawn from her interests in the free-thought movement, natural world, science and the people in her life.

Donahue’s body of work features an eclectic variety of people and places with a focus on the diversity of everyday people, whether through race, belief, or profession.

The Todd Gallery’s hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; the facility is closed on state holidays.

For parking and other information, contact Eric Snyder at 615-898-5653 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Social activist and poet Nikki Giovanni will help conclude the MTSU Public History Program’s 2012 field school, “Life in the Bottoms,” with a special lecture on Tuesday, May 29, at New Vision Baptist Church in Murfreesboro.

The “Life in The Bottoms” project encourages cooperation between local community scholars, the Bradley Academy Museum and MTSU faculty and students studying Murfreesboro’s historic African-American neighborhood The Bottoms.

The public event will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a barbecue dinner, and at 6:30 p.m., selections of oral histories created during the field school will be read.

Giovanni will speak beginning at 7:30 p.m. on “Something Called Progress Killed My Grandmother’: Urban Renewal and African-American Neighborhoods.”

New Vision Baptist Church is located at 1750 N. Thompson Lane, just across from the new main entrance to the Stones River National Battlefield.

Giovanni, a native of Knoxville and graduate of Fisk University in Nashville, is the recipient of 18 honorary doctorates and numerous other awards, including a Grammy nomination. She is the author of more than 30 books for both adults and children and is a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.

“The Bottoms” was located along Murfreesboro’s South Maple Street, downhill from the Public Square in the area that now houses the city’s Water and Sewer Department, City Hall and the Linebaugh Public Library.

Until 1947, when construction began on a new four-lane highway to Nashville that would be called U.S. 41 and Broad Street, the area was home to a large African-American community. It also housed warehouses, factories and other businesses and was often flooded by a tributary of Lytle Creek. As construction got under way, residents were relocated to a newer housing development out Main Street.

Seating for the May 29 event is limited to 200 people, and tickets, which are $25 each, include dinner and admission to Giovanni’s lecture.

Guest presenters will include Dr. Gloria Bonner, director of MTSU’s Office for Community Engagement and Support.

Tickets can be purchased at the Bradley Academy Museum in Murfreesboro through Friday, May 25. Call 615-867-2633 or 615-556-7189 for more information or to purchase tickets.

Students entering MTSU for the first time this summer or fall will find a newly revamped James E. Walker Library with the emphasis on collaborative, technology-friendly learning.

After polling students to learn what they wanted, library officials discovered that, while students still need a quiet environment to focus, they also need places to interact with their fellow students and devices that help make learning easier.

The showpiece of the library renovation is the new first-floor Research Commons, a 21st- century learning space with more than 100 individual and team computer workstations. The computers are equipped with productivity software from Adobe to ZoomText and research databases from ABELL to the Zoological Record.

The Commons includes four banquettes to accommodate groups of up to four people each. Movable, modular tables and chairs let students connect with multiple power outlets for electronic devices. Dry-erase boards and privacy dividers are also movable.

Multiple laptops can be connected to wall-mounted monitors so data files can be transferred with TeamSpot software to a shared laptop for group-created content.

Of course, it isn’t all about the technology. Well-trained technical staff and research librarians are on duty in the Commons to answer any questions.

More group study rooms with computers and whiteboards are now available on all floors. In addition, special first- and second-floor Group Zones have been created, where allowable noise levels have been raised to aid group discussions.

Students may reserve the two second-floor presentation practice rooms online, using the space to rehearse “stand-and-deliver” presentations in front of their classes. Each room is equipped with large wall-mounted monitors and recording devices so students can critique themselves as they hone and refine their work.

Meeting Rooms Two and Four (248 and 446) can accommodate up to 16 and 36 people, respectively. Flexible furniture and movable whiteboard partitions keeps students free to move about as they collaborate. A laptop is available for checkout and can be hooked up with large-screen monitors for presentations.

For those who seek the traditionally comfortable nook for reading or other solitary learning, Quiet Zones have been designated on the third and fourth floors just beyond the elevators. For quiet computer use, the new third-floor Laptop Bar enables students to plug in their personal devices in front of a window overlooking the campus quadrangle.

The Lounge, located on the first floor just past the elevators, offers even more an even more relaxed learning atmosphere for students. This area features soft seating, newspapers, magazines, a collection of New York Times bestsellers and two large television monitors with streaming news.

The James E. Walker Library modernization project was made possible with state-appropriated stimulus money.

For more information, contact Kristen Keene at 615-898-5376.

– Gina K. Logue ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

One driver accused of fleeing from a deputy in a congested school zone was nabbed by K-9 Venture and handler Cpl. David Ashburn Friday afternoon off Northfield Boulevard, sheriff’s deputies reported.

Suspect Christopher B. Parrish, 22, of Haynes Manor Apartments was located why trying to negotiate a woven wire fence, Ashburn reported. Venture, a German shepherd donated by Venture Express, held onto Parrish’s cargo shorts until Detective Troy Hooker and Ashburn detained him.

Parrish was charged with three counts of felony evading arrest, felony reckless endangerment, misdemeanor evading arrest and possession of drug paraphernalia.

When Ashburn and Venture responded, Sheriff Robert Arnold reported deputies were involved in a high-speed pursuit of Parrish Thursday night on state Route 840 but lost the suspect. The sheriff added Deputy Nigel Kapadia located Parrish Friday afternoon.

“He again fled Deputy Kapadia in a white Ford Mustang leading him through a congested school zone as children were letting out of school,” Ashburn reported. “Parrish fled the vehicle on foot. Deputy (Michael) Romans and K-9 Ethel were tracking the suspect toward Haynes Manor Apartments and I was called to assist.”

Sheriff Arnold said Ethel and Romans tracked the fleeing Parrish about two or three miles.

Hooker directed Ashburn to a mark near the shoreline of a creek where he believed Parrish crossed a creek. Ashburn directed Venture to a footprint and the K-9 crossed the creek.

“Soon after, he began to air scent indicating the presence of human odor,” Ashburn reported. “A suspect matching the description given leaped from the brush and began to run away from me and K-9.”

Ashburn ordered Parrish to stop and identified himself as a K-9 officer.

“I felt that the suspect had shown he had no intentions of surrendering and had repeatedly endangered his safety, the safety of the public and of deputies by continuing to evade law enforcement,” Ashburn reported. “Due to the circumstances, I released K-9 Venture to apprehend the suspect.”

Venture attached to Parrish’s right ankle but Parrish apparently kicked his leg away. Venture then grabbed Parrish’s cargo shorts and pulled him to the ground, holding Parrish until Ashburn ordered the K-9 to release Parrish.

Parrish suffered a small cut to his ankle and a small scrape on his left thigh but refused medical treatment from Emergency Medical Services paramedics.

The suspect was booked into Rutherford County Adult Detention Center where he is being held on $17,000 bond. A hearing is set June 25 in General Sessions Court.

Sheriff Arnold said the situation showed the need for another bloodhound.

“Both dogs and their partners did an outstanding job,” Sheriff Arnold said.

Sheriff Arnold thanked Murfreesboro Police officers who helped and set up a perimeter for the tracking dogs.

Capt. Jason Mathis, who supervises the K-9 program, said the K-9 team is an invaluable tool to the sheriff’s office. The K-9s and their partners train countless hours and form a strong bond. These officers and their K-9s are on alert 24/7 and are ready in an instant to assist in tracking violent criminals, as well as assisting in finding missing, endangered persons, and missing children.

“We couldn't have this program without the support of our community and for several local business owners such as Dan Wilson, owner of Papa’s Hot Sauce in Murfreesboro, who contributes and supports our program tremendously with donations and supplies and Brad Allen, chief executive officer of Venture Express Inc. in La Vergne who donated the money to purchase K-9 Venture, who helped apprehend this latest suspect,” Mathis said. “We appreciate the continued support of these business owners as well as others who give us continued support.”

Slate features six NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago

2012 Schedule

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - After six consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, the quest for a seventh won't get any easier as the the 2012 Middle Tennessee volleyball schedule will feature seven matches against tournament teams from last season.

"Once again we have a very demanding schedule," head coach Matt Peck said. "We're going to be taking on a number of NCAA Tournament teams, and we're going to be challenged early. We'll have a very young team, so I think it's going to just make us that much better as the season goes on."

The schedule is a first of sorts for the volleyball program, as it includes 33 regular season matches, the most since 1996.

"We're going to play more mid-week matches year," Peck explained. "We're also playing more schools within driving distance, and it's going to help us avoid long stretches without playing, which is especially important with how many new people we'll have."

MT will look to come out strong, hosting Furman, UAB, UTSA and UC Davis the first weekend of the year in the seventh annual Blue Raider Bash at Alumni Memorial Gym. The four schools combined for a 87-39 mark last season.

"We're hoping to get started strong early," Peck said. "Playing teams of that caliber early will help us with some of the early question marks and identify who our primary players will be. Our competition is only going to get stronger from there on out."

The 16 schools that comprise the 2012 non-conference slate boast of a combined 301-175 record with 11 surpassing the 20-win plateau.

The Blue Raiders will also play a doubleheader both days of the tournament, the first of five such dates for the season.

"We're looking to have a very deep team," Peck said. "This will be our deepest team at every position since I've been here, and we want everyone to get as much on-court experience as possible in order to better prepare for conference season."

MT will then hit the road for seven straight matches over the ensuing two weeks.

The Blue Raiders will start by taking on Harvard, Towson and host Virginia Tech at the Hokie Invitational before making the trek from Blacksburg to Richmond to take on VCU on Labor Day.

The Blue and White will return to Murfreesboro for a few days before setting out east again, this time to Chapel Hill, N.C., for the Carolina Volleyball Classic, featuring the host Tar Heels, NCAA Tournament participant Western Michigan and SEC power LSU. The three schools each topped 20 wins ago, combining for a 73-23 mark.

After a mid-week encounter with Austin Peay at AMG, MT will close out the heart of the non-conference schedule at the Louisville Invitational, hosted by frequent NCAA Tournament adversary Louisville. Miami (Fla.) and UNLV will make up the rest of the field. The Cardinals and Hurricanes both advanced to the Second Round in last season's NCAA Tournament.

"We felt that we needed to play a lot on the road early with such a young team," Peck said. "We think it will help our team continue to improve, but it also means that we can bring teams like North Carolina, Louisville and Virginia Tech to Murfreesboro down the line."

The Blue Raiders will certainly have an interesting start to conference season on Sept. 20, as they will play host to former MT assistant coach Amy Hendrichovsky and her South Alabama team.

"We obviously expect USA to be a much improved team, which only makes our division even stronger," Peck said. "There are a number of new coaches around the league and new financial commitments to volleyball, so the league is going to continue to get stronger."

Following a pair of tilts against Troy and at Louisiana, MT will face off against arch-rival WKU at AMG on Oct. 2.

"A lot of our players obviously have their minds on WKU, but it's important to take things one at a time," Peck said. "If we take care of business in the matches leading up to it, we could have the opportunity to take control in the conference early."

Following the WKU match, MT will travel to ULM and North Texas before taking a brief detour from SBC play at Austin Peay in Clarksville.

The Blue Raiders will welcome in both Florida Atlantic and FIU on the following weekend before hitting the road to take on UAB again, but this time in Birmingham.

The MT home slate will conclude on Oct. 19 and 20 with UALR and Arkansas State before hitting the road for five consecutive away dates, beginning with the annual south Florida trip and concluding with the Hilltoppers in Bowling Green on Nov. 10.

Five days after the end of the conference season, the Blue Raiders will look to return to WKU, this time for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

"We've had a very good record in Bowling Green over the past few years," Peck said. "We won the conference tournament up there in 2009, and hopefully we'll be able to play well up there again. We also love that fact that we can play close to our fans after going to Miami last year."

Once again, MT will play a Thanksgiving weekend match prior to the NCAA Tournament. The Blue Raiders will take the short jaunt up the road to Nashville to take on Lipscomb, an NCAA Tournament participant in four of the last five seasons.

"Lipscomb is a yearly tournament team," Peck said. "We know they've been strong and they know how good we've been, so we're looking forward to it. Depending on how our seasons shake out, it could also have tournament implications in addition to bragging rights."

Courtesy of Athletic Communications, GoBlueRaiders.com

Celebrate true meaning of holiday by volunteering, purchasing a flag

Murfreesboro, TN – The fourth annual Healing Field – Flags of Remembrance will take place Memorial Day weekend, May 26-28, 2012, and is presented by the Murfreesboro Noon Exchange Club.

The Healing Field, located on Medical Center Parkway next to Belk at The Avenue, will feature over one thousand 3-by-5 foot American flags displayed in a military style layout. Each flag can be sponsored for $30 in memory or in honor of a hero.

“An event of this magnitude relies on volunteers to make it happen,” said Rebecca Talley, event chairperson and assistant vice president for MidSouth Bank. “We encourage community members to lend a hand while honoring a hero this Memorial Day weekend.”

Individuals who would like to volunteer are encouraged to call the information line at 615-641-0121. Those interested in purchasing a flag should visit www.healingfield.org/murfreesboro.

The Field will open at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 26. Opening ceremonies include a presentation by the award-winning Murfreesboro Fire Department Color Guard. At 7 p.m., a flag retirement ceremony performed by Boy Scout Troop 538 of St. Rose Catholic Church will take place. Attendees are encouraged to bring tattered and tired flags.

Closing ceremonies on Monday, May 28, will include a performance by Lonestar lead singer Richie McDonald, along with prayer, the reading of the names of Tennesseans who have lost their lives in the War on Terror, the playing of Taps and a 21-gun salute.

Top sponsors for this year’s event include Middle Tennessee Medical Center, AT&T, Verizon, Beaman Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram and Wal-Mart.

The Exchange Club is comprised of men and women working together to make the community a better place to live through programs of service in Americanism, community service, youth activities and its national project, the Prevention of Child Abuse. Locally, the Murfreesboro Noon club supports the Exchange Club Family Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. Membership is open to all dues-paying participants, and meetings are held at noon each Thursday at the Stones River Country Club. For more information, please visit www.NationalExchangeClub.org and www.familycenterTN.org.

What does it take to inspire a new generation of readers? For local literacy non-profit Read To Succeed, the effort begins at a young age, with programs that target toddlers, pre-K students, and their parents and grandparents.

Since 2003, Read To Succeed has connected MTSU education classes and community volunteers with families at Section 8 housing in Rutherford County as well as city and county schools to focus on literacy. Read To Succeed Executive Director Lisa Mitchell says that as our community continues to grow, focusing on family literacy becomes more and more important.

“Inter-generational illiteracy and poverty cannot be broken until the family as a whole begins to learn and realize the importance of education,” Mitchell says. “Many programs focus on just the adult or just the child. The value of Read To Succeed’s family literacy programs is its focus on the family as a whole.”

Each semester, Read To Succeed works with professors in MTSU’s education department to serve several in-need, local schools. In the past year alone, Read To Succeed has held programs at Mitchell Neilson Primary, Bradley Academy, Hobgood Elementary, John Coleman Elementary, Smyrna Primary, La Vergne Primary, Black Fox Elementary, and Buchanan Elementary, along with hosting monthly Imagination Stations for parents and their children who haven’t yet entered pre-school at Franklin Heights and Spring Valley in Murfreesboro. These programs provide reading time and supervised literacy activities for families, with MTSU education students or community volunteers creating and leading fun art, music, and literacy activities related to a carefully chosen book.

The goal of these programs is to foster the enjoyment of reading in Rutherford County families. The programs help parents feel more confident in sharing books with their children, model "active reading" for parents, and create a venue for family members to enjoy quality time together.

Parents are offered entrance into Read To Succeed’s one-on-one adult tutoring program or ESL classes throughout the county if they want to continue to progress their own literacy skills. Read To Succeed provides a meal for each participant and every family goes home with a new book, to keep, every week.

Murfreesboro’s Newk’s has donated several meals over the past two years. Newk’s local Marketing and Catering Director Mollie Ann Trollinger says that the restaurant gladly supports Read To Succeed’s mission of enhancing education in Rutherford County.

"It’s important to understand,” Trollinger says, “how literacy affects many aspects of one's life, including education and health.”

Several education professors work with their classes for weeks to prepare curriculum for families participating in Read To Succeed’s programs. And though the main goal is to serve these families, it benefits the MTSU students, as well.

“There is no better learning than active, hands-on service learning,” says Terri Tharp, an elementary and education professor who has worked with Read To Succeed for years. “The pre-service teachers' experiences with Read to Succeed and the local schools is service learning at its best. They are able to interact with the children, family members, school personnel, and Read to Succeed staff to advocate the importance of literacy. One of the best lessons that they learn is the importance of a strong home-school-community connection, and that they can be a part of the solution to address the literacy needs of our community.”

These professors—who’ve dedicated their careers to figuring out how to best educate our community’s children—help Read To Succeed improve its programs each semester.

Professor of Reading Education Joan Boulware says that Read To Succeed’s literacy initiative is the best she’s been involved in through her 30 years as an educator.

“Last year alone,” Boulware says, “seventy of my education students worked with underserved children and their families as a part of Families That Read, Succeed sponsored by Read to Succeed.”

Over the past nine years, Read To Succeed’s programs have evolved into a community-wide endeavor: each semester, hundreds of MTSU students work to help these families, countless volunteers show up to serve food and pass out books, funders like the Predators Foundation, Charity Circle, the Dollar General Foundation and Nissan Foundation generously support Read To Succeed’s programs, and local restaurants donate food and staff time. It is, truly, a group effort, and it’s an effort that keeps on growing.