Bowling Green, Ky., Home of Pauline's, Hillbilly Jim and John Carpenter

When I first moved to Bowling Green, Ky., (Pop. 65,000) in 1988 there were several famous or infamous people from this town that I quickly heard about.

It was not long before I found out that Bowling Green once had a famous (or infamous, however you want to look at it) brothel called, "Pauline's. The madam of the brothel was a woman named Pauline Tabor who had a red brick house on Clay Street in Bowling Green and she kept a group of women to service clients who entered the home. The house was later torn down and now a feed mill is located there. Once Pauline retired she wrote a book and did a book signing tour. She even appeared on the Johnny Carson show to talk about her book and career as a Madam. By the time I had moved to Bowling Green, Ms. Tabor had already moved to Texas to live with her son where she later died in the early 1990's. Unfortunately, I never did get to meet the well-known madam. However, I was able to purchase a copy of her book http://www.amazon.com/Paulines-Memoirs-Madam-Clay-Street/dp/B000HOCAHA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1287939216&sr=1-1-spellon Amazon.com a couple years ago. www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944506-6,00.html

I also found out that the WWF Wrestling great, Hillbilly Jim (Jim Morris)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillbilly_Jim was from Bowling Green. I had met and been to his mother's house when I did some service work on it back in the early 1990's. I remember she was a super nice lady. At that point, I had never met Hillbilly Jim either. However, I saw him at Sears in Bowling Green once when I was working part-time in the hardware department. Later on, when Hillbilly Jim moved back to Bowling Green and got involved with the Kentucky Blues Society and I saw him play with his band in Downtown Fountain Square in our town. Finally, I got to meet him in front of a Bowling Green Minit-Mart store. Hillbilly Jim is a really cool and an incredibly nice guy. He's very friendly and down to earth to say the least.

Finally, I also heard that the famous movie director and producer, John Carpenter (Halloween) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carpenter is from Bowling Green. His father was a music professor at Western Kentucky University after he and his family had moved from New York in 1953. John had moved to Bowling Green when he was age five. Growing up here, he went to high school at College High which is at Western Kentucky University where he also attended before he headed out to California to begin his film career. I finally got to meet him at the first annual Southern Kentucky Book Festival at the Sloan Convention Center here in 1998. He gave a great talk about the movie business and shared some of his experiences in the industry. I was able to get an autograph photo of him that he was giving away on a first come basis. John was very friendly to his hometown crowd that day. The Bowling Green Area Convention & Visitors Bureau has even produced a brochure called, "John Carpenter's Reel Sites, Real Scary" which is a driving tour where you can find the streets and locations that are mentioned in John's films as well as his childhood home and other sites associated with him.

On the back of the brochure, there's a quote from him talking about Western Kentucky University where he grew up. "I suppose that most of who I am and what I believe in was figured out walking around the grounds of the Kentucky Building after dinner when the sun's going down... I don't think I've been in a more beautiful spot in all my life. And the thoughts of life death, people, beauty, cruelty, fear...whatever I was thinking about. I thought about walking by myself there. I was a loner but I grew up in a paradise. I kind of became who I am now." (John Carpenter Western Kentucky University Hall of Distinguished Alumni Video.)

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A Critic From The South: Kentucky Republican U.S. Senate Candidate, Dr. Ran...

A Critic From The South: Kentucky Republican U.S. Senate Candidate, Dr. Ran...: "He is sharp. He is smart. He is extremely articulate and his knows his stuff. This man knows what he is talking about when it comes to the ..."

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Kentucky Republican U.S. Senate Candidate, Dr. Rand Paul, Has Been A Watch Dog Of Your Tax Dollars For Years

He is sharp. He is smart. He is extremely articulate and his knows his stuff. This man knows what he is talking about when it comes to the government spending your hard earned tax dollars. Kentucky Republican U.S. Senate Candidate has been a watch dog of how your American tax dollars have been spent for years.

I know this personally because he is a friend of mine. I first met Dr. Paul, MD., an eye doctor and surgeon, when he first came to Bowling Green, Ky., (population 65,000) to work for Dr. John Downing, another eye doctor and surgeon, in the nineties. My wife went to work for Dr. Downing in 1995. My wife told Dr. Paul that I was former reporter for the "Bowling Green Daily News," and he told her that he was interested in talking to me about something. When I first met him, I was impressed with his good natured personality and his extreme intelligence. He informed me that he was chairman and founder of the "Kentucky Taxpayers United," and that he would like to know if I would be interested in helping him with the organization. I asked him what it was about and I then gave him a little background about my journalist endeavors of the past. I told him that I would be glad to help him out with some public relations in the organization. He was pleased with my response. I suggested that we do a local television talk show since I was already doing another talk show in Bowling Green at the time called, "Writer's Corner."

We taped three shows called, "Eye On Taxes" at the local cable company and on the last show we interviewed the newly elected mayor of Bowling Green at the time. I even rode with Dr. Paul to Russellville, Ky., one time to his wife's hometown, which is about 30 miles west of Bowling Green, to see him speak to a local Lion's Club group about Kentucky Taxpayers United. I was also an invited guest to meet and have dinner his father, Dr. Ron Paul, a Texas congressman, along with his mother, Mrs. Paul, at a Bowling Green Chinese restaurant. I have also been to Dr. Paul's home several times on business and personal visits such as a Christmas party that was once held at his house for the office and staff of Dr. Downing's. Kelly, his wife, is a super nice, friendly lady as well an excellent wife and mother. At the time, Dr. Paul's children were very small. Now, all three boys are practically grown.

Dr. Paul is a solid doctor, husband, father, Christian and family man. He will make a solid politician also. It was great to see him again after a couple years at the recent Tea Party Rally in Bowling Green. Of course, he remembered me and shook my hand several times. I had a chance to say "Hello," to Kelly also. She still has her super, friendly smile as always. Dr. Paul gave one hell of a speech and I strongly feel that he is going to win the election on November 2, against Democrat candidate Jack Conway.

In a recent mailing, Dr. Paul states, "I want to go to Washington because Washington is BROKEN. The system is corrupt and steals our freedom and tax dollars. I will go to fight for balance budgets and term limits. I will fight everyday for the Constitution, to return our country to the sound principals upon which it was founded. I will look at EVERY federal agency and regulation to see if it is Constitutional and whether we can afford to keep doing it."

Believe me, Dr. Paul, will get the job done in Washington. He means business because he has been watching your tax dollars for years. And if elected, he will make sure that every one of your tax dollars is spent wisely and not wasted, I can assure you of that.

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Marching Towards A Mega Growth Global Economy

When I left the newspaper business in 1995, working as a reporter and book reviewer, I didn't realize that I would one day be working for a global corporation based out of St. Paul, Minn., which provides sanitation and hygiene products and services to the hospitality industry nationally and world-wide.

Basically, I got out of the newspaper business because I needed to make more money with better benefits since my wife had left her good manufacturing job as a human resource clerk to go back to work in administration in the medical field. Plus, prior to me going to work for the newspaper, I had worked for a national company for about six months that offers the same type of work that I am doing now where I drove around in a company vehicle taking care of customer's accounts providing service work. The best thing about the type of work I currently do is the freedom and peace of mind that I have along with the financial rewards that it provides me and my family as well as the long term benefits such as the retirement, 401k and stock options. Not to mention the satisfaction of a job well done along with customer appreciation and recognition. This also goes along with the appreciation and recognition I enjoy shown to me by the corporation for my commitment and hard work.

In a recent article in our corporation's employee magazine titled, "Big Trends Point To Big Global Opportunities Ahead," it talks about some shifts and trends in world populations, markets and resources that offer an opportunity for our corporation to expand immensely anywhere in the world wherever our customers need us regarding food safety, sanitation, hygiene and other related services that we provide.

Here are some of the trends revealed in the article.

1.) Emerging economies are growing-fast. "Rapid economic growth in some the world's most populous developing countries, especially Brazil, Russia, China and India, is the fueling the rise of businesses, factories, schools and a growing hospitality industry."

2.) Personal incomes are rising, too. "More people in emerging economies are taking home higher pay." "As incomes rise, more people will move from a grain-based diet to more protein. This is a positive for our corporation's food and beverage division."

3. More people are populating the Earth. "The United National estimates that the earth is currently home to about 6.8 billion people, a number projected to rise to 9 billion in just 30 to 40 years. The implications are, of course, far reaching." "70 percent more food will be needed by 2050 to feed the world, especially as incomes and demand for protein rise, increased demand, more complex supply chains and greater potential for food safety events."

4.) Populations are getting older. "In the hospitality market, as greater number older people find time for travel and they will rely on more health services."

5.) Fresh water is getting scare. "Conservation will be critical across wide areas-and customers know it." "Many customers food and beverage plants don't have the resources to cut water use." "By applying our water care, cleaning and sanitation, and waste water expertise to provide comprehensive water-in/water-0ut solution. Our company can help plant mangers fill the resource and knowledge gap and reach their savings targets while maintaining world-class food safety standards." "Also, 70's percent is used to produce food-most of it for crop irrigation, but significant amounts also for food processing and production."

Although, I only work locally in Southcentral Kentucky for my corporation, it really exciting to think of the unlimited future growth for us that is far-reaching globally and for other major American corporations as well. And a lot of corporations are already hitting that mark such as McDonalds, Wal-Mart, KFC , Starbucks, Google, Coke, Fedex, Kraft Foods and General Motors, just to name a few. As for me, I will continue to do my part here in Southcentral Kentucky to ensure that we as an American corporation march towards mega growth globally.

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KFC's Secret Hiding Place

One of my favorite things to read in a Tuesday's Bowling Green (Ky) Daily News newspaper is the "American Profile" magazine insert. A particular section which intrigues me the most is called, "Tidbits-Did You Know?" I always pay close attention to this section because it's about my part of the country, the American South.

One week recently the tidbit of information was about my state-Kentucky. Under the headline, "State Of Kentucky," it read, "Col. Harland Sanders' handwritten recipe for his famous original Kentucky Fried Chicken was placed in a new electronic vault last February (2010) at the corporate headquarters in Louisville, Ky. The recipe, on a single sheet of yellowing paper, is protected by an array of high-tech security gadgets, including motion detectors and camera that allow guards to monitor the vault around the clock."

For some weird reason, I was amazed and impressed. The first thing that entered my mind was, "Is this a publicity stunt? Is this for real?" After thinking a few minutes about it, I realized that it must be for real because I have always heard rumors that KFC which is owned by Louisville based YUM Brands Inc. is very protective of their secret recipe just like the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Atlanta is very secretive of their original Coke formula. Colonel Sanders was also secretive about his recipe. I've even heard that Coke also has their recipe in a vault and it is separated and no single person knows the whole formula. It takes two people who has a half of recipe to formulate the Coke.

It's incredible to think of the great links that these companies go to in order to preserve their secretive recipes. But I had to realize that the reason that these world famous name brands are being preserve and protected is not only for a financial means (because billions and billions of dollars depend of recipes especially since both are global products) but also for historic purposes as well. When I think of KFC or Coke, I always think about consumers in China eating KFC and drinking Coke. I can also picture Chinese people shopping at Wal-Mart and eating at McDonalds in China too. I wonder what secret recipes or formulas that Wal-Mart or McDonalds is hiding and protecting from the world? Maybe, it's the secret formula for global dominance in their markets.

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The Amazing, Incredible Power Of The Soybean, "Silk Milk"

I discovered something that I really like to drink in the last several months. It's soy milk. Yes, it's true! It is made from soybeans which is a stable emulsion of oil, water and protein and it is produced by soaking dry soybeans and grinding them with water. I like this stuff and there's one particular brand that I really like and it's called, "Silk." You can find it at Kroger usually on sale for two for five dollars with your Kroger card. (No, Kroger and Silk Milk are not paying me to write this).

The following information comes from the web-site, "Wikipedia.org" regarding "Silk" and soy milk.

""Silk" is a brand of soy milk and other dairy-substitute products, including soy yogurt and almond milk. The company was founded by Steve Demos in 1996 and it's distributed by Demos' company "White Wave Foods," a subsidiary of Dean Foods. The name "Silk" is a portmanteau of "soy" and "milk." Apparently, Silk soy milk sales comprise roughly three-fourths of the refrigerated soy milk sales in America."

"Some of the health benefits of drinking soy milk is that it has about the same amount of protein (though not the same amino acid profile) as the milk of a cow. Natural soy milk contains digestible calcium as it is bound in the bean's pulp, which is insoluble in humans. To counter this, many manufacturers enrich their produce with calcium carbonate available to human digestion. Unlike cow's milk, it has little saturated fat and no cholesterol. (I really like this!) Soy products contain sucrose as the basic diaccharide, which breaks into glucose and fructose. Since soy doesn't contain galactose, a product of lactose breakdown, soy-based infant formulas can replace breast milk in children with galactosemia. Soy milk is also a source of lecithin and vitamin E, lack casein, it is safe for people with lactose intolerance or milk allergy, contains far less saturated fat than cow's milk and contains isoflavones, organic chemicals that may be beneficial to health."

Believe it or not, when I drink a cold glass of "Vanilla Silk," the Mississippi Delta on sunny day comes to my mind. I can remember seeing miles and miles of soybeans being grow from the edge of the Mississippi bluff where I lived back in the late 1970's and early 1980's. The Mississippi Delta farmers probably still do grow the soy beans down there. Soybeans were literally everywhere like "Mississippi Kudzu." I'm sure the soybean was not as big of a "cash crop" back then as it probably is now for those farmers. Thank God for the Mississippi Delta and for the Chinese who discovered the soy milk around A.D. 25-220!

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The legend of "The Legend of Boggy Creek" movie

One of the scariest movies that has lingered in my psychic for the last 38 years is the, "The Legend of Boggy Creek," which is supposedly based on a true story. I was 10 years-old in the Summer of 1972 when I saw this movie with some of my best friends at the Malco Theater on Popular and Highland avenues growing up in East Memphis. That movie literally scared the holy, crap out of me and for a couple of years, I was scared to death to walk home at night from my friend's house located at the bottom of the hill where I lived. The worst part of the walk home was when I would get to a long row of mulberry bushes in my yard at the top of the hill and I hated walking past them. I was always afraid that the "Boggy Creek Monster" was going to jump out and grab me. But it never did because my heart would start racing and I was run as fast as I could. Then I would jump onto the front porch and in through the front door. My dad would always ask me, "What's wrong?" And I would say, "Aw, nothin'."

About a year ago, I had been thinking about this movie a lot and how it had horrified me as child. So I decided to order a copy of it on eBay or Amazon.com. I don't remember which one I ordered it from to be quite exact. But anyway, when I received it in the mail a few days later, my wife and I watched it and I thought, "Heck, this ain't that scary! This is so stupid!" I wondered what made me so scared as a kid when I watched it. However, a little bit of the sensation of horror did come back to me as I watched it though. It cause me to be able to relive the movie a little bit in my mind and remember how I felt when I was a youngster. But too me these days, the most interesting aspect of the movie is the movie itself-the success of the movie and how it was made on such a low budget turning a gigantic profit for its creator, Charles B. Pierce, an advertising salesman. Mr. Pierce who was from Texarkana (Texas-Arkansas border town) borrowed $100,000 from a local trucking company and used an old movie camera and hired locals (mainly high school students) to make the 90 minute film. He actually filmed the movie in the Fouke, Ark., area swap lands. In the last 38 years, the movie has generated approximately $20 million dollars and still can be found on DVD. Another modern-day, horror flick along the sames lines with a low production budget and incredible success is "The Blair Witch Project" from the 1990's. These type of movies usually find a way to tap in the psychic of Americans. Movies like this always seem take place out in the woods or out in the water somewhere with natural surroundings. It's one of those things that makes you ask each other, "Is there something out there?" which can run chills up and down your spine every time for sure.

Here's what the back cover of DVD says, "Is the monster still on the prowl? A 1970's documentary-style drama questions the existence of a hair 7ft tall Sasquatch-type monster that lives in a swap outside of Fouke, Ark. According to the locals the monster walks on two feet, has a characteristic smelly odor and kills chickens, cattle, dogs and livestock but so far it hasn't killed any people. The monster supposedly harassed two families in the late 1960's, but since then few have seen the monster yet it can be heard in the swap at night. Actual interviews with the area residents tell the tale. Could be real or a conspiracy of a backwoods community looking for attention."

If you want to see an old, somewhat, scary flick, this movie could be for you. You may laugh at the silly acting and how country the actors look, talk and etc. However, you have to keep an open mind and realize how amazingly, this low budget movie caused such a stir at the time in America's psychic in the early 1970's. It is similar to the scare tactic that the movie, "Jaws" used to horrify the holy, you know what out of Americans and kept them away about America's beaches in the middle 1970's for a while. You probably won't be able to find "The Legend of Boggy Creek" at your local video rental store either. You will probably have to buy it on eBay or Amazon.com like I did, if you want watch it.

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