ducationEThursday, December 9, 2010

The Brownsville States-Graphic

page A9CornerCornerCorner Katherine Horn

What a spectacular night to have the Annual Gingerbread House Family Night! What a crowd too! And such beautiful houses! There were magnifi cent gingerbread houses all over the place. These kids have such talent. There was a lot of laughter from “The Gingerbread Baby” and “Gingerbread Friends” and a lot of sticky, gooey, candy-munching fun here at the library. We are so pleased to offer this annual program each year. We only wish that we had a slightly bigger facility to have it in to accommodate all those who wish to participate.

Since this is the month of December and the year is quickly winding down, there are not a lot of activities planned for this month. What we do have is Toddler Time on the fi rst and third Mondays of the month (Dec. 6 and Dec. 20) at 11 a.m. All toddlers

and their caregivers are invited to attend and to listen to stories, have a color/craft project, and a light snack. There will be no Lunch and Learn for the month of December.

And fi nally, the library will be closed on Friday, Dec. 24; Saturday, Dec. 25; and Monday, Dec. 27 in observance of the Christmas holidays. We will also be closed on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2011, in observance of New Year’s Day.

We would like to thank everyone for their cooperation in the periodic closure of sections of the library so that the renovations could take place. All the carpet is done! Yea! Now all we have to do is (gulp) paint and a new tile entry.

We thank you for your patience and understanding.

Happy Reading!

Students in Mrs. Jennifer White’s kindergarten class shared what they have been learning recently. They sang “The Presidents Song” and the “Thank You Song” perfectly and with lots of enthusiasm! All of the past and present presidents would have been so proud to hear this cute song sung so well, and the “Thank You Song” would make anyone thankful. Great job, Kiddos!

Anderson students share their lessons

Preschool students enjoyed riding ponies and petting farm animals at Anderson on Nov. 11. They have been studying farm animals, and this was a fun way to have hands-on experiences with the animals! Wonder who was more tired that night, the animals or the children?

Young students enjoy farm animals

East Side welcomed the soulful sounds of The Standards on Thursday, Oct. 14. The quintet is from Nashville, and they were invited to our school by the Brownsville-Haywood County Arts Council as part of its Arts in Schools program. They grooved the crowd with popular songs and spoke words of encouragement to a very enthusiastic crowd. In addition, these men emphasized how important it is to have high standards when it comes to working together to accomplish a goal. The entertainers also signed autographs, gave away free tickets, invited teachers to help with dance moves, and gave away a CD and an autographed picture.

The Standards entertain East Siders

INSOUTH BANK ON POSITIVE COURSEInsouth Bank based out of Brownsville, Tennessee with community branches in

Shelby, Tipton and Haywood Counties has addressed the economic downturn by refocusing their attention to their core customers in the community markets.

During the 2007 mortgage meltdown and economic down turn, Insouth Bank began setting a course to simplify business lines and exit lines of business which appeared most vulnerable to loss. The bank had significant exposure to residential mortgages and had built a portfolio of commercial and purchased loans. These areas were poised for losses during the stressed economy. The board and management began reducing outstanding loans in these areas which were not associated with community banking while redirecting concentration for the future on the bank’s core business in local communities. A bank is a reflection of its customers and its success is closely tied to the success of those customers. History has proven that community bank customers have fared better in an economic downturn and for four years Insouth bank has been repositioning the bank to primarily serve these customers. The resulting bank is targeted to be reduced from nearly $600 million in assets in 2007 to approximately $300 million when the exit is completed from these lines of business, anticipated during 2011. This exit has been costly, and the bank has suffered losses from these assets but as the bank progresses through 2010, it is continuing towards profitability and implementing the benefits of a simplified operation with community customer focus.

The board has restructured the management and organization of the bank. In October, Chairman J.D. Clinton announced David Prince as President and CEO with promotions of Mike Perry to Chief Financial Officer, Bret Whitley Chief Lending Officer and Van Watkins Chief Credit Officer.

CEO Prince recently stated “The bank has gone through an unprecedented period of losses and I am proud that we have had the financial strength and people resources to identify the problems and successfully deal with them. We have the majority of the problems behind us now, have improved performance during 2010 and anticipate 2011 will continue to reflect improving trends. We have also implemented a plan with our regulators to take specific steps assuring the success of our new business model which will return the bank to profitability.”

Mr. Prince commented “One of the most widely recognized measures of bank soundness is the capital ratio. The FDIC classifies a bank with 4% Tier One capital as adequately capitalized. Insouth Bank has Tier One capital of over 6% as well as declared adequate reserves on the loan portfolio of over $8 million at the end of last quarter. Insouth has committed to bring this capital ratio to 8% as a target for additional strength. Our management team is focused on a quality organization and continuing the proud heritage this institution has enjoyed since 1869.”

731-424-3520800-355-5722www.jscc.edu

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