280 Living
February 2015 | Volume 8 | Issue 6
neighborly news & entertainment
Blazing to the SEC
Come what may One couple’s path to healing and hope By JESSA PEASE
Fomer Chelsea football player Jake Ganus was recently recruited by UGA after UAB’s football program was shut down. Find the details in this issue.
See page B1
Sharing love
Inside, read the story of an open adoption that brought two couples together to create one big extended family.
See page A18
INSIDE Sponsors ............. A4 280 News ............ A6 Business...........A12 Food...................A15 Faith...............A30
Opinion..............A31 Community.........B2 School House .. .B14 Sports ................B18 Calendar ...........B24
When everything fell apart, Randy Hemphill still knew one thing — he wanted his wife’s heart. So at dinner one night, Randy presented her with two antique keys. “Melody, you have the key to my heart,” Randy said, handing her one of the keys. “I don’t know the outcome of all this, but I want to give you the key.” Randy then gave her the second key. “This represents the key to your heart,” he said. “If at some point you would give this to me, I would love to have it, but that is totally up to you.” More than just love for one another, the keys symbolized the journey Melody and Randy would have to travel in order to overcome infidelity and create a stronger foundation than before. Years of hard work and healing lay before them as Randy offered his own heart. Four months later, Melody gave Randy the key to her heart, and nine years later, the couple still has those keys as a reminder of their love.
See HEALING | page A28
After overcoming challenging obstacles in their own relationship, Melody and Randy Hemphill now counsel other couples. Photo by Karim Shamsi-Basha.
Express route numbers increase By DOUG DEMMONS
Pre-Sort Standard U.S. Postage PAID Memphis, TN Permit #830
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The express bus route makes stops at The Summit and the U.S. 280 Walmart before heading downtown. Photo by Jessa Pease.
Lisa Frost belongs to an elite class. The Inverness resident commutes to work every day on U.S. 280, but she avoids the gridlock. She can read emails and send texts without worrying about distracted driving because she isn’t the one behind the wheel. Frost has been a regular rider of MAX’s new express bus route between the Walmart on 280 and downtown.
“I don’t like to get out in the 280 traffic, so I hope they keep it,” she said. MAX started the route in November as a quicker alternative to the routes that make numerous stops along 280. Despite low initial ridership numbers, the transit authority plans to keep the express route. The express bus, known as Route 201, doesn’t board at the MAX bus stop on the side of the store. It boards across
See EXPRESS | page A29