Tag Archives: Edward

‘Fantastic Moment’ — TN Gets a Royal Visitor

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By Erik Schelzig, Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Queen Elizabeth’s youngest son, Prince Edward, visited Tennessee on Thursday to promote one of the British royal family’s charities, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.
The prince presided over an awards ceremony at the governor’s mansion for the first batch of young Tennesseans to participate in the leadership and character program.
“Most of you are — how should I put this — guinea pigs? The first ones to go through the award,” the prince said. “So you’re leading the way here.”
About 80 youths received the award by participating in community service, skills development, physical fitness and adventurous journeys through the Boy Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs, LEAD Academy, Montgomery Bell Academy or the Miss Tennessee Scholarship Organization.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a self-development program for people between the ages of 14 and 25 that aims to instill confidence and skills. More than 8 million people in more than 140 countries have participated since it was founded in 1956 by the queen’s husband, Prince Philip.

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Former State Board Member Facing Felony Charges

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A former Gov. Phil Bredesen-appointed member of the state Department of Commerce and Insurance’s Collection Service Board now faces federal charges, including 16 felony counts, related to three different investment schemes.
More from The City Paper:
In March 2011, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation arrested Edward Shannon Polen, on three felony charges of theft, but the full scale of his alleged crimes came into focus on Monday when prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nashville charged Polen with scamming 74 individual investors and banks out of $8,796,000.
Bredesen appointed Polen to the Collection Service Board, which oversees debt collection agencies in the state, in July 2008. He served a full term, before resigning on April 5, 2011, according to board minutes.
Polen, also a former Robertson County commissioner, is charged with five counts of bank fraud, three counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering for operating three investment schemes.
“Despite his assurances to investor-victims of significant returns on their investment … Edward Shannon Polen never intended to invest their funds as promised,” the charges state.