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VOL. 5, NO. 19
MAY 9, 2011
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Love that makes a difference By Wendy Smith
Rising leader West High’s Claire Coker is president of DECA International See story on page A-12
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People, events and more! See page A-13
FEATURED COLUMNIST JAKE MABE
How four teachers made a difference Chad Edwards says thanks, 50 years later See page A-6
Budget woes Beck Cultural Exchange Center may face crippling shortage as the county cuts back See story on page A-5
West Hills residents Jayme and Jeff Ownby have eight kids. They only gave birth to two, and some only spent a year or two under the Ownby roof, but they’re all part of the family. “They’re still our kids,” says Jeff. Child and Family Tennessee Foster Care recruiter Terrin Kanoa would like to see more foster families like the Ownbys. There is a particular need for families who are willing to care for children who are 10 or older. Most foster parents want younger kids, she says, but teens who don’t have a relationship with a foster family will have no one when they age out of the system. There are advantages to fostering teens. There are no diapers to change, and teens can help around the house or get a job. They’re also able to have adult conversations and participate in adult activities, Kanoa says. The Ownbys have provided a home for six foster children over the past five years, including three teenagers. Their first foster child, Aissa, brought her newborn with her when she moved into the house. The Ownbys’ two biological sons were in middle and high school at the time. Jayme already had a relationship with Aissa, who was a resident at the Florence Crittenton Agency group home where she worked. Aissa and her baby, NaShya, were initially placed with another foster family, but when that didn’t work out, the teen moved in with Ownbys. It wasn’t an easy transition. The Ownbys had to remodel their basement for their boys so that Aissa and her daughter could live upstairs. Then the family took in two more
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foster children – brothers who were ages 2 and 3 – which made Aissa unhappy. She didn’t like that the boys took attention away from her and her baby, she admits. The young brothers were eventually reunited with their mother, which is always the goal of the foster parent program, says Kanoa. The Ownbys continue to have a relationship with the family, even though they live in another county. They also have a day-to-day relationship with Aissa and NaShya, who now live on their own. As an adult, Aissa can fully appreciate the role her foster family played in her life.
“Without them, I don’t know where I’d be,” she says. “If we need something, they’re who I call. They’re my family.” Foster parenting requires patience and flexibility, and the wisdom to ask for help if it’s needed, says Kanoa. The program offers continual support to foster parents, including weekend respites to families who need a break. “It’s better for them to have a weekend off than to say, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’ ” she says. Jayme says being a foster parent to a teen is a time commitment. Since the schooling of many foster kids has been disrupted, making
sure they get the classes and the academic help they need is a challenge. Therapy sessions also take time out of the family schedule. The Ownbys agree that a good support system is critical for foster parents. The couple relies heavily on Jayme’s mother, Judy Wallace, who also lives in West Hills and keeps foster children. But the most important requirement for foster parenting is love. “You have to have a heart for kids,” says Kanoa. To learn more about becoming a foster parent: tkanoa@childfamily.org or 524-7483.
By Betty Bean April 4 was unseasonably hot, with gusty winds up to 35 miles per hour. Around 10 a.m., a resident of Plumwood Road in West Haven noticed smoke billowing up from Tony Norman’s yard and called the Knoxville Fire Department. Before it was doused, the flames had climbed about 35 feet up a hickory tree, consumed a 15-foot section of a wooden privacy fence and destroyed a storage shed and its contents. The remains of a blue plastic Waste Connections container are puddled on the ground. Some small ornamental cedars closer to the house are badly, probably fatally, singed. Arson investigators told Norman and his wife, Jani, that the fire had been deliberately set, and although the damage was relatively minor, the “what ifs” were frightening. The property is heavily wooded, the fire not far from the wood-frame house. The Normans say the “whys” are disturbing as well. “I have a friend who was a private investigator who looked at it, and he said. ‘Obviously, somebody had been to your house at least twice (once to case property, once
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Norman says fire was ‘meant to send me a message’
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Jeff and Jayme Ownby enjoy a visit with their former foster daughter, Aissa, and her daughter, NaShya. The Ownbys have had six foster children over the past five years. Jeff says he wants to provide a loving home to children who can’t be with their parents because he was raised by his grandparents. He is the 4th District Knox County Commissioner. Photo
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The burnt fence on Norman’s property.
Tony Norman surveys the spot where someone set his property on fire. Photos by Ruth White to set the fire).’ He said it was an amateurish job meant to send me a message.” The Normans hadn’t spoken publicly about the fire until a meeting of the West Knox County Council of Homeowners when Tony Norman was called upon to talk about the Hillside and Ridgetop Protection Plan, which County Commission rejected by a 6-5 vote at its April meeting. The slope protection plan is a joint city/county project developed over a three-
year period by a group of volunteers and Metropolitan Planning Commission staffers. Norman is the cochair and the face of the plan, which would apply to slopes of 15 percent or more, prohibit development on 50 percent grades and impose stricter guidelines for clearing and grading on steep slopes. The plan would allow narrower roads and shorter setback requirements for higher elevations with incentives for developers to place ridgetops under
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conservation easements. It is unpopular with developers, real estate interests and the Chamber of Commerce, and Norman has become a target of hate mail and Internet invective, which he says ramped up after Mayor Tim Burchett became a vocal critic of the plan. “A group of people and the Chamber decided this is not good for economic development,” Norman told the homeowners’ group. “In the end, the Chamber decided this needed to be killed,
and they came up with their strategy to kill it.” After Norman said that his wife and son would like to see him step back from the plan, Jani asked to be recognized. She said they have received “hate mail” and called the last few months “a horrible, horrible ordeal. “Three weeks before the vote, our property was set on fire. If we hadn’t had a Good Samaritan neighbor, 10 minutes later our house would have been set on fire.” City Council will be taking up the slope protection plan next, and Norman said he doesn’t plan to quit advocating for it. “This just makes me more determined,” he said.
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