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VOL. 6 NO. 21
IN THIS ISSUE The time is now ... The Knox County Schools budget has for too long grown by bunts. It’s time for the community to swing for the fence. Last week, Sandra Clark toured two schools and Jake Mabe scoured the Andrew Johnson Building. We make the case for the budget in a four-page spread. Please help!
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May 21, 2012
New hope for old house
See pages 9-12
Can sales tax pass? What are the chances of a sales tax referendum passing with new revenue going to Knox County Schools? That is one option should there not be 7 votes on the 11 member county commission to raise county property taxes by 35 cents over a mayoral veto. Victor Ashe breaks it down.
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See page A-4
NEIGHBORHOOD BUZZ
Hinton is principal at Sequoyah Alisha Hinton has been appointed principal at Sequoyah Elementary School, replacing Martha Hill who retired. Superintendent Dr. Jim McIntyre said Hinton was a Alisha Hinton member of the inaugural class of the Principal Leadership Academy and is currently assistant principal at A. L. Lotts Elementary School where she has served since 2009. She joined the Knox County Schools in 2003 and has taught 3rd and 4th grade. Hinton holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, and a master’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of Tennessee. She also holds an Education Specialist Degree in Administration from Lincoln Memorial University.
Index Wendy Smith Politics/Marvin West Faith Coffee Break Schools Business Health/Lifestyles
A3 A4 A5 A6 A11-14 A15 Sect B
10512 Lexington Dr., Ste. 500 37932 (865) 218-WEST (9378) news@ShopperNewsNow.com ads@ShopperNewsNow.com EDITOR Sandra Clark sclark426@aol.com ADVERTISING SALES Darlene Hacker hackerd@ShopperNewsNow.com Debbie Moss mossd@ShopperNewsNow.com Shopper-News is a member of KNS Media Group, published weekly at 10512 Lexington Drive, Suite 500, Knoxville, TN, and distributed to 24,267 homes in Bearden.
A recent court ruling could affect the fate of the Eugenia Williams house where only the lawn is maintained.
By Wendy Smith Knox Heritage’s Fragile 15 list, released last week, is an annual reminder of local historic properties that are teetering on the brink of collapse. But a recent Tennessee Supreme Court decision may give one of West Knoxville’s most prominent endangered homes a second chance. The ruling is in regard to a gift that painter Georgia O’Keeffe left to Nashville’s Fisk University in 1949 and could impact the fate of the Eugenia Williams house, donated to UT in 1998, says Knox Heritage Executive Director Kim Trent. The house, located at 4848 Lyons View Pike, was built in 1940 by the only child of Dr. David Hitt Williams, who earned his fortune by investing in Coca Cola. O’Keeffe donated 101 items from the art collection of her deceased husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz, to Fisk with the stipulation that the artwork never be sold or broken up. But Fisk fell on hard times, and
the university has been trying to come up with a way to profit from the collection for years. Most recently, it pursued a deal with Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Ark., founded by Walmart heir Alice Walton. She wants to pay Fisk $30 million for the opportunity to house the collection for two of every four years, and donate $1 million to the university to upgrade its declining display facilities. The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation, which would receive the artwork if Fisk violated the conditions of the gift, took the university to court. Fisk lost the case, but when it was appealed, the court ruled in favor of Fisk. The State Attorney General filed an appeal of that decision, but in late April, the Tennessee Supreme Court refused to hear the case, so the Court of Appeals decision stood. Knox Heritage attorney Tom McAdams says the ruling regarding the O’Keeffe gift to Fisk could impact the Eugenia Williams gift to UT.
Photo by Wendy Smith
A change in circumstances at Fisk kept the university from being able to carry out the terms of the gift, and the same thing has happened at UT, he says, due to the tightening of its budget. When Williams left the property to UT, presidents and chancellors lived in UT housing. Now, UT is out of the housing business and is no longer interested in remote campus sites, he says. Like O’Keeffe, Williams had stipulations for her gift. The natural beauty of the property had to be preserved, and it could not be subdivided. She wanted the house to remain a residence, and she didn’t want it to be sold. She wanted the university to keep it as a memorial to her father. “The question is, how do you come as close as you can to satisfying the conditions of the gift?” says McAdams. Given present circumstances, selling the house would satisfy all of Williams’ stipulations, except that it not be sold. But if the
house was purchased by someone who restored it and a conservation easement was placed on the property, her desire for preservation would be achieved. Then, the funds raised from the sale could be used to create a scholarship or some other memorial to her father, he says. Knox Heritage hasn’t spoken with UT officials since the court ruling, but McAdams says the university was watching the case. There has been some progress made in regard to preservation on the UT campus since President Joe DiPietro took office, like the addition of Hopecote Guest House to the National Register of Historic Places, he says. “Overall, we’re making progress. They’ve shown a willingness to look at alternatives.” A representative from the UT President’s office would not comment on the relevance of the Fisk case to the Eugenia Williams property.
Knox Heritage targets historic home as headquarters By Anne Hart Knox Heritage, the local organization known for its efforts to preserve the area’s historic buildings and cultural landmarks, is hoping to move its offices to Westwood, the historic home located at 3425 Kingston Pike near the heart of Sequoyah Hills. The property, which has always been a private residence, is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is next to the Laurel Church of Christ and just east of Cherokee Boulevard.
those who have donated a minimum of $1,000 to the organization, gathered to tour the site on Saturday, May 12, and afterward were guests at a luncheon at the home of former Knoxville Mayor and Ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe and his wife, Joan, just a few Historic Westwood, at 3425 Kingston doors away. Pike, is slated to be the future offices Westwood, a 4,758 square of Knox Heritage. Photo Credit: National foot brick and stone Queen Anne Register of Historic Places structure designed by Baumann Brothers architects, was built in About 70 members of the Knox 1899 by J. E. Lutz and has also Heritage 1791 Society, made up of been known as the Adelia Armstrong Lutz House. The land on
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which it was built had been given to Lutz by his father-in-law, Robert H. Armstrong. The distinctive home, with its serpentine wall fronting Kingston Pike, was purchased by the Matheny family in 1932. Knox County has the house and land appraised for tax purposes at $525,500. Zoning for the property is residential. Kim Trent, executive director of Knox Heritage, said there would be “no comment at this time because it’s still in the planning stages.”
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