GOVERNMENT/POLITICS A4 | OUR COLUMNISTS A6-7 | YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS A13 | HEALTH & LIFESTYLES SECTION B
A great community newspaper.
bearden
VOL. 5, NO. 48
NOVEMBER 28, 2011
INSIDE www.ShopperNewsNow.com
|
|
www.facebook.com/ShopperNewsNow
twitter.com/shoppernewsnow
concludes with eating s’mores. This is Savery’s 26th year of teaching in Knox County schools. He was teaching environmental science at Bearden when he was asked to teach a wildlife class. He wrote his own curriculum, which was approved by the state as a special course, and has taught the class for 12 years. The things he teaches are things people used to know, he says. When he was a teenager, it was the norm for boys to acquire two things on their 16th birthday – a driver’s license and a shotgun, so they could hunt. Many of today’s teens have almost no outdoor experience. While walking through a small wooded area on campus, one 18-year-old student told Savery it was the first time he’d been in the woods. Giving kids a taste for the outdoors is another objective of the course. They spend the first 10 weeks in the classroom learning about wildlife management and federal laws that cover wildlife, then spend much of the rest of the semester outside. The lessons are hands-on and entertaining. After learning how to use a compass, students are given maps to locate cookies Savery has hidden on campus. “If they can find two boxes of cookies on 55 acres, they can find anything.” They also get an up-close look at the animals who share their campus. Students put peanut butter and oats on a stick surrounded by sand, and go back the next day to identify the tracks of the animals that showed interest. Then they put an appropriately-sized live trap in the area. This semester, they caught raccoons, possums, squirrels and skunks. They weigh, mark and identify the sex of the animals – except the skunks. In all his years of teaching the course, Savery Bearden High School teacher Bob Savery assists senior Melissa King as she prepares to rappel off the school’s has only been sprayed twice, much to the delight football stadium. Rappelling is part the curriculum for of his students. “They loved that.” his popular wildlife class. Photo by Wendy Smith
Getting hooked Class hooks kids on outdoors
New leader
By Wendy Smith
Elder Thomas Clapp Jr. is the Knoxville stake president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. See page A-7
Fantasy of Trees Pictures from Children’s Hospital’s major fundraiser. Page A-3.
Peyton watch How much do the Colts miss Peyton Manning? Marvin West tells us on page A-6.
FEATURED COLUMNIST MALCOLM SHELL
Concord’s First convenience stores. See page A-6
ONLINE
DO YOU
LIKE? TELL US! www.facebook.com/ ShopperNewsNow
It was cold and windy as members of Bob Savery’s wildlife class put on their harnesses to rappel from the top of Bearden High School’s football stadium. The students waiting their turn chatted nervously while those who were brave enough climbed over the stadium’s protective fence to begin a 43foot descent, supported only by sturdy ropes and the calming voice of their teacher. “Look at me. Smile! Wave at me with your left hand,” he instructed. One girl’s terror was betrayed by labored breathing as she shuffled slowly down the wall. But she beamed, and her classmates cheered, when her feet finally reached the grass below. Senior Melissa King, who is on the Bearden climbing team coached by Savery and math teacher David Leach, showed no fear as she rappelled face-first, a technique she learned in the classroom. If students choose to work with wildlife, they need skills that will enable them to get to the animals, Savery says. Another reason rappelling is part of the course’s curriculum is that it grabs the students’ attention. “Every high school teacher knows you have to have a hook on these kids today.” Students with a variety of interests, and GPAs, have been hooked by the science curriculum that includes learning how to use a map and compass, capturing and identifying small animals, and a fire-building competition that
National Trust lauded at Knox Heritage event Knox Heritage has published a cookbook containing more than 300 recipes from its popular Summer Suppers. Order online at www.knoxheritage. org or call 523-8008. It will also be available from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8, at Union Avenue Books, noon to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 10, at the Knox Heritage tent at the Holiday Market on Market Square, and 4-6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, at Bliss Home, 7240 Kingston Pike. Cost is $20 through Dec. 31.
By Wendy Smith
Knox Heritage Executive Director Kim Trent, Knox Heritage President Scott Schimmel and National Trust for Historic Places President Stephanie Meeks spoke at Knox Heritage’s 2011 Preservation Awards and Annual Meeting which was held at the Bijou Theatre. Photo by Wendy Smith
The best laid plans? Commission neuters Hillside/ Ridge Top Plan By Larry Van Guilder
10512 Lexington Dr., Ste. 500 37932 (865) 218-WEST (9378) news@ShopperNewsNow.com ads@ShopperNewsNow.com EDITOR Larry Van Guilder lvgknox@mindspring.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.
After more than 3 1/2 years, County Commission’s debate on the Hillside and Ridge Top Protection Plan ended last week as that body accepted an amendment which declared the plan “advisory.”
Richard Briggs Tony Norman
Briggs’ amendment was supported by the Knoxville Chamber and mollified developers. It allowed commissioners who had never supported the plan Commissioners voted 7-3 to declare victory. R. Larry for the amended plan, with Smith said later Monday at Dave Wright abstaining. the Halls Republican Club, Only Tony Norman, Amy “both sides won.” Broyles and Sam McKenzie Despite Briggs’ declarastood against the amend- tion that the amendment ment that gutted the plan. was “not intended to subCommissioner Richard vert anything,” it’s a frank
Analysis
Keep Your Me Memories emor em SAFE!
betrayal to homeowners and businesses that endorsed the plan that had emerged from the facilitated joint meetings of commission and City Council. Plan opponents have habitually engaged in bluster and threat, and last week was no exception. Speaking for the Chamber, attorney Tom McAdams said, “There are lawsuits waiting to be had if you make this binding.” “All you want to do is kick us in the teeth when we’re down,” developer Scott Davis said, alluding to the depressed construction industry. County Law Director Joe Jarret said a property owner’s right to appeal an MPC decision was not affected by the plan. “Regardless of what language you put in the plan, there’s still redress for the landowner,” Jarret said.
SALES S ALES • SERVICE SERVICE • MAINTENANCE MAINTENANCE
Preserve those old Pr reels, slides & vhs tapes today!
20% OFF 8MM Film Orders Bring your VHS, slides, film and more into the digital age.
3 DAYS ONLY Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Cannot be combined with any other discounts or offers.
Audio & Video Conversion
Expires 11/30/11 SN112811
686-5756
www.DigitizeItNow.com 12752 Kingston Pike, Renaissance Farragut, Ste 103, Bldg E
Family Fami Fa mily mi lyy Bus B Business u in us ines esss Se es Serv Serving r in rv ng Yo Y You u ffo for or Ov Over ver 1 15 5 Ye Years ear as 5715 5715 Old Old d Tazewell T ll Pike Pik Pi k • 687-2520 687 252 5 0
Cantrell’s Cares Financing available through TVA Energy Right program* *Restrictions May Apply
Stephanie Meeks, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, was guest speaker at Knox Heritage’s recent Preservation Awards and Annual Meeting. “Knoxville and Knox Heritage would not be where we are today without the National Trust,” said Knox Heritage Executive Director Kim Trent, who introduced Meeks at the event. Trent and Ambassador Victor Ashe are on the National Trust’s Board of Trustees. The National Trust works to save nationally significant places, and the organization has an “America’s 11 Most
“It’s raining again,” said Norman, as discussion wound down. The vote is about water issues and Briggs’ amendment “is a Trojan horse, he added. “City Council walked away (from the joint facilitated meetings) and we were in agreement. “Water knows no boundary between city and county. … We need to stay parallel with the city.” “The Briggs amendment,” Norman concluded, “is muddying the water metaphorically and practically.” But Briggs said his amendment “un-muddies” the water. “People may say I’m taking one side or another, but I’m not,” he said, without a trace of irony. What are those who expected more left with? First, a plan for the county that is unlikely to pass – or even be presented – at City
Endangered Historic Places” list that’s comparable to Knox Heritage’s “Fragile Fifteen” List. “America’s cultural heritage is at risk,” she said. “The heart of our work is understanding the power of place.” Locally, The National Trust has invested more than $10 million in downtown Knoxville preservation projects, including the Tennessee Theatre and the 500 block of Gay Street. It is currently striving to save part of the former K-25 plant in Oak Ridge. The organization is actively advocating for a To page A-2
Council. If council members sign off on the plan approved at the joint meetings, city and county policies on slope protection diverge. That outcome brings to mind the city/county divide on stormwater ordinances in 2007 which resulted in the city threatening to sue the county. Because of Briggs’ amendment, developers in the county may feel less constrained in continuing the practices that resulted in the Dawson Hollow disaster a few months ago or the hillside stripping at Watt Road which Norman aptly called “an abomination.” “How do you have a ‘nonbinding’ map?” Norman asked. With Briggs’ “advisory” amendment tacked on, that self-contradicting, limbo-dwelling creation is precisely what we have.