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Vol. 5, No. 5 • January 31, 2011 • www.ShopperNewsNow.com • 10512 Lexington Drive, Suite 500 37932 • 218-WEST (9378)
AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD TDOT’s Martinez to join Haslam administration The Shopper-News has learned that local Tennessee Department of Transportation spokesperson Yvette Martinez will soon join Gov. Bill Haslam’s staff. In a Jan. 26 e-mail sent to reporter Natalie Lester, Martinez wrote that she is leaving TDOT to become the new governor’s press secretary. Before joining TDOT, Martinez was a reporter and news anchor for WBIR-TV in Knoxville. o v e.
Not your mother’s bridge club Byy W B Wendy end dy S Smith mith ith It’s certainly not new, but dozens of people are discovering, or rediscovering, the game of bridge in West Knoxville. The Bridge Center at the Deane Hill Recreational Center, 7400 Deane Hill Drive, is offering EasyBridge, a course certified by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL), on Sunday afternoons. Classes began Jan. 16, but it’s not too late to get started, says Jo Anne Newby. This isn’t your mother’s bridge club. This is duplicate bridge, which is different from party bridge because everyone plays the same cards. That means skill, rather than luck, determines the winner.
It al also lso means a roomful roomffull off people are usually playing at the same time. While the number of participants varies, there are more than 30 tables available for play at the bridge center and scheduled games six days a week. Duplicate bridge isn’t an easy hobby to pick up. Newby estimates that it takes most students a year to feel comfortable playing. Jane Creed compares bridge to golf because players have to take lessons and practice to perfect their skill. It’s a complicated game, but that’s part of its appeal. “We play with interesting people,” she says. “Dummies don’t play bridge.” People who are good with num-
bers ber sseem eem ee m to be be drawn drawn tto o tthe he game. game Brad Moss, the 2010 ACBL player of the year, uses skills he’s learned playing bridge to successfully grow a hedge fund. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is also a die-hard bridge player. He once told a CBS reporter, “I wouldn’t mind going to jail if I had the right three cellmates, so we could play bridge all the time.” Buffett and Microsoft founder Bill Gates have both invested money in programs to teach bridge in schools. But most of the Bridge Center’s players are retirees. Newby would like to see more young people learn to play but thinks it’s difficult for kids to have time due to the number of extracurricular activities. It can be a time-consuming di-
Elle Belt, Jane Creed and Gina McLellan make bids while playing duplicate bridge at the Bridge Center at the Deane Hill Recreational Center. Beginners can learn to play on Sunday afternoons. Photo by Wendy Smith
version. A typical game consists of 24 to 27 hands and takes around three hours. It’s also competitive. Players compete for master points rather than money and achieve different levels as they earn points. The competition is a draw for many players. “You get addicted,” says Elle Belt. “There’s always another level.” Duplicate bridge isn’t a rollicking, knee-slapping kind of card game. It’s nearly silent during games at the center. Each round is timed, and while there is a level of relaxation between hands and short breaks between rounds, participants are deep in concentration during play. It’s that level of focus that makes
bridge ideal for retirees. It’s good for the mind, says Newby. It’s also a good way to meet people – a lot of people. The Knoxville Association of Bridge Clubs is part of a unit that includes clubs from Crossville to Abingdon, Va. The largest regional tournament in the ACBL is held each spring in the Gatlinburg Convention Center, where there is play on 10,000 tables during seven days. Duplicate bridge is played all over the world, and Newby plays online with friends in China and Israel. New players can also learn online at www.ACBL.org. Players who would rather learn with real people and snacks should contact the Bridge Center at 6940222 for more information.
Burchett meets with critics of stormwater policy By Betty Bean Last week, Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett met with Shannondale farmer James McMillan, Clean Water Network director Renee Hoyos and CWN attorney Stephanie Matheney to discuss Knox County stormwater enforcement issues in general and the Notice of Violation recently issued to McMillan’s father, Charles McMillan, in particular. The elder McMillan had a contractual agreement allowing T-Mobile to build a cell tower on his property, and the grading contractor had failed to install a legally required silt fence at the construction site until the work was almost complete. The McMillans say that the citation should have gone to the permit holder or the contractor, over whom they have no control. They are demanding an apology. James McMillan is a frequent and vocal critic of county stormwater enforcement, and the McMillans and CWN officials charged
Stephanie Matheney, James McMillan and Renee Hoyos after their meeting with Mayor Tim Burchett. Photo by Betty Bean
that the citation was payback for the younger McMillan’s activism. How did the meeting go? Depends on whom you ask. Burchett: “I th ink the meeting with Mr. McMillan and Ms. Hoyos went well and was very productive for us, and I certainly hope it was
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productive for them. I look forward to continuing to work with them in the future on stormwater issues.” Hoyos: “It was a productive conversation. We talked about prioritizing sites – emphasizing sites that are harming property, neigh-
bors or clean water. They indicated they would look at doing that. And they said the McMillan’s citation was not retaliatory.” Matheney: “We learned the McMillan citation was one of 40 NOVs that went to what (stormwater manager) Chris Granju called ‘mom and pop’ sites last year. Why are they wasting time on that? We want them to work on bigger sites that are causing harm. Dwight Van de Vate (county engineering director) admitted there was no evidence that pollution had come off the McMillan site and gotten to the stream.” James McMillan: “I keep hearing that all these foreclosed sites are a big enforcement problem in Knox County. Does this mean that they are sending demand letters to the banks that now own the properties and treating them like they have treated the McMillans?” Knox County’s stormwater ordinance is a little muddy on the issue of where notices of violation should go. One paragraph says the notice
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should go to whoever has operational control over construction plans and specifications. Another section says that the director “… may issue a notice of violation to the permittee or property owner and/or any other person or entity having responsibility for construction work performed at a site development.” James McMillan remains unconvinced and believes that his father was cited, and threatened with a $5,000 per day fine, because of the son’s persistent criticism of county enforcement efforts. Hoyos said that Burchett agreed to consider her suggestion that the county do more wet weather inspections. “The Network’s goal is to reduce sediment in the rivers, and there are a number of sites around the county that contribute sediment. We would like for them to focus on correcting large sites discharging large amounts of mud to streams.” And what about an apology to the McMillans? “I don’t think so,” Hoyos said.
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