VOL. 9 NO. 21
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BUZZ Too many tests? Those concerned about excessive testing in Knox County Schools are invited to a community forum at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 2, at West High School. Following a brief overview, participants will form breakout groups for discussion and each will report to the full group.
May 27, 2015
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A wetland in the city
IN THIS ISSUE
Mark Campen of the Izaak Walton League spent three years on The Grove’s stormwater retention basin.
City Council secretary Susan Wilson plans to pass on her rubber band ball when she retires later this year.
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Read Wendy Smith on page A-4
Sunshine’s downside There are folks in this town who act like the sunshine law is the Magna Carta. It isn’t. Ultimately, the sunshine law doesn’t make local government more open. Instead, the law merely shifts power away from the legislative branch and puts the power in the county mayor’s office.
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Read Scott Frith on page A-5
Lions awards Celebrations and honors were the main agenda items for the West Knox Lions as the group gathered at RJ’s Courtyard for their annual awards banquet. Club president Ron Riehn had a packed program and special guests made the evening even more festive.
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Read story on page A-3
Teacher honorees Fountain City Elementary School teacher Katherine Officer and Hardin Valley Academy teacher John Tilson were named the 2015 Outstanding Teachers of the Year by the Rotary Club of Knoxville. Tilson is a physics teacher. The club gives two annual awards.
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Read Bonny Millard on page A-13
10512 Lexington Dr., Ste. 500 37932 (865) 218-WEST (9378) NEWS news@ShopperNewsNow.com Sherri Gardner Howell Wendy Smith | Anne Hart ADVERTISING SALES ads@ShopperNewsNow.com Patty Fecco | Tony Cranmore Alice Devall | Shannon Carey
A constructed wetland at the corner of Deane Hill Drive and Morrell Road provides stormwater filtering as well as a habitat for native and migrating species. Photos by Wendy Smith
By Wendy Smith In the heart of West Knoxville, a pair of Eastern kingbirds guard a nest that overlooks a wetland inhabited by bullfrogs, bluegill,
By Wendy Smith Last month, West Hills Community Association president Ashley Williams was alerted to the regular presence of a man selling security systems door-to-door. The man was taking pictures of houses and asking residents who already Williams had security systems which doors and windows were monitored. He would then ask to put a sign in the yard. At least one neighbor had a break-in a few days after speaking with the man. Williams approached the salesperson on the street and asked to see his license. He presented an application rather than an actual license. Williams then contacted the company, and was passed to an attorney.
After Williams spoke to law enforcement, the attorney said the company would no longer work in the neighborhood. But Williams has visited the company’s West Knox office, and salespeople, primarily driving cars with Utah license plates, are still working in the area, he says. He hopes other neighborhoods can benefit from what his neighbors have learned. “A legal solicitor’s permit should be notarized and should have a permit number on it. If they don’t have it, say you’re not interested and call the police dispatch number. You have the right to say ‘Get off my property.’ Don’t feel obligated to listen to a pitch.” Darrell DeBusk, public information officer for the Knoxville Police Department, says late spring and early summer are prime time for a variety of door-to-door scams. That’s when scammers who spend the winter in the south head north.
Many are selling services like driveway paving, painting and roofing, and they appeal to homeowners hoping to save money. But DeBusk warns against using service providers who shows up on your doorstep. Instead, homeowners should contact local providers who are licensed and bonded and have a good rating with the Better Business Bureau. A request for payment up front should be a red flag, he says. A common scam is linoleum sales. Accomplices enter the home while homeowners are looking at samples. Those selling magazine subscriptions may be legitimate, but salespeople often have criminal records, he says. Neighborhoods, as a whole, cannot prohibit solicitors if they have public roads. But individual property owners can prohibit solicitors on their property with a clearly visible sign, says Ron Mills of the city law department. Gated
neighborhoods or those with private roads can prohibit solicitors. Knox County requires a license to sell goods and services door-todoor. Knox County Commissioner John Schoonmaker says his neighbors in Tan Rara subdivision typically ask to see a solicitor’s license. If none is presented, they give the solicitor five minutes to leave the neighborhood before calling the sheriff’s office’s non-emergency number. “I have seen solicitors being escorted out of our neighborhood in the back seat of the sheriff’s cruiser. The word gets around to other solicitors that our neighborhood doesn’t like solicitors,” he says. In April, county commission approved an ordinance that gives the Knox County Clerk the authority to withhold a solicitor license from someone who has an outstanding warrant or has been convicted of a crime of moral turpitude in the last 10 years.
No meeting of the minds at budget talks By Betty Bean The only clear consensus reached at the joint school board/ county commission meeting last week came when district members of each body promised to get together with their counterparts and talk about school needs before the county budget comes up for a vote next month. This meeting of the minds came at the conclusion of a dinner and discussion get-together at the East Tennessee History Center. The board members, commissioners and Dr. James McIntyre
were seated around a horseshoeshaped table in the middle of the room to facilitate conversation. The most powerful player in the budget discussions, county Mayor Tim Burchett, who has veto power over any commission vote (it would take eight votes to override him) was seated in the audience and was not asked for his opinion, perhaps because his views on the subject are well known. He’s not going to go for anything that requires raising taxes. Things went the way they usually do this time of the year, with most
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eter. Dragonflies and damselflies ered by nearby traffic. fill the air around water-loving The constructed wetland, loplants that thrive in clean spring cated across Deane Hill Drive water. None of the creatures are bothTo page A-3
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(but not all) school board members pleading for increased funding and most (but not all) commissioners advising them to shut up and live within their means. There was majority agreement on an issue Knox County Schools has been pushing this year – the balanced calendar commonly (but not quite accurately) called yearround school: It’s too expensive to talk about at a time when the county is struggling to find a way to pay for long-overdue teachers’ raises and communities are clamoring for new school buildings.
PAIN PILLS?
Commission chair Brad Anders repeated his warning that the county has been living off the proceeds of a 1999 property tax increase and has no more fat to cut. School board member Terry Hill, who represents the Hardin Valley area, which is hoping for a new middle school, implored members of County Commission to think about doing something to raise money to build new schools. “More people than you might think would be willing to pay their To page A-3
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