VOL. 8 NO. 32
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IN THIS ISSUE
Build it
Not bad there, Brandon There are things you just can’t learn about WUOT from listening to the public radio station, like how young “All Things Considered” host Brandon Hollingsworth looks.
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Read Wendy Smith on page A-3
Bean gloats a bit
See Betty Bean on page A-4
50 years since Dickey debut If memory and the calendar are correct, we are approaching the 50th anniversary of Doug Dickey’s first team at Tennessee. Time for a reunion? Think about it – 50 years since the conversion from single wing to T formation, and the Volunteers are again looking for a quarterback.
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Fair celebrates love of By Wendy Smith
Lawyers aren’t supposed to forum shop, but it happens. And there’s going to be a bunch of it after the new “Red-to-theRoots” judges take the bench next month, particularly in Chancery Court, Division II.
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August 13, 2014
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Read Marvin West on page A-5
Last year, the Butcher family − Stuart and Kristi and their children, Hannah, Michael and Jonathan − won Best of Show at the Tennessee Valley Fair’s Lego Build. The South Knoxville family spent two weeks on an intricately crafted Texaco station featuring clever details, like Superman in the phone booth. The family is participating in this year’s family/team build, but they won’t even hint about their current project. The competition is too fierce, they say. Kristi and her children attended a Lego Build held last week at the Bearden Branch Library. STEM educator Robin Marsh, who directs the fair’s Lego competition through her company, Beyond a Brick, hosted the event to encourage interest in the competition and in Legos in general. Robin was asked to develop the Lego component of the fair five years ago to “bring new blood” to
the event. Last year, approximately 250 people competed in both the Lego Build, which features models built off-site, and the Lego Extravaganza, which requires participants to create, in a timed event on site, an original model using provided Legos. The competition is particularly attractive to families like the Butchers, who have always loved Legos. Stuart grew up building with the colored blocks, and his mother saved them for her grandchildren to enjoy. He is now an architect. This will be the fourth year the family has competed in the Extravaganza, and the third to compete with a pre-built model. Participating in the contests has become a family ritual that they anticipate each year, said Kristi. “It sort of forces us to be together,” she laughed. “Some of our To page A-3
Cousins Jonathan Atkins and Lewis Brooke, both 8, share their creations after a timed Lego build at the Bearden Branch Library. Jonathan attends Paideia Academy; Lewis attends Rocky Hill Elementary School. Photo by Wendy Smith
Traffic woes could block Burchett plans unique Reserve at West Hills birthday bash By Wendy Smith
This place is a zoo! Folks of all ages have stopped by the Knoxville Zoo this summer to partake of ice cream, to enjoy the splash pad and to watch the penguins slip and slide on the rocks by their watering hole. Come Aug. 16, the zoo’s residents will welcome a different kind of party in the name of fundraising.
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Read Sara Barrett on page A-9
Mission to Belfast Members of Christ Covenant Church have spent the summer doing what they love: sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and being of service to others. The church members have had a full itinerary of mission trips, including trip to Belfast, Ireland.
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Read Bonny Millard on page A-7
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West Hills residents met last week to discuss a proposed development, The Reserve at West Hills, at the corner of Vanosdale Road and Sheffield Drive. Peter Medlyn of Medlyn Real Estate has submitted a concept plan for a subdivision with 14 lots on the 5.01-acre parcel. West Hills resident and County Commissioner Jeff Ownby led the discussion. While the proposed subdivision has 2.8 units per acre, Ownby said he’d prefer just two units per acre, like West Hills. The parcel is zoned Low Density Exclusive Residential (R-1E), which has a minimum lot size of
7,500 square feet. Increased traffic was the major worry expressed at the meeting. West Hills Elementary School is on the northwest corner of the intersection of Vanosdale and Sheffield, and the proposed development is on the southeast corner. Ashley Williams Many drivers disregard the four-way stop sign at the intersection, neighbors said. Vanosdale backs up during
Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett will turn 50 this month, and he’s planning a party at the Ben Atchley State Veterans Home. The public is invited from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 17. Burchett has Tim Burchett lined up a cookout, provided by Sam’s Club, and live music by David West and the Ciderville Music gang. He’s serious about community mem-
bers attending. And he’s asking for gift cards of any amount from Red Lobster, Shoney’s, Cracker Barrel or Hooters restaurant. Administrators at the veterans’ home say these are many of the residents’ favorite places to eat, and the gift cards will ensure that they are able to continue enjoying meals outside the facility. Attendees are also welcome to bring Visa/MasterCard gift cards or cards to either Sam’s Club or Walmart for use on shopping trips and other activities for the residents.
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School board ‘emergency’ vote under scrutiny By Betty Bean Knox County’s law director is taking a close look at school board chair Lynne Fugate’s declaring an emergency at the August meeting to allow a vote on Knox County Schools’ five-year strategic plan. “We’ve received a lot of questions and complaints from the perspective of open-meetings laws and whether voting on a plan that doesn’t take effect until 2015 fits the definition of an emergency,” said David Buuck, chief deputy law director. Fugate declared the emergency after a one-minute meeting of the board’s executive committee – Superintendent James McIntyre and herself – when Mike McMillan invoked personal privilege to postpone a vote for 30 days.
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McMillan said he wanted four new board members (who will be sworn in Sept. 1) to have a say. Invoking personal privilege is an established school board practice, most recently used by board member Indya Kincannon to postpone a vote on a textbook-censorship issue in 2010. “With almost half of the board going to be new members next month, do you not think they would like to have an opportunity to take a look at this plan? What would happen if we didn’t rush through it? Any penalties? Any fines? Would we lose any funds?” McMillan asked. “This school board has worked on this part plan for most of a year. We’re about to start a new school year, and this is the time when people are planning. Having our
strategic plan in place would be very beneficial …,” McIntyre said. The strategic plan, titled “Deepening Our Work: Excellence for Every Child,” has been in the works for nearly a year, but the final draft wasn’t released until July 31 – leaving scant time for interested citizens to study it, critics say. McMillan was responding to complaints that the present board members, four of whom are lame ducks, should not be setting policy for the new board. The plan was approved unanimously, but it wasn’t the only contentious matter at the August meeting. When asked whether all Knox County teachers had received minutes of meetings of the Teachers’ Advisory Group (which McIntyre formed in response to teachers’ complaints last fall) in
a timely manner, McIntyre said that all teachers had received all the minutes from all the meetings. Lauren Hopson, an advisory group member and a leader of the teachers who have been speaking out against KCS policies, approached the lectern to address the board. She stood silently at the front of the room until a security guard approached and ordered her to return to her seat. A few minutes later, McMillan asked Hopson returned to the lectern, and, struggling against tears, she warned the board that not everything they were hearing was the truth. She told them that advisory board minutes had not been distributed in a timely manner to KCS teachers, or even to board members.
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