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VOL. 10 NO. 12
www.ShopperNewsNow.com |
BUZZ Spring Inspirations Gorgeous tablescapes, sublime music and entertaining tips from a true Southerner were the highlights of the Knoxville Symphony League’s Spring Inspirations luncheon, held last week at Cherokee Country Club. Local designers and KSL members teamed up to create unique settings for each table. Fresh flowers, rabbits and Easter eggs were prominent themes. Wendy Smith was there.
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March 23, 2016
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Restoration of Katie Miller house adds character to Middlebrook
See her pictures on page A-3
Mabry-Hazen to host park day Volunteers are needed between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, April 2, at Mabry-Hazen House, 1711 Dandridge Ave., for Park Day. Activities will include leaf and brush removal, mulching, and general spring-cleaning. Some tools will be provided, but volunteers are encouraged to bring rakes, pitchforks, tarps and similar yard tools. The event is part of a 20year nation program in which history buffs, community leaders and preservationists team with the Civil War Trust at more than 125 sites in 29 states to answer the call to service. Rain date is April 16. Info/RSVP: 522-8661 or mabryhazenhouse@gmail.com.
Egg Hunts ■Bells Campground Baptist Church Easter Event, 10 a.m.noon Saturday, March 26, 7816 Bells Campground Road. Includes: skits, singing, craft, an egg hunt for ages 0-fifth grade, refreshments and door prizes. Info: 947-6254. ■Big Ridge State Park Easter egg hunt, Saturday, March 26. Rain or shine. Schedule: 10 a.m., 2 years old and younger; 10:30 a.m., 3-4 years old; 1 p.m. 5-7 years old; 1:30 p.m., 8-10 years old. Bring your basket. Prizes; Easter Bunny. Meet at the Park office. Info: 992-5523. ■Children’s Easter party, 10 a.m. Saturday, March 26, sponsored by Trentville UMC and Pleasant Hill UMC. Info: 933-5041. ■Community Easter egg hunt, 11:30 a.m. Sunday, March 27, Powell Presbyterian Church, 2910 W. Emory Road. Info: 938-8311; www. powellpcusa.org. ■Easter Eggstravaganza, 10 a.m.noon Saturday, March 26, Bells Campground Baptist Church, 7815 Bell Campground Road. Activities include: puppets, skits, a craft and an egg hunt for children through 5th grade, followed by a hot dog lunch. ■Easter Eggstravaganza, 11 a.m. Saturday, March 26, Union Baptist Church, 6701 Washington Pike, for kids pre-K through 5th grade. Info: DiscoverUnion.org.
(865) 218-WEST (9378) NEWS (865) 661-8777 news@ShopperNewsNow.com Sandra Clark | Wendy Smith ADVERTISING SALES (865) 342-6084 ads@ShopperNewsNow.com Patty Fecco | Tony Cranmore Beverly Holland | Amy Lutheran CIRCULATION (865) 342-6200 shoppercirc@ShopperNewsNow.com
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The Katie Miller house at 7215 Middlebrook Pike Photo by Wendy Smith
By Wendy Smith After years of being a wallflower, the stately Katie Miller house is poised, once again, to be the Belle of the Pike. Middlebrook Pike, that is. One of the belles, anyway. The Miller house, near the corner of Middlebrook and Francis Road, could be considered the new-fangled cousin of the Lones-Dowell house, located about a mile east on Middlebrook. The Miller house was built in 1933. The Lones-Dowell house, restored by developer Tom Weiss in 2008, was built in 1858. The homes are quite different. The Miller house is a stone and brick Tudor, while the Lones-Dowell house is Federal-style. Both are eye-catching departures from their neighbors, and both were rescued by men who didn’t want to see them razed for new development.
Albert Harb isn’t a developer. He’s a lawyer. But he became interested in the Miller house when he noticed it on his way to church. “It was a beautiful house and it needed to be preserved,� he says. The home was built for Howard Miller, president of the Howard M. Miller Coal Company, and his wife, Katie. It originally stood on 40 acres. Howard Miller died in 1961. Katie Miller turned the home into a residential treatment facility and group home for teen girls with emotional or behavioral problems. During the 1970s, the city condemned the property in order to build Bearden Middle School, but carved out a few acres around the house to allow Miller to continue living there. She died in 1989 and the city sold the property to Knox County in 1992.
Child and Family Inc. leased the house until a few months before the county opted to sell the property in 2012. Harb purchased the home from the county with his cousin, Daniel Harb, in 2014. Albert Harb has completed other renovation projects around town, including the building that houses Retrospect Vintage Store in Happy Holler. He calls himself a “closet contractor.� Renovating old buildings serves two purposes, he says. It preserves a piece of history and draws homeowners back into older, established neighborhoods. The Miller house was in horrible condition when it was purchased. The first order of business was stabilizing the home to prevent further damage. Repairs
to the exterior included reapplying stone that had fallen off and replacing the roof on the home’s west side. The flat roof had “holes the size of buckets� that had allowed water and leaves to fill the house. It took three dumpsters to clean out the first floor, which is being rebuilt. The 1.2-acre property is zoned for office, medical and related services, and Harb doesn’t see it being used as a residence. He thinks its proximity to the future Tennova Hospital will make it desirable as office space. The new hospital is expected to open in 2018. More people see the house now that the yard is cleaned up, he says. Thanks to Albert and Daniel Harb, the house will continue to be seen by future generations.
Feel the ‘Buzz’ for next schools super By Betty Bean In February, school board member Terry Hill’s colleagues tasked her with vetting candidates for interim schools superintendent and reporting back April 4 with a recommendation for her colleagues. There are several candiBuzz Thomas dates, but almost nobody is talking about anyone but Great Schools Partnership president Oliver “Buzz� Thomas for the job. Thomas gained frontrunner status because he is intimately familiar with the workings of Knox County Schools, well liked and, in many respects, highly qualified. Board chair Doug Harris kicked that perception up a notch when he undercut Hill by declaring Thomas the best choice before the vetting process had begun. Harris
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is not running for re-election and is the de facto leader of the fivemember majority that will control the board until new members are seated in September. Hill, who is not a member of the majority coalition, declined to comment on the process. The search for an interim leader became necessary when Superintendent James McIntyre announced in January that he will resign in July, citing the political reality that after the August elections, his supporters will no longer dominate the new school board. The interim superintendent will take over when McIntyre departs. The initial list of nominated candidates included Knox County Finance Director Chris Caldwell, Human Capital Strategy Director Rodney Russell, Secondary Schools Supervisor Danny Trent, Assistant Superintendent Bob Thomas, retired administrator Ed Hedgepeth and perennial candidate George Hamilton.
Caldwell wasted no time saying thanks but no thanks. Sources say Russell and Hedgepeth have now done the same, leaving Buzz Thomas, Bob Thomas (who was strongly considered for the superintendent’s job in 2008 when McIntyre was selected) and Trent as the remaining viable candidates. But the smart money is on Buzz Thomas. “Buzz has that vision and the ability to sell that dream. He believes in what he does so deeply that people want to be a part of it. That’s a unique personality,� said board member Patti Bounds. “The first time I met Buzz, I sat there in his office and thought to myself, ‘Why did we go all the way to Boston to get Dr. McIntyre when Buzz is so highly qualified?’ “One of his most amazing qualities is his ability to make everyone feel valued, regardless of their position in life. I have observed this on multiple occasions. I’ve seen him with school cafeteria
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workers, taking the time to go to each individual and thank them. It doesn’t matter what their position is. That’s just Buzz. He’s a visionary and has brought innovative programs to Knox County.� In the minus column, Bounds wonders how the Great Schools Partnership will raise money without Thomas, and although Thomas is a nationally known author, public speaker, ordained minister and an attorney with four college degrees who habitually graduated at the top of his class and once chaired the Maryville school board, his lack of classroom teaching experience at the K-12 level concerns her. She also worries about his support of SCORE (State Collaborative on Reforming Education), a think tank that supports the high stakes testing regime that she and many other teachers detest. To page A-3
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