Bearden Shopper-News 052516

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VOL. 10 NO. 21

www.ShopperNewsNow.com |

Silver on his lapel

BUZZ Beauford Delaney The public is invited to the Beck Cultural Exchange Center, 1927 Dandridge Avenue, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 2, for an inside look at the emerging Beauford Delaney Project and to learn more about plans for the hometown celebration of a Knoxville cultural hero. “Beauford Delaney is by far the most important artist Knoxville produced in the 20th Century, at least in terms of national and international reputation,â€? said Beck president ReneĂŠ Kesler. “He was friends with and beloved by the most respected cultural and intellectual figures of his age.â€? This event is free and open to the public. Info or to reserve a seat: ddbubose@knoxart.org or 865-934-2036.

Earl Atkinson

Darlene Boling

Safe drivers Earl Atkinson and Darlene Boling were recognized by Knox County Schools May 18 for excellence in driving. This is the second monthly award ceremony to honor the county’s school bus operators. Atkinson has been driving a bus for 28 years and transports students from West View Elementary School and Bearden Middle School. Boling has been driving a bus for 22 years and transports students from Sequoyah Elementary School and West High School. KCS presented each winner a certificate of appreciation, and awards sponsor Ted Russell Ford presented each with $100. WIVK is also a sponsor of the recognition organized by Commissioner Bob Thomas.

The case for ‘66 Marvin West writes: “It sure would be nice to recognize the Tennessee football team of 50 years ago, the 1966 Volunteers, before they get old and thin out. “Anniversary celebrations are so much more fun when the celebrants can walk.�

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Read Marvin West on page A-4

(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

Eric Oglesby receives overdue honor Retired Major General Fred Womack pins the Silver Star to Eric Oglesby’s jacket as his children, Rachel Chiappetta and Connor Oglesby, show their support. Former Gov. Don Sundquist looks on from behind.

By Sara Barrett Retired Lt Col. Eric Oglesby’s friends and family couldn’t be more proud of him, but they also know he wouldn’t have enjoyed a lot of fanfare. “He has always been very humble,� says Oglesby’s longtime friend Richard Way. “If you had asked him to come to something like this, he probably would have said no.� Way and numerous other friends and family were on hand May 16 when Oglesby was awarded the Silver Star, the third highest military decoration for valor awarded to members of the U.S. Armed Forces. The award was about 40 years overdue, but Oglesby’s wife says his time in the service was never about recognition, but about helping others. Now in the midst of a battle with dementia, Oglesby’s loved ones celebrated for him after

By Wendy Smith

The University of Tennessee’s RecSports Complex on Sutherland Avenue, designed by Barge, Waggoner, Sumner and Cannon, recently received an Outstanding Sports Facilities Award from the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association. The awards recognize innovative designs of new, renovated or expanded recreational facilities at the collegiate level. The Sutherland Avenue complex was completed in 2013. It is one of many changes to the Sutherland Avenue area since sev-

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Eric Oglesby’s daughter, Rachel Chiappetta, and his son, Connor Oglesby, visit their dad before the ceremony.

eral nearby neighborhoods joined to ask the Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission to create the Bearden Village Opportunities Plan in 2000. The road has a rich history. During the 1920s, it was the site of Knoxville’s first airport. During the 1930s and ’40s, a procession of Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus animals and equipment traveled down the road from the Southern Depot to a big top at the current site of the National Guard Armory. An interracial amateur baseball

league held games at the site of the sports complex in the 1940s and ’50s, and a driving range operated there during the ’50s. Two apartment complexes, mostly inhabited by international students, were torn down to make room for the fields. In spite of its colorful past, Sutherland Avenue was unattractive and inaccessible when Forest Heights resident Terry Faulkner began fighting to improve the area. The area is unique because residential neighborhoods are within walking distance of stores, restaurants and public transportation.

Faulkner loved walking with her young children to Kay’s Ice Cream in the summer, and being able to walk to the grocery store on snowy days. But she recognized that a sidewalk shortage limited walkability on Sutherland. “It was the perfect place to do this environmentally-sustainable thing.� The Bearden Council formed to implement the Bearden Village plan after it was approved by MPC and City Council in 2001, and To page A-3

Burchett angry at state’s failure to help mentally ill By Betty Bean “When is the war on the mentally ill going to stop?� This was Tim Burchett’s question when he made the rounds of the Sunday talk shows to denounce the state’s decision not to help fund a behavioral health urgent care unit (formerly known as the safety center). Normally a fist-bumping jokester, the county mayor didn’t hide his anger over the Haslam administration’s failure to come through with the money to allow Knox County to divert mentally ill and addicted inmates from the jail population and steer them to treatment options. Burchett made multiple trips to Nashville to secure funding, and said he’d been led to believe the state would pony up some $2 million needed to make the center happen this year. Knox County put $1 million aside

the pinning ceremony held at Raintree Terrace, a memory care community located in the Bearden area. Oglesby was nominated for the Silver Star by his peers after he was shot down twice while flying helicopters in Vietnam. His wife, Lisa Oglesby, said he asked to complete one final tour in Vietnam in order to fly an air ambulance and help evacuate the injured. “That’s how he felt he could make the most of a bad situation – by helping others,� she said. “He never, ever uttered a word about being

Sutherland Avenue: Today and tomorrow

May 25, 2016

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Tim Burchett

Bill Haslam

for the facility several years ago, plus another $200,000 in this year’s budget. Mayor Madeline Rogero has set aside $200,000. That won’t be enough, but Burchett vowed to find the money and dismissed the explanation he was given for the administration’s decision. “I was misled about that, and I’m very put out about it. I was told, ‘Mental health is a local issue.’ Well, dadgummit, then, why do we have a Department of Mental Health in the state of Tennessee?�

He said the largest mental health hospitals in the state are the Shelby County, Davidson County and Knox County jails, and didn’t dodge the question of whether denial of state funds amounts to a broken promise by Gov. Bill Haslam: “Yes. I’m of the opinion it was – but regardless of the state’s partnership, we’re going to go ahead with it‌â€? Burchett said about half of mentally ill inmates are veterans and accused the governor of breaking his promise that funding would follow the patients after he shut down Lakeshore Institute in 2012. “We closed down Lakeshore and everybody loves Lakeshore Park – but where are those people going? You drive under any major bridge in Knoxville, you’ll see the human cost.â€? A couple of days after his talk

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show appearances, Burchett still hadn’t cooled off, and said he was offended that Haslam was pleading budget constraints while spending $8 million subsidizing the TV show “Nashville.� “They pulled the rug out from under us. I don’t like it when they start explaining that they didn’t get as much money as they expected, but I see all these little projects getting funded. “I spent 16 years in the Legislature, was on the Senate Finance Committee and chaired the Budget Subcommittee. I know the system and I don’t like hearing that crap. I know that taking care of the mentally ill’s not sexy like that miserable TV show – which has been cancelled, thank goodness – but when they talk about return on investment, I say, ‘What about investing To page A-3

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