Farragut Shopper-News 071811

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GOVERNMENT/POLITICS A4 | OUR COLUMNISTS A6-7 | HEALTH & LIFESTYLES SECTION B | BUSINESS SECTION C

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VOL. 5, NO. 29

JULY 18, 2011

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STAR shines for kids East Tennessee Foundation helps therapeutic riding academy

Finding Davy Retiree spends week with Crockett

By Natalie Lester A recent $2,500 grant from the East Tennessee Foundation will cover the annual expenses of two students at the Shangri-La Therapeutic Academy of Riding (STAR). The grant is part of the foundation’s initiative to celebrate its 25th anniversary by giving $2,500 to a nonprofit in each of the 25 counties it serves. “We are giving gifts on our birthday,� said president and CEO Michael McClamroch. “A lot of nonprofits are doing great things but not many are greater than STAR.� STAR teaches individuals with disabilities to ride horses, which builds motor skills and self-esteem. Students pay for a third of the lessons’ cost, but the academy covers the rest. “It is up to us to make up the differ-

See page A-6

Adams leaving Young-Williams Tim Adams will be leaving his position as executive director of YoungWilliams Animal Center on Aug. 5. He Adams has accepted a position with the Wesley House Community Center. “I started out as a teacher, and I miss the children,� said Adams. “This will really be a ministry for me.�

Fritz Siegel grooms his horse during his weekly lesson at STAR. Photo by N. Lester

To page A-3

– Sara Barrett

Recycler makes noise at MPC FEATURED COLUMNIST LARRY VAN GUILDER

‘Going, going, gone!’ Solway property to change hands See page A-4

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posed the amendment and rezoning. One of the business owners, Donald White, supplied the sound effects, a recording made outside By Larry Van Guilder his back door of the sound from the Not every Metropolitan Planmetal recycling operation currently ning Commission meeting comes on the property. complete with sound effects. This But the current operator is not one did, but a little noise didn’t stop MPC from approving a sector plan PSC Metals, and attorney Arthur amendment and rezoning for the Seymour Jr. made sure to note the difference. applicant, PSC Metals. “(PSC) will only operate when Frederick Brabson Sr., pastor it is in full compliance with all loof New Covenant Baptist Church, and several property owners with cal, state and federal law,� Seymour businesses on Starkey Lane, which said. He added that PSC has a fullabuts the Cogdill Road site, op- time environmental staff, and the

Rezoning approved for PSC Metals

Hillcrest on the list raises questions

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By Larry Van Guilder In the fall of 2008, then-Mayor Mike Ragsdale offered to sell three nursing homes to Hillcrest Healthcare which operated the facilities under a $1 per year lease from the

Analysis 10512 Lexington Dr., Ste. 500 37932 (865) 218-WEST (9378) news@ShopperNewsNow.com ads@ShopperNewsNow.com EDITOR Larry Van Guilder lvgknox@mindspring.com ADVERTISING SALES Paige Davis davisp@ShopperNewsNow.com Darlene Hacker hackerd@ShopperNewsNow.com Debbie Moss mossd@ShopperNewsNow.com Shopper-News is a member of KNS Media Group, published weekly at 10512 Lexington Drive, Suite 500, Knoxville, TN, and distributed to 33,237 homes in Farragut, Karns and Hardin Valley.

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county. The proposal ignited a debate that lingered until the lease was extended in February 2009 under the same financial terms with Grace Healthcare taking over management of the facilities. Now, Mayor Tim Burchett’s office has included the nursing homes in a list of properties that could be sold to raise cash for a new elementary school in Carter. But is the mayor serious? Ragsdale’s offer to sell the properties to Hillcrest for $6 million quickly drew fire. Former Commissioner Paul Pinkston countered with a proposal to solicit bids with a minimum asking price of $22 million. The issue divided County Com-

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mission. Mike Hammond said he’d received calls and emails asking the county not to balance the budget on “the backs of our sick and elderly.� Early in 2010, the debate flared again when Hillcrest West lost its Medicare and Medicaid certification, and questions about the county’s $1 per year lease resurfaced. One veteran of the nursing home industry said Hillcrest West might bring as much as $6 million in an outright sale, and a lease arrangement under a new provider could generate annual revenue of $700,000 or more for the county. Grace weathered that storm, but including the nursing homes on a list of potential property sales reopens the issue. When commission extended the lease in 2009, it approved an amendment that allows for early termination only “for cause.� The lease runs until 2016. What “cause� could the mayor cite at this date for terminating the lease? The school board’s attitude must also be considered. The vote to approve Burchett’s plan for Carter is likely to be close, and its members won’t look favorably on a plan that could put seniors at risk.

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Burchett’s communications manager, Michael Grider, says the list of properties was compiled to show that the county could raise the money needed for the new school. To our specific question, Grider replied that (to his knowledge) “no one in the administration has discussed the possibility of selling the Hillcrest properties with Grace.� He added that the school board must approve the mayor’s plan for Carter, that County Commission must sign off on any proposed sale, and that no properties are currently for sale. Thus, the question: why include the nursing homes on a list that sooner or later will be made public

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But the pastor’s 161 signatures on a petition opposing the applicant and the nerve-wracking sound effects were drowned out by a PSC representative’s statement that the company provided $8 million in wages and purchased $55 million in scrap metal in Knox County last year. And, said the applicant, you can trust us not to be like the noisy neighbor you’re dealing with now. Commissioner Rachel Craig picked out the fly in the ointment, saying she was concerned that – in effect – MPC was saying that because current uses conflict with the sector plan the sector plan must be wrong. Only Stan Johnson agreed with her reasoning, and the applicant prevailed 11-2.

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lot will be “screened, no fumes and little noise.� White’s sound effects were of the fingernails on the blackboard variety, but Brabson made the most impassioned pleas to keep PSC out. “Our church is a seven day a week church,� he said, adding that he’d like to see compliance with what the current zoning requires in order to restore “peace and tranquility in our neighborhood.� His point: the current metal recycling operation is operating in violation of the existing zoning. Brabson later argued that, “in layperson terms,� if a person is driving 75 mph in a 50 mph zone, the fi x is not to raise the speed limit to 75.

unless the facilities are serious candidates for sale to the highest bidder? One reason could be to inflate the total value of properties on the list. Hillcrest North was appraised for $8.5 million in 2007, a substantial piece of the $19.3 million total for which the mayor’s office provided appraised values. But the most likely explanation is that someone was asleep. Just putting the facilities on the list might cook up a stew the mayor would choke on. Burchett isn’t seriously considering selling the nursing homes to build an elementary school. But somebody on the sixth floor needs to get serious about the details.

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