GOVERNMENT/POLITICS A4 | OUR COLUMNISTS A6-7 | YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS A9 | HEALTH & LIFESTYLES SECTION B | BUSINESS SECTION C
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VOL. 5, NO. 32
AUGUST 8, 2011
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Come one, come all! Turkey Creek Public Market opens Friday, Aug. 12! Visit more than 500 artisans, crafters, farmers and pickers offering the widest selection of goods and services. See page A-2
Million dollar deal Harper Volkswagen to expand See page C-1
FEATURED COLUMNIST SANDRA CLARK
McIntyre’s nod gives boost to new school at Carter See page 5
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Play ball! Homeschool student moves to Loudon By Natalie Lester After living in Farragut for the last five years, David Logan and his parents are moving to Loudon County. David plans to take the field with the Loudon High School baseball team this season, even though he will not be attending the school for his education. He has been home-schooled since middle school and enjoys being able to set his own schedule. However, he also wanted to play baseball at a more competitive level. “I learn easier and quicker at home,” he said. “But I want to play baseball in college and scouts are skeptical of players who aren’t playing for a regular high school team.” Logan had tried a home-school league last year, but the competition was not what the family had hoped. He recently petitioned the Knox County Board of Education to allow home-schooled students to try out for public school’s athletic teams. The resolution passed its fi rst reading, but was tabled at the July meeting. “I was a little nervous (about presenting to the Board),” David said. “Once I got started, it was
pretty easy.” “The people we contacted were very willing to discuss it,” said Scott, David’s father. “But by tabling it they put us off for another year and we couldn’t wait.” The paperwork for David to play had to be submitted to the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association last week. David, who plays catcher, had hoped to join the Farragut High School team, but time ran out. “Farragut was my first choice, because we live here and the team’s reputation is outstanding,” he said. “It seemed like the better choice, but since the Board didn’t approve it, I had to go where I had the opportunity.” Therefore, he will be wearing red this season. He will not only join a new team in Loudon, but his family will move to a new home too. “It hit us by surprise because we thought we’d be able to stay where we are,” Scott said. “This will be a change to our lives, but it is a manageable change.” David played in a summer league with the LHS team. He said the players, coaches and Loudon County School Board have welcomed him. To page A-2
Junior David Logan plays baseball in Campbell Station Park. The homeschooled student petitioned the Knox County Board of Education to allow home-schooled students to try out for public school athletic teams. When the Board tabled the item, Logan’s family decided to move to Loudon County where he will be able to play. Photo by N. Lester
Believing in a miracle By Natalie Lester When her sister was diagnosed with breast cancer in January, Marianne McGill was unsure how she would handle such news if she were ever stricken herself. Two months later she faced the same diagnosis. “I had never been seriously sick in my life,” she said. “I didn’t know how I would be able to handle it, but there was such a wave of peace. It was a peace that surpasses all understanding.” McGill had her first surgery in April and a second in May. Her doctors originally thought her
Marianne McGill battles breast cancer She had her third surgery on July 25. Despite everything at stake, McGill was calm. “I thought I would be a wreck,” she said. “I knew I was going into surgery but I had such a peace. I knew I needed to depend on God. He had been with me every step of the way and each time I went in believing it was going to go away.” After her surgery on Monday, McGill was back in the choir at First Baptist Church Concord on Wednesday night. “I felt great,” she said. On Thursday, she got the call she had been waiting for. Her nurse To page A-3
case was minor. Yet the more work they did, the more extensive they found the disease to be. “It was almost double what they originally thought was there,” she said. Even after a second surgery, there were still spots of cancer and her doctors suggested a mastectomy. McGill prayed for other options, and her doctors told her a third surgery was possible. “I was bombarded with advice in both directions,” she said. “I Marianne McGill, wife of town of Far- prayed for clarity on what I was ragut Mayor Ralph McGill, believes supposed to do. All along, I had she is winning her fight against breast been trusting God for a miracle cancer. Photo by N. Lester and it was no time to stop.”
Balancing the crime budget By Larry Van Guilder (First in a series) Crime doesn’t pay, but it does cost taxpayers. As Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett looks for ways to reduce government spending, it’s time to examine the high cost of incarceration and consider expanding the alternatives.
Analysis Recently a high-ranking Knox County Sheriff’s Office official was lamenting the attitude of prisoners who refuse to work even if it means an early out. Some with six-
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month stays at the jail were offered a chance to halve their sentences if they would join inmate work gangs. They refused, preferring to spend their “vacation” inside. There’s little to be done in the short run to change inmate attitudes, but there are steps that can be taken to keep down the cost of housing inmates. One is the electronic monitoring (ankle bracelet) program that Knox County has used increasingly for several years. Allison Rogers of the KCSO says the current cost per day for housing inmates is $74. The electronic monitoring bracelets are leased for $10 per day, but the offender reimburses the
sheriff’s office for that cost. Currently, three KCSO employees supervise approximately 1,000 offenders on the program. “The offenders are able to work and therefore lessen the tax burden on the citizens of Knox County,” Rogers notes. The KCSO has dealt with a perfect storm of issues that began in the late 1980s when a class action suit was filed by inmates. The suit alleged overcrowding had resulted in conditions which violated inmate rights guaranteed by the Eighth and 14th Amendments to the Constitution. Subsequently, the court threatened Knox County with a $5,000 per inmate per day fine for exceeding the
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maximum capacity of the downtown intake center. An additional pod for housing prisoners at the Maloneyville Road detention center alleviated overcrowding downtown, but the KCSO is also dealing with problems that originated outside the county. According to Rogers, between 18 and 22 percent of prisoners suffer from some form of mental illness. These include homeless persons typically jailed for minor offenses. Like hundreds of law enforcement agencies across the nation, the KCSO finds itself grappling with a problem that originated more than 50 years To page A-3
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