VOL. 8 NO. 12
‘ROUND TOWN
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March 24, 2014
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Trial by Trivia
Pressure and pizza fuel fun at Brixx
➤ Getting ready
for the Fourth We’ve welcomed spring, now let’s get ready for July 4th. The Independence Day Parade is a big deal in Farragut, so planning starts early. The registration form for the 27th annual Independence Day Parade will be available on Tuesday, April 1. It can be downloaded online at www.townoffarragut.org/ formcenter or picked up at the Farragut Town Hall, 11408 Municipal Center Drive, beginning at 8 a.m. on April 1. The parade is scheduled for Friday, July 4, at 9:30 a.m. The deadline for registrations is Thursday, June 19, until the Town receives 95 entries, or the lineup area is full, whichever comes first. Entries can be submitted by groups such as businesses and community organizations and can include antique cars, floats and entertainment.
➤ Money for your
charity It is just days away, so get the paperwork in. The deadline for nonprofits charitable and civic organizations to apply for the town of Farragut Community Grants is 5 p.m. on Monday, March 31. The 2015 Community Grants Programs run from July 1, 2014, to June 30, 2015. The grant monies are intended to be used to promote the general welfare of the residents of the town and are awarded by a vote of the Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen. Allison Myers has all the info: 966-7057 or allison. myers@townoffarragut.org.
➤ Upcoming at
Town Hall Visual Resources Review Board – 7 p.m. Monday, March 24; Farragut Folklife Museum Board – 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 25; Board of Mayor and Aldermen – 7 p.m. Thursday, March 27; Farragut/Knox County Schools Education Relations Committee – 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 1; Arts Council – 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 1; Economic Development Committee – 8 a.m. Wednesday, April 2; Stormwater Advisory Committee – 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 10; BOMA – 7 p.m. Thursday, April 10.
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The Z Fighters, Brandon Blazer, Reimi Sato, Ryan Howard, Parker Michael and Cody Sprague, discuss the answer to a trivia question at Brixx Wood Fired Pizza at Turkey Creek. Photos by Betsy Pickle
By Betsy Pickle “Jeopardy!” fans know the drill. You sit at home in the comfort of your recliner, tuned in to watch Alex Trebek quiz three ordinary people on subjects ranging from actors to zoology. Unhampered by a buzzing device or the necessity of posing your answers in the form of a question, you bark out the answers before the dimwit contestants can even gather their thoughts. Easy peasy. By the end of the half-hour, you’ve won $30,000! That’s the fantasy. The reality is trivia night at Brixx Wood Fired Pizza. Trivia? That’s a misnomer. The crowds that gather at the weekly 8
p.m. Thursday event are as intense as the teams battling their way through March Madness on the big screens in the Turkey Creek restaurant. Players come armed with advanced degrees and encyclopedic knowledge of geography, history, literature, math, science and pop culture – and still face the agony of defeat, more often than not. Trivia jockey Caitlin Riddell has run the show at Brixx for the past two years. She usually has 14 or 15 teams playing. The teams can be any size – from one person sitting alone at the bar to a collective of brain trusts of nine or 10. As a guest of the group calling themselves the Brain Cramps –
mostly engineer types who work in Oak Ridge – I was expected to contribute on the entertainment categories. I have a certain professional familiarity with movies and music, so I was cautiously optimistic about the role that I might play. Yeah, right. In the age of smoke-free restaurants, with as many competitors hopped up on soft drinks as relaxed by beer, I was facing a new breed of trivia buffs – organized, calm, cutthroat and fueled by Brixx’s wood-fired pizza. And once again I was confronted by my own knack for choking under pressure. I walked around a bit, check-
Parker Michael challenges a teammate’s solution at trivia night at Brixx. ing out the other teams while trying not to make them think I was cheating. I found a group of young To page A-3
Unraveling the mystery of the Williams house By Betsy Pickle It had the feel of an assortment of anthropologists, this group of University of Tennessee officials gathered to tour the Eugenia Williams house at 4848 Lyons View Pike. They were interested but detached, scientists ready to observe but reluctant to show excitement over the historic gem bequeathed to UT by an eccentric heir who intended it as a memorial to her physician/ investor father and a boon to UT’s educational mission. Their duty was to examine the 1940-built Regency-style brick home, built sparing no cost and with innovative features for its era. To observe – and report. Empty for the last 17 years of Williams’ life and bequeathed to UT at her death in February 1998, the house has been a burden for nearly
16 years. With no practical use for a private home on 24 acres backed up by the Tennessee River, the university has let the property sit empty, with minimal maintenance. Time, neglect and vandalism have taken their toll. Now, UT’s president, Joe DiPietro, has decided to end the indecision. He set up a committee, chaired by Butch Peccolo, to study the property and make suggestions. The committee members came prepared with facts and figures. They were ready to get serious. Going room to room in the dimly lighted building, they marveled at the details of fireplace mantels and chandeliers, the spaciousness of the rooms and closets, the modernity of the stainless-steel appliances of the kitchen and the roomy three-car garage.
All were impressed with Williams’ master suite with its marble sink and walk-in closet – a room as big as many apartment bedrooms. Every step of the multiple stairways seemed sturdy, but walls and ceilings were in bad shape. The house seemed not haunted but resigned to its fate. A walk down a steep drive to a brick carriage house revealed one stall and a perplexing collection of change drawers. The carriage house could make a pleasant abode in its own right, the group noted. At the end of the hour, the UT officials were reticent, reluctant to share individual thoughts. “It was a grand house,” Peccolo said. “We all agree on that. Unfortunately, it was 17 years empty before
we got it, so it’s deteriorated. But in its day, it was a nice place.” The committee will decide the home’s potential, Peccolo said. “We looked at the acquisition of it through bequest and all the restrictions on it, what our options are there. We looked at what other uses have been proposed. “Everybody’s armed with that information. We’re going to disband, think about it, get creative, reconvene and talk through some options. So that’s the process. When we end, we’ll hopefully have three or four recommendations to give to President DiPietro for his consideration and action.” There is no set timetable. “We don’t need this to linger though,” said Peccolo. “I would hope that we could get all that done in the next 30, 45 days anyway.”
How many sheriff’s cars patrol Knox County? By Sandra Clark Last week candidate Bobby Waggoner said at any given time there are fewer than 30 officers on patrol in the 400 square miles beyond the city limits, the area patrolled by the Sheriff’s Office. We asked Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones for a response and were told, “The sheriff doesn’t respond to purely political innuendos.”
Analysis This writer is old enough to remember when Bobby’s grandpa, the late Bernard Waggoner Sr., was sheriff. In the mid-1960s, Knox County had four cars on patrol for each shift: south, east, north, west. Tim Hutchison drove on the north patrol. Since then, mostly under
ALL-INCLUSIVE
Hutchison’s leadership, the Sheriff’s Office has grown to some 1,000 employees. Most are eligible for a generous pension. And I believe the folks who are paying the bills deserve to know how many officers are patrolling the neighborhoods on each shift. It’s a simple question. Stay tuned. We will continue to ask until you get an answer.
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