Farragut Shopper-News 090314

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VOL. 8 NO. 35

New York to Knoxville Fashion, style, chic, vogue, it’s all here in the latest edition of New York to Knoxville. Start spreadin’ the news ... ATION FROM L PUBLIC A SPECIA

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Buckets overflowing Farragut ALS challenge takes it to the top By Betsy Pickle

➤ New playground

for park The town of Farragut has received a Local Parks and Recreation Fund (LPRF) grant from Gov. Bill Haslam and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation in support of the playground replacement project at Mayor Bob Leonard Park. Haslam awarded a total of $6.6 million this year to fund local parks and recreation projects across Tennessee. Farragut will receive a $43,000 matching grant for the new playground at Mayor Bob Leonard Park. The project will include a new playground structure, ADA approved playground surface and energy efficient LED lighting. Grant recipients were selected through a scoring process which gave consideration to the projects that met the selection criteria and expressed the greatest local recreation need.

➤ Upcoming at

Town Hall Economic Development Committee – 8 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 3 Stormwater Advisory Committee (SAC) – 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 11 Board of Mayor and Aldermen – 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 11 Personnel Committee – 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16

The Ice Bucket Challenge shows no sign of fading in popularity at Farragut High School. After all, teenagers there have a plentiful supply of adults to pour ice water on – for a good cause. And what better targets to make a splash with than the new principal, Stephanie Thompson, and a new assistant principal, Anthony Norris? They both took a dunking last Friday in an earlymorning event that drew a happy crowd of onlookers. The social-media phenomenon of the summer, the challenge went viral when it was promoted as a fundraiser for ALS awareness,

Principal Stephanie Thompson and assistant principal Anthony Norris are dunked by senior Chase Biefeldt and sophomore Austin Hoag, respectively. Photo by Betsy Pickle

research and patient support. People are tagged and challenged to make a video of themselves being doused with ice water or to donate $100 to the ALS Association.

Most participants choose to do the end of August. Typically, donavideo and to donate. tions are a fraction of that. ALS, or The ALS Association last week amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also reported receiving $100 million To page A-3 between the end of July and the

Taking office New, returning town officials sworn in By Wendy Smith A new alderman and a new vision for the branding of Farragut were the bookends of last week’s meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen. Ron Pinchok was sworn in for the first time as Ward 2 alderman. Bob Markli was sworn in for his second term as Ward 1 alderman, and Mayor Ralph McGill was sworn in for his second term as mayor. Dot LaMarche was reelected vice-mayor. One of Pinchok’s first duties was to approve a branding platform statement created by Northstar Destination Strategies. The company has been conducting

research via surveys of Farragut leaders, residents and non-residents since February with the goal of creating a brand for the town. Lori Odom, vice president of research and economic development at Northstar, presented a summary of the extensive data collected. Residents perceive the town’s greatest assets as excellent schools, parks and greenways, and its location. They perceive its greatest challenge as vacant storefronts. If residents could change one thing about Farragut, the top choice would be a more complete “downtown” feel. Odom reported that Farragut broke Northstar’s record for a high rating as a place to live on the “brand barometer.” Nationally, 39 percent would say they

Town of Farragut Judge Lucinda Troyer swears in Alderman Ron Pinchok as Marianne McGill holds the Bible. Alderman Bob Markli, in the background, was sworn in for a second term at last week’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting. Photo by Wendy Smith are “extremely likely” to recom- dents would recommend the town mend their town as a place to live as a place to live. “People love living in Farragut,” to a friend or colleague. But 72.6 percent of surveyed Farragut resiTo page A-3

Farragut Folklife Museum – 1 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 23

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TSD grows Tennessee School for the Deaf is growing. Betsy Pickle writes about the projects underway on the cover of the South Knox Shopper-News.

10512 Lexington Dr., Ste. 500 37932 (865) 218-WEST (9378) NEWS news@ShopperNewsNow.com Sherri Gardner Howell ADVERTISING SALES ads@ShopperNewsNow.com Shannon Carey Jim Brannon | Tony Cranmore Patty Fecco | Wendy O’Dell

The destruction of Coach Roach By Betty Bean On election night in Grainger County, supporters of longtime state Rep. Dennis “Coach” Roach got together to await the 35th House District Republican Primary returns. Their candidate fought hard to overcome a tsunami of negative advertising financed by as much as $500,000 from out-of-state special-interest groups blasting Roach for “ghost voting” (the common and fairly innocuous practice of seat-mates pushing the voting button for neighbors who have stepped out to use the restroom or take a smoke). The ads painted it as dangerous and lazy, but Roach’s supporters were cautiously optimistic that Roach, a popular teacher and basketball coach who had served since 1994, would survive.

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“We thought Jerry was going to get his showing, but it turned out we got our showing,” said Grainger County Commissioner James Acuff. When the final tally was in, Roach lost by nearly 1,000 votes to opponent Jerry Sexton, a preacher turned furniture manu-

facturer whose Facebook page describes him as “More pro-life than your pastor, more for the Second Amendment than Davy Crockett, and more for traditional marriage than Adam and Eve.” The real issue that got the attention of 501(c)(4) groups like the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity and the Tennessee Federation for Children wasn’t ghost voting at all. “It all came down to my vote on the vouchers,” said Roach, whose district includes Grainger and parts of Union and Claiborne counties. Roach was particularly disappointed in his Union County showing, where he lost 670-320. “We thought we might do a little better than that after saving them $497,000 (by pushing to

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keep the K12 Inc. Virtual Academy open against the wishes of Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman). We helped (Union County) save that revenue, and they ran a thank-you in the News Sentinel. “But I guess what we did didn’t impress them enough to overcome those ads. They were good ads but just about 99 percent false.” Roach cast the fateful vote on March 5 in the House Finance Ways & Means subcommittee (aka “the Black Hole”) opposing a school voucher bill that would have directed taxpayer money to private schools. “I could have very easily voted for them and saved myself this trouble, but I’ve been in education all my life, and it’s not a real good

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