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NEIGHBORHOOD BUZZ
Davis to head new school Veteran principal Susan Davis has been named to lead the new southwest elementary school now under construction at Northshore Town Center. Superintendent Dr. Davis Jim McIntyre said Davis will play a key role, working with the contractor to complete the school as well as hiring staff and working with parents and students to establish the community of the school. She will step down as principal at Cedar Bluff Elementary School where she has worked in administration since 2004. Davis joined Knox County Schools in 1992 as a teacher at Whittle Springs Middle School. A resident of East Knox County, she is married to attorney and former state Rep. Jimmy Kyle Davis.
IN THIS ISSUE
Miracle Maker
It’s just after 9 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, and Tracy Thomas’ 2nd-grade students at Halls Elementary are gathered in the corner of the classroom. Thomas reads a book the class has chosen, “Abraham Lincoln Comes Home,” about the funereal train trip that returned the slain 16th president home to Springfield, Ill., after his assassination. The students listen attentively, ask questions and do all the things you’d expect them to do. The amazing part is what happens next.
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Coffee Break He is the man of the hour. Our jolly ol’ elf, Kriss Kringle, aka Santa Claus, agreed to take a few minutes to share with ShopperNews readers by answering the questions over this week’s Coffee Break.
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Away in a manger By Suzanne Foree Neal From the sheep on top of the stable to the king who is missing a hand to a “stinky” crèche made out of walnut shells, the stories about family nativity sets are often as rich as the holy message they represent. Joan DeTar at Concord United Methodist Church invited members to bring their nativity scenes to the church for a “show and tell” evening on Dec. 12. Members responded with 17 nativities to share, each with a rich story. The nativities came from as far away as Haiti to as close as Pigeon Forge. Some were traditional in look, while others had their own unique character. Marion Bayless brought her most recent one that she bought in Ecuador on a church mission trip. The retired nurse/missionary loves to collect nativities in her travels, but her greatest joy is in giving them away. She started collecting and giving them as gifts after what she calls her “most unusual Christmas ever.” “I was in Zimbabwe serving as a missionary,” she begins. “It was my first Christmas in a hospital setting. The patients had never seen a Christmas tree. I brought in a scraggly tree and put all sorts of decorations on it, things you would never see in the U.S. I told them about Christ being born and about the nativity and that we exchange gifts. “Families had to come and feed the patients. They brought eggs, corn, green beans and a live chicken. They fed us. It was the most un-
Carrie LeSage delights in telling guests about the history of her Fontanini Italian-made nativity collection during a nativity show-and-tell night at Concord United Methodist Church. Photos by S.F. Neal
usual Christmas I have ever had.” Renee Henderson, accompanied by her son Taylor, 3, brought a nativity set that has been in her family since 1977. She saw it at an Eckert Drug store in Orlando, Fla., that year, and thought it was the perfect Christmas gift for her mother. Her
piggybank was a little light, so her father made up the difference. Her mother later gave it to her so she could make it part of her family traditions. Last year she found that someone had put the sheep up on top of the stable. “Taylor explained to me
December 24, 2012
Nativity stories resonate with season’s message that it needed some hay,” she says. Carrie LeSage has collected Italian-made Fontanini nativity sets for years. Each year her children give her a few more pieces for Christmas. She has the inn, stable and king’s tent. LeSage jokes that she has the only set with a handicapped king. He is missing his left hand because the family dog thought he was a chew toy. Carole and Dave Conklin brought two family nativities. One, made of papier mâché, was made for Carole’s father many years ago. The other was made from molds painted to look like metal by her father and stepmother. “The papier mâché is pretty fragile and needs a little repair work, but because it belonged to my father, it is special to me,” she says. DeTar, who works at the church, is a serious collector with about 60 nativities. Her smallest is the size of a tiny matchbox, and she has a 5-pound one carved out of stone. A nativity set she received as a thank you gift on a 2005 mission trip to Ecuador made for an interesting trip home. The set is made of walnut shells. “It was a thank you for building a daycare center,” she explains. “They smelled so bad that we had to put them in a plastic baggie to get them home.” DeTar bought one carved from olive wood during a trip to Israel in 1996. She also has a set made out of marzipan. There is one that she doesn’t have that she really wants to check off her “wanted” list: “I want a big one for the front yard at my house!”
Development District. It shows combined monthly rates for 7,000 gallon users: tial customers is $9.60 for the first Hallsdale Powell – $128.64 By Sandra Clark KUB – $106.62 First Utility District water and 1,500 gallons, $2.53 per 1,000 galLenoir City – $101.62 sewer customers will see a bit lons from 1,501 to 8,000 gallons, $3.16 per 1,000 gallons for 8,001 Knox Chapman – $96.59 higher bill come February. West Knox – $73.37 Commissioners on Dec. 18 ad- to 20,000 gallons, and $4.43 per Alcoa – $68.10 opted a five percent rate increase. 1,000 gallons over 20,000 gallons. The 4-page rate resolution inIn November, First Utility colA customer using 7,000 gallons of water per month now pays $22.41 cludes the fee schedule for connec- lected $2.7 million in receipts. The for water and $37.50 for sewer tions, late fees, backflow preven- district set 27 water meters (279 tion devices, and multiple water/ year-to-date), and inspected 27 ($59.91 combined). sewer hookups. The new rate will be $23.52 sewer service. Commissioners were provided Commissioners also adopted a for water and $39.45 for sewer an analysis of area utility rates budget for 2013, projecting rev($62.97 combined). The minimum bill for residen- compiled by the East Tennessee enue of $24.2 million. Wayne Watson presents the budget.
First Utility to boost rates
It’s a plan
noted that you don’t have to drive very far off Kingston Pike into the neighborhood to feel like you are in a different place. Resident Greg Wayland said the neighborhood is bounded by a flood plain, Costco and U-Haul. “It’s pretty well developed all the way around us. We want to maintain our current zoning,” Wayland said. By Suzanne Foree Neal “Powell Acres subdivision has The Farragut Municipal Planning Commission has finally been there for 40 years,” said resisigned off on the town’s Com- dent Dick Caywood. “We deserve prehensive Land Use Plan, after better from Farragut than to go tweaking it Dec. 20 at the request from low density residential to regional commercial development. of residents of Powell Acres. The proposed plan called for Do you intend to buy up properchanging the zoning of the subdi- ties? I hope you will reroute that vision from low density residential (zoning) around our subdivision.” Tom Rosseel, who represented to regional commercial development, with the commercial strip the residents in talks with Costco, fronting the subdivision on Kings- echoed the sentiment. “I don’t think this should even be in the ton Pike to have similar zoning. One of the oldest subdivisions plan. They have no desire to be in town, Powell Acres is a quaint bought out. Leave it residential.” Mayor Ralph McGill tried to neighborhood that backs up to Turkey Creek. Community De- ease fears by explaining that the velopment director Ruth Hawk land use plan is a suggested plan,
Land use roadmap gets MPC approval
and there are no zoning changes on the table at this point. “It’s just a map, not an action,” he said. Commissioner Noah Myers said the only way he would support rezoning of the neighborhood would be if a developer came in and bought every house in the subdivision, citing the recent buyout of several houses in Oak Ridge for a new Kroger. “In no way could I support eminent domain for a private developer. If even one homeowner said, ‘No, not moving out,’ I couldn’t support the rezoning.” The residents prevailed, with Farragut MPC deciding to leave Powell Acres zoned low density residential. Property from Powell Acres to Newport Road will remain at its current commercial zoning. Others who addressed commissioners about zoning changes on their property will have to wait for another day. In explanation, Commissioner Ron Honken said that Powell Acres is a reality, while the other locations are undeveloped
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VOL. 6 NO. 52
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property. Property owners will have an opportunity to request whatever zoning they want when the property is developed. Jeff Winston of Winston Associates, the firm that oversaw development of the land use plan, said that only about one percent of the town’s residents participated in its development. “We weren’t able to roust a majority of the population, which is not unusual, even across the U.S.,” he said. “We reached out to a variety of groups, not just with public meetings. At the end of the day, this is about tradeoffs. It is a plan and not a mandate.” The Comprehensive Land Use Plan is tied to the town’s Strategic Plan, and Winston said both are intended to work together for the town’s future. With its approval, the planning commission has adopted a road map for Farragut’s future, said Winston, but it will be up to the To page A-5