VOL. 11 NO. 10
FIRST WORDS
School board will ‘buy local’ By Scott Frith The Knox County Board of Education is picking a new superintendent, and some are surprised that both finalists are from East Tennessee. Don’t be. Political trends swing like a penduScott Frith lum. When looking for new leadership, folks often go in the opposite direction. Not convinced? The best local example may be in the county mayor’s office. Remember those feuds between Dwight Kessel and Victor Ashe? By 1994, voters grew tired of the bickering and elected Tommy Schumpert on the promise of peace. For the most part, Schumpert succeeded. Yet, as he finished a second term, some viewed his “getting along� and calm demeanor as not aggressive enough in promoting economic development. They looked to then-County Commissioner Mike Ragsdale, who possessed enough charisma and sound bites to fill the entire City County Building. Ragsdale was elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006. But then, voters elected Tim Burchett, who couldn’t be more different. Think Lexus sedan vs. beat-up Jeep Cherokee; tailored suits vs. a brown Carhartt jacket. You get the idea. The same pattern emerges with the superintendent of schools. State law changed in 1992 to require school board appointment of superintendents. In 1999, our board picked Charles Q. Lindsay, a Mississippi native best remembered for relocating principals and getting directly involved in the messy politics of school board campaigns. Lindsay left in 2007. The next year, the board hired Jim McIntyre, an education technocrat, whose roots in Boston (and lack of political skill) couldn’t have been more different from Lindsay’s southern drawl and political brawling. McIntyre left last year. And now the school board appears to be buying local. Finalists are Bob Thomas (assistant superintendent since 1990) and Dale Lynch (superintendent of Hamblen County Schools since 2001). Thomas is the favorite to win. Do not be surprised. Both are the opposite of McIntyre. Scott Frith is a local attorney. You can visit his website at pleadthefrith.com
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March 8, 2017
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Bring a grande appetite to newest By Sandra Clark
Don Gallo
Mayor Tim Burchett and several county commissioners were present last week when the Zendejas family officially opened Don Gallo Mexican Grill at the Markets at Choto. Burchett said he had already eaten there several times. “It’s a wonderful family, and Kelly and I are looking forward to eating a lot more nachos.� The Zendejas family owns and operates Don Gallo restaurants at Choto and Hardin Valley. Owners are siblings Javier, Luis and Gabriela Zendejas. They promise fine tequila and the best margarita in town. A special treat is the Hardin Valley salad. Commissioners present were John Schoonmaker, Carson Dailey, Michele Carringer, Ed Brantley and Bob Thomas. The opening was special for John Huber, who had worked hard to persuade the commission to rezone land at the intersection of Choto Road and Northshore Drive At the ribbon-cutting for Don for neighborhood commercial use. Gallo are: Mariana and Javier The first business to open was Zendejas with son Paulo; Luis Weigel’s, followed by a Rural MetZendejas, his sister Gabriela ro fire hall and a walk-in clinic opZendejas and wife, Bertha, with erated by Tennova Healthcare. their kids Santiago and Miranda. Huber reached back to invite commissioners who had been involved with the rezoning as well as current day officeholders. The development has treated the land gently, in keeping with the Julie Blaylock, president of ribbon-cutting. And Don Gallo exclusive residential areas nearby. back and screening it. He built a Huber said he kept the roof lines pergola over the top to downplay the Farragut West Knox Cham- provided top-flight refreshments ber of Commerce, organized the for attendees. clean, venting exhaust out the the mechanical structures.
Town hears request for traffic calming By Margie Hagen Residents of Thornton Heights subdivision turned out last week for a general information meeting with town staff to discuss their request for a traffic calming application – we used to call them speed bumps, but the term nowadays is a “speed cushion.� One of the earliest subdivisions built in Farragut, Thornton Heights is just east of Concord Drive off Kingston Pike. Homes are situated on narrow hilly roads without sidewalks, and over the years, long-term residents have seen their neighborhood turned into a cut-through, with speeders using their streets to avoid traffic signals. Neighbors have banded together to appeal to the town for help. Last September, residents submitted a traffic calming application
and a committee was formed. Spearheaded by town engineers Darryl Smith and David Sparks, the traffic team members include residents Lewis and Cindy Howard, Rebecca Hill and Carol Littlejohn. A speed study was done and an area on Thornton Drive does qualify, but residents want additional speed cushions installed. During the meeting they spoke out: ■■Mark Mathews has had cars run onto his yard on three occasions, once even breaking his sidewalk. ■■Janice Williams noted that “We don’t have sidewalks, so for the walkers the street is our sidewalk. Sometimes we have to jump out of the way.� ■■Lewis Howard worries about his wife backing out of the driveway, “It’s really
dangerous.� Others voiced the same concerns, so what’s next? Voting cards will be mailed out to those residents affected, and in order to proceed, 65 percent must vote in favor of the speed cushions. If the vote favors the measures, the town engineers will determine the design and cost and submit the information to FMPC for a recommendation to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, who will make the final decision. There are a lot of steps in the process, but the residents of Thornton Heights are committed to keeping their neighborhood safe by going about it the right way – civil and reasoned cooperation with the town to get what they need.
Will rezoning bring resegregation? By Betty Bean While some worry that the proposed middle school rezoning plan will undo years of desegregation efforts and land Knox County Schools in federal court, the two players most likely to be on opposite sides of the courtroom look at the issue from very different perspectives, but do not seem overly concerned about that possibility – for now. “This (plan) is a good first step, as far as it goes,� said NAACP president John Butler, who filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights after the agreement to build a new Gibbs Middle School was unveiled.
Knox County has built new schools in recent years only in predominantly white communities. “Now that you are zoning (minority students) back in, we need to Armstrong have facilities and staffs looked at and steps taken to eliminate inequity,� said Butler. He wants new, state-of-the-art middle and high schools staffed with faculties who understand the needs of minority students. He will not withdraw the complaint, even after Buzz Thomas, interim superintendent, asked him to do so.
Knox County Law Director Bud Armstrong said desegregation was not the primary purpose of the 1991 rezoning plan that closed schools and bused inner city kids to distant parts of the county. He cited a 1991 opinion by U.S. District Court Judge Leon Jordan that found no evidence of intentional discrimination by Knox County Schools. Jordan said the only question the court could ask was “whether the motivation in adopting the plan was invidious discrimination on the basis of race, and the Court finds that there was not.� Armstrong said: “They did not close Gibbs and move them to Holston Middle School because
those schools were segregated. Conversely, if they reopen Gibbs, it won’t be to resegregate those schools.� Whether intended or not, the rezoning will result in some schools having a higher percentage of African-Americans while others have lower. To paraphrase former school board chair Sam Anderson: We can be sure black kids are treated fairly when they are sitting next to a white kid and both are treated the same. That’s what the U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1954 (Brown vs. The Board of Education): “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.� Are we entering the post-Brown era?
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