VOL. 7 NO. 39
IN THIS ISSUE
Miracle Maker
Ernie Roberts retired at the end of spring semester 2009 after 30 years of teaching – mostly math – in the Knoxville and Knox County school systems. That fall, he was asked to return to Bearden High School, where he’d taught since 1984, to fill in for a teacher on maternity leave. He hasn’t had a free semester since then.
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Read Betsy Pickle on A-9
Coffee Break Mike Pope has been digging in the dirt his whole life. In the West Knoxville community, the Pope name is a familiar one for those who ahve a passion for growing things. Learn more about Mike in this week’s Coffee Break.
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See story on A-2
UT needs solution for Williams house Three months ago, I visited the historic Eugenia Williams home at 4848 Lyons View Pike which is owned by the University of Tennessee. On Sept. 20, I made a return visit to see what changes had occurred since late June. Clearly, UT maintenance crews had worked hard this summer to remove the almost jungle-like vegetation encircling the carriage house behind the main house (not visible from Lyons View Pike) as well as the driveway leading to it. UT leaders may wish they had not taken this property, but they did and now a solution must be found.
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Read Victor Ashe on A-4
Big game in town “Big game in town,” Marvin West writes. Chance for a sizable upset. Could be a defining moment in the coaching career of Lyle Allen “Butch” Jones Jr. I suppose that’s a reach. The odds are seriously against it. Georgia has a sizable edge in speed, at quarterback, running back and in overall talent.”
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Read Marvin West on A-6
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Accessible water
Team from First Utility aids Guatemalan village By Laura Cline Instead of spending hours each day hauling water from a river, 35 Guatemalan families now have clean drinking water, thanks to the efforts of employees at First Utility District of Knox County. Since April 2012, the volunteers have laid more than 12 miles of water line that now serve the indigenous Mayans in the Ulpan Valley of Guatemala. The project is part of a larger effort on the part of Knox ProCorps, which provides local professionals with ways to use their skills to improve the quality of life for poor communities, both locally and internationally. Giving communities the education, training and infrastructure necessary to build and maintain a water system is one of the organization’s key commitments. “We didn’t want to do a quick fi x,” said Bruce Giles, FUD’s general manager. “We wanted to know that someone was there managing the system.” That meant providing the local community with the education and skills necessary to keep the system running after the team
left. The group’s most recent trip was Feb. 15. Mark McKinney, project engineer at FUD, lived in the Ulpan Valley for nine months before the team arrived, designing and managing construction for the water systems. “One of the requirements is that they create a mini utility,” McKinney said. “We invested a lot of time in training the local people on how to run a utilities system.” Although the Knoxville team began the week doing most of the work, the local community members assumed more ownership each day. “Ninety men from the village dug three miles of trenches,” said McKinney. “There is unbelievable pride on the part of the locals as they learn how to do it.” Now they no longer need to spend an hour or two each day carrying river water to their homes. “You first get the health benefit,” McKinney said. “Obviously, they’ll be sick less. But you’re also giving them time because they don’t have to go find water every day.”
A Guatemalan man carries concrete on his back up the mountain to assist the First Utility District team. Andy Jackson, FUD’s distribution manager, said the villages have a high child mortality rate. “They are bathing in the same water that they are drinking,” Jackson said. “We saw the opportunity to get clean water to their houses.
If you can get half a chance to save a child, then it’s worth it to me.” Kena Hyers, senior accountant at FUD, and her husband, Ryan, were part of the February team. To page A-3
Cinderella’s journey from ashes to light By Betsy Pickle
Author Cinderella Agoubi holds a copy of her book, “Overcomer.”
Cinderella Agoubi’s journey echoes a beloved old hymn: “We’ve a story to tell to the nations/that shall turn their hearts to the right/a story of truth and mercy/a story of peace and light …” The Farragut resident has shared her faith in her native Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries as well as throughout East Tennessee. She’s hoping to spread the word even more with her new book, “Overcomer.” “I write what I speak,” says Agoubi. “For years, I spoke here in churches and ladies’ conferences. This is how the Lord started telling me, ‘What you are speaking
and instructing people, I want you to write it,’ so this is what I love to do.” “Overcomer” is a slim but potent volume about a young Christian and her experiences in a part of the world that is 99 percent Muslim, in a country wracked by warfare for much of her lifetime. “When I was 11 years old, we had only one church, and there was war, and people were hiding underground,” says Agoubi, 36. “Airplanes were bombing our country; no one even could go out to buy food. “And my mom used to tell me, ‘Cindy, we’re not going to wait till it gets safe and then we go to church. We are going today.’ She used to
take me, grab my hand and walk three to four hours (to the church), and then walk three to four hours coming back, with dead bodies on the (ground), blood, explosions. “Just to see that, it’s just a special passion in my heart to the ministry and to the Lord … Yes, we saw all the bad things walking to church, but also we saw God’s hands protecting us, so it was always seeing miracle after miracle, and that makes me even more love to live this life.” Agoubi says she was “not a normal kid.” Her mother’s strong faith and the suffering it engendered had a powerful impact on her, and To page A-3
Vol wins mean business dollars Yet another reason to pull for Butch By Betty Bean He didn’t realize it then, but Crowne Plaza general manager Ken Knight says he came to Knoxville during the golden years of University of Tennessee football – years when fans booked their hotel reservations the day the next season’s football schedule was released. Home game weekends sold out months in advance. “My wife, Tammy, and I moved here in ’93 – during the best decade in the history of Tennessee football. We got spoiled,” he said. The most recent report on the economic impact of UT sports on the local economy released by the University of Tennessee Center for Business and Economic Research was issued in January 2013 and
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surveyed data from the academic year 2011-’12. It began with happy talk about fans traveling to Knoxville from all over the country to see the Volunteers play. Then it conceded that attendance for home Knight football games has declined: “Comparing the last two sevenhome-game seasons (2008-09 and 2010-11), attendance dropped by nearly 12,000 (roughly 1,660 per game). A drop of almost 37,000 in attendance occurred in the last two eight-home-game seasons (2009-10 and 2011-12). This drop is equivalent to a reduction in attendance of just over 4,500 per game.”
Does a decline in numbers correspond to a lack of enthusiasm for spending money? Absolutely, said a veteran employee of a West Knox establishment where Tennessee fans gather to catch away games on TV. “It’s been devastating. I’ve been talking about this all season. The crowds that come in to watch the games have been much smaller. And when we’re losing, they quit drinking. I’ll ask, ‘You want to order anything to eat?’ They say, ‘No,’ and just sull up. People don’t feel like spending money on a losing team. Used to be, TV games had a big impact. Restaurants were like battle stations. “Now, it just ain’t the same, and a lot of times, you don’t know whether or not it’s even going to be on TV, when you’ve got a crappy team. And when you think about sales tax revenue, you realize that
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it hits everybody in this town in the wallet, whether they know it or not.” Out in South Knox, Ye Olde Steakhouse co-owner Cheryl Wilson doesn’t need an academic survey to conclude that football season’s not what it used to be, and it’s not solely because of the Henley Bridge closing. “We used to have some really rowdy crowds. It was ‘Roll Tide’ and ‘Go Vols’ all weekend. We’d have a few people get into fights. But it’s been awhile. We used to do 800900 (customers) a night. Now if we get 500-600 we’re doing good.” All over town, it’s pretty much the same. As go the Vols, so goes business. And winning teams equal busy cash registers. “Beating Alabama in the old days was like Black Friday,” said Knoxville Chamber president Mike Edwards. “It’s been awhile.”
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