VOL. 7 NO. 45 NEIGHBORHOOD BUZZ
MPC staff gives nod to Emory Church project Staff of the Metropolitan Planning Commission is recommending that MPC approve rezoning and a site plan for John Huber’s proposed apartments and marina off Emory Church Road, subject to 20 conditions. The matter will be heard at this week’s MPC meeting, which starts at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14, at the City County Building. Huber’s proposal calls for up to 312 apartments and 75 dock slips on 111.86 acres. Meanwhile, the Flournoy Development Co. has requested postponement until Feb. 13 for their plan to to build up to 24.4 dwelling units per acre on 10.24 acres near the Northshore Town Center. Developers said they need time to “refine the design.”
IN THIS ISSUE Haslam held hostage Ron Ramsey’s going to put his big boot down on Gov. Bill Haslam. If Haslam’s thinking about bringing his long-awaited Tennessee Plan for Medicaid expansion to the General Assembly, Ramsey’s going to mess it up.
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Read Betty Bean on A-4
Knaffl grandson finds historic print The ethereal photo depicting the Virgin Mary and her son is more than a holiday vignette to David Baker. It’s an important part of his family history. The photo is part of Knoxville’s history, too. The photographer is Joseph Knaffl, the son of Austrian court physician Dr. Rudolph Knaffl, who came to East Tennessee after fleeing the revolutions of 1848.
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Read Wendy Smith on A-12
The end of war At the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, in the year 1918, World War I – the “war to end all wars” – officially ended. It was only two years ago that the last U. S. veteran of that war died: Frank Buckles, of West Virginia. Twenty-nine years after the “war to end all wars,” World War II began.
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Read Lynn Pitts on page A-7
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Bringing it home Town finalizes purchase of historic Russell House By S By Sherri herr herr he rrii Ga G Gardner ard rdne dne nerr Howell Howe Howe Ho well ll For years years, citizens and d offi f ficial cials alss in the town of Farragut have been talking about the importance of the historic Russell House to the town’s footprint. On Thursday, talk stopped, and money was exchanged, making it official: The historic home at the northwest corner of Campbell Station Road and Kingston Pike belongs to the town. Longtime owners and siblings Ann Russell Owens and Charley Avery Russell inked the deal with Farragut Mayor Ralph McGill in the Farragut Town Hall Board Room. The amount paid at closing was $506,742. The total purchase price of $1.25 million will be paid over the next three years. Things got serious between Farragut and the owners in June, when the Board of Mayor and Aldermen signed a letter of intent to buy the house. Options to move the house were briefly discussed, but fell away because of the historic significance of the property. The house was built in 1835 and is one of only a few remaining Federalist style houses of that era
The town of Farragut has signed the deal to purchase the historic Russell House, which sits at the northwest corner of Kingston Pike and Campbell Station Road. File photo still standing in the area and is on the National Registry of Historic Places. Sitting at the heart of Farragut’s town area, the options for using the house are many. At the June meeting where the letter of intent was signed, Jim Nixon, a member of the town’s Economic Development Committee, suggested the house be renovated to be a museum with the rest of the property used for additional mu-
nicipal space. The site is surrounded by traffic and vacant properties on adjoining corners. Additional costs will be site improvement and renovation, pushing estimates for a fouryear total investment to $2.6 million. The land the house sits on had been owned by Col. David Campbell, who first built a block house on the site to shelter travelers
passing through to Knoxville. Campbell moved on, and Samuel Martin bought the property in 1834. Whether the house was built by Campbell or Martin is under dispute, but what is known for certain is that by the time the battle of Campbell’s Station on Nov. 16, 1863, the property was owned by Matthew Russell. When Russell bought the house To page A-3
Museum to host battle anniversary program By Betsy Pickle Gen. James Longstreet’s mission was simple as he moved his Confederate army detachment out from the Chattanooga area in early November, 1863: Take Knoxville. With two divisions and about 5,000 cavalry, the general was to engage Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s Union Department of the Ohio troops at Knoxville, which was a bedrock of anti-Confederate sentiment. A driving rainstorm greeted the Confederate and Union armies as they slogged through the mud in the predawn of Nov. 16. With both armies traveling on parallel roads, they raced toward Campbell’s Station – Burnside hoping to reach first and continue to Knoxville, Longstreet planning to reach the crossroads and hold it for the
This Paul Long painting in the rotunda of Farragut Town Hall depicts the Nov. 16, 1863, Battle of Campbell’s Station. File photo
Confederacy. The Battle of Campbell’s Station, won by the Union forces, is 150 years old this Nov. 16, and the Farragut Folklife Museum will host a program on Saturday to mark the occasion. The community is invited to the special presentation, which will be led by Civil War expert Gerald Augustus at 1 p.m. The program will include songs led by local music instructor Conny Ottway and her students. At 1:30, Augustus will sell and sign his newly-released book, “The Battle of Campbell’s Station: 16 November 1863.” The Battle of Campbell Station presentation will begin at 2 p.m. The battle took more than six hours of fighting on that rainy day, with ConfederTo page A-5
Mid-term report card: By Betty Bean Last week, Gloria Johnson put both her jobs on the block by inviting her fellow teachers to speak out about their grievances with Knox County Schools. As a state representative, she was handing her political opponents a potential opportunity to brand her ineffective, a troublemaker. As a lifelong educator, she was risking the ire of those who sign her paycheck. But her colleagues answered the call. Dozens of teachers attended a Monday night planning session. Most had never spoken publicly about their grievances, and many – but not all – were apprehensive about speaking out. Some asked a reporter not to use their names. But Johnson helped them screw up their courage and hone messages to present at the Wednesday night school board meeting. Some had gathered solid data; others presented first-hand accounts of how the system’s emphasis on endless high-stakes testing was impacting their students.
Gloria Johnson rallies the troops All spoke with conviction. The atmosphere was creative and collegial. They vowed to have each other’s backs, and they decided to wear red to symbolize their resolve. As good as the Monday meeting felt, Wednesday night would tell the tale. The 60 teachers at the planning session would be swallowed up in the large assembly room at the City County Building, which seats 310 people on the floor and another 136 in the balcony. If the teachers didn’t turn out in numbers, their concerns would be
dismissed and Johnson would become a statewide laughingstock. Tension rose that afternoon. But by the time board chair Lynne Fugate opened Wednesday’s meeting, almost every seat on the main floor and some 35 in the balcony were occupied, and almost everybody wore red. One by one, they presented their concerns, complaints and demands: A Spanish teacher talked about being asked to speak less Spanish during her evaluation because her evaluator didn’t speak the language. An elementary school teacher said her classroom is distracted so often by outsiders that students have asked why so many adult “stalkers” are in the room. A special education teacher said that forcing reading-disabled students to take written tests dooms them to failure (and probably violates federal law). Others spoke out about: ■ An unfair evaluation which includes 61 indicators on a rubric. ■ Students being taken out of
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Teachers – A Superintendent – Fail School board – Incomplete class to be coached for tests while missing instruction time. ■ Being called “human capital” by the administration (which boasts an actual position labeled Director of Human Capital Strategy). ■ Contacting the administration with specific problems and never getting a response. A few demanded that Superintendent Jim McIntyre be dismissed, and many applauded those demands. The presence of some 300 teachers put the lie to the claim that “most” teachers have warmed up to the atmosphere of evaluation and high-stakes testing. The teachers showed up, spoke out and made their points in a forceful, intelligent and courageous fashion. Teachers’ grade: A Afterwards, McIntyre gave a 9-minute interview during which he said it was great to hear from all those terrific teachers, although “we try to create opportunities for
To page A-3
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