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HALLS/FOUNTAIN CITY
Vol. 50, No. 9 • February 28, 2011 • www.ShopperNewsNow.com • 4509 Doris Circle, Knoxville 37918 • 922-4136
Officials, citizens discuss signals Sterchi Hills homeowners worry their backyards will be lit around the clock after the construction at Dante Road and Dry Gap Pike is finished. “I just want to be able to sit on my back porch in the evening and not have lights from the road ruining what would be a peaceful evening,” one neighbor complained. In a brief meeting called by Commissioner R. Larry Smith, the citizens shared their concern with Jim Snowden from Knox County Public Works. Snowden assured them the lights would be aimed towards traffic and not towards the homes. He also said he would discuss the issue with his traffic signal engineer to see what could be done. “We’ll do everything we can to help you. We have to have a traffic light here because of the volume of traffic at this intersection,” Snowden said. “But we want this to be the most beneficial it can be for those who use it.” – Natalie Lester
Steppin’ out! Halls senior Spencer Cochran looks handsome in a white tuxedo, complete with hat and cane, during the Project Graduation fundraiser fashion show. Photo by Ruth White MORE PHOTOS ON PAGE A-8
AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD Fort Sumter Cemetery group to meet The Fort Sumter Community Cemetery Association will hold its yearly business meeting 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 3, at Salem Baptist Church, 8201 Hill Road in Halls, in Room 140. Directions/ info: 660-6949.
Lost Bible found A New Testament/Psalms Bible was found between Halls and Powell. If you have lost one, please call the Shopper-News office at 9224136 and provide a description.
Water lines sure, road widening possible for Hwy. 33 By Sandra Clark Hallsdale Powell Utility District is seeking bids for a major, yearlong waterline expansion from Halls Crossroads to Union County. The line will tie the district to the new water treatment plant on Norris Lake, giving HPUD an additional source of water. The bids will be opened at 10 a.m. Thursday, March 10. Robert G. Campbell & Associates is the design engineer. With the utility work underway, what are the prospects for the long-awaited widening of Highway 33 (Maynardville Pike) from Halls to the Union County line? Steve Borden, who replaced Fred Corum as director of Region I (East Tennessee) for the state Department of Transportation, essentially had no comment. While confirming that the right-of-way has been purchased, Borden said the construction has not been funded. He estimated that construction will be 75 percent of the project’s cost, with R-O-W acquisition about 15 percent and design work and environmental studies about 10 percent. Highway 33 widening is “not funded in the current three-year plan,” said Borden, but each year toward the end of April the TDOT releases a new three-year plan. “That will tell you if it’s funded.” Here’s betting we’ll soon be seeing the orange barrels, a four-laned road with turn lane, and a slew of Union County residents moving more easily into Halls and Powell for shopping and entertainment.
Ladies of Charity take good works to new headquarters By Anne Hart Erika Fuhr is one of those remarkable people who can always find something good in even the worst of situations. But that admirable characteristic has been tested mightily over the last year or so. Fuhr has been the major force – they call her “the building guru” – behind the remodeling of a 25 ,000 - squa re foot building soon to be the new home of the Ladies of Charity. It will allow the organization to move its operations from Erika Fuhr cramped, outdated headquarters in two different locations to the new site and eventually expand its charitable programs. After months of effort, work on the new headquarters – the former Royal Beauty Supply building on Baxter Avenue – was nearing completion when a five inch highpressure water pipe froze and burst overnight in January 2010, flooding the entire building.
“Those who love the poor during life will have nothing to fear at the hour of their death.” – St. Vincent de Paul “Everything was ruined,” Fuhr says. “All the ceilings had to be ripped out to the rafters, the walls taken back to the studs, all the flooring pulled up. We lost the furnace, the electrical, everything. It was a nightmare. It cost us $80,000 just to get the water out, but we got right back to work the very next day.” So what good could she possibly find in all that? “We learned a lot was wrong with the building that we hadn’t known about. Now we have been able to take care of those things. It will save us money over the long run.” For example, there were large holes in the walls along roof lines that would have resulted in enormous heating and cooling bills. The building has many large windows, none of which was double-paned or insulated. Much of the structure
is concrete block, and the chinking was crumbling between the blocks. But now, everything that was old and outdated and worn out and not working the way it should has been replaced. “We now have a solid, tight building,” Fuhr says. “It’s almost a new building.” Help has come from many sources. A $33,500 grant from the Timken Foundation, an Ohio manufacturing firm with a facility in Mascot, replaced the large windows with new double-paned ones. A large part of the cost of the building was made possible by a bequest from a former member. In her will, Helen Marx left the Ladies of Charity $384,000. Funding sources for the organization include the United Way, private gifts, donations from the churches and the Angel Tree program. A volunteer writes grants applications. Paid staff is the equivalent of 3 1/2 fulltime positions, and the remaining work is performed by more than 100 volunteers who donated about 25,000 hours last year. Ladies of Charity operates both a thrift shop, where furni-
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The new Ladies of Charity headquarters on Baxter Avenue. Photos by Ruth White ture, clothing and other items are available, and a food pantry, where supplies to prepare more than 3,000 meals a week are provided. In addition, vouchers are available for kerosene for heating in the wintertime, and layettes for newborns are provided to indigent women. Some 33,000 individuals received services from the charity last year. Founded in France in 1617 under the direction of St. Vincent de Paul, Ladies of Charity is the oldest lay organization in the Catholic Church. The local organization
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was founded in 1942 by the women of Holy Ghost and Immaculate Conception churches and has long played an active role in helping primarily the working poor. As Fuhr puts it: “Many people hit rough spots in life, and our goal is to get them through that.” The doors to the new facility will open to the public on March 21.There will be a special mass at Holy Ghost Church at 10 a.m. March 18, and afterwards Bishop Richard Stika will cut the ribbon at the new facility. It will be dedicated to Mother Teresa.
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