HALLS/FOUNTAIN CITY
www.ShopperNewsNow.com
|
|
twitter.com/shoppernewsnow
A great community newspaper
VOL. 51 NO. 11
IN THIS ISSUE
March 12, 2012
Virginia College opens
We love Willard!
Fountain City Branch Library assistant Willard Laster was honored for his 50-year service to the library system with a party last week.
➤
www.facebook.com/ShopperNewsNow
College rehabilitated former Kroger store on Broadway
See Sandra Clark’s story on page A-12
By Sandra Clark
NEIGHBORHOOD BUZZ
Prayer breakfast WBIR-TV news anchor Robin Wilhoit will be the keynote speaker at the annual Halls B&P Prayer Breakfast 7:30 a.m. on Good Friday (April 6), at the Beaver Dam Baptist Church fellowship hall. Tickets are $10 and are available at The UPS Store in Halls and at the Shopper-News Halls office.
McMillan wins
Jake Mabe Government/Politics Marvin West Bob Collier Faith Schools Business Health/Lifestyles
A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8-11 A12 Sect B
4509 Doris Circle 37918 (865) 922-4136 news@ShopperNewsNow.com ads@ShopperNewsNow.com EDITOR Sandra Clark sclark426@aol.com ADVERTISING SALES Patty Fecco fecco@ShopperNewsNow.com Brandi Davis davisb@ShopperNewsNow.com Shopper-News is a member of KNS Media Group, published weekly at 4509 Doris Circle, Knoxville, TN, and distributed to 27,825 homes in Halls, Gibbs and Fountain City.
By Jake Mabe Ask anybody who experienced Brickey Elementary School during the John R. McCloud era and they’ll tell you the same thing – it was a family. John R. was what Sara Baskin calls Papa Bear, our fearless leader, our daddy. We loved him. We still do. We always will. Members of the family got together at Steamboat Deli in Powell last Thursday. They meet for lunch every three months, a tradition started about a decade ago. “We couldn’t stand each other every month!” McCloud said. “Well, we put up with him every day for a lotta years,” Imogene Jenkins, who worked in the cafeteria, shot back. “But he was always a true friend,” she said. “He would always fight for you if you needed him.” “Where’s John R.?” former custodian Dorothy Irwin asked when she sat down. “I don’t hear him!” John R. says his buddies at Christ United Methodist
We’ll dry clean all your household items! 7032 Maynardville Hwy. • M-F 7-6 • Sat. 8-3
922-4780
American owned since 1958 Quality work at competitive prices
hallscleaners.net
Church were giving him a hard time for being in the Shopper-News last week dancing at the school’s 50th anniversary. (It now also bears his name.) “They said, ‘Do a little shakin’!’ When I did my Tom Jones impression for the seniors, one of them said, ‘my god, McCloud, you move like you’re 50!’ ” He’ll be 84 next month and says life feels good. “I had a good day yesterday,” John R. said. “You usually have a good day,” somebody said. John R. smiled. “Yeah, I do.” The laughter lifted everyone’s spirits, but it wasn’t all fun and games. Terry Carr’s son-in-law is fighting a serious illness. Virginia Rains couldn’t attend beAva Barber cause of illness. Behind the counter at Steamboat, I spotted owner and former “Lawrence Welk
At the Brickey (Elementary) Buddies reunion are Dorothy Irwin, John R. McCloud, Terry Carr, Edith Moseley, Mildred Rowland (Faye Heydasch’s aunt), Rena Walters, Faye Heydasch, Sara Baskin, Carolyn Dobbs, Jean Mills, Ernie Israel and Imogene Jenkins. Photo by Jake Mabe
Show” star Ava Barber. “Ms. Barber, I’m one of your biggest fans,” I said. “I always loved you and Ralna English.” “Well, which one was your favorite?” she said. “Why, you of course.” She smiled. “You’re too young to watch ‘The Lawrence Welk Show.’ ”
“I record it every Saturday night,” I said, truthfully. “How about that,” she said. Back with the Brickey Buddies, John R. tried to wiggle his way out of the photo. “No way,” I said. “You get front and center.”
No
rri
sF
131 y or Em E.
. Rd
WY .
33
131 d.
Index
Brickey Buddies reunite at Steamboat
yR
Ellen Zavisca, senior transportation planner with the Metropolitan Planning Commission, will meet with City Council members Nick Della Volpe and Mark Campen at 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 14, at Panera Bread, 4893 N. Broadway, to discuss steps for implementing the Fountain City Broadway Complete Street Plan. Info: 215-2500.
Mark Enix, owner of Fountain City Jewelers, volunteers to repair Pat Foster’s earring. Foster was in town from Virginia College’s corporate office.
E. Em or
MPC planner to discuss Broadway improvements
PROGRAMS:
Maynardville HWY.
Eighth District school board member Mike McMillan survived a tough challenge from Carter activist Conley Underwood to win re-election March 6. According to McMillan unofficial totals from the Knox County Election Commission, McMillan garnered 2,834 votes (52.72 percent) to Underwood’s 2,542 votes (47.28 percent).
A major new business has opened on Broadway in Fountain City. Virginia College School of Business and Health will employ 120 and serve 700 to 800 students, said campus president Jim Branham. He led a tour last week for officers of the Fountain City Business and Professional Association. The college will offer 10 programs initially and is seeking accreditation for two more, Branham said. Training is available in business and office careers, health and medical fields, and cosmetology. The 11th program will train surgical technologists and the 12th will train occupational therapy techs. The facility has been built-out for these programs. “We want a culinary arts program here too, but don’t have Jim Branham, campus president of Virginia College in Knoxville, takes space for it,” he said. Beth Wade and Mark Enix of the Fountain City Business and Professional “When we go into an area we Association on a tour of the facility. Photos by S. Clark know we’ll be successful,” said Pat Foster, corporate vice president who has been with Virginia College since 1989. “We know your drop-out rate, your graduation rate and the local competition.” Virginia College is accredited ■ Business Administration (AS) ■ Medical Billing & Coding (D) and career-focused, said Foster, ■ Cosmetology (D) ■ Medical Office Administrawith more than 29,000 graduates tion (AS) ■ Healthcare Reimbursement and another 15,000 enrolled as of (AS) ■ Network Engineering (AAS) December 2011. The college oper■ Medical Assistant (D) ■ Office Administration (AS) ■ Medical Assistant (AS) ■ Pharmacy Technician (D) To page A-3
Then John R. came with one of his classics. “Those guys at church tell me I get in the paper or on TV all the time. I tell them, when you’ve got it, you’ve got it.” That’s him. Papa. Head of the family that will forever be the Brickey Bears.
7228 Norris Freeway Knoxville, TN 37918
Timothy Butcher, P.T., CSCS Physical Therapist and Clinic Director
377-3176 • 377-3187 (fax) Check us out on Facebook.
Immediate appointments available.