GOVERNMENT/POLITICS A4-5 | FEATURES A6 | YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS A9-10 | BUSINESS A13-14 | HEALTH & LIFESTYLES SECTION B
A great community newspaper.
halls / fountain city
VOL. 50, NO. 38
SEPTEMBER 19, 2011
INSIDE FEATURED COLUMNIST JAKE MABE
Speaking of the movies … Jake Mabe sits down with film buff Don Calhoun to talk about the movie serials of yesteryear. See page A-6
NEIGHBORHOOD BUZZ
Art-a-palooza is this week Fountain City Art Center’s sixth annual Art-a-palooza will be held 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday (Sept. 22-25). Folks can get creative with activities such as print making, book making or painting a mural that will hang in the art center. There will also be lots of activities for kids, and a silent auction will be held on Saturday. Live entertainment will include Appalachian, pop and folk music. Art and decorative items will be for sale along with home-baked goods, chili, hotdogs, fried apple pies and more. Info: 357-2787, email fcartcenter@knology. net or visit www. fountaincityartctr.org.
Duncan in Halls U.S. Rep. John “Jimmy” Duncan Jr. will speak to the Halls Republican Club at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 19, at Q.Q. Pizza in Halls Center. Everyone is invited; those planning to eat should arrive at 6:30.
Dunn plans straw poll State Rep. Bill Dunn will host a hot dog supper and fundraiser 5:30 to 7: 30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 26, at the Lions Club Building in Fountain City Park. Those attending may vote in a Presidential straw poll, Dunn said.
www.ShopperNewsNow.com
news@ShopperNewsNow.com ads@ShopperNewsNow.com EDITOR Larry Van Guilder lvgknox@mindspring.com ADVERTISING SALES Patty Fecco fecco@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.
www.facebook.com/ShopperNewsNow
|
twitter.com/shoppernewsnow
Don’t worry, be happy
ford sent an email to county officials elaborating on concerns about the mold problem and about larger concerns due to overcrowding. “We currently have music, art, resource, speech and language, all of 4th and 5th grade (three classrooms each) in the portables. This year one 3rd grade class was moved out into the portables due to a kindergarten class being added, to bring us up to five kindergarten classes. If the number of children remains the same we will need
to add an additional 1st grade and a 2nd grade class (due to the number of 1st graders this year) next year. That will be two new classes that will need to be added to portables, which would give us three full grades (nine classrooms) in the portables. “When will an addition to Shannondale be planned? If not an addition, are there plans to reduce the number of students in the school or add more portable buildings? While I am not a fan of rezoning or additional portables, the Shannondale facilities cannot continue, as they currently exist, to support the overloaded classes and continuing increase in the number of children coming into the school.” One of the parents at the meeting drew a smattering of applause when she addressed a question to the superintendent: “To be blunt, what does it take to get rid of the portables and get an addition? How do we do it? Go on a campaign like Carter? We can do that,” she said, referencing the campaign to build a new Carter Elementary School. “We need to take a look at the level of support for education in our community,” McIntyre said, advising the PTO members to talk to their county commissioners.
rying add a single hour to your life?” “I am constantly reminded that God will take care of me, just like he takes care of them,” he said. Compassion Coalition sponsors numerous ministries throughout Knoxville, including a furniture ministry on Saturdays where crews deliver donated furniture to recently housed Compassion Coalition volunteer Char Taylor and clearing house formerly homeless men director Gina Whitmore connect a caller with a church family and women, and a clearing using their map of church partners all across Knox County. Photo house staffed by volunteers by N. Lester
which connects the needy with various church families all over the county. “We don’t want it to be a one hot meal thing. We want to give them a body of believers to walk along with them,” Standefer said. The Coalition also partners with Knox County District Attorney General Randy Nichols to coordinate juvenile offenders who can do their community service hours alongside church members. “The recurrence rate for participants in the Restorative Justice program is less than 10 percent,” Standefer said. “The national average is more than 60 percent.”
Shannondale parents skeptical of mold abatement By Betty Bean Headaches, sore throats, swollen lymph glands, lethargy and diarrhea are some, but not all, of the symptoms that parents of Shannondale Elementary School 5th graders say their children are suffering because their portable classrooms have been contaminated with mold. School officials say the classrooms have been successfully decontaminated of Aspergillus/Penicillium that was discovered in the flooring of a building that was damaged by a fallen tree over the summer. But parents like Victoria Battershell, who has twin daughters in the 5th grade – one of whom suffers from an autoimmune kidney-related disease, the other of whom is asthmatic – remain skeptical. “My children have been coming home sick since (they were returned to their classroom Sept. 9). You still have children and teachers exhibiting the same symptoms that cleared up when they were taken out of those buildings.”
Knox County Schools supervisor of maintenance and operations Jim French made an unusual offer to some 50 Shannondale Elementary School parents who attended a PTO meeting last week: “I would not care to go out in that portable and lick any part of it.” He also advised Battershell, a registered nurse who is an instructor of nursing at Walters State Community College and is working on an advanced degree, that she shouldn’t expend so much energy researching the issue: “You can go on the Internet and look up mold and scare yourself to death,” he said. On Sept. 2, Shannondale’s entire 5th-grade class was removed from the threeclassroom portable building and required to attend classes in the gymnasium for a week while workers replaced the floors and subflooring. The school system’s environmental department performed limited air and surface sampling for mold in two of the classrooms on
Shannondale 5th grader Olivia Battershell listens to a conversation between her mother, Victoria Battershell, and Knox County Schools supervisor of environmental services Robert Riley. Photo by Betty Bean Sept. 2 and Sept. 7 and found spores in the flooring. Superintendent Dr. Jim McIntyre said he had not been made aware of ongoing health issues and attempted to reassure the parents that their children’s health is his administration’s prime concern, but many expressed skepticism. “We just don’t have confidence in what we are hearing now,” Battershell said. She asked for third party testing. On Sept. 9, Shannondale PTO co-president Kelley Flat-
Take a sentimental journey … Elmcroft hosts ‘USO Tavern’ during Assisted Living Week By Jake Mabe Throw in period attire, American flags and even a 1940s-era Nash Ambassador originally built for the U.S. Army, and you’ve got yourself a full-blown re-created USO Tavern. Elmcroft of Halls Assisted Living staff members transported residents on a sentimental journey back to World War II last week as part of a weeklong celebration for National Assisted Living Week. Community relations director Rebecca Lane, herself dressed in period clothing, said patriotic events were held throughout the week,
including a flag dedication on 9/11, a “Keep the Home Fires Burning” candle lighting, the USO Tavern, a women’s softball game (“like they did when the men were away”) and music on the lawn with Praise 96.3-FM, which offered a free hot dog and Coke for anyone in uniform. Resident Floyd Brown, 95, borrowed an Army jacket for the occasion. Brown served on submarines in the U.S. Navy during World War II and was stationed in Hawaii, preparing for the invasion of Japan, when the atomic bomb was dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki
in August 1945. “When it dropped, the plans changed,” Floyd said. Sherman and Barbara Phifer drove up in a 1946 Nash Ambassador for the USO Tavern celebration. The Nash was built for the U.S. Army but was never used. Resident Floyd Brown and Elmcroft of Halls Assisted Living community relations director Rebecca Lane celebrate National Assisted Living Week during Elmcroft’s USO Tavern while standing next to a 1946 Nash Ambassador. Floyd served in the Navy during World War II. The Nash, which was built for the Army but never used, is owned by Sherman and Barbara Phifer. Photo by Ruth White
Walking by faith Seats still available for Compassion Coalition fundraiser tomorrow By Natalie Lester
4509 Doris Circle 37918 (865) 922-4136
|
As he sits in his breakfast nook with his Bible each morning, Grant Standefer watches the birds eat out of the feeder on his back porch. He is reminded of Matthew 6:26-27 – “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by wor-
2707 Mineral Springs Ave. Knoxville, TN 37917 Ph. (865) 687-4537 280 N. Fairmont Ave. Morristown, TN 37814 Ph. (865) 585-5023
P.C.C.A. Compounding Specialist Kenton Page, DPh Since 1976
5110 N. Broadway • 688-7025
• Physical Therapy • Aquatic Physical Therapy • Functional Capacity Evaluations • Jump Start Health & Fitness Program • Occupational & Industrial Services • Vocational Services • Work Conditioning
www.associatedtherapeutics.com
Sign up now for group
SWIM LESSONS in October! Group & private lessons offered year round.
Mention this ad and pay today to receive member discount.
Call TODAY! 859-7900
mercy.com