GOVERNMENT/POLITICS A4 | OUR COLUMNISTS A6 | YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS A11-13 | BUSINESS A15-16 | HEALTH & LIFESTYLES SECTION B
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halls / fountain city
VOL. 50, NO. 42
OCTOBER 17, 2011
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‘Broken eyes, unbroken spirit’ Blind golfer plays in North Knox Rotary tourney By Ruth White
Oh, baloney! Jim Golden sports a Cas shirt with a Padgett badge as Howard Phillips throws one of his famous lunches for mayoral candidate Mark Padgett. See page A-5
Halls Has It! … in Hawaii??!! While on his honeymoon, Jake Mabe runs into a Halls High classmate he hasn’t seen in 15 years. See page A-2
A car accident took David Meador’s sight at the age of 18, but it never stole his spirit. “I’m very happy with my life,” he said. “Through blindness I have learned that it’s important to let go.” Meador is a two-time (and current) United States Blind Golf Association national champion and is currently president of the USBGA. He was inducted in to the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in September and continues to use his story to encourage others. Meador’s story is one worth telling and something he began to document during his second round of chemotherapy to treat Hodgkin’s disease. His book, “Broken Eyes, Unbroken Spirit,” tells the story of his journey following the car accident that took his sight. Playing golf without sight is amazing, but not quite as amazing as Meador’s attitude about his life. The loss of his sight forced him to slow down and assess every situation. He says he has learned a lot about his own
Jim Cole, coach for golfer David Meador, who is blind, watches as Meador tees off during the North Knox Rotary’s golf tournament at Three Ridges. Photo by Ruth White strengths and weaknesses. Meador doesn’t let his lack of vision keep him from seeing what is truly important. Meador and his wife, Connie, met in college at Southern Illinois Univer-
sity, where she was a reader for him. They fell in love, and 40 years later, their love still overflows. They live in Nashville and traveled to Knoxville last Friday to help
his friends at the North Knox Rotary Club with their annual golf tournament at Three Ridges, which benefits the Cerebral Palsy Group Home in Fountain City.
Town Hall ablaze over crematorium By Betty Bean
Critical couponing Local blogger and mom Gabrielle Blake says using coupons is more important now than ever before. She tells Jake why on page A-7
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The managing partner of Gentry-Griffey Funeral Home heard an earful last week from Fountain City Town Hall members who are angry that his company is building Knoxville’s first crematorium in the heart of Fountain City. Town Hall members told Eric Botts they didn’t learn of the crematorium until it was a done deal. Board member Carlene Malone said while she doesn’t see any legal basis for halting construction, Gentry-Griffey – purchased three years ago by Evergreen, which consists of Jim Clayton and business partners Richard Ray and Tim Williams – has angered Fountain Citians by pushing ahead with its plans with no public notice. “There are a lot of people calling members of this board,” she said. “You’ve caused a lot of bad feelings where you could have helped yourself incredibly by explaining.”
“That’s what I’m here to do tonight,” said Botts, who came here from Cleveland, Tenn., where he ran a crematorium for several years with no complaints from Botts the neighbors. Botts said he didn’t talk to community groups here before going through the permitting process “because I wanted to make sure I could do this project.” He said there is a market for cremation services that his company hopes to fill. Town Hall board member Robbie Arrington said he doesn’t consider that a sufficient explanation. “Why in the heart of Fountain City?” Arrington asked. “I drive past there four times a day, and I don’t want to see a long line of hearses going to your building, driving by hundreds of kids who
come to Fountain City Lake to feed the ducks. That’s not the atmosphere anybody wants to see.” Past president Jamie Rowe said she is concerned about the effect of chemical emissions on small children, pregnant women and older people who frequent Fountain City Park, Fountain City Lake and the numerous schools, preschools, churches and restaurants nearby. “There are no federal regulations because the funeral industry lobbied against them,” she said. “Actually, what you have are county regulations,” Botts said. “That’s even scarier,” Rowe replied. Botts said he does not anticipate handling bodies from other funeral homes, although he thinks the crematorium will boost business at Gentry-Griffey. Board member Michele Carringer said she has doubts about that: “I’m very disappointed,” she said.
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4509 Doris Circle 37918 (865) 922-4136 news@ShopperNewsNow.com ads@ShopperNewsNow.com EDITOR Larry Van Guilder lvgknox@mindspring.com ADVERTISING SALES Patty Fecco fecco@ShopperNewsNow.com Shannon Carey shannon@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.
composed of commissioners and school board members, had to By Larry Van Guilder meet basic criteria: So far, the redistricting neces■ Ensure new boundaries sitated by the 2010 U.S. census could hold up to a legal challenge. has drawn little attention from the ■ Keep at least one high school public. That could change today at in each district the conclusion of County Commis■ Minimize the population sion’s work session when a public shift. hearing on the plans is scheduled ■ Keep communities together to begin in the Main Assembly room of the City County Building. if possible. Plans designated as 2A and 4A First reading to approve a redistricting plan (or plans) is scheduled were endorsed by the committee. for commission’s regular monthly The school board favors plan 3A. meeting on Oct. 24. Commission Plan 2A shifts the fewest number has the final say on the plans, and of residents among districts, a litcould recommend separate plans tle more than 32,000. For 7th District Commissioner for the school board and legislaR. Larry Smith, the issue for his tive districts. All the plans considered by constituents is a simple one: “I the redistricting committee, believe the people of Halls and
Public hearing today
Powell have more in common than those of Halls and Fountain City,” he said. Smith said he favors the plan (4A) which adds Powell to his district, and believes that today’s public hearing will sharpen the issue. Second District Commissioner Amy Broyles said “about 80 percent” of the redistricting committee members favored plan 2A with 4A the second choice. “One moves more into Fountain City and one more into Norwood,” she added, saying she would be content with either. “Compared to previous ones, this has been an incredibly smooth redistricting process,” Broyles said. “It’s been serene.”
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“My family has used your funeral home in the past, and we welcome new businesses, but not when we’ve been blindsided. Typically, that’s not a good way to do business in the Fountain City area.” Fourth District City Council member Nick Della Volpe wrote a letter to city regulators after the meeting registering his constituents’ complaints. He asked how this use could be permitted in an O1 (office) zone and why his constituents were not consulted before the city approved the crematorium as an “accessory” use for a funeral home. “They feel this industrial use is inappropriate in a public use, parklike and residential area. Concern about fumes, (also possible hazardous wastes including trace elements of cadmium, mercury, etc) released to the atmosphere, extra hearse traffic near the duck pond as other facilities haul their dead here for roasting.”
Connor Road bridge project returns A project that first came to County Commission’s attention in 2007 is finally set to get underway. The one-lane bridge on Connor Road over Bull Run Creek will be replaced at a cost of about $750,000. The state will provide 80 percent of the funding and Knox County will foot the remainder. Jim Snowden of Knox County Engineering and Public Works said the project has been in the system for over two years. “We are just now seeing right of way acquisition,” Snowden said. “By this time next year the bridge will probably be complete.” The contract with the Tennessee Department of Transportation calls for Knox County to complete work by Dec. 31, 2012. – Larry Van Guilder
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