VOL. 54 NO. 8
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IN THIS ISSUE Rockin’ docs This Friday, some local physicians will be throwin’ down for a good cause at two Old City venues as part of the annual fundraiser “Doc Rock for Health,” a fun, rowdy event that benefits area medical charities.
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See Carol Shane on page B-2
What’s in a name? Last November, the UT Athletics Department announced the “One Tennessee” initiative, which will abolish the use of the name “Lady Vols” in all sports except basketball. Protests have ensued.
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See Betty Bean on page A-4
NEIGHBORHOOD BUZZ
Broadway talk at FC Town Hall Due to the high level of interest in I-640/Broadway improvements, TDOT has been invited back to discuss the topic at a special called general membership meeting of Fountain City Town Hall 7 p.m. Monday, March 9, at Church of the Good Shepherd, 5337 Jacksboro Pike. The entire meeting will be devoted to this topic.
Contract awarded for Hwy. 33 relocation By Sandra Clark Maynardville Pike from Afton Drive to Emory Road is being relocated. No need to check your calendar. This is not April 1. The project, designed by CDM Smith, calls for moving the southbound lane of Highway 33 adjacent to the northbound lane, eliminating the green-space median. There will be two lanes each way with a center turn lane. On Nov. 17, Knox County Commission appropriated a second supplemental payment, this one for $118,800, to CDM Smith. In all, the engineering firm has made in excess of $1 million – Knox County’s contribution to this joint local/state project. The problem being solved is the current inability to make a left turn to Maynardville from Norris Freeway. The new intersection should alleviate congestion on Emory Road at Andersonville Pike where school traffic often stalls. The Tennessee Department of Transportation awarded a contract for $10.7 million in December to APAC-Atlantic for the project. Its technical name is “the grading, drainage, construction of a box beam bridge and paving on S.R. 33 from Afton Drive to Emory Road and on U.S. 441 (S.R. 71) from Emory Road to S.R. 33.” TDOT has no word on a schedule, but Hallsdale Powell Util-
February 25, 2015
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Big move coming
Hallsdale Powell Utility District is relocating sewer lines on Highway 33 in preparation for a major road project in Halls. Photos by Ruth White ity District is moving lines to get ready. Mark Nagi of TDOT says the bids were: ■ APAC-Atlantic – $10,782,090.95 ■ Charles Blalock & Sons Inc. – $11,091,380.85 ■ Highway Inc. – $11,229,686.17 ■ Potter South East LLC – $11,395,989.30
Hallsdale CEO Darren Cardwell
said, “The sewer and water line relocation and improvement is because of the TDOT project that has been awarded and will start in a month or two.” He said the scope of HPUD work is from the IHOP to Commercial Bank. Cardwell said water lines were enlarged from Norris Lake Water Plant to Halls before TDOT started on a separate project to widen Hwy. 33 from Temple
Acres to the Union County line. That project is now underway. “We are up-sizing the sewer line and relocating it under Maynardville Highway,” he said. “We also have some water lines in the area that will get replaced during this project.” HPUD has been pumping water into Halls from the Norris Lake Water Treatment Plant since 2008.
Relay for Life North Knox kick-off The kick-off for the American Cancer Society’s North Knox Relay for Life has been rescheduled to 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, at the Fountain City Lions Club, 5345 N. Broadway. Learn what Relay for Life is all about and how you can become involved. RSVP to Jessica Brooks, 558-4046 or jessicad.brooks@ cancer.org
Congrats! When the Knox County Public Library’s annual report was released, two Shopper-News contributors were prominently quoted. Carol Zinavage Shane, principal keyboardist with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and a Fountain City resident, writes a weekly entertainment column for this newspaper. She said: “I use Lawson-McGhee Library’s audio-visual services constantly.” Jim Tumblin, retired optometrist and local historian, writes monthly columns based on research at the downtown library. He said: “The helpfulness of the staff and the selections available … make the (McClung Collection) equal to or superior to any other library I have visited.”
7049 Maynardville Pike 37918 (865) 922-4136 NEWS news@ShopperNewsNow.com Sandra Clark | Ruth White ADVERTISING SALES ads@ShopperNewsNow.com Patty Fecco | Tony Cranmore Wendy O’Dell | Sara Whittle
City Council comes to South High’s rescue By Betsy Pickle South High School alumni, South Knoxville residents and historic preservationists are happy about action that City Council has taken to save the 78-year-old school building. Council voted unanimously at last week’s meeting to acquire the property from the current owner, by eminent domain if necessary. “I could not be more elated that Council approved, on first reading, the purchase of South High School,” said Nick Pavlis,
list for many years. “We’ve been working to save South High since 2001,” says Kim Trent, executive director of Knox Heritage. “It went off course with the last person to purchase it, so we’re really glad to see the city getting it back on track for redevelopment with a new owner.” Bahman Kasraei purchased the dilapidated school at auction for $117,700 in June 2008. He has made no improvements, and the building has sat boarded up, with the roof leaking and the lawn
growing wild. City crews have had to mow the lawn. The property, at 953 E. Moody Ave., has been cited for 19 code violations. The city paid to stabilize the building, resulting in a $30,000 lien being placed against the property. Kasraei also owes back taxes to the city and the county. Past-due taxes and liens will be deducted from any sales proceeds he receives. The Abandoned, Blighted and To page A-3
State of the schools, errr super By Betty Bean Knox Schools Superintendent James McIntyre got some unexpected love lately, and not from the usual suspects. Not for his recent presentation before the U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, nor for his State of the Schools address Jim McIntyre nor his appearance on WBIR TV’s “Inside Tennessee.” The gusher of gratitude erupting from students who were thrilled about the school-free week occasioned by last week’s bad weather exploded on Twitter, where McIntyre’s face got Photoshopped onto Mt. Rushmore and an “American Sniper” poster. One kid put him in an NBA uniform sinking a Pistol Pete-level trey. Teachers were pretty happy, too. McIntyre’s trip to Washington
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vice-mayor and First District City Council member. “It will take care of a blighted piece of property in the middle of a nice neighborhood,” said Pavlis, who lives in South Knoxville. “It will preserve a building that means a lot to the graduates of South High. And it will add to the many positive things happening in South Knoxville.” Designed by renowned architect Charles Barber, South High has been on the preservation group Knox Heritage’s Fragile 15
got some play, and his fourth annual State of the Schools – a slick, heavily scripted event larded with fulsome praise from teachers and students for the superintendent – went off without a hitch under the watchful eye of his PR guru Melissa Ogden, who sat front and center and interrupted her Twitter updates only when she needed both hands to join in the applause lines.
Analysis He wasn’t treated as gently on “Inside Tennessee,” where he declined the opportunity to appear jointly with Lauren Hopson, president-elect of the Knox County Education Association, opting instead to have his own segment after the Hopson interview was done. When grilled about teacher morale by panelists Mike Donila and Don Bosch, he said he doesn’t know how to measure that (apparently forgetting his 2013 survey
TITAN A SELF-STORAGE
that found 70 percent of teachers registering some level of dissatisfaction with his administration). Moderator John Becker attempted to pin him down, as well. Becker: “You were in the wings and heard Ms. Hopson’s concerns, especially about teachers and the workload and testing that continues. What do you make of what she said?” McIntyre: “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear much of what the interview was.” McIntyre concluded his SoS address with seven new “stakeholder conversations” to be held as part of the new five-year strategic plan. He will double down on APEX (the controversial “strategic” compensation plan for teacher raises and bonuses), the “balanced calendar” concept (year-round school) and the Teachers Advisory Committee (which teachers have criticized for being top-heavy with administrators). His seventh new initiative will
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be to assess the “inventory” of tests administered to children with the help of a $40,000 grant from Achieve Incorporated, the only such grant awarded in Tennessee. And what is Achieve Inc.? Here’s the short answer from an Atlanta Journal Constitution story called “Common Core as a brand name: Who is making money off the new standards?” “Achieve Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group that has been heavily involved in writing the (Common Core State) standards, receives funding from corporate titans such as Microsoft, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Chevron and DuPont. Prediction: When it comes time for the school board to discuss the Achieve Inc. grant, count on someone (my money’s on Amber Rountree) to remind McIntyre of the advice of another titan of industry – Warren Buffett: “Never ask a barber if you need a haircut.”
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