VOL. 53 NO. 15
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NEIGHBORHOOD BUZZ
Learn about FC Art Center
Fountain City Town Hall will meet at 7 p.m. Monday, April 14, at Church of the Good Shepherd, 5337 Jacksboro Pike. The speaker will be Charles Williams, a cartoonist/illustrator since the ’70s. He has designed the T-shirts for Honor Fountain City Day for several years. His popular illustrations of local landmarks “Lost Treasures of Fountain City” are available as notecard sets at the Fountain City Art Center. Ten years ago, his wife, Sylvia, a highly regarded portraitist, assembled a group of local artists to create the Fountain City Art Center to give artists a place to meet, to learn and to display their work in a gallery setting in Fountain City. Williams will speak about the art center’s history, goals and plans for the next 10 years. All are invited.
Gladiators, glitz and glam Gresham Middle School staff members welcomed guests to the spring soiree, Gresham Goes Gatsby, at The Foundry. Pictured are Jeff Castleberry, Scott Reed, Glenn Price, Gresham Middle School Foundation event coordinator Nancy McBee Nevader, principal Donna Parker and GMSF president Craig Cummings. See more photos on page A-8.
Eddie Harvey, Fountain City original By Betty Bean
Candidate forum
The Halls Business and Professional Association will host a candidate forum at noon Tuesday, April 15, at Beaver Brook Country Club. HBPA will host Bo Bennett and Charles Busler, candidates for the 7th District seat on Knox County Commission. Meetings are open to the public. Lunch is $10.
IN THIS ISSUE City salaries: Bet you didn’t know ...
The city of Knoxville is essentially a service provider. It’s a people business. As such, wages and related fringe benefits make up the largest part of the city’s $183 million operating budget.
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Union County: Sandra Clark interviews District Attorney General Lori PhillipsJones; while Libby Morgan writes about a headless cow. North/East: Betty Bean has the scoop on city plans to revitalize the Magnolia Avenue Corridor. Bearden: Wendy Smith interviews founders of Fort Kid as the city announces plans to restore it. Farragut: Stefan Cooper writes about a ice hockey team that won a national tourney.
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Contrary to what a lot of people probably think, Ed Harvey never met my brother John. Not that he knew of, anyhow. Even though John put Eddie in the Prank Call Hall of Fame (if there’s not such a thing, there should be) when he called him up in the late ’70s to complain about buying a bad oil filter at Eddie’s Auto Parts, the two were never formally introduced, and John was long dead by the time the tapes went viral in 1987. (Note: Viral was not a word we would’ve thought to use back in the day.) Edward Ralph Harvey, 91, died last week after a long struggle with dementia. He worked as long as he could, keeping long days in his auto-parts store with the marquee sign from the Italian Pavilion at the 1982 World’s Fair. Tough as a boot with a barely hidden sly sense
of humor, Eddie Harvey affi xed that sign to the front of his store and found it to be a good conversation piece. Born in Union County’s Little Valley in 1922, Ed Harvey loved to tell the story of his great-grandfather, Jack Woods, who had a license from the federal govEddie Harvey ernment to operate a whisky-bottling business, as long as he sold the product out of state. He also sold some in-state, out the back door. Ed Harvey graduated from Halls High School in 1940. His first job was zipping through the streets of Knoxville as a bicycle messenger. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and returned home wanting to start a
business, so he went to see Claude Myers, president of Fountain City Bank, and asked for a $500 loan. “At first, he wouldn’t give me the loan, but then he found out I was a good welder and told me if I’d build the swings in Fountain City Park, I could have the money. So I built the swings, and they are still standing. I got my loan – that’s when I was poor as a church mouse,” he told Metro Pulse in 2000. He used the money to make a down payment on the property on Walker Boulevard where his store stands today. Over the years, he acquired additional property, including a next-door parcel he bought from Cas Walker. He also found time to work on racecars, and to do some racing himself, until he had a bad wreck in the late ’50s. In his later years, after John’s
tapes had been widely circulated, Ed Harvey drew visitors from all over the world who wanted to meet the guy who sold the oil filter. What they found was one of those inimitable East Tennesseans who helped make this place what it is. He outlived two wives and was the father of four and the grandfather of five, in addition to having a big brood of great-grandchildren. His motto was, “I’d rather be lucky anytime as be smart,” and he counted himself a lucky man. I’d like to think that by now, he and John have been introduced. And there’s not much I wouldn’t give to hear those stories.
Services Services were held Friday at New Beverly Baptist Church where Mr. Harvey was a member. An honorary pallbearer was another Fountain City original, Alvin Frye.
Lay, McMillan are GOP candidates to replace Swann By Jake Mabe The swan takes flight. After 32 years on the bench, 4th Circuit Court Judge Bill Swann announced his retirement last year, shortly after lawyer Greg McMillan said he would seek the job whether Swann ran or not.
Analysis Swann is Knox County’s most controversial judge; lawyers and litigants either love or hate him. Many just bypass his court entirely, filing in Chancery Court and putting a burden on that court’s caseload. The biggest complaint against Judge Swann is his overreliance on psychologists, with several working in his court, pushing up costs. The state requires that divorcing couples undergo one mediation session; Swann requires four. The state requires four hours of Parent Education Seminars; Swann requires 12. It is difficult to get a trial date because he has trial “managements,” which require litigants to spend yet another day sitting in the courtroom with their lawyers so that progress toward settlement can be “measured.”
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Another frequent complaint is his overreliance on Orders of Protection. At one time, Knox County’s 4th Circuit Court issued more OPs than Davidson, Hamilton, Shelby and Sullivan counties combined. He also has a stable of lawyers who work as his “special masters.” These lawyers have their own robes, dockets and nameplates. When they’re not wielding a gavel, they are practicing in his court, raising the question of how these individuals can be agents of the judge one day and come before him the next. Candidate Patti Jane Lay is one of these, and Swann has endorsed her to succeed him. These practices have caused Chancery Court dockets to become overloaded with divorce cases. Swann’s critics say he has made the process of getting a divorce in Knox County expensive, cumbersome and protracted. The candidates: Two lawyers seek to replace Judge Swann, a race that will be decided in the May 6 Republican Primary. The winner will face the winner of the Democratic Primary, either Daniel Kidd or David Valone, in the general election. Patti Jane Lay and Greg McMillan are campaigning hard – both
in the shadow of Bill Swann. Lay grew up in Fountain City and Bearden, graduating from Webb School of Knoxville. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Emory University in Atlanta and a law degree at UT. She and her husband, Tom Baugh, live in Bearden and have three children. Lay McMillan says he declared his intentions to run in 2006. He graduated from Bearden High before earning a bachelor’s degree and a law degree from UT. He and his wife, Summer, have five children. He is special counsel with the Lewis Thomason law firm. McMillan says he got into the race because “the court hasn’t been working well for the people of Knox County for several years.” He says he will: ■ Do a better job screening orders of protection, granting them not at the initial stage by special masters but by the court of record. “It eliminates appeals.” ■ Ensure better coordination between law enforcement and the court, making orders of protection simplified, clear and typed rather
Betty Bean contributed to this report.
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than written. ■ Change the way the docket is handled. He says most cases are filed in Chancery Court because of Swann’s “biases,” which have created a logjam. ■ Change Swann’s snowday policy, opening court even if Knox County government is closed for those who can McMillan safely make it to court. On the civil side, McMillan says he will change the current policy of a 12-hour parenting class to the state-required four-hour class and will look at offering online classes. He says when parents are going through a divorce, their children need them more than ever. “The court needs to work better for the people of Knox County. There’s going to be a change (in judges). But it needs to be the right change.” We were unable to connect with Lay by press time. Candidate bios can be found at their websites, w w w.pattijanelay forjudge.com and http://mcmillanforjudge.com.
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