VOL. 52 NO. 21
IN THIS ISSUE
Fountain City gets big chicken finger Chick-fil-A ignored residents, Town Hall and council member Nick Della Volpe. Last week it installed a 40-foot pole sign topped with a giant flying chicken on Broadway in the heart of Fountain City. The sign is legal, says Sandra Clark, but hideous nonetheless.
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See her report on page A-4
Postcards of history When Adam Alfrey was first approached about writing a book on the history of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as seen through postcards, his first question was “Why postcards?”
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See Jake Mabe’s story on page A-3
NEIGHBORHOOD BUZZ
Marston to leave Christ UMC The Rev. Bruce Marston, who helped found Christ United Methodist Church in Halls, has been appointed pastor of First United Methodist Church of Alcoa. He will preach his last sermon at Christ United Methodist on Sunday, June 2, and a reception will be held after the 8:45 a.m. and 11 a.m. services in the Wesley Hall.
Christ UMC car show is Saturday The fifth annual Christ United Methodist Youth Car Show, rained out May 11, will be held 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Sat, June 1, at the church, 7535 Maynardville Hwy. The car show is being presented by the church youth. All proceeds help them participate in a yearly mission trip and toward local missions in the Knoxville area. Preregistration is $20 and day of the show registration is $25. Bring cars, trucks and motorcycles. Compete for prizes and awards and enjoy live music, including singer Clay Worthley and bluegrass music by Highway 33. Breakfast and lunch concessions will also be available with homemade goodies. Info: Jim Collier, 414-5377 or visit www.christumcknox. com to register online.
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Smith calls budget ‘sound’ By Sandra Clark The Knox County Commission will vote on Mayor Tim Burchett’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2014 at 2 p.m. Tuesday, May 28. The budget is expected to pass, probably with amendments. R. Larry Smith Anyone wanting
to speak should call 215-2534 to sign up for public forum. In an interview last week, Commissioner R. Larry Smith said the budget is sound and any surplus won’t disappear if not spent. “We don’t have to pile on now.” Smith supports Burchett’s call for a 2 percent across-the-boards pay increase for county employees. He said each percent costs about $1 million and he’d like to
see even more. “It’s been a while since the employees have had any increase.” Burchett’s budget contains no tax increase and maintains services at existing levels. It fully funds the school board’s request for $419.9 million, and provides $4 million in capital improvement funding for completion of the Karns Connector. It keeps the county on track to fulfill Burchett’s goal of reducing the coun-
ty’s debt by $100 million by the end of fiscal year 2016. Clayton Park: A possible budget amendment would include a playground structure for the Clayton Park in Halls. Smith expressed disappointment that the road into the park has not been finished. He said: “By this time next year, we will have the road and rest rooms, a picnic pavilion and possibly an amphitheater.”
Simon says: Here to stay By Betty Bean Last April, a story in the Wall Street Journal headlined “Simon offering four malls in Florida, Tennessee” caused great concern to members of the Alice Bell Spring Hill Neighborhood Association because one of those properties was Knoxville Center. This confirmed rumors that Indianapolis-based Simon Prop-
New principals for area schools Three area schools will have a new principal this fall, with appointments by Superintendent Dr. Jim McIntyre. Danny Trent, principal at Central High since 2009, will be the new principal at Farragut Middle School.He was principal at Karns Middle School from 2003-09. He worked as an administrator at Carter Middle and as a resource specialist at Halls Middle. A replacement for Trent was not named. Tiffany Dukes is the new principal at Ritta Elementary where she has been an assistant principal since 2010. She is a member of the second graduating cohort of the Principal Leadership Academy. She joined Knox County Schools in 2007 and has also taught at Gibbs Elementary. Dukes holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, both from UT. Kathy Castenir is the principal at Copper Ridge Elementary, replacing Terry Frost who retired. Castenir has been the assistant principal at Blue Grass Elementary School since 2008 She joined Knox County Schools in 1986 as a teacher at Adrian Burnett Elementary School. She holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from UT and a master’s in administration and supervision from LMU.
erty Group was trying to unload the mall formerly known as East Towne, the biggest commercial entity in the neighborhood association’s territory. The WSJ story said that Simon was offering 570,000 square feet of the 970,000 square foot shopping center for sale, valued at $64.8 million. “The mall is on 48 acres at 3001 Knoxville Center Drive, five miles
from the University of Tennessee. It was built in 1984 and renovated in 1997. There are 4,700 parking spaces. Some 98,000 people live within five miles. The average household income is $48,000,” the story said. A year later, Knoxville Center is no longer for sale, and area residents, a county commissioner and a majority of City Council showed
By Libby Morgan Friday after Mother’s Day we buried our mother. Words cannot do justice to witnessing a military funeral at Arlington. We knew it was going to be the experience of a lifetime. Mary Elizabeth Rivero Morgan, better known as Bebe, was ahead of her time. After growing up in Tampa and Havana, she graduated from Florida State College for Women in Tallahassee (now FSU) just when World War II was getting serious. Both our parents were WWII veterans, Daddy seeing action at sea as a navigator and a captain of Coast Guard ships, and Momma staying stateside as a cadet ensign lieutenant in the SPARs (based on the Coast Guard motto: “Semper Paratus – Always Ready), the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve. She trained at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., and entered active service in December 1943. (It would be 30 more years before women were accepted at the academy as regular collegelevel students.) Our father, Carey Carlisle Morgan Jr., graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in 1940 as an engineer, but the two didn’t meet until they were both on the west coast celebrating the end of the war. His ashes were placed at Arlington more than 20 years ago. Precision is the operative word in any military ceremony, and even the draft horses pulling the caisson matched perfectly. Momma’s urn was placed inside the flag-draped coffin, along with her flag, and we solemnly followed on foot. The weather was exquisite. The flag bearers, a bugler, the guard of honor, seven service members for the volley of shots, the casket team flanking the caisson, the chaplain, the Arlington Lady – a contingent, altogether, of about
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Humbled at Arlington
My mother’s urn and the flag were carried on a caisson to the Columbarium. Photos by Libby Morgan
The presentation of the flag to my sister, Carol Watkins. 40 men and women in uniform, outnumbered our family group by four to one. Our final walk with Bebe was humbling. I felt I should concentrate on her memory, but the sights and sounds of our procession and the surrounding grounds of the vast cemetery pulled my thoughts into the present. The blessing of a loving family: my sister, nephew, children, grandsons and daughterin-law accompanying me in honoring my mother overwhelmed me.
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up for the Alice Bell group’s May meeting when they heard that the new mall manager was going to be there. Actually, Justin Sterling isn’t the “manager” of Knoxville Center. He’s the leasing representative, charged with recruiting new tenants. His ideas and enthusiasm were well received by the neighbor-
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After the eulogy, the folding of the flag by six service members was executed with perfect precision and was fascinating to watch. Momma died a little over a year ago, but it can take a while to schedule an inurnment at Arlington, especially when the trip included herding up her busy offspring. She had waited patiently on my fireplace mantle until we took her home to join Daddy in the Columbarium niche wall, just a few miles from where she was born in 1919.
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