VOL. 53 NO. 27
NEIGHBORHOOD BUZZ
Urban gardens The city of Knoxville is ready to propose changes in the zoning ordinance that will make it easier for individuals and community groups to establish gardens on privately held land. Anyone interested in community gardens, urban agriculture or sales of produce from these gardens is invited to meet 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, July 14, at Cansler Family YMCA, 616 Jessamine St. Info: 215-2065.
IN THIS ISSUE New greens for Whittle Springs After a chemical treatment apparently damaged the greens at the city-owned Whittle Springs Golf Course, the city and its golf course management contractor will replace all 18 putting surfaces. Whittle Springs Golf Course averages 28,000 rounds of golf a year. Rates for an 18-hole game range from $7 to $29, depending on age, time of day and whether a player walks or rides a cart..
➤
Read Ruth White on page A-3
Payouts to paramours It is not often a serious candidate for the U.S. Senate has in his past a state Supreme Court decision that delves into his personal life, thereby making it public. But such is the case with Gordon Ball, a wealthy Knoxville attorney and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in the Aug. 7 primary.
➤
Read Victor Ashe on page A-5
McIntyre’s mojo melting away It started as Alice’s Restaurant. Superintendent James McIntyre could get anything he wanted at any time, generally by an 8-1 vote. But now McIntyre’s board majority is melting, and neither his contract nor his long-range plan nor the August election will save him. He’s done. Alice isn’t cooking here anymore.
➤
Read Betty Bean on page A-4
Find us in Food Shopper-News publisher Sandra Clark says if a newspaper is good enough, readers will find it – even if it’s stuffed inside the Wednesday Food section.
➤
Read Sandra Clark on page A-4
7049 Maynardville Pike 37918 (865) 922-4136 NEWS news@ShopperNewsNow.com Sandra Clark | Jake Mabe ADVERTISING SALES ads@ShopperNewsNow.com Shannon Carey Jim Brannon | Tony Cranmore Brandi Davis | Patty Fecco
www.ShopperNewsNow.com |
Clayton Park: What might have been By Betty Bean Back in 2009, Knox County commissioned landscape architect Mike Fowler (a founding principal of Ross/Fowler P.C.) to draw up a master plan for Clayton Park. Halls residents had raised money to buy 11 acres on Norris Freeway and deeded the land to Knox County. Fowler conducted community meetings, took suggestions and came up with a plan for a passive park that transformed the site’s challenges into assets. “The master plan prepared by Ross/Fowler takes advantage of such unique site features as an emerging wetland, numerous existing mature trees, open meadowlands and over 1,000 feet of frontage on Beaver Creek. The proposed Halls Greenway Extension passes through the park and provides linkages to schools and active recreational opportunities in the nearby Halls Community Park,” the narrative said. The park under construction nearly five years later bears little resemblance to the leafy, multipurpose passive park Fowler described. His plan, for which the county paid $14,250, envisioned these features: ■ A multipurpose meadow amphitheater ringed with picnic tables and fi xed seating that could serve as an outdoor classroom or a venue for larger events. ■ A recreation meadow and a system of loop trails. ■ Structured play opportunities.
The Clayton Park master plan designed by architect Mike Fowler.
■ A wetland boardwalk and an elevated creekwalk and overlook with interpretive signage. ■ A raised deck/observation platform/teaching station where wetland biology is interpreted in exhibit panels overlooking the wetland. ■ A Tree Top Adventure Play area overlooking the wetland. “This system of decks, ramps, slides and steps reaches up to interact with the canopy of several mature trees,” Fowler’s narrative says. The most visible difference between the Ross/Fowler plan and
the facts on the ground is trees. Although Knox County Parks and Recreation director Doug Bataille said he plans to replace trees that were removed to accommodate a road from the park entrance on Norris Freeway to the parking area at the top of the hill, it is clear that there will be no canopy of mature trees in the park’s central area. More difficult to envision, but equally substantive, is the importance of the $615,413 greenway (80 percent of the funding from a state grant that is less than three months away from expiring, 20 percent from
the county). The state funding is being jeopardized by the county’s lack of progress on the walking trail, which was meant to connect the park to the campus of Halls Elementary School. And a county park off Lovell Road, Plumb Creek Park, already has lost a state grant. Bataille says he hopes to get it back by reapplying, but he cannot start work at Plumb Creek Park until he finishes at Clayton. Looking at Clayton Park’s parched grass and lack of shade, perhaps Plumb Creek is better off without Bataille’s tender touch.
Gentry-Griffey crematorium legal, chancellor rules By Betty Bean Chancellor Mike Moyers ruled last week that Gentry-Griffey Funeral Chapel can continue to use its crematory, giving the Fountain City funeral home victories in three different forums – the Board of Zoning Appeals, City Council and Knox County Chancery Court. Gentry-Griffey now runs the only such facility in Knox County, a fact it advertises heavily. Foes of the crematory have indicated a willingness to appeal Moyers’ ruling, so the fight, which began in 2012 when a group of
Fountain City business owners and homeowners learned after the fact that Gentry-Griffey had obtained a permit to build a crematory as an accessory use to the funeral home. Crematory opponents objected to both the lack of community notification and to the designation of the crematory as an accessory use. Gentry-Griffey partner Eric Botts promised the protesting group that the crematorium would be used only by Gentry-Griffey clients. Further appeals may be forthcoming.
the city of Knoxville is advertising bids for the cleanup process. The bids will be opened by the end of The slimy green algae covering the month, and a contract is exFountain City Lake has become a pected to go before City Council source of embarrassment and ir- at its Aug. 19 meeting, if all goes ritation to Fountain Citians like as planned. Volunteer inmates from the Janet Phillips, who says she has made it her business to become Knox County Detention Center a “thorn in the side” of local offi- will help remove algae, and the city’s civil engineering division cials. It looks as though she has been will preside over the cleanup efsuccessful. City Council has set fort. Construction should begin aside $250,000 for repairs and in October or November; those cleanup of the lake in its new bud- are the driest months of the get, and Phillips was notified that year.
City takes lead in lake cleanup
Demoted Earl speaks out at school board By Betty Bean Former Brickey-McCloud Elementary School assistant principal Sheila Earl was moved to tell her story at last Wednesday’s school board meeting after hearing board members at the Monday workshop talk about clamping down on teachers who bypass the KCS “chain of command” by going public with complaints about the administration. Earl is fearful of retaliation but promised her daughter she’d be brave because many colleagues have received the same treatment she has and don’t know why. The last year she was an assistant principal, she was evaluated by Knox County Schools’ elementary schools director Nancy Maland, who gave her the highest possible rating – a level 5 score. This result was typical for Earl, a 23-year KCS
Feel the crunch.
$25 enrollment this month.
July 9, 2014
www.facebook.com/ShopperNewsNow
Tennova.com
employee, so she had reason to be excited when she got a phone call from the KCS human resources department July 19, 2012. “I naively believed that my time had finally come and I was going in to interview for a principalship,” she said. “After all, I had spent nine years as a successful assistant principal after 14 years as an award-winning teacher. I had even completed the D-21 program with excellent results as well.” When she went to the meeting with Maland and HR director Kathy Simms, she was stunned to hear that Superintendent James McIntyre had decided to return her to the classroom, a change that carried a 25 percent pay reduction. “When I asked for the reason why, I was reminded that administrators serve at the pleasure of the
superintendent. (Nancy) Maland acted as a scribe, but she remained silent. (Superintendent) McIntyre was conveniently out of town.” Maland retired at year’s end. Earl, a single mother, was given very little time to clear out her office, prepare to teach third grade and readjust her family budget to the pay cut. Her former principal said she had no idea why Earl was demoted. Her new principal suggested that perhaps this was a test to see how gracefully she handled difficult situations and speculated that she might get a promotion the next year. “That, of course, did not happen,” Earl said. There was a bit of a silver lining, she thought. Under state guidelines, Earl’s evaluation score qualified her for an APEX bonus, so she had rea-
Let us care for your WEDDING GOWN… before & after the wedding
859-7900
son to expect some financial help that fall. But when she checked the APEX website in November, the words next to her name were “Employee no longer in good standing.” She attempted to find why she had been labeled a loser, but multiple phone calls and emails got no response until her sister (acting without Earl’s knowledge) contacted the county ethics board. Finally, in April 2013, she heard from KCS chief accountability officer Nakia Towns, who informed her that being reclassified as a classroom teacher after having been an administrator automatically made her ineligible for the bonus. Earl, who said she has been shocked at the level of micromanagement that classroom teachers have to endure To page A-3
Training for LIFE. Group personal training Register now!
Dr Drapes • Bedspreads • Comforters • etc.
922-4780 Convenient Drive-Thru
Check us out on Facebook!
hallscleaners.net
Tennova.com
859-790