KARNS/HARDIN VALLEY
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Interns go to court (sort of)
Eight kids walk into Juvenile Court, how many walk out? Hopefully, if it’s the Shopper-News interns, all of them do. Last week the interns went to Juvenile Court and met Judge Tim Irwin and Richard Bean, superintendent at the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Detention Facility.
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See page A-9
Recruiting near and far ... Derek Dooley is trapped between a rock and a hard place. If a Tennessee prep star (think Jalen Ramsey) escapes the recruiting net and flies afar, fans wonder how in the world a coach, with so many home-court advantages, could lose such a great talent. Dooley is obviously asleep at the wheel. He should own the state. This is Tennessee! But does becoming a Vol For Life mean you have hail from Big Orange Country?
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See Marvin’s story on page A-5
Lions roar! Lions Clubs of Karns, West Knoxville, Farragut, Halls, Inskip, Fountain City, Knox North, Powell and West Side Leo Club were well represented at the Lions Clubs’ zone meeting at the Karns pavilion July 16.
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See Theresa’s story on page A-3
Don’t mess with Detroit! Jake Mabe says the best vacation he ever took was to Detroit. That’s his story and he’s sticking to it.
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See Jake’s story on page A-10
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A great community newspaper
VOL. 6 NO. 30
IN THIS ISSUE
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July 23, 2012
Karns fair and more By Theresa Edwards
More than half the community of Karns will come together Saturday, July 28, to eat, play and celebrate at the 59th annual Karns Community Fair. Kids in 4-H Club will auction chickens. Adults will judge vintage and muscle cars. Everyone will laugh as they peruse old Karns scrapbooks, taste neighbors’ jams and try to climb the rope course set up by local Boy Scouts. “A lot of people only see each other at the fair, and then they won’t see each other until the next year,” said Roger Kane. “The people really enjoy it. Every year, they want to bring their flowers and tomatoes, jellies and quilts, to reconnect with the community.” The Karns community now boasts more than 13,000 people. Kane expects 5,000 to 7,000 people for fair events. The festivities begin early this year, with the Karns Li’l and Junior Fairest of the Fair Pageant starting 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 26, at Karns High School. The pageant for ages 13-20 will begin 6:30 p.m. Friday, July 27, at KHS. “There are more than 40 girls competing in four age groups,” said pageant director Kelley Grabill. Girls compete in evening wear and older girls also compete in athletic wear. This year’s theme is “Denim to Diamonds.” The winner will be crowned Miss Karns Community and will ride along with other winners in Corvettes as part of Saturday’s parade. The pageant has been part of the fair almost as long as it has been around. “Last year, we had more than 300 people in the audience,” said Grabill. “It really does kick it off. There is a lot of excitement in the room. The girls are excited.” Early Saturday morning, July 28, 5k runners will register between 6:40 and 7:50 a.m. with the race beginning at 8 at KHS. There will also be a 1-mile run/walk starting at 8:10 a.m. Packets may be picked up Friday, July 27, at Fleet Feet Sports at 1619 Parkside Drive. Proceeds from the race will benefit the KHS cross-country team.
Mabel Teague shows some of her home-grown vegetables. She will help with the Country Store at the Karns Community Fair. Photo by T. Edwards of TEPHOTOS.com
The parade starts 9 a.m. at the Ingles grocery store on Oak Ridge Highway in Karns. There is no fee for those who want to join the parade, but registration is necessary. For more info on the parade or setting up booths at the fair, email Roger Kane at karnsins@yahoo.
com. Car show participants are welcome to join the parade and then join the show at KHS before 11 a.m. There will also be a kids’ power wheels show this year. For more information, call 919-2666 or 9248359.
The Karns Community Fair is 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at KHS. The car show, food vendors, dunking booth and a professional rugby exhibition game will be outside. Inside will be children’s games, crafts, inflatables, face-painting, balloons, country store and booths.
with a highly speculative solution. We feel like we are being sold a bill of goods that many – likely a vast majority, oppose.” Snowden said that safety is the county’s most important consideration. “We annually take a look at all the crashes in the county. In doing so, these intersections keep popping up toward the top of the list so we have made them a priority and asked our consultants (Cannon & Cannon) to give us a solution. We didn’t tell them what we wanted – they came back with a roundabout, and we felt that the roundabout was the best solution as well.” There have been 24 crashes in the last three years at the Mabry Hood intersection and 17 at the Bob Kirby intersection during the same period. Many of these have been dangerous right angle collisions involving injuries, Snowden said. Roundabouts tend to reduce the number of right angle (or “T-bone”) crashes. “In one out of two of these accidents, somebody’s getting hurt,” Snowden said. Engineering Director Dwight
Van de Vate says his department will take a fresh look at the projects and keep an open mind. “We’re not roundabout zealots, and when the addition of turn lanes and traffic signals makes sense, it’s always our first choice. The last two intersections we’ve looked at on Parkside Drive – at the intersections of Hayfield and Mabry Hood, given the volume of traffic and the configuration of the intersections, turn lanes and signalization were the better options.” On the other hand, Van de Vate said, a roundabout was deemed the best solution for problems at the intersection of Northshore Drive and Concord Road, and that crashes went down by 42 after it was installed. “And none of them were right angle collisions,” he said. “There was a tremendous amount of opposition to the one at Concord, and since it went in all we hear is good things. We get very positive feedback.” Norman Shaw said that he’s pleased with the postponement. “They’ve been responsive and are taking a look at it,” he said. “We appreciate that.”
Index Coffee Break A2 Theresa Edwards A3 Government/Politics A4 Marvin West/Malcolm Shell A5 Anne Hart A6 Faith A7 Business A8 Interns A9 Community Calendar A12 Health/Lifestyles Sect B
10512 Lexington Dr., Ste. 500 37932 (865) 218-WEST (9378) news@ShopperNewsNow.com ads@ShopperNewsNow.com GENERAL MANAGER Shannon Carey shannon@ShopperNewsNow.com EDITOR Sandra Clark sclark426@aol.com COMMUNITY REPORTER Theresa Edwards tephotos@tds.net ADVERTISING SALES Debbie Moss mossd@ShopperNewsNow.com Shopper-News is a member of KNS Media Group, published weekly at 10512 Lexington Drive, Suite 500, Knoxville, TN, and distributed to 33,237 homes in Farragut, Karns and Hardin Valley.
Roundabouts on hold By Betty bean
A group of West Knox County residents who oppose Knox County’s plan to spend $1 million on traffic roundabouts have persuaded county officials to slow down and take another look at traffic control options at the accident-plagued Bob Gray/Bob Kirby Road and Bob Gray/Mabry Hood/Hickey Road intersections. County Commission was set to consider starting the land acquisition process at its June meeting, but opponents of the plan were able to get a postponement so they could meet with Mayor Tim Burchett and other county officials to outline their objections. Now, they have succeeded in getting the matter postponed until September. “We’ll be going back and doing new traffic counts and running it back through analysis,” said Knox County Engineering and Public Works Deputy Director Jim Snowden. A third roundabout, planned for
the intersection of Choto Road and Northshore Drive, has received a warmer reception from its future neighbors and is still on track to be presented to county commission in August or September. A June 24 email from Alesa Rottersman Grant, Shawn Grant, Norman Shaw and Peggy Shaw outlined their misgivings about the roundabouts, which they said were too costly and little more than “showpieces for the engineering firm (Cannon & Cannon) that designed them and that is trying desperately to garner public support.” The email said that speeding is a bigger concern for area residents than traffic counts, and they fear that roundabouts will be difficult for neglectful or impaired drivers to negotiate and will make the problem worse. “Traffic counts do not tell the whole story. The roundabouts, as proposed, are solutions in need of a problem, and we do not want our tax money spent on fixing a problem that may or may not actually exist
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