North/East Shopper-News 011415

NORTH / EAST VOL. 3 NO. 2

IN THIS ISSUE

A-E youth symposium

The MLK Commission Youth Symposium team is partnering with the Knoxville Chapter of Jack & Jill of America to host a day of youth development and leadership training, 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 17, at AustinEast High School.

Jack & Jill will present an oratorical contest concurrent with the breakout sessions for middle and high school students.

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Goats

January 14, 2015

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get one more summer to gnaw on Williams Creek vegetation

Details on page 8

‘American Sniper’ Director Clint Eastwood knows war movies. His “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters From Iwo Jima” are two of the best in recent years.

“American Sniper” had the potential to make it a trifecta, but Eastwood can’t figure out what kind of war movie he’s trying to make.

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Read Betsy Pickle on page 6

Flyers will deliver Those of you who have tried Flyers Pizza in the food court at Knoxville Center Mall will be happy to know Flyers is now offering home delivery within a five-mile radius of the mall.

Hours are from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and from 11 a.m. until midnight Friday and Saturday.

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Read Nancy Whittaker on page 9

Berry Strong “Eric Berry is already a model for younger players, an example of how to do it. Before that, he was just a model citizen. I remember a high school story of him volunteering as a helper in a dentist’s office. I always suspected the receptionist was pretty.

“I recall, at UT, him showing up in the equipment room the night before a game to help team managers clean and polish helmets. Think about that, star with a scrub brush.”

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Read Marvin West on page 4

Visiting MPC “I used to think that sitting through a multi-hour government meeting would be approximately as enjoyable as having my toenails trimmed with a jackhammer.

“But as I’ve become a grownup, the things that interest me have changed. Thank goodness. Otherwise, I’d still be watching soaps with my girlfriends, as I did when I was 14.”

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Renée Hoyos, executive director of the Tennessee Clean Water Network, explains plans for the Williams Creek Greenway and Urban Forest along Daily and Biddle streets in East Knoxville. Bill Eanes (left) and Mike Waller are with Civil & Environmental Consultants Inc. of Maryville, a potential bidder on the project. Photo by Bill Dockery

Read Wendy Smith on page 5

By Bill Dockery The goats will be back on Williams Creek in 2015, but this summer is likely to be their final performance.

The critters have munched their way through generations of kudzu and other invasive species in recent years as part of the city’s

news@ShopperNewsNow.com Sandra Clark | Bill Dockery ADVERTISING SALES ads@ShopperNewsNow.com Patty Fecco | Tony Cranmore Wendy O’Dell | Sara Whittle

tor of parks and greenways for storing a wooded tract on the hill Knoxville’s Parks and Recreation to the west. That tract is a more Department. “Now we’re looking recent purchase made by the Tenat two local environmental engineering groups who can advise us on the next steps to restore the area’s ecology.”

In addition to the land along the waterway, the city is also re-

nessee Clean Water Network and deeded to the city.

Williams Creek begins just east of Austin-East High School and curves west before turning southTo page 3

Argie Hilbert: Living the good life

By Sandra Clark Argie Hilbert has many friends and a daughter who will stick with her always. Ginger Branch says, “I want no regrets.”

Recently she took her mom back to Rule High School, where Hilbert reigned as Miss Rule High in 1943. Back then, Hilbert had posed on the front steps, and Branch snapped another shot in the same spot, 71 years later. “I liked to never got her up those steps … or back down them,” Branch laughs.

She then photographed the school’s exterior and through the windows that weren’t boarded up inside classrooms with blue- and gold-painted walls. “It was eerie,” she says.

Argie Hilbert, Miss Rule High in 1943

Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett wants to get the Rule High School property back on the tax rolls.

“We are waiting for Knox County Schools to surplus Rule to Knox County,” said spokesperson Michael Grider. “Hugh Holt (purchasing director)

Argie Hilbert in the same spot in 2014.

said that’s expected to happen in the fall.

“At that point, Knox County will evaluate our options and determine whether there is a viable, private way to save the building. The mayor would To page 3

A great day to stay home

By Sandra Clark Knox County Schools will be giving a state-mandated “writing assessment” to children in grades 3-11 in February. The mom of a thirdgrader contacted Shopper-News.

Analysis

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efforts to restore the natural vegetation along the creek bottom, which runs between Biddle Street on the east and Daily and Graves streets on the west.

“They’ve been very successful at eating all the invasive species and clearing out the understory,” said Lori Goerlich, coordina-

The tests will be given on computer, and third-graders will be required to type their answers, she said. The teacher wrote: “This is an online assessment, which means they will read two articles online and then TYPE their 5 paragraph response.”

The kids will have an hour and a half to complete the test with a 30-minute break “in between,” according to the teacher.

Dr. Elizabeth Alves, chief academic officer for Knox County Schools, said this is the first year the test will be administered in grades 3-11. “In the past, it was only given in grades 5, 8 and 11.

The test was piloted across the state last year. Our teachers opted not to participate in the pilot.”

Alves said the writing test for grades 5, 8 and 11 was administered by computer last year and grades 8 and 11 have been tested

on computer for two years.

She said student performance will be reported, but it will not count for teacher evaluation or system accountability purposes.

My final question: In what grade are children taught to type and expected to be proficient in the skill?”

Alves said: “Instruction in the use of technology and typing varies from school to school. Currently, there is no curriculum from the state for teaching typing at the elementary levels; however, there are state standards at each grade level that identify performance expecta-

tions. Elementary students are not graded on proficiency in typing.”

The parent who contacted Shopper-News is concerned that her 8-year-old will be typing a fiveparagraph response in a timed format. She said her kid visits the tech lab every six days, hardly enough to become proficient at keyboarding.

The teacher who contacted her said typing practice at home would be helpful because, “Capitalization, punctuation and indentions will be taken into consideration on their assessment grade.”

This might be a good day to keep your 8-year-old at home.

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2 • JANUARY 14, 2015 • Shopper news

health & lifestyles

The road back

Friendsville woman finds friends, mobility at Patricia Neal Progressive myelopathy. Cauda equina syndrome. Thoracic disk herniation. Peripheral polyneuropathy.

You name it – Phyllis Kirksey seemed to have everything – except the ability to move her legs. “It really wasn’t pain – it was inability to do anything,� she recalls. “Your mind tells you to lift your leg and go up the stairs, but it won’t do it. It was just like I weighed 400 pounds. I just couldn’t move.�

Nobody knows what caused this latest in a long history of back problems, but it set the retired pharmacist on a path to her sixth surgery followed by two weeks of rehabilitation as a spinal cord injury patient at Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center.

It happened soon after returning from her son’s wedding that Kirksey, wife of Dr. Jim Kirksey, an ER physician at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, suddenly found herself unable to climb any of the stairs in their Friendsville tri-level home.

Soon, Dr. Merrill White, an orthopedic spine surgeon at Parkwest Medical Center, was laying out her options: Undergo an extensive 12-hour multi-level spinal decompression and reconstruction or spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. “Dr. White shoots straight from the hip,� said Mrs. Kirksey. “He said, ‘You’ve got a 50 percent chance of getting better, a 10 percent chance of getting worse and a 40 percent chance of being just like you are. But being like you are is better than what you will be if you don’t have surgery because you will continue to get worse.’ It wasn’t a pretty picture to paint.

So, I gambled on 50 percent and I won.�

Of course, it wasn’t an easy victory.

After the July 3 surgery by Dr. White and cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Brent Grishkin, Mrs. Kirksey recovered at Parkwest for a week. “I was the Pillow Lady,� she said with a laugh. “I had a pillow here, a pillow in front, a pillow in back, pillow between my knees. I was pillowed up – and don’t move me!�

But White had other plans. The next day, he had Mrs. Kirksey to stand on her own two feet.

Walking, however, would take awhile longer.

Discharged from Parkwest a week after surgery, she was sent to Patricia Neal Reha-

“It was not just a hospital where you are treated as an individual but you made friends, made friends for life,� said Phyllis Kirksey of her experience at Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center in Knoxville.

After a series of surgeries, Kirksey is now on her feet and walking thanks to the excellent rehabilitation experienced at the facility.

bilitation Center where she was immediately impressed by the staff. “When I was ďŹ rst admitted, everyone came in and introduced themselves and explained their job position and if there was anything I needed related to their expertise, just let them know,â€? she said. “Everybody had a smile on their face. It was a very uplifting, encouraging atmosphere. “Of course, Day One they are going to get

you to your feet. They let you know from the very beginning that, ‘You’re not here to be waited on!’ � she said with a laugh. “That was the whole atmosphere. They present you with challenges, then you go in and you do it, and you don’t think you will be able to accomplish, but by golly, after a few days, I was doing exactly what they said. Everybody was very encouraging.�

By the end of the ďŹ rst of two weeks at PNRC, she was walking the full length of an exercise bar and climbing steps, well on her way to meeting her personal goal of caring for herself and getting in and out of her multi-level home.

She was also learning to maneuver her wheelchair, taking part in an obstacle course

throughout different oors of Fort Sanders Regional. “I look at people in wheelchairs in the mall or wherever now in a whole different perspective,â€? she says. “I know what they are going through because I’ve been there even if was for a short period.â€?

Perhaps just as important were the lessons learned in group sessions with new-found friends in similar situations. “There was camaraderie there,� she said. “I learned everyone’s name. It was interesting to see the change each other went through. In the beginning, some were real withdrawn and focused on their own pain, but by the end of two weeks, they were more concerned about how others were feeling. You really got to know one another. “It was not just a hospital where you are treated as an individual but you made friends, made friends for life,� she added. “And you take your own problems in a new perspective.

OK, I’ve got this condition and I’m having trouble walking, but you know what? I didn’t really have a choice in the surgery because, if I hadn’t had the surgery, I would have been in a wheelchair for life. That was my option, and I didn’t want that. So you deal ‌ thank God there was an alternative!�

Today, Mrs. Kirksey moves about her home with the aid of a cane and can climb any ight of stairs in her home. If she is going a long-distance, she uses a walker.

But the wheelchair she took home from Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center sits at a dining table, unused except by a son-in-law who says it’s comfortable to his own bad back.

The surgeons, rehabilitation physicians or physiatrists, therapists and nurses have done their part. The rest, she says, is up to her. “It’s easy to say, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ But if you really, really search your heart and take in these experiences and use them for a better good, then so be it. It is what it is. I am just thankful that I can do what I can do.� “I would not wish anybody to go through what any of us at Pat Neal had to go through,� she added. “But if life deals you an unfortunate circumstance where you are in that position, then you couldn’t go to a better place for rehab.

They have the ability to reach any type person.

They were wonderful. They were great in every way.�

Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center serves Covenant and beyond patient well enough that they could make the 24-hour ight home with this new disability. Then, coordinating with international, socialized medicine was also quite a learning experience.�

Navigating the many twists and tangles of red tape, however, is hardly new to the scores of health professionals involved in caring for PNRC patients. Since 2010, the government-mandated guidelines for admission to rehabilitation centers have become increasingly stringent, making it more challenging for patients to get the care they need. “When a patient is admitted for inpatient rehabilitation at Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center, they have to meet admission requirements established by the government for ‘medical necessity’ as well as rehab needs,� said Dr. Dillon, a physiatrist. “You have to be sick enough to require a hospital level of care but well enough to participate in an intensive, multiple-disciplinary, inter-disciplinary therapy program.�

Helping smooth that process is the relationships Dr. Dillon and her team have built with physicians throughout the Covenant network, a network that continues to grow and now serves 23 counties in East Tennessee. As new facilities are added, such as Cumberland Medical Center in Crossville and Claiborne Medical Center in Tazewell, Dillon and her team work to develop relationships with the new facilities to better understand their capabilities as well as offer PNRC’s services when needed.

Another important role in maneuvering government guidelines is that of the admissions liaison, specially trained registered nurses and social workers assigned to each Covenant hospital to evaluate and process referrals from those facilities to PNRC. “That’s a vital role,� said Dillon. “We have licensed persons in that role to collate the referral data. The ultimate decision for admission or not admitting, however, has to be made by a physician with training in rehabilitation. A lot of it is seman-

tics. It’s knowing how to capture the medical intensity of the care needed.

The goal is to get the patient to the level of care in the post-acute continuum that will best meet their needs and best utilize their resources.�

Each year about 750 to 800 patients with a variety of illnesses or injuries are admitted to PNRC. About 80 percent of those come from Parkwest Medical Center, University of Tennessee Medical Center and Fort Sanders Regional with the balance mostly coming from other Covenant facilities although referrals often come from Nashville, Chattanooga, the Tri-Cities in Tennessee and many other states as well.

Countless others, whose condition does not qualify for inpatient care, receive help as a PNRC outpatient or may be referred back to a Covenant therapy center closer to home. Still others may be referred to a skilled care nursing facility or home health care.

But for those who do qualify for

admission to PNRC, quality care is a hallmark. The nationally acclaimed facility has won numerous national awards, including four Crystal Awards, the top award given for patient satisfaction by Professional Research Consultants, a nationally known health care research company. What’s more, PNRC’s rate of readmission within 30 days of discharge is lower than the regional and national averages. “Our goal is to provide excellent care to everyone,� said Dr. Dillon. “We strive to restore abilities and rebuild lives. We maximize their functional independence. Patients admitted to PNRC tend to come in sicker, get home sooner and stay home longer with fewer readmissions. While changes in health care are making it more challenging to get into PNRC, once you are admitted, we’ll provide you with excellent care, among the best rehabilitation in the nation.�

For more information and a virtual tour video, visit PatNeal.org or call 865-541-1446.

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It’s a place for those whose lives were changed forever in the blink of an eye. It’s where the sickest of the sick come to be treated, and where each year, hundreds of people come to have their lives rebuilt and abilities restored.

It’s Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center, the 73-bed acute care rehab hospital Mary Dillon, MD, that serves PNRC not just Fort Sanders Regional within which it is located, but all Covenant Health facilities, East Tennessee and beyond.

Way beyond. “We had a patient from Australia who was in an accident while visiting this country and had a spinal cord injury,� says Dr. Mary Dillon, medical director of PNRC since 2003. “We were able to rehab the

community

NORTH/EAST Shopper news • JANUARY 14, 2015 • 3

Goats From page 1

ward through the proposed park site. After passing unFrom page 1 der Brooks Road, the creek flows through the city’s Wee Course golf links, past the like to see something pro- counterpart as Mr. Rule Vulcan Materials quarry ductive done with that facil- High in 1943.

The Koontz grocery store and the Knoxville Utili- ity. As for a timeline, howties Board water plant, and ever, there isn’t one beyond on Delaware Avenue allowed neighbors to pay by joins the Tennessee River what I described.”

Meanwhile, Argie Hilbert the week. At school, Argie just above the James White has great memories of grow- and her sister, Edna, got Parkway bridge.

At present the city has ing up in Lonsdale and at- free lunches by working in no plans to extend walking tending the old school. “I’ve the cafeteria.

There was no electricity trails through the golf course, lived in the same town and Goerlich said, but will seek to worked at the same bank,” at home. Ice was delivered link the urban forest to the she says. “I’m pleased with for the ice box, and cooking was done on the woodstove.

47-acre Knoxville Botanical how everything went.”

Ginger now lives with The sisters had few dresses, Garden and Arboretum between Wimpole Avenue and Argie on Dutchtown Road so their mom would wash in the Cedar Bluff area. She and iron one each evening, Boyd’s Bridge Road.

“This is not a typical says church has always been heating the iron on the stove.

“We were poor but didn’t park project,” Goerlich said. a big part of her mom’s life, “We’re trying to improve a including her initiative as know it,” says Argie. Suppolluted creek and clean up a charter member of Grace per was often heated milk poured over bread. a place that has been used Covenant Baptist Church.

Jim Smith sells his homemade hot sauce to customers at Nourish Knoxville’s Winter Market, for dumping trash.” The In Argie’s high school Argie’s husband, Bill held in the fellowship hall of Central United Methodist Church at 201 E. Third Ave. Smith is the Daily/Graves corridor has days, transportation choices Hilbert, was a class ahead owner of Rushy Springs Farm in Talbott, Tenn. The Winter Market is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. been blocked temporarily to were limited to walking or at Rule. She got a job at the every other Saturday at the church through March 21. Photo by Bill Dockery riding the streetcar. Argie’s main office of the Hamilton prevent further dumping.

Unlike most greenways, mom had to transfer three National Bank and stayed the Williams Creek project times just to get across town until retirement as the bank Larry Cox Senior Center, 3109 10103 Thorn Grove Pike. Info: is in a mostly residential to her job at Standard Knit- morphed into United AmerStart the New Year with Ocoee Trail. Info: http://edgeMary Jo Poole, 599-7698 or ican Bank and then First part of town. The city has ting Mills. woodpark.us./ mjp1101@aol.com. a new license plate Argie and her friends Tennessee. been able to tackle it be■ Town Hall East. Info: Eston Customers called her Drivers in Tennessee and ■ Excelsior Lodge No. 342 cause the Tennessee Clean walked to churches, once as meets 7:30 p.m. each ThursWilliams, 406-5412 or North Carolina can kick Water Network was able to far away as Ball Camp Bap- everything from “Aggie” to day, 10103 Thorn Grove Pike. eston_williams@yahoo.com; off the New Year by joining acquire tracts and property tist. Attending revivals and “Orggie,” and she answered Info: Bill Emmert, 933.6032 or https://www.facebook.com/ even funerals was a social to every name. Her mother the 32,000 others who own easements. w.emmert@att.net. townhalleast/info. had named her for her favehicles with Friends of the Renée Hoyos, executive pastime.

■ First District Democrats meet Gus Manning was a high ther’s initials. He was Rufus Smokies license plates. director of the network, said each first Monday, Burlington Sales of specialty that the organization got school classmate. Playing Glenmore Arnwine, so she Branch Library, 4614 Asheville Artists’ works on display license plates in North funds to acquire the proper- football, he earned and kept became Argie.

Highway. Info: Tony Brown, Three artists will be The family lived with Carolina and Tennessee ties in a 2003 lawsuit settled a reputation for toughness.

973-4086, or Evelyn Gill, featured during January Boys would play baseball Argie’s grandparents for a support priority projects with the Knoxville Utilities 524-7177. at the Parkside Gift Shop, in the Great Smoky Board over illegal overflows at the Knoxville Iron Com- while. They had chickens ■ Historic Fourth & Gill formerly known as the Mountains National Park. of raw sewage into the Ten- pany on Texas Avenue after and hogs, right in town.

Neighborhood Organization Parkside Open Door Galschool until suppertime. Grandmother Hale read Projects include Student nessee River. meets 6:30 p.m. each second lery in Fountain City.

“Nobody had watches; we from the Bible after supper Conservation Association “KUB has done a great Monday, Central UMC, 201 Denae Oglesby will have job,” Hoyos said. “They’ve just knew when it was time as the kids sat mesmerized. internship positions, Third Ave. Info: Liz Upchurch, handcrafted silver jewelry Grandfather Hale had built Parks as Classrooms met every parameter of the to go home.”

898-1809, lizupchurch1@ and Kate McCullough will John S. Humphreys was a long table with benches. and Appalachian Trail cleanup program.” gmail.com. feature watercolors; both Everyone knew when Ridgerunner programs in Completion of the Wil- principal at Rule High, and ■ Inskip Community Assoare Fountain City residents. liams Greenway and Urban when the boys left early to supper was served, and the both states. ciation meets 6 p.m. each Mary Secrist of Halls will Seasonal environmental Forest is about five years enter World War II, he pre- whole family was invited. fourth Tuesday, Inskip also feature watercolors. student interns gain a away. When completed, it sented the seniors with ear- “We didn’t cook extra, but Baptist Church, 4810 Rowan The gift shop is at 213 deeper understanding will include low-impact trails ly diplomas. Jim Bowman, shared what we had.”

Road. Info: Betty Jo Mahan, Hotel Ave. Hours are 9 now deceased, was Argie’s 679-2748 or bettymahan@ of park ecology while and native trees and plants. a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday and knology.net. conducting scientific research, assisting with ■ Oakwood Lincoln Park Neigh- Thursday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Wednesday and Friday; resource management borhood Association meets 6:30 p.m. each third Thursday, and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday. projects and eradicating Community Club House, 916 Artists throughout the area non-native plants and pests.

Shamrock Ave. Info: Bill Hutare juried into Parkside Gift Through the Parks as ton, 773-5228 or s_wlhutton@ Shop. Info: 357-7624 or Classrooms program, yahoo.com.

357-2787. approximately 18,000 ■ Old North Knoxville meets students visit the Smokies 6:30 p.m. each second each year for rangerMonday, St. James Episcopal led, curriculum-based for Birthdays, Graduations, Church Parish Hall, 1101 N. environmental education.

Call your sales rep to Special Events Broadway. Info: Andie Ray, By utilizing the national place your ad here.

548-5221. park as a science classroom, Ask about frequency ■ Parkridge Community Orgastudents develop an 4100 Crippen Rd • Halls nization meets 6:30 p.m. each discounts. appreciation for the natural 377-3675 • Fax 377-3805 first Monday except holidays, and cultural resources in 4409 Chapman Hwy Cansler YMCA, 616 Jessamine subject areas including Happy Hour All Day, Every Day 577-8881 • Fax 577-8966 St. Info: Jerry Caldwell, 329math and science.

Hours: M-Th 11am - 10 pm www.ShopperNewsNow.com 9943.

• Mixed Drinks • Beer The Appalachian Trail F & Sat 11am - 11pm 922-4136 • Wine • Margaritas ■ Second District Democrats Ridgerunner program meet 6 p.m. each second mexicanrestaurantknox.com works to protect resources Thursday, New Hope Misand enhance the hiking sionary Baptist Church, 2504 Let experience along the AT Cecil Ave. Info: Rick Staples, NATURALLY CLEAN RESIDENTIAL within the national park.

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■ Beaumont Community Organization. Info: Natasha Murphy, 936-0139.

■ Belle Morris Community Action Group meets 7 p.m. each second Monday, City View Baptist Church, 2311 Fine Ave. Info: www.bellemorris.com or Rick Wilen, 524-5008.

■ Chilhowee Park Neighborhood Association meets 6:30 p.m. each last Tuesday, Administration Building, Knoxville Zoo. Info: Paul Ruff, 696-6584.

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4 • JANUARY 14, 2015 • SOUTH KNOX Shopper news

Prayer meeting time I do believe it is prayer meeting time.

The sports forums I follow, starting with Scout’s VolChat and Rocky Top Board, tell me Tennessee people are praying for one of our favorite sons, Eric Berry.

So are Georgia people and Kentucky people and some from Florida and even Alabama. Out in Kansas, concern for Berry is big.

Eric is 26, a two-time All-American Volunteer, recipient of the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s best collegiate defensive back.

The Chiefs selected him fifth in the 2010 draft. He has been that good or better in the NFL. That was then.

The now part is a fight for his life against Hodgkin lymphoma. He is favored to win – a high percentage do – but he is too special and this is too serious to take for granted.

Peyton Manning has checked in. He sees this as a tough fight, understands the treatment is challenging, but says Eric is a fighter.

“I reached out to him and told him he’s in a lot of peo-

Marvin West

ple’s prayers and thoughts.”

Phillip Fulmer is optimistic.

“He was always up to the challenge. I believe he will be in this case.”

Ex-Vol Inky Johnson, inspiration for many, close friend to Berry, says Eric is doing well.

“He’s doing great. He comes from a great family. Most importantly, Eric knows who’s in control of his situation, and that’s God. When you know who’s in control, you’re at peace with it. So Eric will be fine.”

Maybe you know that Berry chose Kansas City number 29 in recognition of Inky. He was 29 at Tennessee.

We don’t know when the cancer started, but we know when it was found. Quirky story. Late November, Berry put a big hit on Oakland running back Marcel Reece.

‘H’ is for hypocrite A more fitting name for the Harvard Crimson might be the fortuitously alliterative “Harvard Hypocrites.”

behind the red faces of Harvard faculty members.

Turns out they’re indignant about being introduced to the reality of health-care reforms many of them supLarry ported.

Ivy League, meet The Van Rest of Us. Guilder Confronted with increases in out-of-pocket costs for health care, resulting in part from provisions in As the New York Times the Affordable Care Act, recently reported, it isn’t the agitated academics are love for the Crimson that’s questioning the university’s

The other safety, Husain Abdullah, came flying in to get a piece. He also got some of Eric.

Berry got up clutching his chest.

“You all right?” Abdullah asked.

“I’m good,” Berry replied.

Later, his shoulder wasn’t so good. An X-ray didn’t show anything, but when orthopedic physician Cris Barnthouse examined him, things didn’t add up. Berry hurt when he moved his arm but was not sensitive to touch, nor was his strength affected. If his chest was bruised, he would have felt pain in all three tests. Barnthouse recommended an MRI. There it was, the intruder, a mass that didn’t belong.

Eric chose Atlanta as the battleground, Emory’s cancer institute. Dr. Christopher R. Flowers, a Stanford man, is calling the plays. He says the affliction is potentially curable with standard chemotherapy. Radiation is a secondary approach. Stem cell implants are out there somewhere, if needed.

Flowers did not discuss future football. Or hair loss.

I lack the wisdom to explain why really bad things sometimes happen to really good people. I do know the

NFL generates a bunch of ugly headlines. None belong to Eric. He is considered a rock-solid pillar among the Chiefs, a natural leader who plays the game the right way and didn’t flaunt his wealth or honors.

Eric is already a model for younger players, an example of how to do it.

Before that, he was just a model citizen. I remember a high school story of him volunteering as a helper in a dentist’s office. I always suspected the receptionist was pretty.

I recall, at UT, him showing up in the equipment room the night before a game to help team managers clean and polish helmets. Think about that, star with a scrub brush.

I never saw Eric turn cartwheels or otherwise celebrate an interception or touchdown. He just handed the ball to the nearest official. He has always been substance over style.

BerryStrong is the getwell theme, but Kansas City defensive end Mike DeVito tweeted a verse from Psalms that I’m going to keep handy, just in case: “O Lord, my God, I cried to You for help, and You have healed me.”

data. Some have gone so far as to devise spreadsheets to crunch the numbers – no mean feat for professors more at home with Aphrodite than annuities.

One Harvard veteran called the changes “deplorable, deeply regressive,” while another said the outof-pocket costs were “equivalent to taxing the sick.”

As a member of the unwashed masses who has forked over my “sick tax” for years, it’s hard to overlook their hypocrisy, much less generate sympathy for them.

The new Harvard health

plan carries an annual deductible of $250 for an individual and $750 for a family.

Those are small fractions of what’s paid by most people who purchased insurance under the Affordable Care Act. The yearly out-of-pocket limit is $1,500 for individuals and $4,500 for families.

In sum, Harvard says the plan will pay 91 percent of health-care costs for enrollees. Don’t bother looking for a plan through the federal or state exchanges that pays as well.

Pavlis: Time to give mayor more money Vice Mayor Nick Pavlis is looking for co-sponsors for an ordinance to raise the mayor’s pay, a measure he says is long overdue. The mayor and four of his City Council colleagues will be up for re-election this year.

Betty Bean “The mayor makes $130,000 a year, and I am going to propose raising it by $12,500, to $142,000. It would take effect at the end of 2015, the day after the next swearing-in. This is the appropriate time to do it,” he said.

“The last increase was voted on in 2003 and didn’t take effect until ’06 – and here it is, 2015. Sure, $12,500 is a big one-time catch up, but if you amortize it over a nine-year period, it’s not that big a catch up. I just think our city should be in line with other cities and with county officials.”

Most mayors in other cities and County Mayor Tim Burchett make more than Rogero, said Pavlis, whose great-uncle Jack Dance was mayor of Knoxville when he died in 1959.

He said he doesn’t want to see this office become the preserve of the very rich, and said that since city employees are required to be on the job for 10 years before vesting in pension benefits and mayors are limited to two four-year terms, mayors will generally be ineligible for pensions (Rogero, if re-elected, would be an exception since she served for four years as city development director

Marvin West invites reader reaction. His address is westwest6@netzero.com.

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under Mayor Bill Haslam before resigning in 2010 to run for mayor). County employees vest in eight years.

“I worry that we’re making it an exclusive club and knocking out the vast majority of citizens of Knoxville from consideration,” he said. “If you’re a reasonably intelligent person with a reasonable job with a pension and benefits, the salary has to be up there because you’re giving up your benefits. We’ve been surveying salaries and benefits, and I think this is a good path for us to go down and I think we should look at this more frequently than we have.

“Madeline had no idea this was coming. She wouldn’t be a party to that, anyway – that’s political suicide.”

Chattanooga Mayor Andy Burke makes $151,000. Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton makes $162,925, and Knox Count y Mayor Tim Burchett gets $167,687 annually.

Metro Nashville Mayor Karl Dean’s $136,500 makes him a bit of an outlier (in November, the Metro Council turned down a proposal to raise his salary to $180,000).

State law requires the county mayor’s salary to be the highest in the county, but at least six city employees, including Janet Wright (director of information systems) at $168,230, Bill Lyons (deputy to the mayor) at $160,130, Christi Branscom (deputy to the mayor) at $153,120, Charles Swanson (law director) at $152,980, David Rausch (chief of police) at $139,080 and Stephen King (deputy director of engineering) at $133,150 make more money than Rogero.

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Shopper news • JANUARY 14, 2015 • 5

The case for tuition-free college By now, everyone in the world and the astronauts in outer space know that President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, visited Pellissippi State Community College last week to announce a national plan of two years of tuition-free community college for anyone willing to work for it.

The plan will be based on Tennessee Promise, a program with the same incentive offered for the first time ever to the class of 2015 throughout our great Volunteer state.

I am not usually one to follow politics, but I think this is a great idea if we can all make it through the red tape without getting stuck in it.

This is why I support the president’s plan: When covering school news, every

Sara Barrett

day I visit at least one public school and meet students who blow me away with their ideas.

Students of all ages have shown me projects they’ve created, fundraising they’ve planned and hosted themselves, goals they’ve achieved and dreams they would like to follow upon graduating from high school.

Without Tennessee Promise, many of them would never be able to afford college.

I can’t speak for the rest of the country, or even for

everyone else here in Tennessee, but I know when I hear a kindergartner tell me an idea she has to help the homeless or I interview a student in the fifth grade who already has a business plan to start his own company, I am so glad they will have the support they’ll need right here at home. Not only will they have the potential to better themselves, but they’ll better their world – mine and yours – in the process.

During his announcement, the president said he hopes to level the playing field among the haves and the have-nots. “We don’t expect everybody to make it,” he said, “but we do expect everybody to get an equal shot.”

It shouldn’t be about what you look like, how you worship or your last name,

he said. I couldn’t agree more. There are many gifted children who may not be given the same opportunities because of the area they live in or how much money their parents make.

“No one with drive and discipline should be left out,” the president continued.

“Two years of college will be as free as high school is today.” Once students complete the two years of college, they could transfer those credits to a university and essentially get half of a bachelor’s degree free.

The students I meet and write about are a glimpse of the talent thriving in today’s schools.

With a national plan to give them a hand up, their possibilities are endless.

Sara Barrett is West Knox school beat reporter for Shopper-News.

MPC − better than a soap opera I used to think that sitting through a multi-hour government meeting would be approximately as enjoyable as having my toenails trimmed with a jackhammer. But as I’ve become a grownup, the things that interest me have changed.

Thank goodness. Otherwise, I’d still be watching soaps with my girlfriends, MPC chair Rebecca Longmire and commissioner Bart Cary recas I did when I was 14. ognize retiring MPC executive director Mark Donaldson, center, at last week’s meeting. Photo by Wendy Smith

Wendy Smith

During my process of educating myself about local government, I’ve watched a few meetings online and attended a few in person.

Last week was my first inperson encounter with the Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC), and I was transfi xed.

Before the meeting began, I examined the audience and found I could pick out the developers, lawyers and concerned citizens.

Most of the lawyers I knew by name because a relatively small pool represents

most local developers and citizens. The developers generally had a similar look − jeans, a sport coat and longish hair. Hip. The citizens wore their stress like a garment. They sat in groups and whispered together. I understand their fear. Some are facing development that could have a very real negative impact on their property and, maybe, on their lives.

This is where the drama happens. People don’t like change. Nobody ever says, “I’ve always enjoyed this wooded lot behind my house, where squirrels and birds play. But I don’t mind if someone knocks down the trees and grades with loud equipment in order to build a new hospital/shopping

Larry Van Guilder The “platinum” plans come close, covering 90 percent of costs on average, but are prohibitively expensive for many. “Silver” plans, covering 70 percent, are the most purchased.

Hypocrisy in academia is at least a change of pace from rampant political hypocrisy. But with the latter on full display in East Tennessee last week, it couldn’t

From previous page

be ignored.

Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, Tennessee’s full complement of U.S. senators, were eager to be seen with President Barack Obama as he visited Big Orange Country.

Neither made an appearance during Obama’s earlier treks to Tennessee (Nashville and Memphis), so is it growing admiration for his

center/apartment complex behind my house.

“I understand that development is part of the natural order of things in a growing city like Knoxville.”

To be honest, I tend to side with those citizens − all of them. Our homes are overwhelmingly personal.

They are our refuge. It’s cruel to deprive people of the things they love best about their homes for the sake of progress, especially if a developer profits from the loss.

Still, I have to admit that, after watching several hours of meetings, I’m beginning to understand the other side.

No matter how surrounding property owners feel, sick people benefit from

hospitals. People buy things they need at shopping centers, which supports jobs and produces tax revenues that pay for stuff like schools and pothole repair.

People live in the apartments, and they’re more likely to be young professionals, like my son, than drug dealers.

It comes down to those who serve, without pay, on the MPC, to make decisions about where such things will be built.

And here’s the good news − they take their jobs seriously. They ask questions, and they seek input from citizens, even when the agenda is long and each side has spent its five minutes of talk time.

They’ll never be popular, except maybe with the developers. They will, more often than not, approve development, even if it hurts the little guy. It’s done, in theory, for the greater good.

It’s what they did when your subdivision, your grocery store and your office building were approved.

Whenever two opposing forces come together, there’s high drama. That’s what makes MPC meetings interesting. They’re better than a soap opera.

leadership that drew them this time?

During a Nov. 20, 2014, interview on Fox, Corker, riled over Obama’s decision to take executive action on immigration, called his presidency the “worst in modern history.” Obama is “weak,” Corker said, and acting like “a 13-year-old.”

I don’t hear the Carpenters singing “Close to You” in that rant. They must want to praise his signature legislation.

“The health-care law is an historic mistake that should be delayed, dismantled, repealed and replaced,” Alexander said in a speech before the Senate on Sep. 27, 2013.

Oops.

Corker? He voted against passage of a continuing resolution that included funding Obamacare and instead supported U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s bill to repeal it.

No denying that ignoring one’s own hypocrisy can

government Remembering Edward Brooke asking that his trial be moved out of Knox County through his attorney, Greg Isaacs. Without commenting on the merits of the case, I know Lowe has an expert attorney when it comes to advocating delays in trials.

Isaacs is also the attorney for Troy Whiteside, who was indicted over five years ago for homicide, and his case has not yet gone to trial due to a variety of Victor delays. It is currently set Ashe to start next month, but no one is holding their breath it will happen.

If this motion for Lowe is successful, that The next oldest livtrial is delayed several ing former senators are, more months. in order of age: Ernest If the city of Boston Hollings, 93, from South can find a jury to deCarolina; Jocelyn Burdick cide the trial of Dzhokhar of North Dakota, 92; Paul Tsarnaev, one of the susLaxalt from Nevada, 92; pects in the Boston MaraJames Buckley from New thon bombings, with all York, 91; and Bob Dole the international publicity from Kansas, 91.

Tennessee’s Bill Brock is it has generated, surely Knoxville can provide an now the 37th oldest living objective jury and a fair U.S. senator at age 84. He trial for both Mike Lowe lives in Annapolis, Md. and Troy Whiteside for I had the privilege of their respective charges. knowing Edward Brooke The truth is, probably when I worked for Sen. Howard Baker in 1967 and more than two-thirds of the people of Knox both were freshman senaCounty have never heard tors and Republicans at that time. Both staffs were of Lowe, which means they do not have an opinion of friendly, and Lamar Alexhim. ander was Baker’s legislaFewer than half could tive aide that year. identify Lowe or Whiteside Brooke had been attorif shown a photo. ney general of Massachu■ Georgia Varlan setts prior to being elected Man, daughter of Danni to the Senate in 1966, the and U.S. District Judge same year Howard Baker Thomas Varlan, is the Jr. was elected to the Senassociate general counate from Tennessee. The sel for the new Republican two staffs played softball governor of Illinois, Bruce against each other in the Rauner, effective this summer. week.

I met up with Sen. She is a Phi Beta Kappa Brooke in 1973 when I was on a private trip to Athens, graduate of the University of Tennessee and a 2012 Greece, and he was meetgraduate of the University ing with Greek leaders.

We were both staying at of Virginia School of Law. She has been an attorthe Grande Bretagne Hotel on Athens’ famed Constitu- ney at Kirkland and Ellis in Chicago and will work tion Square and ended up at the governor’s Chicago having breakfast together. legal office.

■ Mike Lowe, former Knox County trustee, is The death of Edward W. Brooke, first AfricanAmerican elected to the U.S. Senate (Massachusetts), makes astronaut John Glenn the oldest living former U.S. senator at 93.

He lives in Columbus, Ohio, and has an office at Ohio State University.

be politically useful. And, while sharing a platform with the president, some of the “weakness” that has

steered the country clear of economic and diplomatic disaster for six years might rub off on our senators.

Congrats to Schoonmaker

Schoonmaker

Longtime homeowners advocate John Schoonmaker will replace former Knox County Commissioner Richard Briggs as the District 5 commissioner. He was elected Monday. Tamara Boyer, the only woman in the race, finished second.

Schoonmaker will resign from the Board of Zoning Appeals. Briggs was elected to the state Senate in November.

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6 • JANUARY 14, 2015 • Shopper news

Chris “Thor” Hemsworth plays a hacker in “Blackhat.”

The title character learns about plumbing in “Paddington.”

Josh Gad and Kevin Hart star in “The Wedding Ringer.”

Movie hodgepodge should satisfy most tastes Pardon the cliché, but this weekend’s new movies offer something for practically everyone.

For Oscar bait and warmovie fans, there’s “American Sniper,” starring Bradley Cooper and directed by Clint Eastwood. (Please see review, this page.)

For the moviegoing mainstream, there’s “Blackhat,” a timely thriller starring Chris “Thor” Hemsworth.

Hemsworth plays a jailed hacker recruited by the government and furloughed to help stop another hacker who’s trying to collapse the world’s financial markets.

Viola Davis and Wei Tang co-star in the thriller directed by Michael Mann, whose last big-screen directing gig was 2009’s “Pub-

GRAND GARDENS

Betsy Pickle

lic Enemies.”

For families, there’s “Paddington,” based on the beloved books by Michael Bond. The lovable Peruvian bear is alone in a London train station until the kindly Brown family finds him and takes him home. It looks like a happy ending for Paddington until an evil museum curator (Nicole Kidman) finds out about the unusual talking bear.

A top-notch British cast

– Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters, Michael Gambon and Imelda Staunton – stars. Ben Whishaw provides the voice of Paddington, who is entirely computer generated. Paul King directed.

Finally, for lovers of raunchy comedy, “The Wedding Ringer” fills the void.

Kevin Hart plays a bestman-for-hire who attempts to save the day for a shy young groom trying to impress his in-laws.

Josh Gad, Kaley CuocoSweeting, Josh Peck, Jorge Garcia, Cloris Leachman, Mimi Rogers and Jenifer Lewis round out the eclectic cast. Screenwriter Jeremy Garelick makes his featuredirecting debut.

Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) sets his sights on a target in “American Sniper.”

Cooper impresses, but ‘Sniper’ misses mark

By Betsy Pickle Director Clint Eastwood knows war movies. His “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters From Iwo Jima” are two of the best in recent years.

“American Sniper” had the potential to make it a trifecta, but Eastwood can’t figure out what kind of war movie he’s trying to make.

Based on the story of Chris Kyle, whose liketitled autobiography spent months on the best-seller lists, “American Sniper” has a strong central performance but little nuance otherwise. The one thing that’s inarguable is that Bradley Cooper makes a tremendous physical transformation and powerfully conveys the growing inner disconnect between military and home life.

Eastwood and screenwriter Jason Hall jump around in time at first, but even that gives way to a mostly orthodox chronology.

Chris Kyle (Cooper) is a Texas rodeo rider who decides it’s his duty to defend his country. He joins the Navy SEALs and soon after his training is finished he is deployed to Iraq.

Trained as a sniper, he proves exceptionally good at his job, gaining the nickname “Legend” for his record number of kills. But when he goes home to his wife, Taya (Sienna Miller), he keeps his feelings and experiences to himself.

Chris returns for tour after tour, passionately dedicating himself to protecting his brothers in arms. But he can’t save everyone, and unless he finds a way to address his inner demons, he may not be able to save himself, or his marriage.

“American Sniper” feels right in the details of the Iraq war: the danger, the difficulty, the tunnel vision of trying to kill the enemy before he or she kills you. It also shows how Chris tries – and fails – to keep his work life separate from his home life with Taya and their growing family.

But each aspect starts to seem redundant, especially Taya’s pleas for Chris to open up to her. And while the script – rightly – refuses to let in any political or historical revisionism, that only adds to the simplistic nature of the film.

“American Sniper” doesn’t foreshadow – it

blares. His father preaches a message of defending others, so Chris joins the military. Young Chris showed a talent for hunting, so he becomes a sniper. Macho cowboy Chris discovers his girlfriend being unfaithful, so macho SEAL Chris finds an attractive woman, gently woos her and starts making plans for his version of their perfect life.

Chris never questions the mission, and he takes it as inevitable that a colleague who does should die.

If that’s how it went down, that’s fine. But after the lengthy buildup to Chris’s inner torture, the solution comes at warp speed. The breakthrough seems too convenient.

Cooper’s bulked-up giant deserves better. The intensity he creates is palpable. The pain within him is wrenching.

Simplistic in so many ways, “American Sniper” denies the audience the light-bulb moment that ensures a connection.

It robs the story of the catharsis it should have earned and makes the denouement feel like an afterthought.

seven

Shopper news • JANUARY 14, 2015 • 7

The power of

By Carol Shane January isn’t typically thought of as the cheeriest month, what with the brightness of the holidays over and done with and tax season looming. Add in the usual cold, gray weather, and you’ve got a prescription for downheartedness.

But there’s plenty of color around if you know where to look.

The Arts and Culture Alliance of Knoxville is currently presenting the works of seven East Tennessee artists in “New Group Exhibition in the Balcony,” which opened with a warm, convivial reception at the Emporium Center on Jan. 9.

Visitors mingled, snacked on treats from the Melting Pot, viewed the artwork and visited with participating artists.

Lynn Corsi Bland from Gatlinburg mixes wax with oil to create her colorful, blocked abstracts. She says the wax “gives the oil body so you can move it around.”

She uses various tools, including a palette knife and a brayer (a type of hand roller) to manipulate the paint.

Bland has taught at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts along with another featured artist, Jennifer Willard, whose fabric works borrow from fairy tales. Using embroidery on hand-dyed material, Willard incorporates darker, more ambiguous aspects of the stories to add an intriguing conceptual layer to

the hand-stitched pieces.

Tony Sobota’s brilliant draftsmanship takes center stage in his paintings, most of which feature some kind of industrial presence: a spark-spitting smelter, a conveyor belt tower, steel girders, coal-mining apparatuses. The viewer can almost hear the clang and feel the weight of these immense machines. “I love the architecture of industry,” says Sobota, “and I’ve become a downright factory junkie of late.”

Sobota is also interested in “manmade versus living realities,” so human elements are often included: a rumpled coal miner, a musing face.

Tony Henson’s big, vivid abstract-expressionist works dominate much of one wall of the exhibit.

Eight years ago, he broke his

Painter and caricaturist Tony Sobota draws a customized “doodle” for Amy Simmerman of Farragut. In the background, South Knoxvillian Barry Jenkins gives his wife, Maria, an affectionate peck on the shoulder.

right hand – yes, he’s righthanded – in three places in “a stupid accident.” Henson, who up until then had been a representational artist, found that he could no longer hold a brush or pen, even after a period of recovery. He experimented with applying paint to canvas directly with his hands.

As he healed, he moved on to using tools such as squeegees and palette knives and, eventually, brushes.

He now says the accident “was a blessing because my paintings got better!”

The Shopper’s own copy editor, Emily Shane, has seven pieces in the show.

Shane uses discarded book covers with bright graphic designs to create optical flights of fancy. “Oasis,” an installation consisting of nine squares, appears to contain many layers. Some

viewers see a pool in the depths; others imagine that they’re gazing through the piece to the sky. “I like making art that doesn’t try to tell a story,” Shane says. “Ten people can look at the same piece and see it 10 different ways.”

Beth Meadows’ paintings superimpose a punked-out model in unlikely settings like the great hall from “The Sound of Music.” Her work has been shown at Old City Java and Relix Variety Theatre. A transplant from Memphis, Meadows runs The Salvage Room for the nonprofit Knox Heritage and is also the director of the 17th Street Studios.

Terina Gillette teaches art classes for all ages in her Holston Hills home.

Her pieces show a love for texture. “I call them wall sculpture,” she says. Gillette

Amy Porter, music director at Redeemer Church of Knoxville, enjoys the evening with her outgoing 9-year-old daughter, Fiona. “Did you know I play the violin?” asks Fiona. The two stand in front of Tony Sobota’s “Heat Source.” Photos by Carol Shane also provides chalk art for various local businesses, including the popular Dean’s Restaurant in Fountain City. Like all seven artists featured in the show, she is driven by her creative vision.

“I like to say that she has an affair with a guy named ‘Art,’” says Gillette’s hus-

band, Daniel, “and if she doesn’t see him occasionally, she gets irritable!”

The “New Group Exhibition in the Balcony” runs through Jan. 31 at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay St. Hours and info: www. knoxalliance.com.

Send story suggestions to news@shoppernewsnow.com.

THURSDAY-SATURDAY, JAN. 15-17

Plate it

The Grill at Highlands Row I can never enter The Grill at Highlands Row without a flashback to Andrew Morton’s Fine Gifts, one of Knoxville’s premier gift shops that operated at the location.

Folks older than I, however, will quickly point out that The Grill at Highlands Row has actually returned the building at 4705 Old Kingston Pike to its original use. The Highlands Grill was one of Knoxville’s finest dining establishments from the early 1930s to the early 1960s.

The new restaurant was opened in 2010 by Knoxville developer Tom Weiss, Chad Barger and Pat McMullan.

They feature sophisticated Southern cuisine and strive to buy locally whenever possible. Steaks and seafood are favorites on the menu, and guests are always eager to see what culinary twists the chef has put on traditional Southern favorites.

weekender

■ “Love Letters” presented by the Tellico Community Players, 7:30 p.m., the new Tellico Community Playhouse, 304 Lakeside Plaza, Loudon. Doors open 6:30 p.m. Tickets: $15 at Village Salon, Salon Anew, the Tellico Village Yacht Club in Loudon; Kahite Pub & Grille in Vonore; and at the door. Info: http://tellicocommunityplayhouse.org.

FRIDAY, JAN. 16 ■ Alive After Five concert: Tennessee Sheiks, 6-8:30 p.m., Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 World’s Fair Park Drive. Tickets: $10; $5 for members/students. Info: 934-2039.

Mystery Diner

FRIDAY-SUNDAY, JAN. 16-18 For my night out at Highlands, I went for the grilled pork tenderloin. I was having a hard time deciding between the tenderloin and the mountain trout, primarily because I don’t like collard greens, which was one of the side dishes with the tenderloin. The kind waiter let me substitute the collards for the roasted acorn squash, which came with the trout, so I was happy.

The master griller knew what he or she was doing with the pork tenderloin.

Beautifully presented with grill marks and cooked perfectly with just a whisper of pink, the pork was fork-tender and delicious. The dark

■ “Huckleberry Finn” presented by Knoxville Children’s Theatre, 109 E. Churchwell Ave. Performances: 7 p.m.

Friday; 1 and 5 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday. Info: 208-3677, knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com or info@ childrenstheatreknoxville.com.

The pork tenderloin is grilled to perfection and fork-tender at The Grill at Highlands Row. On this plate, the sides are rum sweet potatoes and roasted acorn squash. Photo by Mystery Diner

rum whipped sweet potatoes and aforementioned acorn squash were incredible accompaniments to the pork.

My only complaint was the brandy peppercorn sauce under the pork tenderloin. I was really look-

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ing forward to that sauce, expecting the warm, dark sweetness of brandy with just a hint of heat from the peppercorns. The peppercorns stole the show, however, and I found myself avoiding the sauce as I gobbled up the wonderful tenderloin.

SATURDAY, JAN. 17 ■ A Night of Improv, 7-8:30 p.m., Nita Buell-Black Auditorium, Powell High School, 2136 W. Emory Road. Presented by the Powell Playhouse. Tickets: $10, ages 5 and under free. Featuring a special Powell Playhouse performance. Ticket info: 947-7428, 256-7428.

■ Bugs Bunny at the Symphony II concert, 8 p.m., Civic Auditorium, 500 Howard Baker Jr. Ave. Part of the Knoxville News Sentinel Pops Series. Tickets: $35-$89. Tickets: 291-3310 or www.knoxvillesymphony.com.

■ Wade Hill in concert, 8 p.m., Laurel Theater, 1538 Laurel Ave. Tickets: $12, some discounts available. Info/tickets: www.jubileearts.org.

kids

8 • JANUARY 14, 2015 • NORTH/EAST Shopper news

Basketball reboots after holidays

Carter Middle School cheerleader Ellie Black peps up the crowd during a timeout at the Carter/Halls Middle game.

Photos by R. White

Gerdau employees Ron Fritz, Damien Rose, Steve Scott and Jamie Gass staff the hoodie table at the Lonsdale Christmas Gift Shop. Gerdau donated 300 hooded sweatshirts to Lonsdale Elementary School students, purchased thanks to employee donations and funds raised through an internal auction of Christmas trees constructed from steel rebar. Photo submitted Chloe Sherrod and the Carter Middle School cheer team perform during halftime at a recent basketball game.

Area groups help brighten holidays Gerdau, partnering with other area businesses, organizations and churches and the Knoxville Police Department, recently brightened the holidays for Lonsdale Elementary School students.

“We wanted the gifting to be more personal,” said Adam Fritts, community resource coordinator for Lonsdale Elementary. Instead of purchasing gifts for a designated child, the partners provided a way for parents to select gifts specifically for their children. Donors provided items for the Lonsdale Christmas Gift Shop such as ■

clothing, balls, games and books. Parents were able to purchase five gifts for each child by making a donation as they were able.

Parents donated more than $750, and those funds will be used to help members of the school’s safety patrol participate in the Safety Patrol Trip to Washington, D.C., at the end of the school year.

More than 100 volunteers contributed by wrapping gifts, serving food, loading cars, organizing tables and translating. “I am so very proud to be associated with a school and part-

Basketball heats up for Carter/AE

Carter hosted AustinEast in basketball last week, and the boys’ game turned out to be an intense matchup. Austin-East trailed early in the first quarter but managed to catch Carter, and surpass at one point, but in Andra Scruggs lays in two points for the Roadrunners as Austin-East travels to Carter High.

the end fell to the Hornets, 101-84.

The fierce back-and-forth battle featured heated competition down the court, whistles blown left and right and at least one technical foul.

Photos by R. White

Shopper s t n e V enews

Info: 329-8892, TTY: 711.

Free intro to computers class, 7-8 p.m., Home Edge Learning Center, 1705 Maynardville Highway.

Meets each first and third Thursday for six sessions.

Limited space. Info/reservations: 291-1488 or classes@ homeedge.net.

Movie & Popcorn: “Casablanca,” 11:15 a.m.-1 p.m., Humana Guidance Center, 640 Plaza, 4438 Western Ave. Info: 329-8892, TTY: 711.

White Elephant Bingo, 10-11 a.m. Bring a prize and win a prize. Humana Guidance Center, 640 Plaza, 4438 Western Ave. Info: 329-8892, TTY: 711.

THROUGH FRIDAY, JAN. 30

FRIDAY, JAN. 16

Submissions accepted for jurying process for Appalachian Arts Craft Center until noon. Includes completed forms and three samples of work. Cost: nonrefundable $25 jurying fee. Info/forms: 494-9854 or www.appalachianarts.net.

Brain Games, 10-11 a.m., Humana Guidance Center, 640 Plaza, 4438 Western Ave. Info: 329-8892, TTY: 711.

Knit & Crocheting for Charitable Organizations, noon-1:30 p.m., Humana Guidance Center, 640 Plaza, 4438 Western Ave. Info: 329-8892, TTY: 711.

Tax Return Tips, 11 a.m.-noon, Humana Guidance Center, 640 Plaza, 4438 Western Ave. Info: 329-8892, TTY: 711.

Send items to news@ShopperNewsNow.com

THROUGH SATURDAY, FEB. 28 “Buy One, Get One Free” admission tickets available for Knoxville Zoo. Tickets can be purchased at the zoo ticket window during regular zoo hours.

Info: 637-5331, ext. 300 or knoxvillezoo.org.

THROUGH FRIDAY, APRIL 10 Tickets available for Rhythm N’ Blooms music festival, on stages set exclusively along downtown Knoxville’s historic Jackson Avenue. Features firsttimers, chart-climbers and highly lauded acts from varied musical backgrounds. Info/tickets: www. rhythmnbloomsfest.com.

WEDNESDAY, JAN.14 Computer Workshops: Internet and Email Basics, 2 p.m., Burlington Branch Library, 4614 Asheville Highway. Requires “Introducing the Computer” or equivalent skills. Info/to register: 525-5431.

Dance classes, Humana Guidance Center, 640 Plaza, 4438 Western Ave. Line dancing, noon-1 p.m.; intermediate ballroom dancing, 1-2 p.m.; beginner ballroom dancing, 2-3 p.m. Info: 329-8892, TTY: 711.

Scrapbooking techniques, 3-4 p.m., Humana Guidance Center, 640 Plaza, 4438 Western Ave. Info: 329-8892, TTY: 711.

Tea Time and “Good for the Brain Games,” 9-10:30 a.m. Humana Guidance Center, 640 Plaza, 4438 Western Ave. Info: 329-8892, TTY: 711.

THURSDAY, JAN. 15 Dressing Girls for Charity, 3-4:45 p.m., Humana Guidance Center, 640 Plaza, 4438 Western Ave.

SATURDAY, JAN. 17 AAA Driver Improvement Course, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., AAA Office, 100 W 5th Ave. Cost: $40 members; $50 nonmembers. Must preregister. Info/to register: Kate, 862-9254, or Don, 862-9250.

Saturday Stories and Songs: Brianna Hanson, 11 a.m., Fountain City Branch Library, 5300 Stanton Road. Info: 689-2681.

Saturday Stories and Songs: Faye Wooden, 11 a.m., Powell Branch Library, 330 West Emory Road.

Info: 947-6210.

Thunder Road Gospel Jubilee, 7 p.m., 1388 Main St., Maynardville. All gospel singers welcome. Info: Joe, 201-5748.

SATURDAY-SUNDAY, JAN. 17-18 Sets class, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Appalachian Arts Craft Center, 2716 Andersonville Highway 61 in Norris.

Instructor: Anderson Bailey. Part of the Featured Tennessee Artist Workshop series. Info: 494-9854 or www. appalachianarts.net.

MONDAY, JAN. 19 Heart Healthy Eating, 1-2 p.m., Humana Guidance Center, 640 Plaza, 4438 Western Ave. Info: 3298892, TTY: 711.

Luttrell seniors luncheon, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Luttrell Community Center off Tazewell Pike. Fried chicken is main dish; bring sides and desserts.

Needle Tatting/Crochet/Quilting classes, 3:30-7:30 p.m., Hobby Lobby classroom, 6580 Clinton Highway. Cost: $24.Info: Monica Schmidt, 406-3971,

ners who truly believe in serving each other and loving our neighbors,” Lonsdale Elementary School principal Amy Brace said. “Thank you for all you did for our families and students.”

In addition to Gerdau, others involved in the effort included Pinnacle Financial Partners; Scripps Networks Interactive; Big Brothers Big Sisters; Girls Inc.; Project Grad Knoxville; Lonsdale Elementary School; and Cedar Springs Presbyterian, Fellowship, Grace Baptist, Lonsdale United Methodist and Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist churches.

Austin-East to host youth symposium The MLK Commission Youth Symposium team is partnering with the Knoxville Chapter of Jack & Jill of America to host a day of youth development and leadership training, 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 17, at Austin-East High School.

Jack & Jill will present an oratorical contest concurrent with the breakout sessions for middle and high school students. An online registration form for the event is available at www.MLKknoxville.org.

Austin-East High School is at 2800 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. Info: youth@MLKKnoxville.com.

monicaschmidt.tn@gmail.com or myquiltplace.com/ profile/monicaschmidt.

TUESDAY, JAN. 20 Chef Arnold’s Pasta and Noodle Making class, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Avanti Savoia, 7610 Maynardville Pike. Cost: $50. Info/to register: 922-9916 or www. avantisavoia.com.

Healthy Cooking Demonstration, 10-11 a.m., Humana Guidance Center, 640 Plaza, 4438 Western Ave. Info: 329-8892, TTY: 711.

Honor Guard meeting, 7 p.m., 140 Veteran St., Maynardville. All veterans invited. Info: 256-5415.

WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY, JAN. 21-22 AARP Driver Safety class, noon-4 p.m., O’Connor Senior Center, 611 Winona St. Info/to register: Carolyn Rambo, 382-5822.

FRIDAY JAN. 23 Beginner Crochet class, 4-7 p.m., Hobby Lobby classroom, 6580 Clinton Highway. Cost: $24.Info: Monica Schmidt, 406-3971, monicaschmidt.tn@gmail. com or myquiltplace.com/profile/monicaschmidt.

EVOO and Balsamic Vinegar Tasting, 6:30-7:20 p.m. or 7:45-8:35 p.m., Avanti Savoia, 7610 Maynardville Pike. Cost: $5. Info/to register: 922-9916 or www. avantisavoia.com.

FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JAN. 23-24 Unwanted medicine collection and used mercury thermometer exchange, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Healthy Living Expo at the Knoxville Convention Center, 701 Henley St. Residents turning in medications or thermometers will receive one free entry to the Healthy Living Expo.

SATURDAY, JAN. 24 Saturday Stories and Songs: Brianna Hanson, 11 a.m., Powell Branch Library, 330 West Emory Road.

Info: 947-6210.

Saturday Stories and Songs: Melissa Mastrogiovanni, 11 a.m., Fountain City Branch Library, 5300 Stanton Road. Info: 689-2681.

MONDAY, JAN. 26 Needle Tatting/Crochet/Quilting classes, 3:30-7:30 p.m., Hobby Lobby classroom, 6580 Clinton Highway.

Cost: $24.Info: Monica Schmidt, 406-3971, monicaschmidt.tn@gmail.com or myquiltplace.com/profile/ monicaschmidt.

NORTH/EAST Shopper news • JANUARY 14, 2015 • 9

Blue Harbor Senior Living

ETBA kicks off New Year

By Bonny C. C Millard Two former Wellspring facilities, purchased last fall by Fortress Investment Group, provide residential units for people needing services in memory care and assisted living. The properties are under the management of Blue Harbor Senior Living, whose headquarters are in Portland, Ore. Regional sales leader Caroline Wilder said the properties were renamed: Maple Court Senior Living in Powell and Raintree Terrace Senior Living in Bearden. Fortress has 24 properties nationwide, but these are the only two in Tennessee, she said.

Maple Court is a 56-bed memory-care facility for those with dementia or Alzheimer’s who need secure living conditions. Wilder said in the industry it is known as a “standalone memory-care neighborhood.” It offers residents both security and interior freedom to move about the building. Dementia behaviors include wandering, so this facility gives residents the space to do that, she said.

“What I love about Maple Court is that it doesn’t feel like a memory-care neighborhood,” Wilder said.

“Typically speaking, memory care is kind of closed off and away from – and secured from – everything.

The fact that it’s a specialty built-alone memory-care (facility) means that once you walk in the secured doors in the front of the building, everything’s open.

There’s a beautiful indoor courtyard.”

The enclosed courtyard gives residents a safe place to go outside and even work in raised-bed gardens.

Raintree Terrace is different from Maple Court in that it offers both memorycare and assisted-living units. The memory-care unit has 16 beds while the assisted-living area is larger, with 48 beds.

Wilder said Raintree Terrace has a condo-like atmosphere because of the amenities.

“When you walk into the dining room, there’s a large stacked-stone fireplace that’s just gorgeous. Off the dining room, there are two doors that go to a covered deck. That’s upstairs, and even downstairs in our

Historian Danial to visit Braden’s Fans of the Arts and Crafts movement will get a special treat at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 17, when Stickley Furniture historian Mike Danial visMike Danial its Braden’s Lifestyles Furniture in Turkey Creek.

Stickley Furniture was founded in the early 1900s

by Gustav Stickley and his brothers. The Missionstyle furniture line quickly gained recognition due to solid construction and quality.

While Stickley Furniture is now owned by the Audi family of New York, the company’s integrity and commitment to quality remain.

While at Braden’s, Danial will speak about the Arts and Crafts movement as well as the “rescue” of Stickley Furniture by the Audi family. He will also speak about furniture restoration, care and construction.

Braden’s Lifestyles Furniture is at 11105 Turkey Drive. Info: Carrie Grey, 382-8530.

business

Raintree Terrace Senior Living activities assistant Mary Magyar visits with resident Mary Rust during a recent afternoon tea party.

Photos by Bonny C. Millard

Raintree Terrace Senior Living health services director Crystal Murphy, Maple Court Senior Living maintenance director Jim Williams and receptionist LaVonne Murray

memory care, there’s a private secured patio so that the residents who are in memory care can enjoy the outdoors in a secured environment.”

Both facilities offer individual or double-occupancy rooms, which provide socialization and lower residency costs.

“We offer companion suites, or shared suites, as an alternative,” she said.

“It’s particularly helpful in

memory care because studies show that individuals with Alzheimer’s or dementia do better socially when they have a roommate.”

Amanda Spencer is the executive director at Raintree, and Cindy Winegar, who started this month, is the executive director of Maple Court. Both directors have been in the business for years, Wilder added.

The two senior living residences have full-time

dining services and available 24-hour nursing care, and each has about 30 employees, including activities directors. Residents go for group outings such as a recent trip to Gatlinburg to see the Christmas lights.

Wilder said the centers also hold family nights and holiday dinners.

Info: www.raintreeterraceseniorliving.com and www.maplectseniorliving. com.

News From The Register Of Deeds

December brings good tidings for real estate markets

By Sherry Witt A

strong

December closed the 2014 calendar for both real estate and lending markets in Knox County. For the month, there were Sherry Witt 866 property sales in Knox County, comparing favorably to the 729 transfers from last December, as well as the 735 sales registered in November 2014.

The total value of property sold during December came in at just a fraction over $200 million – an im-

provement of some $43 million over sales from December 2013. Mortgage lending also finished with a surge.

The month of December saw nearly $341 million loaned against real estate in Knox County, the most since July, and $34 million more than in December 2013.

The largest property transfer involved the Hampton Inn & Suites at 11340 Campbell Lakes Drive in West Knox County. The parcel sold for $11,725,000.

The largest real estate loan of the month was a $31 million trust deed financing the Sherrill Hills Retirement Community.

Initial analysis of data from 2014 indicates a mod-

est improvement in the overall value of property sales. The year produced 9,989 transfers with an aggregate value of $2.29 billion, compared with $2.1 billion in 2013. Mortgage lending in 2014 was well off the pace set the previous year, as $3.27 billion was loaned against property compared with $3.74 billion in 2013; however, a strong fourth quarter did help close the gap.

I hope you enjoyed a safe and joyous holiday season, and on behalf of all of us at the Register’s office I want to wish all of you a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

Justin Sterling, president of the East Towne Business Alliance, welcomed business leaders, politicians and new members to the January meeting last Wednesday. Short-term goals were shared among attendees, some serious and some quite humorous.

Guest speaker was Samantha Lane, territory manager at King Universit y.

Lane discussed how the average age of students is climbing and why Lane “working adult programs” are so important. She explained the necessity for a more qualified workforce and how these adult programs affect the East Towne area. Lane also talked about the Drive to 55 and Tennessee Promise programs and how they can help all age groups as they enter college.

It is time for existing ETBA members to renew their membership. Dues

Nancy Whittaker

are only $50 per year. The group is also seeking new members. The next meeting will be at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 4, at the New Harvest Park Community Center. Come a little early for breakfast.

■

Flyers Pizza offers delivery

Those of you who have tried the delicious food at Flyers Pizza in the food court at Knoxville Center Mall will be happy to know Flyers is now offering home delivery within a five-mile radius of the mall.

Hours are from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and from 11 a.m. until midnight Friday and Saturday.

Call 865-363-9123 or order online at Orderspoon.com/ flyerspizza.

Making connections at Volunteer Knoxville

By Bonny C. Millard A new center in Knoxville is helping connect people who want to volunteer their time to nonprofit organizations in need.

Volunteer Knoxville was created last year, and after a nationwide search, Alexandria Brownfield was hired as the first executive d i r e c tor.

Brownfield Brownfield, who was managing a volunteer center in St. Louis, shared information with the Rotary Club of Knoxville about Volunteer Knoxville’s mission.

The organization now has about 75 nonprofit partners, and that number is increasing. A new website lists the partners, along with brief profiles so that people can

learn about different organizations and find volunteer opportunities in real time, Brownfield said.

Both individuals and organizations can sign up at the website.

Those looking for opportunities can search using keywords and/or enter how far they’re willing to travel.

Frank Rothermel, who introduced Brownfield, chaired a Leadership Knoxville committee to create a project for its 30th anniversary.

The Volunteer Knoxville website keeps a civic transcript of each volunteer’s efforts so they have a record.

Young people can boost their resumés and sometimes have to do community service as part of their educational requirements, Brownfield said. By volunteering, they are building skill sets for future employment.

Info: www. volunteerknoxville.org.

ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS

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10 • JANUARY 14, 2015 • Shopper news

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18+ locations.

80 years.

Over 140,000 members and growing.

One goal: Help Members Grow Financially.

We are small enough to know you and large enough to serve you. Thank you for trusting us to care for all your financial needs.

Thank you for a great 2014 as we look forward to growing with you in the years to come.

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