NORTH / EAST VOL. 3 NO. 29
BUZZ Fugate enters commission race John Fugate, who served briefly on the Knox County Board of Education by appointment when Indya Kincannon resigned, is entering the race to replace Amy Broyles on Knox County Commission. Broyles will not seek re-election in 2016. Fugate’s kickoff is set for 4-6 p.m. Saturday, July 25, at Fountain City Park. Everyone is invited.
Garden club heads to Racheff Noweta Garden Club will depart Powell United Methodist Church, 323 W. Emory Road, at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 4, to carpool to Racheff House and Gardens at 1943 Tennessee Ave. Guest speaker will be Cindy Hintz, president-elect of the Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs. Arissa and Shady Oaks garden clubs student exhibitors will bring a design. Evelyn Lorenz will give a report on bees. Members and guests are to bring a sack lunch.
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Anne Woodle: lousy politician, splendid human By Betty Bean Not to say that those who run for office can’t be also good people, but the qualities that made Anne Woodle a crappy politician were the very things that made her a fine human – unswerving fealty to what she believed to be right and an unfettered refusal to compromise her principles, even when she knew that the stands she was taking were incompatible with longevity in office. Like the time she served on the election commission and refused to vote to hire the candidate for administrator favored by Knox County’s most powerful local Democrat (that would be Joe Armstrong) because she believed another candidate was more qualified. Woodle’s candidate won, but she lost her seat come reappointment time. And she probably never lost a night’s sleep over it. Same deal with her single term on the school board. Knox County Schools had run into trouble with the federal government because students who attended schools
Lions to host pancake breakfast The Fountain City Lions Club will host its annual pancake breakfast 8-11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 1, in the Lions Club Building at Fountain City Park. Tickets are $5.
IN THIS ISSUE Interns visit Kern’s The old Kern’s Bakery is a mess. Erected in 1931, it is 90,000 square feet on 14 acres. Where most developers might see a great spot for a new Walmart, David Dewhirst sees exposed brick, oak floorboards, and another chance to make Knoxville unique.
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The interns report on page 6
Teacher incentive pay out for FY16 Sandra Clark writes: “Let’s lose the evaluation rubric, the strategic compensation matrix and the committee that’s reformatting incentive pay. APEX is gone, and it’s not coming back. “Let’s launch the new year with teachers and kids excited about returning to school, not feeling overwhelming dread.
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Read Clark’s column on page 5
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July 22, 2015
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outside the city limits enjoyed bus service while those who attended schools inside the city limits had to fend for themselves. Since the county couldn’t afford to pay for bus service for all, it had to take drastic measures. The political fallout was severe, even though anybody with two grams of gray matter knew the inequity couldn’t continue. The resulting parental responsibility zones meant no more bus service for families living close to schools, and that city kids living some distance away would ride instead of walk. Woodle voted for the changes and became a one-termer. That one hurt, but probably more for the vicious racist attacks on her teenaged son, Jason, who is bi-racial, than for anything that happened to her. Woodle, whose sudden death last week from a catastrophic stroke has left her friends (and there are lots of them) stunned and reeling, was a single parent and loved her son fiercely. And the true fact that can be backed up in court (as Cas Walk-
It’s official
Anne Woodle. Photo provided by North Hills Garden Club
er used to say) was that Woodle pretty much loved all children. As director of the East Tennessee Children’s Rehabilitation Center for more than 30 years, it was her job to care for children in fragile health. During her off hours, she’d turn down dates and social occasions to take a kid to a movie. Indya Kincannon, who met Woodle in 2004 when Kincannon first ran for school board, is in Europe with her family and had to break the news of Woodle’s death to her young daughters, Dahlia and Georgia. She describes Woodle as a supporter, mentor and a true friend. “Anne met my daughters when they were just 6 months old and
two, and since day one made them feel special and important. She created annual rituals – birthday adventures, thrift-shopping, cookie baking and decorating – that Dahlia and Georgia loved. “Since our parents live far away, Anne was like their surrogate Tennessee Grandma, who could just love, spoil and enjoy them. Anne read to my kids when they were little, and later started a book club for Dahlia and her friend Maya. My girls consider Anne their dear friend, not just a friend of mine who’s nice to them. She really connected with kids in a way that is rare. We will miss her so much.” And so will I.
Murphy Springs Farm added to National Register of Historic Places
By Betty Bean Neighbors have long called the mid-19th-century Gothic Revival structure tucked into a picturesque hollow amid pastures and forests at the corner of Washington Pike and Murphy Road the house of seven gables and have wondered what stories those walls would tell if they could talk. Maybe they’d tell about the time Kevin Murphy’s three-times great-uncle and his two-times great-grandfather visited Union soldiers who were bivouacking nearby and carried home hats filled with sugar the soldiers had given them. Or maybe they’d talk about the days in the 1880s when the Powell Valley Railroad shattered the quiet as they came laying tracks through the pastures. Kevin Murphy is the latest Murphy to own the 175-year-old house on property the family has owned since 1797. He not only renovated the house with an eye to protecting its structural and aesthetic integrity, but he also has worked diligently for the past four years to document its stories in the process To page 3
The parlor on the first floor features the original plaster walls, and the fireplace was rebuilt using the original bricks.
Kevin Murphy and his dog, Koda, on the front lawn of his home. Photo by R. White
City turns attention to Clinch Avenue
City crews hope to reopen the Clinch Avenue Viaduct spanning World’s Fair Park on Monday, July 27. It was closed as part of a $2.7 million infrastructure upgrade that will enhance the route for pedestrian and bicycle traffic from the University of Tennessee area to downtown. The project includes a new pedestrian walkway and canopy that will connect the Knoxville
Convention Center with the Holiday Inn Downtown and new Tennessean residential development. Cranes will be setting in place 70foot and 40-foot sections of the canopy. The work will continue through August, but the bridge will reopen to traffic. Infrastructure upgrades also include a rejuvenation of the Henley Street pedestrian bridge at Clinch Avenue – covering it with
a frosted-glass roof, replacing the metal cage fencing with perforated metal panels and adding decorative lighting. Streetscape amenities will be put in on the Clinch Avenue bridge. Three traffic lanes will be reduced to two 10-foot-wide lanes, and 5-foot-wide bicycle lanes will be created on both sides. The sidewalks on the viaduct will be widened, and planter boxes with
landscaping and benches will be installed to make it a better pedestrian and bicycle connector between Fort Sanders, World’s Fair Park and downtown. Most of the work will be finished by the end of August. The lighting on the Henley Street pedestrian bridge and upgrades to the elevator tower are slated to be completed about a month later.
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