GOVERNMENT/POLITICS A4 | OUR COLUMNISTS A6-7 | YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS A10-11 | BUSINESS A12
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VOL. 50, NO. 33
AUGUST 15, 2011
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Heiskell In the headlines as Joann Dishman shows the Nov. 2, 1947, edition of the old Knoxville Journal’s Cavalcade which featured Heiskell School.
Jessie and Janie Jacks pose in one of the inflatables at the Glenwood Festival. The festival featured games, rides, food and fun for all and was Glenwood’s way of reaching out to the community. This was the first year of the event.
See page A-2
Glenwood holds Family Festival Clowning around are Amber Fine and Joyce Smith who wave Central Avenue Pike passersby into the Glenwood Baptist Church Family Festival of Fun and Faith. Photos by Greg Householder
New librarian Resembles the former assistant librarian, and that’s because she is. Melissa Ferguson worked with librarian Carol Swaggerty for 12 years See her story on page A-3
FEATURED COLUMNIST LYNN HUTTON
Science vs. God See page A-6
ONLINE
Parrotts’ paradise lost Creek. It worked to perfection. Tucked into a secluded hollow and surrounded by the heavily forested folds of the ridge, By Betty Bean the lake is stocked The lake behind Chuck and Manwith bass, bluegill dy Parrott’s house is fed by a cou- Chuck Parrott and catfish. Wild ple of clear-running streams that ducks and geese bubble up from the north flank of stop over on their seasonal miCopper Ridge. It is bounded on the grations and deer make their way other end by an earthen dam that down to drink. A beaver family Chuck and his father, Ernest, built is building its own dam at the far more than 20 years ago. They also end, and occasionally Chuck comes built a wooden deck and set a big down in the morning to little piles outflow pipe to keep the water mov- of crawfish claws left over from a ing into the natural creekbeds and raccoon’s dinner. The water used to be clear 7 or 8 on down Brushy Valley to Bull Run
Pristine lake another casualty of Copper Ridge detention pond collapse
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The Parrotts had a certified diver take a look at what was under the water and he reported finding at least 26 old tires, large chunks of brown plastic with insulation attached, three propane tanks, numerous cans and bottles, and aerosol containers on the bottom of the lake. “It’s just ruined our property,” Mandy Parrott said. “The force of the water came down and washed over the side of our pond and cut a huge gulley. It looked like somebody had taken a dump truck and dumped trash in there. There were a lot of dead fish and quite a few dead animals – possums, mice, raccoons. It just washed them out of the woods.” Chuck Parrott’s father died in 2000, and Chuck says seeing the ruination of the project that he and To page A-3
Balancing the crime budget
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feet down and the Parrotts’ grandchildren loved to fish and swim and picnic and camp there. But all of that has changed since the June 28 detention pond collapse at the Rufus Smith Properties construction site on top of the ridge sent a wall of muddy water roaring down on the homes and woods below, sweeping up garbage from an illegal dump and depositing it along the way. The Parrotts’ property is at the foot of the ridge. Now, iridescent blue dragonflies flit among plastic bottles and tires and clumps of Styrofoam insulation in the shallows. Old propane tanks are barely visible through the heavy sediment in the deeper water. The drainpipe is plugged with muck and the water is lapping at the top of the deck that Chuck and his father built on the steep side of the bank.
Prison is a growth industry, one of the few that can make such a claim in the sour U.S. economy. And while local governments from Knox County to New York watch
Analysis treatment resources dwindle or remain stagnant, drug addicts and their suppliers add to the rising inmate population. The longterm consequences are too expensive to ignore, but the immediate costs for a solution are a hard sell for already strained budgets. John Gill is a special prosecutor in Attorney General Randy Nichols’ office. Gill characterizes the dilemma as “a real balancing act” in which the safety of the community must be weighed against the choice of incarceration or treatment. Gill says property crimes in Knox County are “almost always” drug related, and a dangerous trend has
developed. Some addicts are now so desperate they will enter a home that may or may not be occupied during the day. Even these bold burglars may not be locked away immediately, however. In Knox County, Gill says, nonviolent offenders “probably get two or three bites at the apple” (probation) before they serve time, and those who do end up behind bars have earned it. “There is almost nobody in jail in the U.S. for simple possession of drugs,” Gill says. It can be difficult for local governments to tally the social costs of drug addiction when deciding how to allocate resources, but those costs are substantial. Gill says some studies estimate an offender may rack up $400,000 in thefts before being caught the first time. Criminal Court Judge Bobby McGee routinely deals with the violent and nonviolent crimes spawned by drug addiction. McGee says probation or judicial diversion in lieu of jail time is a “case by case” decision. Among other issues, the trial court
considers whether judicial diversion serves the interest of the public as well as the accused. From his days as an attorney, McGee recalls what he a calls a “classic example” of judicial diversion that was right for the community and the offender. A University of Tennessee student majoring in nuclear physics with a 4.0 GPA was admiring a ring in a jewelry store when “he snapped” and grabbed the ring. Security guards quickly apprehended him. McGee successfully argued for judicial diversion for the student. As the judge notes, there is a need for nuclear physicists. But the judge’s student is the atypical offender. “The criminal justice system is costly and it will probably continue to become more costly,” McGee says. “It’s fueled by drugs.” McGee served on the Sessions Court bench before moving over to Criminal Court. He recalls how the appearance of crack cocaine on the streets “changed everything.”
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McGee and Gill agree that administering a justice system bloated by drug related crime is expensive. Gill notes the recidivism rate is high even with competent treatment for addiction. Adding the chronically mentally ill who weave in and out of the county jail to the ledger creates a recipe for looming fiscal and social catastrophe. The proposed safety center for mental health crisis intervention needs a commitment of about $1.7 million for 10 years in order to secure a $1.5 million HUD construction grant. The project has stalled. “We are spending the money now,” Nichols said last fall. “We can build more jails or (do something that will) actually help people.” Inaction isn’t a choice. The cost of expanded treatment for addicts and the mentally ill pales when stacked up against new $20 million jail pods and dozens of Gill’s $400,000 career burglars. We can pay now, or we can pay (much more) later.
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