POWELL/NORWOOD VOL. 54 NO. 1
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January 7, 2015
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KUB’s PACE 10, ‘on time and on budget’ By Sandra Clark
Flapjacks Cabin coming to Powell Get ready for some Smoky Mountain flapjacks on Emory Road near I-75. Business reporter Nancy Whittaker says the spot vacated by Three Amigos has been leased to the Collier Group out of Sevierville and is being remodeled as Knox County’s first Flapjacks Pancake restaurant. The stores in Sevier County are called cabins and the website talks about a guy named Brent who learned how to make flapjacks from his grandma and perfected his technique on hungry hikers and mountain visitors in the Smokies. Opening in 2001, Flapjacks sold its first million pancakes by 2005. By 2006, it was at two million and now is over five million. That’s a lot of flapjacks. The new store is already posted on the website at 603 East Emory Road, Suite 101, but the town is wrong. If your ZIP code is 37849 then your town is Powell. The phone there is 865-362-7575 and, on the off-chance that it’s answered somewhere else, call about employment. Tell them you saw it in the Shopper! – S. Clark
Evening of magical fun Order of the Eastern Star will host a benefit Night of Magic at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 9, at the Scottish Rite Temple, 612 16th Street near UT. Magicians scheduled to appear include The Great Bevarino, “Mr. Roger” Reeves, Savannah McCoy and Ed Ripley. Tickets may be purchased at the door and are $12 for adults, $6 for children 10 and under. Info: 588-9829 or 470-7919.
IN THIS ISSUE 2019 is a long way off, says Pavlis Who will succeed Madeline Rogero? Betty Bean writes: “If past is prologue, the field will be crowded.” She asked Vice Mayor Nick Pavlis if he will run. Get Pavlis’ response.
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Read Betty Bean on page 5
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Knoxville Utilities Board told customers in 2004 to expect rates to triple over 10 years as the utility picked up the pace on sewer system improvements to comply with a federal consent decree. With 2014 ended, how has that worked out? KUB has reduced sewer overflows by 75 percent, according to Bill Elmore, executive vice president and chief operating officer. And while rates have soared, they’ve not reached the 200 percent increase originally projected. Elmore says KUB’s typical
residential customer (500 cubic feet of usage or 3,750 gallons) pays $50.50 per month for sewer. That’s because customers have reduced usage and installed more water-efficient fi xtures. “If water usage was at the higher level anticipated in the five-year report (600 cubic feet), today’s bill would be $59.20,” said Elmore. For that investment, KUB has completed 134 projects totaling $530 million on time and on budget under a program it named PACE 10. Another $45 million is needed to completely satisfy the
consent decree, Elmore said. Approximately $70 million went toward enhancements to the wet weather treatment systems at the Kuwahee and Fourth Creek plants; however, the bulk of the work was directed at the collection system. Six wet weather storage tanks were constructed (34 million gallon capacity), 275 miles of pipe were rehabilitated or replaced (approximately 20 percent of the system), and nearly 7,000 manholes replaced (of 30,000 systemwide). “KUB will continue its collection system rehabilitation/
replacement program at a rate of 2 percent per year but will do so under the Century II program that addresses infrastructure improvements for each of our four utility systems,” said Elmore. To satisfy the consent decree, KUB must complete wastewater plant upgrades at Fourth Creek (deadline mid-2018) and Kuwahee (mid-2021). “These improvements will upgrade the … systems to full biological treatment, said Elmore. He estimates the cost at $45 million (today’s dollars). But is the juice worth the squeeze? Stay tuned.
‘Selma’ movie, panel kick off city’s civil rights celebration
Rights march changed a nation – and a minister’s life By Bill Dockery Four Knoxville veterans of the civil rights movement will gather for a special public screening of the new movie “Selma” as the city of Knoxville opens its celebration of the 50th anniversary of passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The celebration is called “Let Us March on Ballot Boxes,” and the program will begin at 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10, at Regal Cinemas Pinnacle Turkey Creek with the four civil rights leaders reflecting on the struggle for voting rights. “Selma” is winning praise for its portrayal of Martin Luther King Jr. and for its astute re-creation of the politics and personalities of the civil rights campaign. “We encourage everyone to buy tickets in advance,” said Joshalyn Hundley, city coordinator of the program. Tickets for the PG-13 film are $8 for adults and $7.50 for children and seniors. KAT buses will provide transportation from the Civic Coliseum to the theater at 2 p.m. Saturday. People using mobility devices should contact Hundley at 865-215-3867 by Friday, Jan. 9. The panelists include Gordon Gibson, a retired Unitarian Universalist minister who was in Sel-
In this AP wire photo from Feb. 15, 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. greeted two Unitarian Universalist ministers when they were released from jail in Selma, Ala. Gordon Gibson (right) and Ira Blalock (left) were observing civil rights actions for their denomination when they were arrested on the steps of the Dallas County (Ala.) courthouse. AP photo
ma as an observer; Harold Middlebrook, retired minister who was active in Selma; Avon Rollins, who led Knoxville civil rights actions; and John Stuart, a member of Vice President Hubert Humphrey’s staff when the Civil Rights Act was passed. Fifty years ago, Gibson was sent by the Unitarian Universalist Association to observe civil rights actions in Selma being led by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership
Bayless heads PBPA By Sandra Clark
John Bayless, an executive with Frontier Communications in Powell, has assumed leadership of the Powell Business and Professional Association. Sage Kohler, State Farm insurance agency owner, is the past president. R. Larry Smith is vice president and program chair; Terri Gilbert, manager of Food City in Powell, is the secretary; and Steve Mouser of Commercial Bank is treasurer. The business organization is on a quest for members, both new ones and renewals. It meets each second Tuesday at noon at Jubilee Banquet Facility on Callahan Drive. Buffet lunch is $14.
John Bayless
Sage Kohler
On Jan. 13, committee chairs will present plans for 2015 and recruit members. Committee membership is a great way to build a business network. Committees include communications, beautification (Enhance Powell), Teen Driver Awareness and more.
Judy and Gordon Gibson had been married only about 18 months in early 1965 when the Unitarian Universalist Association sent him to Selma, Ala., as a civil rights observer. The couple, now retired, live in East Conference. With a fresh master’s Knoxville. Photo by Bill Dockery in divinity from Tufts University and only 25 years old, Gibson headed to Selma without a clear returned to Massachusetts, the sense of what was at stake per- Bloody Sunday confrontation took place at the Pettus Bridge sonally or nationally. “Don’t go to Selma unless it’s in Selma, and the voting rights more important that you go than march to Montgomery followed. that you come back,” one denomi- That summer, the Voting Rights nation official warned him. That Act was passed by Congress and shocked Gibson and his wife, Judy signed into law by President Lyn– also a minister – into having don Johnson. “What I did did not change the their wills written. “In retrospect, I was thinking world,” Gibson said of those days. only a fraction of what I should “Sadly, we were newsworthy – two have been thinking,” Gibson said. white ministers jailed in Selma …” “I didn’t have a good grasp of all when the jailing of black civil rights advocates had hardly drawn media the issues around me. “I went to Selma with an ob- attention. “My presence may not have server mentality. It took me a while to overcome that mentality changed anything about the Seland figure out that the local people ma campaign, but it certainly weren’t just observing – they were changed me,” he said. “I became putting everything on the line. If less trusting of those in authority, they went down to the courthouse, and I insist on a higher standard they were risking being arrested, of proof now than I would have beaten, fired from their job, evict- then.” Gibson would go on to serve ed from their house or even being almost 20 years in UU churches run out of town.” Gibson didn’t have to wait long around Jackson, Miss., working in to find out the cost of involvement. federal poverty programs there. While standing on the steps of the The couple retired from their UniDallas County courthouse watch- tarian Universalist ministry in ing a voter-drive demonstration, Elkhart, Ind., and moved to KnoxGibson and fellow minister Ira ville in 2005. Gibson has become an expert on Blalock were arrested and jailed for five days. When they were re- his denomination’s history in the leased on Feb. 15, Martin Luther South, especially as it involves civil rights. In mid-February, Skinner King Jr. was there to meet them. Days later, after Gibson had To page 3
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