POWELL/NORWOOD VOL. 53 NO. 4
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IN THIS ISSUE
My
Life
UT Professor Emeritus Cynthia Griggs Fleming can tell you a lot about AfricanAmerican history. She can tell you about the three books she’s written, and about the times she took her students into the heart of civil rights country to walk in the footsteps of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy. Stokely Carmichael himself sat in on her classes. She can tell you about all those things, and more. Problem is, you’ll have to catch her first. If she’s not astride her horse, chances are she’s muscling one of her classic cars down the highway.
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The dreamy world By Cindy Taylor
Mixed-media artist and Powell resident Cheryl Tarrant currently calls the mountains of Tennessee her home. But she says much of her work is inspired by childhood memories of her grandfather’s Cheryl Tarrant ranch in the hills of Trabuco Canyon, Calif. “I have always found solace in old barns and the magic you can find in them, such as birds’ nests, cobwebs and crinkly snakeskins,” she said. “The same holds true for abandoned houses. I am drawn to the “Her Name Is Alabama,” a painting by Cheryl Tarrant chipped-paint sideboards, dusty photographs strewn about and the light that finds its way in … .” ing textures using a computer pro- works with torn paper collages. Tarrant transforms her original gram and manipulating them with The first to admit she is not a photographs into art by overlay- a digital paintbrush. Tarrant also technical photographer, Tarrant
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By Sandra Clark
Kids Play Free is more than a slogan at the Beverly Park Par 3 Golf Course. George Hall, retired teacher from Halls Middle School and PGA golf instructor, spoke last week at the Halls Business and Professional Association. “I’ve coached about every sport there is,” he said. Hall led softball teams from both Halls and Gibbs high schools to multiple state tournaments. His son, Andrew, was a two-time all-state golfer for Halls High School. George Hall was seeking donations to the Tennessee Golf Foundation, which manages the Beverly Park course that is owned by Knox County and located on Tazewell Pike. In addition to free golf for kids, the course offers junior camps, clinics and competitions. The course has a brandnew, full-size driving range. Holes range from 80 yards to 170 yards. Adults as well as kids can play golf there, and Hall is available for lessons for adults and teens. Info: 423-794-0747.
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of artist Cheryl Tarrant has learned to use textures over photographs to turn simple images into unique art. She is also an iPhoneography artist and co-creator of the editing app Distressed FX, which turns basic images into art in a matter of seconds. Tarrant’s work is on display at The Emporium Center on Gay Street as part of the Arts and Culture Alliance National Juried Exhibition of 2015. The exhibition features selected works from 31 artists in the Southeast. Most works are for sale. A public reception will be held at The Emporium Center from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, with a brief awards ceremony at 6 p.m. Works will be on display in the balcony gallery Feb. 6-28. Tarrant can be reached by email at distressedtextures@gmail.com. More of her work can be seen at www.distressedtextures.net.
Powell could benefit from Frontier grant
NEIGHBORHOOD BUZZ
Hall seeks golfers
January 28, 2015
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Powell is perfectly poised to obtain a community development grant from a $10 million program sponsored by Frontier Communications and DISH network. The deadline to apply to America’s Best Communities contest is mid-March, said Mike Byrd, general manager of Frontier Communications in Powell. Byrd said the contest is straightforward. “We just have to have a good plan.” John Bayless, technical services supervisor for Frontier, is president of the Powell Business and Professional Association. He said PBPA will take the lead on submitting the application, but he asked for comments from residents. PBPA created a committee, Enhance Powell, last year that has developed a plan for expanding the Powell Station Park. “We’re currently using about one acre of a six-acre, county-owned tract,” said Justin Bailey, co-chair of Enhance Powell. Plans include a
perimeter walking trail, a kayak put-in/take-out, a second picnic pavilion and a grassy meadow for picnics. Byrd said the Frontier initiative supports revitalJohn Bayless ization of small towns. Powell qualifies because of population and because it falls within Frontier’s service area. Knox County Commissioner Charles Busler went to Nashville with Byrd and others to meet the CEOs of participating sponsors. Later, Busler pledged his support to whatever plan the community produces. One idea is to target the area from Powell High School to the new Front Porch restaurant at Spring Street and Emory Road. The plan could include sidewalks, facade and landscaping grants to property owners and even a “train station” visitors’ center and res-
Push back on push-out By Bill Dockery African-American children in the Knox County school system are suspended from school almost three times more often than their white fellow students. And that rate has not changed since 2007, when a community task force recommended ways to fi x the disparities in discipline. State statistics reported for 2012 show that black Knox County students are Sheppard still about three times more likely to be suspended than white students, despite the negative results such suspensions will have on their educational and legal futures. Those facts are part of the information presented at a workshop on “school push-out,” the name given to discipline policies that re-
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sult in children leaving school and getting caught up in the criminal justice system. A group of parents, students, school personnel and civil rights activists gathered Thursday at Mount Calvary Baptist Church to share stories and strategize about ways to change county schools so that their discipline system does not discriminate against blacks, people with disabilities and other minorities. Local activists with the NAACP and the Children’s Defense Fund sponsored the meeting. “We want parents to understand that suspensions are not an individual problem with you and your child,” said Andre Canty, one of the organizers of the meeting. “School push-out is a systemic problem that has some students being arrested for no reason. That’s messed up.” Amy Sosinski, a law student at the University of Tennessee, presented totals from 2012 state rec-
TITAN A SELF-STORAGE
taurant. “America’s Best Communities contest is designed to challenge a community’s brightest and most innovative thinkers to develop meaningful strategies and plans that will transform their town or city,” said Maggie Wilderotter, board chair and CEO of Frontier Communications. Joe Clayton, president and CEO of DISH, said, “Every small community has a story to tell, and we want to help create an opportunity for the best ideas that lead to thriving communities to be identified and shared.” America’s Best Communities is a three-year program that provides $4 million in seed money and other support to assist communities as they develop growth and revitalization plans. The top three communities will receive a total of $6 million in prize money. Municipalities with populations of 9,500 to 80,000 that are located within Frontier’s service areas are eligible to apply.
Judges will select up to 50 qualified applicants, each of which will be awarded $35,000 to develop their plans and proposals. These communities will then have seven months to refine and submit their final proposals in September 2015. Up to 15 semifinalists will be selected in November 2015 and will attend America’s Best Communities summit in January 2016 to present their proposals. In early 2016, eight finalists will be selected and will be awarded $100,000 each. The prize money awarded to the eight finalists will be used to implement the communities’ plans and bring them to life, while sharing their stories – and successes – along the way. The America’s Best Communities top three competition winners – those with the most innovative, effective proposals – will be awarded a total of $6 million in grand prizes in October 2017. Info: www. americasbestcommunities.com.
ords that show that some 8,300 black students in Knox County schools are about 2.7 times more likely to be suspended than the system’s 44,600 white students. Among students with disabilities, slightly more than one in 10 white students will be suspended; around one in four black students with disabilities will be sent home from school. In November 2014, the Education Law Practicum filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education based on those disparities. That complaint is still pending in the department’s Office for Civil Rights. Maya Sheppard presented information on an innovative plan in Baltimore that had dramatically reduced school suspensions. Sheppard is a lawyer with the Knox County Public Defender’s Office who serves in the county’s juvenile court. Other speakers discussed similar programs that have improved racial disparities in discipline in other school systems. “These are proven methods
for reducing suspensions and arrests,” Canty said. “What needs to happen from the people is a collaborative effort among parents, teachers and students.” Canty asked the attendees to share their own experiences of problems with the school system’s disciplinary policies. He then led the attendees in a discussion of how they would like to see the system change and how those changes can be brought about. Suggestions included mentoring programs for students, cultural sensitivity training for teachers and school personnel, increased parental advocacy and changes in special-education laws and policies. “We want all our kids to have a bright future,” Canty said. In late December, Canty participated in a discussion with Superintendent Jim McIntyre on WATE-TV’s “Tennessee This Week.” During that broadcast McIntyre announced that he would create a working group to look at solutions to the disparity problems.
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