POWELL www.ShopperNewsNow.com
Super basketball season ends There was the Powell girls basketball team of less than a decade ago. It was ranked as one of the nation’s best. But now there’s this year’s team, and it’s one of the most remarkable stories of transformation and determination you’ll ever read. Coach Caitlin Hollifield was there for both. Sports reporter Stefan Cooper interviewed Hollifield and sums up the team’s season.
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See story on page A-10
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A great community newspaper
VOL. 52 NO. 9
IN THIS ISSUE
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March 4, 2013
Spring
Before
cleaning Todd Taft, owner of Four Seasons Lawn Care in Powell, stepped back and took a second look at his facility after this newspaper published photos of the “front door” to Powell. Then, without a dirty lot order or prodding from the county, he set about cleaning up the lot. Taft cleared debris and added a new roof to the building to help beautify his property.
Point of order! Sandra Clark never saw it coming. Knox County Commission shot down Dave Wright’s proposals for an elected school superintendent and for partisan school board elections. Also, the commission finally adopted a watered-down billboard reform, prohibiting new digital boards. It was a signal win for Scenic Knoxville and Richard Briggs.
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After
See analysis on page A-4
Lee speaks on courage, cabbage Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon Lee did not come to Christ United Methodist Church to talk about the law. She came instead to talk about courage, common bonds and cabbage. Lee spoke in Halls last Wednesday. Her presentation included the story of her father, Charles Lee, and of James Hugh Ross, Harold Leibowitz, David Goldin and Bruce Foster.
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Above, Ronnie Smith and Todd Taft stand on the grounds of Four Seasons Lawn Care in Powell. Photos by Ruth White
Cultural, legal changes affect clerks’ bottom line
before
By Betty Bean
See story on page A-3
Rescuing refugees Central Baptist Church Fountain City does great work in reaching people in foreign countries, bringing both assistance and the gospel to them. But to help one particular family in need, the church took a different approach. In 1986, the church financed and moved a family of eight from Cambodia to the U.S. The household had escaped slaughter by heading to Thailand during the Khmer Rouge rule of Cambodia.
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during after
See story on page A-7
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Going, going, gone! Powell Middle School Beery gets Middl dle Scho Sc cho hooll sstudent tu ude dentt T.J. T.J .J. J. Be Beer eryy g ets his “do” on or rather “off ff.”” Beery Beery gets his head shaved by Joan on, Hobbs from R&Co/Powell in preparation for his role as Daddy Warbucks in “Annie Jr.” Performances last week raised money and supplies for Holston United Methodist Home for Children. Photos by Cindy Taylor
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are affecting the fee offices’ bottom lines. While Chancery Court has a reliable revenue source from handling county tax sales, other traditional sources are drying up. Many divorces that used to be heard in 4th Circuit Court are now going to Chancery Court instead (more on that later), but the divorce filings are down overall, probably because of the economy. “Fewer divorces are being filed because people can’t afford them,” Hogan said. Additionally, while the trend away from taking disputes to trial in favor of mediation may ease the financial toll on citizens, it has taken a toll on Chancery Court collections. Much of the child support collection that used to be done in Chancery Court is now being handled at the state level, creating another loss of fees. And the long-term judicial commitments that used to bring in thousands of dollars in fees annually vanished with the 2012 closing of Lakeshore Mental Health Institute. “There’s just not as much trial work, which means there’s not as much filing to generate fees to clerks. From a clerk’s perspective, the more work involved in
a case, the higher the court costs. No filings means no counterclaims, no hearings, no subpoenas or notices, so fees and commissions to the clerks tend to be lower,” Hogan said. “Since my appointment, we have lost four to five positions because of decreasing workload.” The financial stress isn’t likely to ease anytime soon – Hogan is keeping an eye on a new workers’ compensation bill that will take those cases out of local courts entirely. Cathy Quist, who is also an attorney, says the effects of tort reform (another Haslam administration priority) have affected her bottom line. “We are seeing less of the cases that typically generate the most billing because of mediation and arbitration,” she said. “And while our collection rates range between 95 percent and the high 80s, cases aren’t being filed that generate intermediate case billing. A large number of cases are filed and closed the same day. In a lot of cases, settlements are announced the day they are filed. The culture has changed in the civil courts.” When the recession hit, Quist’s office saw a 45 percent increase in civil sesMore on A-3
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County Finance Director Chris Caldwell’s report on the court clerks’ collections sounded pretty grim when he gave his financial update at last week’s County Commission chair’s luncheon. The numbers are down from last year. Criminal, Criminal Sessions and 4th Circuit Court Clerk Joy McCroskey’s collections are running $140,000 behind last year’s figures. Circuit, Civil Sessions and Juvenile Court Clerk Cathy Quist’s collections are $69,000 behind last year. On the surface, Clerk and Master of Chancery and Probate Court Howard Hogan’s collections seem to be a bright spot, since they are running about $4,000 ahead of last year, but he says that number is decepttive, because although colllection numbers are up, case filings are down, giving him ccause for concern about the ffuture. Jokingly, Caldwell breaks iit down to this: “Judges ssay clerks aren’t collectiing. Clerks say judges are ttoo quick to forgive (court ccosts). We take that into account as we do the budget.” Behind the numbers, however, are existing problems and brewing societal and cultural changes that
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