POWELL/NORWOOD VOL. 53 NO. 48 NEIGHBORHOOD BUZZ
Powell parade The annual Christmas Parade, sponsored by the Powell Lions Club, will step off at 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6, from Powell Place shopping center. The parade will form from 3:30 to 4:30 in the Powell Place parking lot on Emory Road near Clinton Highway. There are no fees or registration required. Restrictions are: no four-wheelers, no ATVs, no underage drivers of any vehicles and no Santas, according to the Lions club website.
PHS outdoor classroom Students and community volunteers will work on Powell High School’s outdoor classroom from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6. Volunteers are invited for all or part of the time. Lindsay Moorman, an AmeriCorps member working with the PHS environmental club, will coordinate efforts, and Sarah Connatser, student representative on the Enhance Powell committee of the Powell Business and Professional Association, will participate. The Upward Bound program from UT will also do service work during the event. Improvements include laying down wood chips, weeding and removing invasive plants. The outdoor classroom is behind the splash pad in Powell Station Park. Public land extends to Beaver Creek.
Poinsettia project at Halls High The North Knox Future Farmers of America Christmas poinsettia project will make 140 bright red poinsettias available this season for a $12 donation. This is a communityservice project sponsored by agriculture teacher Mike Blankenship. For more information, contact Blankenship at 865-9257565, 7:45-10 a.m.
For the Children The “For the Children” Christmas fund for foster children in Union County is asking for popular toys (unwrapped) for babies to pre-teens, as well as cash to buy gift cards for the older kids. Members invite everyone to join them at 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7, at Cancun Restaurant on Crippen Road in Halls to collect the toys and cash and to “celebrate the spirit of generosity and community with toys, tacos and margaritas.” Donations can be made by calling Kim Raley Bouchard at 865-363-3833.
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December 3, 2014
Visual arts in Powell By Cindy Taylor
The Powell Playhouse sponsored its annual Community Arts and Crafts Show last weekend at Jubilee Banquet Facility. The event, which grows each year, drew artists from around the region. Playhouse volunteers sponsor plays and other events to celebrate the arts and to raise money for a permanent location for productions. Their efforts were recognized by the Powell Business and Professional Association, which named “the ladies of the Powell Playhouse” as its 2014 “women of the year.” President Gina Jones, director Mona Napier and director Jim Black accepted on behalf of the organization. Black was married to Nita Buell Black, founder of the Powell Playhouse, who passed away Feb. 27, 2014. Nita Buell was Mona Napier and Gina Jones pose with artist Marsha Sneed and her painting, which she donated to the Powell To page A-3 Playhouse. Photo by Cindy Taylor
UT dropout education program to end Farewell to WAVE By Bill Dockery Bob Kerr was a young man in 1975, fresh out of Vietnam and about to graduate from the University of Tennessee, when he signed up to work on a program helping high school dropouts. On Dec. 19, Kerr will close down that program after almost four decades dedicated to helping thousands of dropouts complete a high school Krysten Nieves equivalency diploma, find employment or continue their education. UT WAVE (stands for Work Achievement Values Education) has provided individualized tutoring for young dropouts seeking a
Bob Sharp helps Jeremiah Zupsic refresh his knowledge of graphing equations for his upcoming GED exam. Sharp, a retired math teacher from Halls High School, began tutoring WAVE students so he could conBob Kerr and Michelle Love will be leaving the UT WAVE office when it closes tinue to help people. permanently on Dec. 19. Kerr started the program 39 years ago to help dropouts get high school equivalency diplomas. Photos by Bill Dockery GED diploma and help in plotting their career strategies. “Dropouts bring a lot of baggage,” Kerr said. “The stigma is that dropouts are stupid, but ac-
tually there are 100 different rea- getting their GED. The male-fesons they drop out.” male ratio has been roughly 50-50 The program has worked with from year to year, and about 30 about 100 students a year, with To page A-3 half of that number successfully
Dunn breaks with Haslam on Common Core By Betty Bean State Rep. Bill Dunn is a key member of the House Education Committee and has generally supported Gov. Bill Haslam’s education reform measures. But he broke ranks last session by passing Bill Dunn a bill to reel back the Common Core State Standards, which have grown increasingly unpopular among conservatives as well as teachers. Dunn said the new law (which Haslam signed) puts Tennessee in control of its standards while requiring the state Board of Education to notify members of the House and Senate education committees and post information online before it can vote on standard changes. The law also limits the application of the standards to language arts and math, limits the data that can be collected from students and
parents, and requires Common Core-aligned tests to be bid out. “Basically I’ve tried to make the standards process very transparent,” Dunn said. He also has a plan to get teachers a raise but isn’t ready to say what it is. “The governor may have a different plan, but I’ve got a backup plan to reward teachers for their hard work over the years.” He admits his plan could be complicated by the reality of a tight budget year. “That’s going to rule a whole lot of things.” When asked if he’ll join his conservative colleagues who want to repeal the Hall tax on investment income, he hedged his answer, pointing out that he has supported tax cuts like the small sales tax decrease on food (“People have got to eat”) but saying he’s leery of cutting off vital revenue streams. “I think we have to look at the budget long term. When you weaken yourself financially as a state, you become beholden to the federal
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government. Why would we weaken ourselves? “When someone comes forward and says we need to repeal this tax, they need to show how that’s going to affect the budget. When we repealed the inheritance tax, we benefited because it encouraged more people to stay in state. With the Hall tax, I think you start by looking at who you’re hurting. If it’s a retiree who depends on this for income, you could raise the exemption, but I think we should distinguish between an elderly couple depending on their investments and a billionaire who’s investing. “My main point is, as long as we have the financial means, we call the shots. When we don’t, the federal government calls the shots.” After 20 years in the House, Dunn is kind of a big deal, particularly since the Republicans ended the Democrats’ majority in 2008. Dunn became chair of the Calendar and Rules Committee, the last stop for committee-approved bills before they hit the House floor.
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Traditionally, some legislation doesn’t make it, and when it doesn’t, it’s usually the decision of the chair. But Dunn says it’s not like the old days, when the Speaker of the House dictated outcomes. “I’ve got the gavel, and I’m the one who determines what the vote was, if it’s a voice vote. What I like to do is work with individuals to get the bill where it needs to be. Has the bill been properly vetted in committee? That used to come from the speaker, but I go through all the bills to make a determination whether they should be on the consent calendar, make a list and give it to the Democratic leadership. “A couple of times I’ve used my gavel to do what needed to be done. … There was one time when nobody wanted to call for question and I just got up, grabbed my gavel and left. Everybody said, ‘What?’ But if I hadn’t, we would have spent another two hours just going on and on. I think the bill ended up failing.”
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