South Knox Shopper-News 070815

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SOUTH KNOX VOL. 32 NO. 27 1

www.ShopperNewsNow.com |

Storytime

IN THIS ISSUE Flying high Shopper-News interns ventured south and downtown last week with a visit to Dragonfly Aerial Arts Studio. Shannon Carey said it’s the most fun the interns have had so far. Their reports are inside.

8, 2015 July July29, 2013

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at Montgomery Village

Read about interns on page 8

Student on board Betty Bean talks with Bearden High School senior Sydney Gabrielson after her first school board meeting as the student representative. She had much to say, including an emotional defense of her school’s dismissed softball coach.

Read Betty Bean on page 5

Storytime at Montgomery Village draws youngsters Mariah Womble, Shamiyah Santos, Caden Patrick; (middle row) Angelina Irankunda, Mya Smith, Kymari Montgomery; (back row) Shamarr Johnson, Titus Womble and Amarion Thomas.

Green is here Wendy Smith snagged an interview with Gerald Green, new director of the Metropolitan Planning Commission, during his first week in town.

Read Wendy Smith on page 4

BUZZ Ed and Bob coming to Carter Knox County at-large commissioners Ed Brantley and Bob Thomas will host a community meeting 5-7 p.m. Tuesday, July 21, at Cardin’s Drive-In, 8529 Asheville Highway. All residents are invited to attend to discuss county issues. Other commissioners may attend as well.

Jury Fest ahead for craft guild The Foothills Craft Guild is accepting new member applications from fine craft artisans for its second Jury Fest to be held Wednesday, Aug. 12, with take-in days Monday and Tuesday, Aug. 10-11. Info/application: Bob Klassen, bobklassen@charter.net, or www.foothillscraftguild. org under the “How to Join” section.

Red Gate Rodeo The annual Red Gate Festival and Rodeo will be held Friday and Saturday, July 17-18, at Red Gate Farm in Maynardville. Carnival starts at 5 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday. Rodeo starts at 8 p.m. each day. Admission is $15 for adults, $8 for kids 4-10 years old, and free for kids age 3 and under. Info: www.redgaterodeo. com or 992-3303.

7049 Maynardville Pike 37918 (865) 922-4136 NEWS news@ShopperNewsNow.com Sandra Clark | Betsy Pickle

By Betsy Pickle When Sandra Kessler started Saturday story time at Montgomery Village, she didn’t realize she was onto something big. “At first I’d get two or three kids,” says Kessler, a Montgomery Village resident who started the reading program in March. “Last Saturday, it was raining at 1 (the start of story time), and no one showed up. “By 3 the rain had quit. All the kids came in and sat down for me to do story hour, so I did. All they did was wait for the rain to stop.” She ended up with 15 kids that day, and she had 11 this past Satur-

in Boots.” The youngest listeners grew a tad restless, but the bulk of the group – mostly 6- and 7-year-olds and including Kessler’s granddaughter – gave Kessler their attention. After the story hour was over, the children got snacks and sodas. Kessler encouraged them to go into the playroom to draw, but mostly they sat around and ate their snacks and teased each other. Story time is only one part of Kessler’s grand plan for the library. A Montgomery Village resident since 2013, she has quickly become involved in the community, including serving as an officer in

Grocery business booms with bigger store By Sandra Clark United Grocery Outlet has opened a new, larger store at 4225 Chapman Highway, in a building that began life as a Red Foods. Store manager Matt Storm says business has tripled in the first three weeks. Yes, he’s a happy guy. He brought the staff with him from the smaller store and added 20 more. His biggest problem? Getting a day off. United Grocery Outlet operates off the grid with bargains throughout the store. Gary Buchanan, director of purchasing, explains: Matt Storm in the produce section of “We don’t try to saturate the United Grocery Outlet on Chapman market (in cities where stores are Highway. Photo by Sara Barrett located). Our objective is to pro-

vide extreme value to our customers.” Buchanan, who was recently named grocer of the year by the Tennessee Grocers Association, says about 80 percent of a store’s merchandise is manufacturer’s closeouts. “We don’t ask (vendors) ‘what do you want to sell?’ We ask them ‘what do you need to sell?’” And the other 20 percent? That’s fresh meat, fresh produce and dairy products – items stocked for customer convenience. In a recent interview in Athens, Tenn., where the company is based, Buchanan said UGO’s old store on Chapman Hwy. was No. 4. “Bargain Barn had six stores,

two warehouse employees and one truck” when he joined in 1990, he said. Now the company has stores in five states with more than 700 associates. The chief executive officer is Michael Tullock, who founded Bargain Barn in 1974 with his parents, Doug and Carol, and a $1,000 investment to stock discounted canned vegetables in the family’s antique store in Etowah. Soon the groceries chased out the antiques. The name and corporate charter for Bargain Barn have remained, even as the company has rebranded itself as United To page 3

The day after: What did teachers gain? By Betty Bean Knox County school board members were faced with a stark choice last week: Approve a memorandum of understanding between Mayor Tim Burchett and Superintendent James McIntyre that leaves teachers with half the pay raise they’d been led to expect, or be stuck with Burchett’s original budget offer, which would leave the school system with a $6.5 million shortfall and mean no raise at all.

Analysis

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day – the Fourth of July. Around town, youngsters were celebrating the holiday at backyard cookouts and swimming pools. In the converted apartment that serves as the Montgomery Village library, children were having a blast hanging out with their friends and listening to Kessler make stories come to life. The kids, ranging from a rising sixth-grader to a 1-year-old, chose the books, and Kessler plowed through them all. The selections were varied: from “I Wanna Iguana” to a Strawberry Shortcake take on “Snow White” to the classic “Puss

the residents’ association. The library is in the same building as the association’s quarters, and she took on the challenge of reviving it. She’s still working to get adult and reference books moved upstairs so that the ground Sandra Kessler floor is dedicated to younger users. She eventually hopes to have a computer lab and link the computers to the schools Montgomery Village kids attend – primarily Mooreland Heights and Dogwood Elementary and South-Doyle Middle – so that students can connect and check on assignments. She wants them to be able to come to the library to study. Kessler is grateful for donations of children’s books, coloring and craft supplies, adult self-help books, fiction and reference books. “The only thing we don’t need is encyclopedias,” she says, motioning to shelves filled with wellintentioned but out-of-date tomes. Contact Kessler at 865-3868090.

It really wasn’t a nail biter. The political reality is there

was little chance that the MOU would fail, given that board member Doug Harris, a member of the pro-McIntyre faction, had initiated the negotiating process and was locked into a yes vote, as were the four anti-McIntyre faction members – two of whom, Terry Hill of District 6 and Mike McMillan of District 8, are being rewarded with constituent-pleasing new middle schools. When District 5 board member Karen Carson signaled her intention to vote yes by proposing an amendment making sure that Burchett didn’t hog the credit for the pay raise, any suspense surrounding the vote was removed. Under the terms of the compro-

mise, McIntyre agreed to trim $1 million from his original budget request and apply it to teacher raises. Burchett agreed to make a onetime payment to Knox County Schools of $3 million to fund APEX (strategic compensation) bonuses promised to teachers who earned them. This leaves open the question of how such bonuses will be funded in the future. The agreement to sell the Andrew Johnson Building was accepted with no comment, and little reference was made to a paragraph in the agreement that bars additional new school construction until 2021, except for a couple of board members who are hoping for new schools in their districts

noting that the agreement is “nonbinding.” Board members Tracie Sanger, Lynne Fugate and Gloria Deathridge made strong cases for turning down the deal, and Sanger was eloquent when she spoke of “havenot” schools – like Inskip Elementary School – whose actual needs “will be superseded by projected needs. We need to address current needs before we address projected needs,” she said. Several dozen red-shirted teachers who had rallied in support of nonrenewed colleagues before the board meeting stuck around to watch the vote. Most had little to To page 3

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