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VOL. 6, NO. 44
OCTOBER 29, 2011
PER-NEW OP F BEST OF BE
S
SH
INSIDE
The results are in!
See page 5-8
Christmas is coming … And so is Bob’s Open House! See Cindy’s story on page 3
Booker is state Teacher of the Year See story by Betty Bean and Jake Mabe on page 11
FEATURED COLUMNIST MARVIN WEST
Time to focus on bowls See Marvin’s story on page 10
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4509 Doris Circle 37918 (865) 922-4136 news@ShopperNewsNow.com ads@ShopperNewsNow.com EDITOR Cindy Taylor brentcindyt@gmail.com ADVERTISING SALES Shannon Carey shannon@ShopperNewsNow.com Shopper-News is a member of KNS Media Group, published weekly at 4509 Doris Circle, Knoxville, TN, and distributed to 11,000 homes in Union County.
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A spirit of love
Byerley reflects on a life of service By Cindy Taylor
Wanda Cox Byerley was born in a roadhouse on Bob Gray Road, and come April she will celebrate her 79th year. “They tell me there was a bloody spot on the floor where I was born, and they had to put a rug over it to keep it hidden,” said Byerley. You can travel all across Union County, but you would be hard pressed to find a livelier character or one with a more fascinating history. Byerley is the widow of Everett Cox and is currently married to Paul Byerley. A person could sit for hours just listening to her unbelievable yet authentic tales, but occasionally she will be dead serious. “My greatest honor has been to be the mother of Lynn and Greg Cox,” said Byerley. Byerley moved repeatedly as a child from the inner city of Knoxville to the outskirts of Union County. She asked her father once why they moved so much. She says he told her that the rent came due so they had to move. Byerley knew from the age of 6 that she wanted to teach. Her mother used to tell her to go “plack.” Byerley understood the word to mean go “play like.” Byerley would sit at the windowsill and pretend to teach music or other subjects. “Being the oldest child of eight and the only daughter of Clifford and Virgie O’Dell Woods gave me pecking order and taught me how to deal with rowdy boys,” said Byerley. She actually taught five of her brothers. “It was a joy to learn, and I had such wonderful teachers,” said Byerley. “To teach people to sing from the
Wanda Cox Byerley at her second home in the Union County Historical Society Museum and Library. Photo by C. Taylor soul and be happy or to teach them something to improve their life is a good thing. When I had Martha Nash for a teacher, I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do.” As a student at Horace Maynard High School, Byerley worked for two years in the office there. When she graduated, she moved on to the fields of health care and retail. When the one-room school of Pine Grove needed a teacher, Byerley left her jobs and “got over to the hill” at UT to become certified as a teacher. She went on to teach at Big Ridge and Maynardville elementary schools and then Union County High School. She also helped create the first summer school. She has been a teacher, a teaching principal and even at onetime “a political reject” in her words. As a teacher she frequently got in her “Grandma Square” when her students asked questions about religion or sex, topics other teachers often avoided.
“I had two rules when I taught,” said Byerley. “Work and play. I told the students that to waste time was stealing.” Byerley says there are three things students today need. “Make sure they have the basic skills of the 5th, 6th and 7th grade language arts and the same thing in math. The third thing that makes a successful citizen is to teach children to feel good about themselves.” “Hopefully all of your teachers are the best,” said Byerley. “But your best teachers need to be in the lower grades. When asked about the most challenging time in her life, Byerley was quick to respond. “The first day I was heading to Pine Grove to teach, the biggest knot came up in my throat, and I thought I would choke to death,” said Byerley. She was 19 at the time.
Byerley retired from teaching in 1999 and then really got busy. She has been on the board and president of the Union County Historical Society and is still a member. She also volunteers as a teacher for the GED classes. “Dennis Branum came back for his GED and remembered that I was the person who had delivered him,” said Byerley. “I was teaching and got word that his mom was down and had no help, so I went and delivered her baby on my lunch hour. I wrapped him and put him in a box close to a heater so he could stay warm, made the mother comfortable then went back to school and never missed a class.” Byerley says becoming a Christian was the most wonderful experience of her life. “I can say this and they can’t sue me for saying it. When I was 9 years old Jesus accepted me as one of his. As I went through life I was never lonely because I had my buddy. I was never smart enough to do the things I have done but Jesus has done them through me,” she said. Byerley says she inherited a spirit of love from her grandparents, James and Arlettie Perry Woods. She was the first grandchild and very well loved. When she walked into the Historical Society Museum and Library and found the page with the 1900 census and her relatives were there, she decided she had to work at the society to help others discover their roots. “Everyone needs a spirit of love,” said Byerley. “Money will spend, houses will burn; if you didn’t keep up your soul it would go bad. But if you have the spirit of love you have inherited a whole lot. I’m going to keep walking as long as the good Lord lets me, and when I’m gone I hope people will remember one thing, that I tried to help somebody.” “I have done a lot of things on this journey,” said Byerley. “I hope at least a few of them were done well. The jury is still out.”
A new era, for now By Cindy Taylor
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The first item on the agenda when the Union County school board met Oct. 19 was to discuss the termination of Director of Schools Wayne Goforth. In spite of efforts by Goforth’s attorney, Herb Moncier, to dissuade the board from making a decision that evening, a determination was made. Goforth was suspended without pay pending presentation of charges at a future workshop, and Marilyn Toppins was voted in as temporary director of schools. Moncier filed suit Oct. 21 in Union County Circuit Court on behalf of Goforth. The suit names the four members of the school board who voted to suspend Goforth and demands that they personally pay his salary for the time he his suspended. The four named were Don Morgan, Billy Sexton, David Coppock and Danny Wayne Collins. Both Goforth and Moncier declined to comment further. Many at the meeting who wished to remain anonymous said that this had been too long in coming. Others, such as Ron Erikson, were not happy with the proceedings.
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“I may quit as chair of P16 as a result of how this was handled,” said Erikson. “They (the school board) should not have done this in a public forum.” Even though the school system has already passed a balanced budget, many residents and school system employees continue to be unhappy. This includes the bus drivers and teachers. “I think we do a good job,” said bus driver Gerald Shoffner. “We are the first ones who get brought up every year when cuts are made. Give us a break.” Toppins spoke as a representative for the teachers in Union County regarding the increased insurance premiums that are set to come out of their paychecks. Her figures did not agree with what was listed in the budget. She voiced other complaints as well. “You are making money off of the teachers who have single coverage,” said Toppins. “It would be very refreshing if we were told the truth up front and notice given to employees as to what we are facing. It is personnel and the director who should be informing us, and that is who
Then teacher, now Director of Schools Marilyn Toppins (right) disagrees with Union County Public Schools Business Manager Glenn Coppock (left) on budget numbers. Photo by C. Taylor should be held accountable.” There still appears to be confusion among school board members as to how much jurisdiction the county actually has over the budget of the school system. A balanced budget was presented to the county weeks ago, but at an increase in Maintenance of Effort funding for the county to the tune of $65,589 due to specific cuts the board had to make. Board members were unsure as to whether or not they must accept what has been handed to them by the commission. The bottom line was that they could vote to decline the commission’s request to increase the percentage of projected revenue for the coming
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year but at the risk of a further delay in state funds being released. Since the school board is operating with a cash balance of around $5,000, members voted unanimously to agree to the projection and add that to the school budget. The county mayor’s office said that the budget was mailed to Nashville on Oct. 24. “Nobody on this board wants to see teachers lose their jobs or get their pay cut,” said school board chair Brian Oaks. “I would encourage all of the teachers to approach the County Commission to seek more funding for the school system. I promise you right now that if we do not dismiss Goforth, we will be looking at cutting his salary.”
While the school system continues to struggle financially, a couple of local banks are doing what they can to help. Kim Ray, president of the Sharps Chapel PTO and marketing director for First Century Bank explained. “(Supervisor of Elementary Education) Jimmy Carter approached the bank a couple of years ago and requested that we start printing the report cards for the schools,” said Ray. “First Century and FSG have been doing that since.” This is not an inexpensive venture, but the two banks charge nothing for their service. Ray said that they are happy to take that burden off of the school system. Maintenance Supervisor Mike Johnson brought a plan to the board that could actually generate funds through TVA-EnerNOC Demand Response. “This program has been around for three years and has done very well for the participants,” said John Carter, Business Development Manager for EnerNOC. On an ending note, Morgan asked that an independent auditor to be hired to oversee the school system budget. No date was set for the presentation of charges against Goforth.
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