POSTAL CUSTOMER
VOL. 12 NO. 15
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April 12, 2017
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‘Southern Star’ on the rise
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Petree proposes drive-in theater
BUZZ Second family sues PVEC
Sharps Chapel residents Bradford and Rhonda Parks have filed suit against Powell Valley Electric Cooperative, Progressive Solutions LLC, Alspundh Tree Expert Company and Brush Controll Company, in Union County Circuit Court alleging damages from the June 2016 herbicide spraying along powerline easements in Sharps Chapel. The Parkses filed suit April 5, making them the second family to sue PVEC and its contractors due to the spraying. They are represented by attorney David H. Dunaway, who is representing the first couple to sue, Charles and Mary Schwegman. The complaint alleges that Bradford Parks has suffered personal injuries, including kidney dysfunction and high blood pressure, and that Mary Parks has experienced nausea, bowel dysfunction and sleeplessness, due to being exposed to the herbicides. It also alleges that PVEC and its contractors were negligent in using the chemicals and failing to warn the public that chemicals would be sprayed. The defendants have until May 15 to respond. –S. Carey
Author to visit Luttrell Library
Luttrell Public Library will host children’s author Michael Shoulders 1:30 p.m. Monday, May 1. He will be available for a signing event and will present a children’s program about his books and writing books. Shoulders writes books for preschool through eighthgrade children. Some of his books include “D for Dump Truck,” “V for Volunteer” and “Crossing the Deadline.” The library is at 115 Park Road in Luttrell. Info: 865992-0208.
Pick up extra copies at Union County Senior Citizens Center 298 Main St. Maynardville NEWS (865) 342-6622 news@ShopperNewsNow.com Shannon Carey ADVERTISING SALES (865) 922-4136 ads@ShopperNewsNow.com Amy Lutheran | Patty Fecco Beverly Holland | Mary Williamson
Curtis Petree, co-owner of Lil’ Jo’s BBQ in Maynardville, shows a rendering of the Southern Star Twin Drive-In Theater, which he proposes to build in southern Union County along Highway 33. Photo by S. Carey
By Shannon Carey There’s a new star in the sky over Union County, Curtis Petree’s dream to combine his love of movies and his love of good food in the Southern Star Twin, a new-construction drive-in theater that Petree hopes to build near the Knox and Union county line. Petree co-owns Maynardville’s Lil’ Jo’s BBQ with his wife, Joy. The idea for a drive-in theater has
been brewing with Petree for three or four years, even before the couple opened Lil’ Jo’s. He’s already got some investors lined up, plus room for more, and he’s targeting spring of 2018 as the theater’s first season. The Southern Star will have two screens served by a single concession area that will offer a robust menu of theater and fair-type foods plus selections from the
Lil’ Jo’s Menu. Since this is new construction, the Southern Star’s screens will be sized for modern movie formats, and all movies will be first-run showings. One side of Southern Star will accommodate 300 cars, and the other will take 450. Sound will be transmitted through FM radio. In addition, the main screen will have a professional concert stage built underneath to host
concerts and festivals with lawn seating. In that capacity, Petree said the Southern Star could accommodate 2,500 people comfortably. Performances would be shown on the movie screen above, as well. “It’s the largest Jumbotron you can imagine,” he said. To page A-2
YMCA mentoring program reaching Union County youths By Shannon Carey Creech Hardee’s three best childhood friends lived in poverty. While Hardee’s middle-class parents tried to help with time and money, those three friends were dead by the time they were 40. “They were never able to get out of a destructive world and frame of mind,” Hardee said. The story of those three friends sparked Hardee’s mission to reach young people who have lived difficult lives, struggling with home lives that often include poverty, violence and substance abuse. He went back to college at age 44 and went on to start a program for inner-city youths at Chattanooga’s Lookout Mountain Conservancy. Now, he’s piloting a new program out of the North Side Family YMCA in Halls that will champion students attending the Union County Alternative Learning Center, where students are sent because of discipline problems. Ray Kitts, vice president of youth programs at the North Side Y, had wanted to start a program for Union County for eight years. “He felt the Y wasn’t giving Union County enough attention,” Hardee said. “He really wanted to see me develop a program up there Creech Hardee of the North Side Family YMCA in Halls is coordinating a men- with sustainability and vision.” “We’re more than just a gym,” toring program targeting students who attend the Union County Alternasaid Kitts. “We’re on a mission to tive Learning Center. Photo by S. Carey
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To page A-3
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reach out to the community and make a difference.” Funding for the program comes from the U.S. Department of Justice, distributed by the Knoxville Leadership Foundation, and will go to fund similar programs at Vine Middle School and AustinEast High School. Hardee said the short-term goal for these students is “to introduce them to some activities and make them understand that there are many different ways to live your life and be successful.” The long-term goal is for the YMCA to have a “lasting impact on the community.” While each Union County ALC student’s story is unique, Hardee sees similarities to their inner-city counterparts. “This is the first time I’ve worked with rural kids, and it’s very striking how the issues are exactly the same: poverty, broken homes, substance abuse, and lack of exposure to opportunity,” said Hardee. He’s already visiting the ALC twice a week to get to know the students, and this week he’s introducing another component of the program: hands-on career presentations by successful adults in the community.
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