NEIGHBORHOOD BUZZ

IN THIS ISSUE

A really big showAmazon and iTunes have

their virtues, but you’re never going to get to experience a great musical act live and in person through a computer.

That’s what makes Disc Exchange one of South Knox-ville’s most valuable assets.

➤ Read Betsy Pickle on page 3

S-D’s Mark Jones is ‘biggest loser’

South-Doyle Middle School assistant principal Mark Jones is on a mission, and he’s inspiring his colleagues and students to join him.

Jones is on the Covenant Health Biggest Winner Chal-lenge team, revamping his eating and exercise habits as he works toward an im-mediate goal – running the half-marathon at the Knox-ville Marathon at the end of March – and a lifetime goal of becoming healthy and active.

At South-Doyle Middle, the faculty and staff have “been super,” he says.

➤ Read his story on page 6

VOL. 2 NO. 5 February 3, 2014www.ShopperNewsNow.com | www.facebook.com/ShopperNewsNow

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NEWS

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To page 3

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By Nick Della VolpeThe leadership team at Knox-

ville Botanical Garden and Arbore-tum (KBGA) is planning for a 20-acre Center for Urban Agriculture at the East Knox facility. It’s part of the master plan prepared with help from Louisville architects De Leon & Primmer to improve the func-tionality of this 47-acre communi-ty resource which hosts individual and public events and welcomes both locals and tourists.

A $1 million visitors center will open this year, and leaders are

working on other growth needs including an education center, a greenhouse/special events center and a conservatory.

The proposed Center for Urban Agriculture has an educational role.

It started life as a community garden and outdoor classroom. The original scale, though modest, soon took off and hosted learn-ing visits from nearby schools like Green Magnet, Sarah Moore Greene and Austin-East.

Community gardens and raised vegetable beds now cover some

31,000 square feet under plow. Students enjoy the sunshine and festive outdoor atmosphere at the nascent Center, and leave thinking about where natural food comes from, and how they might bring that knowledge to their homes. It’s a working partner in the local food trend.

The master plan calls for ex-pansion of the tilled area and refurbishment of several older structures into farm support, food preparation and service buildings. Partners include UT, the state De-

By Betsy PickleOn a sub-freezing Saturday morning toward the end of January,

there’s no better place to be than curled up under a pile of blankets in a warm, comfy bed.

Unless, of course, you’re a member of the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club, and it’s a scheduled trail workday. While most people are fi g-uring out ways to keep from going outside, AMBC members are jump-ing at the chance to get out and dig, pick, shovel and lift.

Their target on Jan. 25 was the bottom section of Burnett Ridge, on the South Loop in the Urban Wilderness.

“That trail was built just over a year ago,” says Matthew Kellogg, an AMBC board member. The Burnett family gave the ridge, which adjoins Mead’s Quarry, to Ijams Nature Center, and the AMBC built the trail.

“That one section, where it intersects with Imerys (trail) at Aber-deen, just needed a little work,” Kellogg says.

“A little work” in this case involved sculpting about 10 new banked turns in the trail. For the fi rst time, the bike club used something other than hand tools to deal with nature.

“We decided to bring some machines along for this workday to try to expedite some of the trail building, and we made a huge amount of progress for the amount of time we put in,” says Kellogg. They used a mini excavator and a miniature skid steer, with which they loaded dirt and rock into trailers pulled by three four-wheelers.

“There’s no shortage of rock in that area,” he says. “We’d load up rocks and use that as a base for the trail and as the major turn items. We’d stack up a bunch of rock, pack it in, and then we’d start topping it with soil. We made countless trips with the four-wheelers and trailers to get material to different locations on that trail.”

It could have been the popularity of the trail, or it might have been the appeal of the “toys,” but the work party of men, women and youths

Members of the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club break for a chili lunch on

a chilly day.

Turn, turn, turn – a time to gather stones together

Victor Hanset and Landon

Rosling Ohlgren clear trail

the old-fashioned way.

Jason Stephens and Jon Magnus-

son operate some of the

equipment used to clear

and improve the lower

section of the Burnett

Ridge trail at Mead’s Quarry. Photos by Robert Noto

– with some canine cheerleaders – was even larger than normal.“We usually expect about 30, but I think we had just over 50 people”

for the 9 a.m.-noon workday, Kellogg says. “Having 50 eager individu-als and fi ve machines at work for three hours made a huge differenceon that trail. There were 12 or so folks that came back after lunch andworked till 4 just because we like playing with toys.”

Lunch – with both beef and vegetarian chili – was provided by Harp-er’s Bike Shop.

The turns on the Burnett Ridge trail were sorely in need of attention,Kellogg says.

“They were loosely organized for the last year, but … they’re reallybeautiful turns now that are going to be a lot of fun for runners and bik-ers. It added a lot of character to that trail.”

Botanical Garden plants seeds for urban ag centerpartment of Agriculture, the KnoxCounty Health Department andvarious corporate sponsors.

This expansion will enable the Center and participating schoolsand neighbors to grow, preserve(can), cook and serve fresh foodswhile providing canned produceto neighbors and visitors here.

What about money?KBGA needs $500,000 to fund

the Ag Center and restore the ex-isting buildings. Some 22,500

By Betty Bean The letter teachers dread ends

like this:“In the 2012-13 school year, your

summative results rating was x, or below expec-tations. Should your summative results continue to be below or sig-nifi cantly below expectations in the 2013-14 school year and beyond, you may face neg-ative employment

consequences up to and including termination from your position.

“To avoid any negative con-sequences, you are expected to comply with all administrator directives, collaborate with col-leagues and improve your over-all performance in the upcoming school year.”

Farragut Middle School science teacher Mark Taylor has received two such letters. He was one of the teachers who accepted Tony Nor-man’s invitation to speak to Coun-ty Commission last week, and told the commissioners he fears for his job, despite having a reputation for turning out the highest-achiev-ing 8th grade science students in the county.

A teacher’s story: Letters of concern

Mark Taylor

He racks up consistently high scores in teaching observations, but is considered an “outlier” be-cause he scores more than two points higher on evaluations than his students’ Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) scores. Theoretically, these scores should be the same, and principals can lose their jobs if they don’t reconcile the gap.

“My TVAAS was a 1. Can you imagine what my observation scores are going to be this year? If they give me anything higher than a 3, they’re going to have repercus-sions,” Taylor said.

His primary problem is that he

teaches high school-level physi-cal science to 8th graders whose progress is diffi cult to measure because they are not taught the standard curriculum. His second-ary problem is that his students are so advanced that there’s not much room to “grow” their scores, as measured by TVAAS, which tracks student “gains.”

The fi rst year of evaluations, only one of Taylor’s four classes was tested – a standard 8th-grade science class that included several ESL (English as a second language) speakers. His 130 high

To page 3

Info on health insurance

A public meeting for anyone with questions or needing help enrolling in the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is set for 3-7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5, at South Knoxville Community Center, 522 Maryville Pike. The free event is sponsored by Cherokee Health Services and Tennessee Health Care Campaign.

81 new jobs in Clinton

Aisin Automotive Casting Tennessee Inc. is expanding its plant in Clinton. The $53.8 million investment will create 81 new jobs over the next two years in Anderson County, said Bill Hagerty, the state’s commissioner of Economic and Community Development.

It’s the company’s second major expansion since locat-ing in Tennessee in 2004. According to its website, the Clinton plant has 580 full-time employees. It contains 524,000 square feet located on 82.5 acres.

➤ Read Sandra Clark on page 7

JOBSWHERE

the

ARE

2 • FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • Shopper news

health & lifestyles

Faced with rising patient levels, Covenant Hospice is urgently seeking volunteers to fi ll a variety of support roles throughout a 16-county region of East Tennessee.

Hospice volunteers are part of an interdis-ciplinary team working to “de-institutionalize” the dying experience and provide a more hu-mane system of care for these patients and their families. Volunteers give the family added support during the last phase of a patient’s life, whether it’s sitting with patients and their fami-lies, performing light housework, shopping for groceries or preparing meals, or other errands.

“The most dif-fi cult and most reward-ing part of being a hospice volunteer is the same,” says Katie McLaughlin, who currently oversees about 15 volunteers as vol-unteer coordinator for Covenant Hospice. “Getting to know the family at this stage of the patient’s life is so rewarding but it’s often dif-fi cult when the patient dies. Still, the good out-weighs the bad. Knowing you’ve made a differ-ence in someone’s life when they needed you most is incredible.”

According to the National Hospice Founda-tion, a national organization that partners with the National Hospice and Palliative Care Or-ganization to improve end-of-life care, hospice

volunteers are an essential part of an interdisci-plinary team that addresses the physical, emo-tional and spiritual needs of the patient and their family.

For that reason, McLaughlin says the main trait needed by hospice volunteers is compassion. “Volunteers have to have compassion for the fam-

ily as well as the patient,” she says. “Hospice volunteers go into the assignment

knowing the patient has about six months or less to live.”

In addition to working directly with patients and families in their homes, other volunteer areas include providing cleri-cal help in the offi ce, as a resource contact for seminars and work-shops, fundraising,

public relations or aiding with community events

such as Covenant Hospice’s monthly grief support groups

or Katerpillar Kids Camp, a special weekend day camp for children under 12

who are grieving the loss of a loved one.The fi rst hospice program in Tennessee, Cov-

enant Hospice now serves Anderson, Blount, Campbell, Claiborne, Cocke, Grainger, Ham-blen, Jefferson, Knox, Loudon, Monroe, Mor-gan, Roane, Scott, Sevier and Union counties.

For more information on becoming a hospice volunteer, call 865-374-0864 or look under the “Hospice” tab at CovenantHomeCareandHos-pice.com.

Hospice volunteers needed

Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center is a regional referral hospital where other facilities

REGIONAL EXCELLENCE.

4400949494949444449449499009-007-0070707--777

New member of leadership team brings substantial experience to Knoxville hospital

After a nationwide search, Fort Sand-ers Regional Medical Center found its next Chief Nursing Offi ce (CNO) just a couple of hours away.

Kelly Miles, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, has joined Fort Sanders Regional as CNO and will serve on the hospital’s senior leader-ship team assisting in the implementation of safety initiatives, staffi ng strategies and strategic plans.

Miles will work closely with physicians and nursing staff to ensure the hospital’s continuation of patient-centered approach to care.

“We are very pleased to welcome Kelly to the Fort Sanders team,” said Keith Altshul-er, President and Chief Administrative Of-fi cer of Fort Sanders Regional. “She brings a wealth of experience and leadership to our organization that will support our existing efforts in providing excellent patient care.”

Miles has more than 16 years of experi-ence in hospital leadership and 27 years of nursing experience. Throughout her career, she has held a variety of leadership roles, including vice president of operations, chief nursing offi cer, consultant and other nurs-ing executive roles.

“Fort Sanders Regional and Covenant Health have a wonderful reputation for pro-viding quality care and confi dence that they will deal with whatever health care reform brings without jeopardizing their high ex-pectations for patient care,” said Miles. “I am excited to meet all my new colleagues

and learn more about the great care provided by Regional and through-out the Covenant Health system.”

Miles comes to Fort Sanders Regional from Saint Thomas Ruth-erford Hospital in Murfreesboro, where she served as Vice President of Patient Care and Chief Nursing Offi cer. She replaces Jenny Hanson, who left the CNO position at Fort Sanders to assume the role of President and Chief Adminis-

trative Offi cer of LeConte Medical Center.

“At this point in my career, I have worked in both large aca-demic and small c o m m u n i t y hospitals. So, I guess one could say that I have worked both ends of the spectrum when it comes to my hospital management ex-perience,” said Miles. “I believe this broad range

of experiences po-sitions me well to assist Regional in whatever capacity that I am needed most.

“I am comfort-able discussing high level strategic planning or ca-pable of rolling up

my sleeves to deal with day-to-day opera-tions. I love all facets of health care, espe-cially making a difference for patients and those who care for patients every day.”

Miles, who grew up in Nashville, served on the CMS Task Force for the AmericanOrganization of Nurse Executives. She is amember of the American Nurses Associa-tion, American Organization of Nurse Exec-utives and Sigma Theta Tau International.Miles has a master’s degree in nursing fromthe University of Phoenix and earned her bachelor’s and associate degree in nursingfrom Belmont University in Nashville, Ten-nessee.

As she steps into her new role, Miles saidshe will continue to follow the philosophy she’s developed in nearly three decades as aleader in health care.

“I have two simple goals. First is to keep the patient at the center of all that we do to ensure safe, quality and timely care. Second,it is equally important to create an environ-ment where employees and physicians feel valued and choose to work,” she said. “Ithink if an organization achieves these two goals, everything else needed for success will follow.”

Outside of work, Miles is excited to fi nd herself in East Tennessee. As the youngest of fi ve children, she said there will be plentyof familiar faces around Knoxville, includ-ing two nephews currently attending theUniversity of Tennessee. She’ll be joinedby Michael, her husband of nearly 25 years,and their two beautiful standard poodles and an unintentionally adopted black cat.

“We have always loved visiting the areaand can’t wait to see and enjoy more of it.”

Kelly Miles, MSN, RN, NEA-BC

Fort Sanders Regional Medi-cal Center has been honored by VHA Inc. for achieving clinical excellence in several areas.

Fort Sanders Regional re-ceived a Leadership Award for Clinical Excellence for being among the Top 10 highest scores nationally in 2012. The crite-ria for receipt of the award was based on the following:

■ Value-based Purchasing (VBP) Total Performance Score

■ 30-Day Readmissions In-dex for Acute Myocardial Infarc-tion (AMI), Heart Failure and Pneumonia

■ Overall costs of careFort Sanders received the

honor for exceptionally high-level performance among acute care hospitals with more than 250 beds.

“We are very humbled to re-ceive this recognition from VHA. Our staff and physicians work tirelessly to provide the quality, compassionate care our patients have come to expect from Fort Sanders Regional Medical Cen-ter,” says hospital President and

VHA recognizes clinical excellence by local medical facility

Keith Altshuler, FSRMC President and CAO

CAO Keith Altshuler. VHA is a national network of

not-for-profit health care orga-nizations that set new levels of clinical performance, identify and implement best practices to improve operational efficiency and clinical outcomes, and work together to drive maximum sav-ings in the supply chain arena.

Shopper news • FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • 3

Amazon and iTunes have their virtues, but you’re nev-er going to get to experience a great musical act live and in person through a com-puter.

Rob Squires, Todd Park Mohr and Jeremy Lawton perform at Disc Exchange. Photos by Betsy Pickle

Rob Squires, Jeremy Lawton, Todd Park Mohr and Brian Nevin

are Big Head Todd and the Monsters.

Scored rocks form a fortress high up on the Ross Marble sec-

tion of the South Loop.

A really Big show

Betsy Pickle

That’s what makes Disc Exchange one of South Knoxville’s most valuable assets. Musicians frequently perform at the store to pro-mote their latest CDs and shows. Those of us lucky enough to have seen Foo Fighters there many years ago on the afternoon before they played at Thompson-Boling Arena still love to tell the tale.

Jan. 23 was another great moment in Disc Exchange live-music history. Big Head Todd and the Monsters per-formed a free 30-minute set on the store’s stage and then stayed to sign autographs and pose for pictures.

The band played that

night at the Bijou – not for free, and after temperatures had dropped considerably.

A small but appreciative crowd got to hear several of the group’s new songs from the album “Black Beehive,” which goes on sale tomor-row (Feb. 4). The new col-lection includes a tribute to the late Amy Winehouse.

Singer-guitarist Todd Park Mohr, keyboardist and lap-steel player Jeremy Lawton, bassist Rob Squires and drummer Brian Nevin formed Big Head Todd in 1986 in Colorado. Though they made their name tour-ing with the H.O.R.D.E. Fes-tival and then with the hit single “Bittersweet” more than 20 years ago, they have continued to tour and re-cord prodigiously, infusing blues architecture into an impressive rock sound.

The Disc Exchange acoustic set was lively but intimate, and though the Bi-jou show was longer, louder and larger – not to mention fantastic – it’s a dream to see a group with the talent of Big Head Todd in a space like the Disc Exchange’s.

■ Backwoods back storyIf you read my story

about the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club’s work-day at Burnett Ridge on A1, you may have noticed that I wasn’t there, and I didn’t take the pictures.

I’m not an outdoorsy per-son, and I’m defi nitely not a hiker. I’m a reporter, and in recent years I’ve also had to become a photographer. I’m also not a morning person.

But when I realized late on a Friday night that the AMBC would be working on a trail early the next morn-ing, I resolved to get up and go take pictures.

They were scheduled to work from 9 a.m. to noon, so I aimed for 10:30 and got there about 11:30. Typical.

With directions to “turn right every time there’s a right turn,” I headed into the Urban Wilderness. I kept turning right. And I kept heading up. I began to wonder if the trail was for cyclists or for mountain goats, but occasional tire ruts gave it away.

It was cold. It was snow-ing. I was not properly at-tired or shoed. I huffed and puffed my way up the trail, alone except for the occa-sional bird.

I fi nally ran into four hik-ers and asked if they’d seen the work crew. “No, but we heard them.” I kept hiking.

Eventually I got to the top of a mountain (well, hill). There wasn’t much of a view, but there were some really cool, huge rocks that seemed to have been tossed on top of each other by gi-ants. I shot some pictures and then went on my way.

I soon realized I was heading downhill again. If I kept going down, I would have to climb back up to return to my car. I’d been hiking almost an hour. I couldn’t hear any sounds of humans. I could hear the wind blowing so loudly that it sounded like traffi c, and every now and then I heard a dog bark.

I turned around, defeat-ed, and then realized it was even tougher going down than climbing up. All of a sudden I thought of Aron Ralston and the fi lm “127 Hours.” I was out in the wil-

derness (OK, the Urban Wil-derness), and I’d told no one where I was going. Just like Ralston. And I didn’t even have fi ngernail clippers on me in case I needed to saw off a limb.

I decided I ought to let someone know where I was in case I had an accident or my cell phone battery died the way it always does in a horror movie. So I called a friend and South Knoxville neighbor.

“Ohmigod, are you OK?” she screamed. “Do you want me to send the police?”

“What could the police do?” I said. “I’m not injured. I’m just checking in.”

“I could call the Rescue Squad. They have equip-ment,” she responded.

“I don’t need equipment. I just wanted someone to know where I was.”

I fi nally persuaded her that I was tired and sore but ambulatory. I made it back to my car, and then I drove home. With no story. I had to call Matthew Kel-logg to get the details on the event. And then he told me, “We were just at the bottom of that hill” and, oh, by the way, “We had trucks to shut-tle people to the Aberdeen entrance.”

I know there’s a moral to the story, like it pays to get places on time, and always be prepared with clothing, maps, etc.

But I choose the other les-son. Never set out into the wilderness on a freezing, snowy day when you don’t know where you’re going – and never phone a friend from the trail who’s going to be more worried about your situation than you are.

Botanical Garden From page 1

square feet of refurbished buildings will house food storage and equipment, the proposed farmers market, a children/family education center, a kitchen prep, can-ning and food service area, plus administrative space. KBGA has asked the city to

contribute $250,000 with the remaining amounts to be raised from private dona-tions. Somehow, someway, they vow to get this done.

KBGA traces its roots to 1786 with the Howell fam-ily. The Howell Nursery re-mains one of Tennessee’s

oldest continuously-operat-ed businesses.

Info or to volunteer: Keyes Williamson, 862-8717; Dr. Alan Solomon, 524-5087; or www.knox-garden.com.Nick Della Volpe represents District 4 on

Knoxville City Council and writes a week-

ly business feature for Shopper-News.

Teacher’s story From page 1

school-level students were left out of the equation; thereby lowering his (and his school’s) overall test scores. Last year his ad-vanced students were evalu-ated, but were found to have made insuffi cient progress because they performed at such a high level coming in.

Taylor has received low TVAAS scores, no bonus money and “conference of concern” letters for the past two years. He expects another one this year. He fi led a grievance and said he

discussed his predicament with schools superinten-dent James McIntyre.

“Dr. McIntyre suggested I lobby the state to have an-other test for those students. I cringe when I think of me lobbying for more tests for our students,” he said.

“Here’s the worst thing in all of this. I have had prin-cipals and coaches tell me I need to put myself ahead of my students. They’re saying this because they want me to continue teaching and the only way they see that

happening is if I put myself ahead of my students. But as soon as I think I’m more im-portant than my students, then I do not belong in a classroom.”

Forty to 50 teachers showed up for the Com-mission meeting, as did McIntyre (who cancelled a scheduled appearance at the Knox County Education Association to be there) and his chief of staff Russ Oaks. School board chair Lynne Fugate was seated between McIntyre and Oaks.

This sketch by Keyes Williamson shows the proposed 20-acre Center for Urban Agriculture.

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4 • FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • Shopper news government

VictorAshe

Betty Bean

JakeMabe

Mayor Madeline Rogero is in Turkey at the invita-tion of the U.S. Department of State for a week promot-ing women’s issues and encouraging more Turkish women to become involved in government in Turkey, especially at the local level.

Mark Harmon’s not new to Knox County Demo-cratic Party politics, unless maybe he’s being compared to a grizzled veteran like Bill Owen – which is what’s about to happen this elec-tion season.

A University of Tennes-see professor in the Col-lege of Communications and a former Knox County commissioner who stepped down after serving one term when the commis-sion reduced its numbers in 2010, Harmon has stayed active in politics, running campaigns, writing op-ed columns and doing televi-sion and radio commen-tary. Now he has taken out a nominating petition to run against Owen for the Tennessee Democratic Party Executive Commit-tee – Owen’s preserve for 20 years.

Harmon says he’s not doing it because he thinks there’s anything wrong with Owen.

“He and I signed each

Judging by what commis-sioners said last week, this week’s Knox County Com-mission/Board of Education retreat should be anything but rest for the weary.

Who’s in charge?

Having visited Turkey four times myself over 30 years, I know Rogero has a busy and well-designed schedule of meetings. She will ably represent the U.S. as she urges women to become more involved in government, where women have not been infl uential in the past.

Locally, Knoxville has an active Turkish center. Two current members of Council, Finbarr Saunders and former Mayor Daniel Brown, have visited Turkey along with their wives (not at city expense) as well as former Council member and now council attorney Rob Frost.

Knoxville also has a very active and infl uential Greek community. Greeks and Turks over the years have not always seen eye to eye on several issues.

This is Rogero’s fi rst international trip as mayor where she is representing the American people as well as the city of Knoxville. It is sponsored and fi nanced by the U.S. Department of State which traditionally has encouraged and spon-sored a variety of individu-als to visit other nations as part of the people-to-people exchange. She will ably represent us.

However, one interest-ing aspect to being out of the country is that the city charter states that “during the temporary absence of or the disability of mayor, the vice mayor (Nick Pavlis) “assumes the duties of the mayor.”

The charter is silent as to what absence means.

Does it mean when she is in Nashville or Lenoir City? Anytime she is outside the city limits? Overseas?

Or does absence mean when she is unavailable and cannot be reached?

Clearly in this case she is absent from Knoxville by some 5,000 miles.

As city Law Director Charles Swanson stated in an email to me, “It is an in-teresting question because of the wording. We (mean-

ing the city administra-tion and Council) might want to consider modern-izing and clarifying this lan-guage. Wish

amending the Charter for something like this was not such a major hassle.”

However, it is clear that if the vice mayor is entitled to assume the duties of the mayor, then he can exer-cise all the rights that the elected mayor has.

When this writer was mayor and often traveled outside the city and was overseas, Jack Sharp was vice mayor. Our working relationship was strong and I never had an issue with him seeking to direct city government in a way contrary to my views when I was away from Knoxville. Rogero has a similar strong relationship with Pavlis (whom she endorsed for re-election) so the issue is more in theory than reality.

Nevertheless, if there was a vice mayor hostile to the incumbent mayor, the current charter language could pose problems.

Pavlis led an unsuc-cessful but correct fi ght at the last Council meeting against raising towing fees.

He was joined by Council member Marshall Stair. Council voted to raise wrecker fees by 25 per-cent, which is a whopping increase that doubles the level of pay raises which city employees get over a comparable 5 year period.

The commission which recommended this hike heard only from the towing companies and not from the general public. It was a one-sided study.

Pavlis and Stair deserve praise for highlighting this at the last Council meeting.

■ Knoxville lost a re-spected ju-rist when Fred Mac-Donald died last week.

A long-time resi-dent with his wife, Ruth, of West Hills,

MacDonald was appointed to the bench by former Gov. Winfi eld Dunn and sub-sequently elected several times.

He was considered fair-minded, intelligent and ob-jective. He was also a neigh-borhood leader for West Hills prior to becoming a judge.

Tennessee Dems: Fight for the future

other’s petitions at the January executive com-mittee meeting,” Harmon said. “This isn’t about Bill. I just think I can bring some skill to the task. I’d like to see him continue serving the party – maybe he could continue on the Democratic National Committee.”

Owen, who could not be reached for comment for this column, is at the mid-point of a 4-year DNC term.

Harmon says he wants to see Tennessee Democrats “try out some new ideas, break some old habits – build a bench. I’d like to see a better job done on those things.”

He also says there are not many offi ces that a Tennes-see Democrat has a realistic chance of winning.

And that, perhaps, is

where the discussion will commence. Harmon makes no bones about his dissatis-faction with the leadership of party chair Roy Herron, a conservative former state senator whom Owen sup-ports (they served in the General Assembly at the same time).

“I certainly didn’t agree with Bill’s decision (to sup-port Herron as chair). I don’t think saying you are friends is enough,” Harmon said.

The state executive com-mittee consists of two rep-resentatives – one male, one female – from each of the state’s 33 senate districts. Harmon and Owen will be vying for the 7th District seat. On the women’s side, party activist Kim Webber will run for the 7th District seat, to be vacated by in-cumbent Gayle Alley, who has said she won’t seek re-election.

The late Harold Woods and his wife Sylvia had fi lled for the 6th District seats

until Harold’s death earlier this month. The TNDP ap-pointed former Election Commissioner Cameron Brooks to fi ll the vacant seat. Brooks, a labor orga-nizer who has Sylvia Woods’ stamp of approval, will be on this year’s ballot. He is openly supporting Harmon.

“Mark and I have been friends for a long time, and I think he did a great job on County Commission. He’s got a lot of experience deal-ing with political communi-cations, framing and mes-saging. We need that kind of expertise,” Brooks said.

Brooks says one of his major priorities will be to push back against “Amend-ment One,” a restrictive anti-abortion measure that will be on the November ballot.

It’s new versus old, pro-gressive versus status quo. With Republicans holding offi ces high and low, it’s hard to see how the new guys could do worse than the current leadership.

No rest at this retreat

County Commissioner Sam McKenzie with the Rev. Dr. Harold

Middlebrook and Middlebrook’s daughter, Arlene, at Knox

County Commission’s January meeting. Photo by Jake Mabe

Unless you’ve been liv-ing under a rock (or too busy, oh, taking or admin-istrating assessments), you know that education issues and a “teacher revolt” (to coin a phrase) are the talk of the town.

Before those issues were discussed last week, in the first half of Commis-sion’s meeting Mike Ham-mond said he thinks the Joint Education Commit-tee, set up to ease tensions between the school board and its funding body, has worked well.

“It was rough going at fi rst, but it’s shown that we can get together, we can talk.”

Committee members are Commissioners Sam McK-enzie, Mike Hammond, Dave Wright and Amy Bro-yles, and school board mem-bers Karen Carson, Lynne Fugate, Gloria Deathridge and Doug Harris.

Broyles says she thinks the public “likes it when we are getting along.”

(Reporters don’t, but you already know we’re scum.)

“We’re so passionate

about these issues,” Broyles said, “sometimes we don’t always choose our words perhaps as carefully as we could, and I use myself as an example.”

Tony Norman, the archi-tect of the words to which Broyles refers, has ques-tions about the retreat’s structure and format.

“Last time, I personally thought it was of marginal benefi t, especially for its cost and time. My objections are that I thought it was or-chestrated by the school ad-ministration, which was in-hibiting to the conversation. I thought it was just going to be us and the school board in the meeting.”

Commission chair Brad Anders says he and school board chair Fugate will be facilitating discussion this time, but that Superinten-dent Dr. Jim McIntyre and other school offi cials will be present.

“I really only have one question I’d like to have answered that whole week-end,” Commissioner Mike Brown said.

Brown didn’t elaborate. He did say: “We’re getting spun around the corner,” on info from the school system.

R. Larry Smith asked if McIntyre would be present the entire time, adding that might inhibit some from speaking more freely.

Sam McKenzie sarcasti-cally shot back: “With all the cameras gone, too?”

“We’re not gonna stop anybody from being there,” Anders said.

The retreat will be held

Friday and Saturday, Feb. 7-8, at RT Lodge in Maryville.

Smith said late last week that he and other com-missioners don’t under-stand why some county fee offi ce heads hang around for the entire meeting if they don’t have business be-fore Commission.

For the free entertain-ment, maybe?

Smith is concerned that they could be neglecting tax-payer business. Good point.

The Rev. Dr. Harold Middlebrook was rec-ognized for his retirement from Canaan Baptist Church of Christ. Middlebrook is a longtime community activ-ist and worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights era.

Middlebrook had the best line of the meeting: “Please don’t forget the least, the left out and those who seem to be lost.”

U.K. Mynatt said dur-ing public forum that he is furious about being rezoned into the Sixth District.

“I have no use for (the

district). Every time y’all have a meeting, your dis-tricts change.”

Anders, who represents the Sixth District, said he opposed Mynatt’s commu-nity being rezoned.

“But I was overruled. No-body wanted to listen to me then.”

Broyles reminded ev-erybody that Commission opted to ignore a plan rec-ommended by the Joint Re-districting Committee.

■ This ‘n’ thatMike Padgett, who

is running for his old job against Knox County Clerk Foster Arnett, named Lisa Warren his campaign trea-surer last week. Padgett said his team is falling into place and that he’s been “over-whelmed by the support that has been given since I announced my run.”

Billy Stokes’ campaign for Knox County Circuit Court Judge released its fi rst Internet ad, titled “Ex-perience.” Info: www.billys-tokesforjudge.com.

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Shopper news • FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • 5

Marvin West

Here’s what you will hear on Wednesday, after the fax machine clicks off and the celebration fundraiser be-gins:

Typical Tennessee foot-ball fan: “Great recruiting class.”

Blind optimist: “Best ever!”

Shopper reader: “Looks good to me but Marvin says The General reserved evalu-ation of young players until

after the Alabama game of their sophomore year. That was the Saturday that sepa-rated men from boys.”

And that’s what Robert R. Neyland said – but times are different. Everything is accelerated. Now is what matters, as in instant coffee, soup, oatmeal, pudding and potatoes.

Tennessee needs help now. It would be good if this second wave of recruits ar-rives ready to rumble. Some will play in September.

We can already jump to the conclusion that Butch Jones did a fi ne sales job – as expected. Winners rise up and strike back when smacked around. And, good-ness knows, Tennessee 2013 sure got smacked around.

Deciding where this re-cruiting class ranks may take awhile.

For comparison pur-poses, Larry Smith, bril-liant guardian of Volunteer records, says 1997 is No. 1 with him. Tennessee signed 27 players. Two failed to let-ter. Fourteen made it to the NFL.

Consider: Cosey Cole-man, Deon Grant, Travis Henry, Jamal Lewis, Andre Lott, David Martin, Travis Stephens, Fred Weary, Ced-rick Wilson, etc.

The year before wasn’t too shabby: Shaun Ellis, Dwayne Goodrich, Tee Martin, Raynoch Thomp-son, Darwin Walker, etc.

Those groups are forever part of the national champi-

onship.I’ve always liked 1965 –

Richmond Flowers, Jimmy Weatherford, Bill Young, Charlie Rosenfelder, Dick Williams and Richard Pick-ens, to name a few.

And 1968 – Bobby Ma-jors, Curt Watson, Jackie Walker, Carl Johnson, Ray Nettles, Phillip Fulmer, etc. That group grew up to go 30-5 and helped make two coaches famous.

And 1986 – Reggie Cobb, Antone Davis, Alvin Harp-er, Charles McRae, Tony Thompson. Wow.

Some recruiting classes achieve fame through qual-ity depth. Some are remem-bered for individual stars. Consider recruits enshrined in the College Football Hall

Best recruiting roundupof Fame:

Class of 1928: Herman Hickman; 1930: Beattie Feathers; 1935: Bowden Wyatt.

1937: Bob Suffridge, George Cafego, Ed Molinski (the ’39 team held 10 foes scoreless).

1948: Hank Lauricella (plus Andy Kozar and Bob Davis).

1949: Doug Atkins, John Michels; 1953: John Majors; 1961: Steve DeLong; 1962: Frank Emanuel.

1964: Bob Johnson; 1966: Steve Kiner (and Jack Reynolds); 1967: Chip Kell (and Tim Priest and Bobby Scott); 1979: Reggie White.

Consider the star power of Condredge Holloway, Willie Gault, Roland James, Jimmy Streater, Carl Pick-ens, Heath Shuler, Larry Seivers, Peyton Manning, Al Wilson and Eric Berry. They add serious value to

recruiting classes. And consider what Bill

Bates, Tim Irwin, EddieBrown, Stanley Morgan andMickey Marvin did to en-hance their classes – afterwe saw them in the pros.

Only old-timers remem-ber where this madness be-gan, the recruiting roundupof 1927, the Flamin’ Sopho-mores of ’28, the Vols whostunned big, bad Alabamain Tuscaloosa and put Ten-nessee football and Neylandin the national spotlight.

Gene McEver and BobbyDodd gained the hall offame. Five other sopho-mores – Buddy Hackman,Paul Hug, Fritz Brandt,Hobo Thayer and QuinnDecker – were starterswhen there were only 11.

Try to remember 1927. Itwas the fi rst yardstick formeasuring recruiting classes. Marvin West invites reader reaction. Hisaddress is westwest6@netzero.com

By Wendy SmithNorris Dryer is 70 years

old, and he loves music as much now as when he be-gan violin lessons at age 9. This is his 46th season with the Knoxville Sym-phony Orchestra, and he has devoted his career to classical music.

“I still love it,” he says. “I’m happy to get paid by KSO, but if I had to, I’d be happy to pay them.”

His mother was a violin-ist, and he was fortunate to be born in Elkhart, Indi-ana, which was once known as the musical instrument capital of the world. A strong music program in the public schools got Dry-er off to a good start. Zig-mont Gaska, founder and conductor of the Elkhart Symphony, was one of his early teachers.

He studied mass commu-

When he wants to escape the city, Norris Dryer heads to his farm in Grainger County.

This is Norris Dryer’s 46th season with the Knoxville Sym-phony Orchestra. Photos submitted

nications, music history and violin at Indiana University, and was a member of the Indiana University Philhar-monic Orchestra. Two violin teachers at the university –Albert Lazan and Urico

Rossi – had a lifelong im-pact on him.

After graduation, Dryer began his public radio career in Michigan. He also went on to perform with the Grand Traverse Orchestra and the

Love of music, and newspapers,keeps violinist busy

Grand Rapids Orchestra.Then he auditioned for

the KSO, and his fi rst per-formance in Knoxville was in January 1968. Except for a short break to study music history at Boston Univer-sity in the 1970s, Dryer has stuck around.

He has made an impact with his voice as well as his violin. During a 34-year career with WUOT, he was announcer, producer, music director and program di-rector. In his free time, he performed regionally with the Chattanooga Symphony, Oak Ridge Symphony and

Symphony of the Mountains in Kingsport.

Music isn’t his only pas-sion. He loves discussing progressive politics and baseball, in spite of the fact that his Chicago White Sox have only won the World Se-ries once in his lifetime.

Dryer also loves camping with friends on his 25-acre farm in Grainger County. When he’s there, the violin stays in the case. He prefers to listen to owls, coyotes and other night sounds – “na-ture’s music,” he calls it.

When he’s not on the farm, he’s in the middle of

the downtown action. He’slived in the Old City for al-most nine years, where hestands out as a senior citizen.Because of his radio career,he’s used to being aroundyoung people, he says.

“Living here keeps meyoung.”

It certainly keeps him ac-tive. He walks to symphonyrehearsals and performanc-es, and begins each day witha walk to the newsstand tobuy a paper. His addictionto newspapers gets him outof bed each day, he says.

He’s seen a lot of changesince he arrived in Knox-ville. There is a greatervariety of classical musi-cal offerings, and the qual-ity of the orchestra is bet-ter than ever. But a smallerpercentage of people attendclassical concerts, he says,possibly because there areso many entertainment op-tions at home.

He also worries that youngpeople have such short atten-tion spans that they can’t sitthrough a concert.

That doesn’t mean theydon’t love music, though.

“While people’s taste inmusic varies, it’s part of al-most everyone’s life.”

Maybe we should just change the name.

Mayors, planners and people who care about Knox-ville have tried for years to revitalize Five Points, that area of East Knoxville, south of Magnolia Avenue, where Martin Luther King Jr. Ave-nue converges with Ben Hur Avenue, Olive Street and Mc-Calla Avenue.

Now KCDC has jumped into the mix. Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation unveiled its much-anticipated master plan for redevelopment last week.

KCDC owns two major housing projects within the targeted area: Walter P. Tay-lor Homes and Dr. Lee L. Williams Senior Complex.

“We hope this revitaliza-tion will restore a sense of ownership and community pride in Five Points, said Al-vin Nance, KCDC executive director. “Resident input and engagement through-out the next phases of rede-velopment will be critical to accomplishing that goal.”

KCDC hopes to bring the magic that revitalized Me-chanicsville to this endeav-

Changing the face of Five Points

Sandra Clark

or, which is expected to take 10-12 years and cost $85 million. The city of Knox-ville has committed $8 million over 10 years, and KCDC will look for state and national grants and loans to complete the work.

Arguably, the housing mix must be right before businesses can fl ourish. Mechanicsville is vibrant with both a Food City store and a Pilot.

I recall then-Mayor Bill Haslam once saying of his family’s investment on Western Avenue: “We did it because it was the right thing to do, and it has be-come one of our busiest stores.”

Already, KCDC and Part-ners Development have com-pleted several projects in the Five Points district, total-ling about $21 million. Be-

ginning in August 2012, 86 units of Walter P. Taylor and 97 units of Williams Senior Complex were demolished to be replaced with 122 units of senior and family-style housing.

The major goals of the master plan released Jan. 27 include sidewalks, safe com-munity green spaces and a balance of mixed-income residents – all designed to restore a sense of neighbor-hood. Housing density will decrease from 500 units to 285 to 355 units in a va-riety of styles, including multi-family apartments, townhomes, senior devel-opments and single-family homes that will allow Five Points residents to fi nd ap-propriate housing at every stage of life without having to leave the community.

“Five Points holds great promise,” Nance said. “It’s a 10-minute walk to down-town Knoxville. After the neighborhood is redevel-oped, Five Points has the potential to return to the vibrant community it once was.”Info: www.kcdc.org under the “Five Points Revitalization” icon.

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6 • FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • Shopper news kids

Art students at Fulton High School are producing an array of work (see sample). Teacher Caitlin Seidler has reserved a square at the Chalk Walk downtown on April 5. The Art Club meets after school each Monday in room 101. Students are encouraged to work on inde-pendent projects during club time. Photo submitted

By Betsy PickleThey didn’t have to spell “polar” or “vortex,” but the fi nal

two South Knox spelling bee champions froze out the com-petition to secure their places in the upcoming district bee.

South-Doyle Middle School held its bee on Jan. 22, and 7th-grader Melody Hubbard won with the word “mollify.”

Eighth-grader Tauriana Johnson was runner-up and will represent the school should Melody be unable to do so.

Dogwood Elementary School crowned Meghan Mc-Carty spelling champ for the second year in a row. The 5th-grader won by spelling “permission” correctly at the school’s bee on Jan. 24.

Meghan is the daughter of Tiffany and Daniel McCarty. Fourth-grader Alexia Patty was runner-up.

McCartyHubbard Johnson Patty

Bee winners

Fulton artists take to the streets

Holston Middle to present

The Holston Middle School drama depart-ment will present “Alad-din” Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 6-8, in the school auditorium. Featured performers include (top photo) Lakyn Jones (Genie), Devon Huff (Aladdin) and Sophie Vandergriff (Jasmine) for the Friday and Saturday evening performances; Elizabeth Mitchell (Genie), Seth Cannon (Aladdin) and Rachel McFarling (Jasmine) for the Thurs-day evening and Saturday afternoon performances (bottom photo). Evening performances begin at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday af-ternoon’s show will begin at 2:30 p.m. Photo submitted

‘Aladdin’

By Betsy PickleSouth-Doyle Middle

School assistant principal Mark Jones is on a mis-sion, and he’s inspiring his colleagues and students to join him.

Jones is on the Covenant Health Biggest Winner Challenge team, revamp-ing his eating and exercise habits as he works toward an immediate goal – run-ning the half-marathon at the Knoxville Marathon at the end of March – and a lifetime goal of becoming healthy and active.

At South-Doyle Middle, the faculty and staff have “been super.”

“They’re very motiva-tional when they compli-ment,” says Jones, who’s lost about 40 pounds so far. “I’ve had staff come up and say, ‘You’ve inspired me to lose weight.’”

Jones is part of an E-Wellness Team that wants to “lose weight and get some exercise.” Once the weather warms up, they plan to ex-ercise after school one day a week, walking around the parking lot or the track and even venturing over to the Urban Wilderness or Ijams Nature Center to hike.

They’re also planning to run the March 1 5k Run for the Schools at Chilhowee Park and are encouraging students to join them for the fundraising event. Get-ting kids involved in physi-cal activity is not only good for their health, it’s also something that gets them invested in their school,

which helps to improve their academic perfor-mance.

Jones even has an incen-tive planned for students who take the challenge to race and beat him. He’s going to – temporarily – dye his hair an outrageous color.

Jones is one of 10 people on the 2014 Biggest Winner team. He applied last year and started meeting infor-mally with the group on Nov. 9. They began training offi cially in January.

The group meets ev-ery Saturday for a run and every Tuesday for cardio and strength training with Chris O’Hearn.

“He also is a life coach, so every so often we’ll do a life-coach session,” says Jones. The latest lesson focused on identifying and battling negative thoughts, which feed “defeatist atti-tudes.”

“That was an eye-open-ing one.”

Jones moved to Knox-ville in third grade and at-tended Halls elementary, middle and high schools. It was when he went out for football in high school that he began his lifetime of struggle with weight.

“I was probably 190 pounds, and the coach said, ‘I need you at 210 pounds.’ I didn’t know how to get to that, so I just started eat-ing. I ate French fries, ham-burgers. I went away to col-lege (at ETSU), and I came back 40 pounds heavier. Over time I just gradually

South-Doyle Middle School assistant principal Mark Jones works out on his own on days when he doesn’t get together with his Covenant Health Biggest Winner group. Photo submitted

Assistant principal Jones challenges self, school to get healthy

put more and more weight on.”

About seven years ago, the six-footer lost around 90 pounds, but he hurt his back and quit exercising, and the weight came back and then some.

“When I applied to be on this team, I was at the point

of just throwing my hands up, just giving up and being comfortable being a large man,” he says. “Being a part of this team has been a great thing. The accountability of having people to work out with, I’ve really enjoyed that.”

The last name Brewster and bluegrass music go to-gether in this town like the last name Litton and burg-ers do.

Those of a certain age may remember when Paul Brews-ter and his band The Knox-ville Grass were regulars at Buddy’s Bar-b-que next to his uncle Bud Brewster’s Pick ‘N’ Grin music store. Some of you will remember Paul’s daddy, Willie G.

Paul’s high lonesome sound, sweet as Southern sunshine, highlights his new solo album, “Three Minute Heartache.”

Before his live perfor-mance on the WDVX-FM “Blue Plate Special” last week, Paul said he took his

PULL UP A CHAIR … | Jake Mabe

Brewster cuts (blue)grass on new CD

North Knox native Paul Brewster performs at the WDVX “Blue Plate Special” last week. Brewster, a local fi xture in the late 1970s with The Knoxville Grass, is a current member of Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thun-der. Photos by Jake Mabe

time writing the lyrics to the original songs on the disc.

“I usually rush the words. I started writing these songs three plus years ago.”

Vince Gill let Paul re-cord at Vince’s home studio in Nashville. Paul says he brought in the A-team – picker Andy Leftwich, per-cussionist Kenny Malone, steel guitarist Mike Johnson, harmonica player Kirk “Jelly Roll” Johnson and vocalist Sonya Isaacs, among others.

“Three Minute Heart-ache” is what once would have been called a country record before the murder on Music Row. The title track is a classic weeper in which the singer wishes heartache could last only as long as

does a sad song. Song title of the year goes to “You Look Like I Need A Drink.”

And if you can listen to Paul sing Darrell Statler’s “Bluegrass Melodies” and not get water in your eyes, you need a pacemaker.

Electricity shot through the room at WDVX the minute Paul kicked off an-other Osborne classic, “Roll Muddy River.” People were cheering, crying, clapping. Paul’s biggest fan – his mother, Mary – was grin-nin’ from ear to ear.

Halls resident and inter-nationally renowned Dobro picker Phil Leadbetter sat in with the band. Phil has re-covered from a two-year bout with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Paul hopes to promote the album when he’s not on the road with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, of which he’s been a member since 1995. Other than a short break following the late, great Keith Whitley’s death, Brewster’s been pick-ing all his life.

He concluded his “Blue Plate” set with “Darby’s Cas-tle,” a song he’s been singing for nearly 40 years even better than its composer, Kris Kristofferson. He got a standing O.

If you buy only one bluegrass album this year, “Three Minute Heartache” is it. This is bluegrass cuttin’ at its fi nest.

For more info or to order CDs, visit www.paulbrewstermusic.com. “Pull Up A Chair” with Jake Mabe at jakemabe.blogspot.com

Halls resident and internationally renowned Do-bro player Phil Leadbetter cuts some ’grass (blue of course) with Paul Brewster. Leadbetter has recovered from a two-year battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Vince Vawter makes a statement about stuttering

By Sara BarrettVince Vawter visited the

Episcopal School of Knox-ville to discuss his novel “The Paperboy.”

The book is about an 11-year-old who takes over his best friend’s paper route for one month in the sum-mer of 1959. It may seem minor, but to the boy the responsibility of the route is a struggle beyond words – literally.

He has a terrible stut-tering problem and is faced daily with the challenge of communicating with people

on the route.“Living with a stutter is a

lonely existence,” said Vaw-ter. He struggled with stut-tering and hopes the book will help at least one other person in the same situa-tion.

The Blount County resi-dent still has a slight stutter but told the students “it’s nothing like it used to be when I was your age.”

“The Paperboy” was named one of Amazon’s Best Books of 2013, and it is now in its 6th printing. Info: www.vincevawter.com.

Shopper news • FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • 7

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businessPeople who have a child

in a school band are prob-ably involved with Rush’s Music. Not being in this cat-egory, I was totally amazed when I entered the store.

Nancy Whittaker

Rush’s Music employees at Chapman Highway location: owner Steve Boyce, Jason Cooper, Sid

Warren, Laura Gustafson, Joel Wells, Matt Case, Sue Dobber, Bruce McCall, Sandra McCall and

Jim Gadd. Photo by Nancy Whittaker

Rush’s Music: dedicated to music education

Every imaginable musi-cal instrument is rented to 75 schools in East Tennes-see area. When Bob Rush started his business in 1958, the store was run from his family home until its faced-paced growth called for more space. His fi rst location was on Cumberland Ave.

In June 1975, Steve Boyce entered the business. “I came from Berea College

and worked as a general fl unky,” he says. Bob Rush passed away in 1977 but left his legacy to his wife, Willene. She continued the great traditions of Rush’s

Music and continued to build new ones.

In 1998, Boyce became the proud owner of Rush’s Music. He has a true dedica-tion to music education and

to the music community. Rush’s also has teaching stu-dios where you can learn to play all types of band instru-ments plus piano. They have just recently added Yamaha

guitars to the inventory.There are two locations –

9117 Executive Park Drive, 531-7889 and 2107 Chap-man Highway, 573-4138.

Check out the website at www.rushsmusic.com, and be sure to read Krusty Rush’s musical tips! He’s right – music can solve lots of problems.

Chili Cook-Off at AmVetsAmVets 16 and the Unit-

ed States Citizens for Amer-ican Veterans are sponsor-ing a fundraiser starting at noon Sunday, Feb. 16, at 3846 Martin Mill Pike. Judging by attendees will start at 3 p.m. Proceeds will benefi t area veterans in need.

Tickets are $7, and each ticket will count as one vote. Additional tickets can be purchased for 2/$7, al-lowing extra votes for your favorite. There will be addi-

tional surprises and prizes!If you make a great chili

or need more information, call 240-4942 or 936-6024. Pickers and jammers are asked to stop by and make music. Tickets can be pur-chased at the door.

ETA BPA to meet on Wednesday

Come join the new East Towne Area Business and Professional Association and see what all the buzz is about. The next meeting will be 8 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5, at New Harvest Park Community Center. Come early for breakfast!

Merchants along the I -640 corridor are encour-aged to attend and join. Andrea Carpenter with U.S. Bancorp Investments will speak, along with updates on road and visibility im-provements.

Public invited to Healthy Pelli

By Heather BeckFree health screenings,

information and even back massages will be available to attendees of Pellissippi State Community College’s Healthy Pelli: Campus Health Fair. The event is 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5, at the college’s Mag-nolia Avenue Campus.

Healthy Pelli is free and open to the public.

“We want our students and the community at large to be healthy,” said Jean-nette Myers, event planner. “In order to be successful and productive, you have to be healthy. It’s part of a bal-anced life.”

Healthy Pelli offers free blood pressure screenings, HIV testing and STD (sex-ually transmitted disease) testing. Information about health issues, health-care providers and insurers, and other health-related topics will be available. To help them de-stress, at-tendees can even get free back massages.

At 1 p.m., Susan Fowlkes, the Knox County Health Department’s clinical nutri-tion director, gives a half-hour presentation on diabe-tes and obesity.

“Healthy eating is so im-portant for bot h obesity and diabetes,” she said. “The way we eat determines our health and the chronic diseases that will or will not be manifest by our genetic background.”

Healthy Pelli is sched-uled in the Main Lobby of the Magnolia Avenue Cam-pus at 1610 E. Magnolia Ave.

Info: www.pstcc.edu/magnolia or 329-3100. To request accommodations for a disability, contact the ex-ecutive director of Human Resources at 694-6607 or humanresources@pstcc.edu.

Jeanette Myers, coordinator

of Healthy Pelli Health Fair at

Magnolia campus.

Stephen Barnes, presi-dent of Aisin Automotive Casting Tennessee Inc., thanked both the state and TVA for support in the expan-sion, and lo-cal offi cials thanked the Clinton Util-ities Board, local power supplier.

The Clinton plant is a subsidiary of Aisin World Corp. of America, headed by president Ma-sayasu “Mike” Saito.

On the AWA website, Saito says AWA operates 32 plants and facilities in North America with 80,000 employees. It is the sales headquarters of Aisin Seiki, the parent company.

“Our global history is rich, and we are proud to have b e c o m e a trusted supplier to v i r t u a l l y every auto maker in the world,” he writes.

The Japan-based Aisin Seiki Co. Ltd. was founded in 1965 by Kanshiro Toyo-da, who continues as board chair. His older cousin, Kiichiro Toyoda, founded Toyota Motor Corporation in 1937 as a spinoff of the family business, Toyota In-dustries.

Toyota Motor Company in March 2013 was the

13th-largest company in the world by revenue with 333,498 employees world-wide.

The Clinton op-eration is a full-pro-

cess, die cast-ing facility that includes c a s t i n g , m a c h i n i n g

and assembly to produce engine

components such as water pumps, oil pumps and pistons that will be in-stalled in automobiles pro-duced by Aisin customers located throughout North America.

Beretta USA to build plant in Gallatin

Also last week, Gov. Bill Haslam and Beretta USA announced the company will expand its U.S. opera-tions by building a new fi re-arms manufacturing plant in the Gallatin Industrial Park near Nashville.

Beretta will invest $45 million in a manufacturing and R&D facility and create 300 new Tennessee jobs.

Beretta is the world’s old-est manufacturing dynasty, operating since 1526 in Italy. The company is pri-vately owned and operated by members of the 15th and 16th generations of the Be-retta family.

The company manufac-tures the U.S. Armed Forc-es M-9 pistol, the standard sidearm of U.S. soldiers since 1985.

Aisin’s plant at 221 Frank L. Diggs Drive, Clinton

JOBSWHERE

the

ARE

Aisin Automotive to expand in Clinton

$53.8 million investment to create 81 jobs

By Sandra ClarkAisin Automotive Cast-

ing Tennessee Inc. is ex-panding its plant in Clinton. The $53.8 million invest-ment will create 81 new jobs over the next two years in Anderson County, said Bill Hagerty, the state’s com-missioner of Economic and Community Development.

It’s the company’s sec-ond major expansion since locating in Tennessee in 2004. According to its web-site, the Clinton plant has 580 full-time employees. It contains 524,000 square feet located on 82.5 acres.

Aisin Automotive pro-duces die and gravity cast-

ing, machining and as-sembly for Toyota, General Motors, Nissan, Honda and others.

Hagerty said 900 auto manufacturers and suppli-ers call Tennessee home.

“Thriving companies like Aisin recognize the benefi ts of doing business in our state and continue to take advantage of our prime lo-cation and superior busi-ness climate.

“I appreciate Aisin’s de-cision to further invest in Tennessee and thank the company for its continued confi dence in our qual-ity workforce,” he said in a press release.

Saito

News from Pellissippi State- Magnolia Campus

By Phyllis NicholsI often say that numbers

and data don’t tell the story of what the Urban League does, people do. People like

J o n a t h a n B i n g h a m . When he was a stu-dent at A u s t i n -East Mag-net High School, Jon-athan knew he wanted

to be a DJ, but he wasn’t sure where to start.

After completing the Knoxville Area Urban League’s Project Ready col-lege access program, Jona-than was well prepared for his fi rst semester at Middle Tennessee State University and is now on his way to making his radio dreams come true.

“Project Ready planted the seed in me, and I will water that seed with my dedication and commit-ment,” Bingham said. “I’ll take what I learned and give it what it needs to grow, so I can be successful.”

The Urban League pro-gram provides a compre-

hensive approach to prepare young students and their families for the challenges and promise of higher edu-cation.

“If I hadn’t had Project Ready in my life, I would be unprepared and uncon-nected,” Bingham said. “Through my connections in Project Ready, I was able to jumpstart my career.”

Bingham got on the right career track by connecting with a mentor who intro-duced him to WUTK-FM 90.3. He later had the op-portunity to be a volunteer disc jockey for the college radio station and experi-ence fi rsthand what his dream career could be.

Beyond connecting stu-dents with mentors and ca-reer settings, Project Ready focuses on developing stu-dents academically, socially and culturally. The inter-viewing, presentation and networking skills that Bing-ham gained were invaluable.

At Middle Tennessee, he was selected out of 150 ap-plicants to be a member of the Freshman Council with-in the Student Government Association.

“I felt prepared and confi -

Project Ready prepares students for college success

Phyllis Nichols

News from Knoxville Area Urban League

dent in my interview skills,” Bingham said.

Project Ready also in-spired Bingham to connect with Knox County students outside of his high school. Now, he understands the importance of the commu-nity as a whole beyond his circle of friends.

“Project Ready connects the community,” he said. “It gives young people the opportunity to experience other communities in Knox-ville. It helps break down stereotypes from different high schools and allows stu-dents to form friendships with those they otherwise wouldn’t meet.”

Bingham encourages ev-

ery student interested in college to take advantage of Project Ready.

“If you want a head start, get into Project Ready be-cause the people who lead you have been through the journey that you are just starting,” he said. “It gives students real insight into college life and how to pre-pare for a successful career.”

Students can start Project Ready as early as middle school and partici-pate throughout their high school years. Info: Educa-tion and Youth Coordi-nator Nichole Tillman at ntillman@thekaul.org or 865-524-5511. Phyllis Nichols is president and CEO of

the Knoxville Area Urban League

Project Ready students participate in a Career Exploration Tour

at Scripps Networks Interactive. Activities like this help stu-

dents likes Jonathan Bingham network with others and pre-

pare for college succes.

Roane State off ers business courses in FebruaryRoane State business

class offerings include:Technology: iPad for

professionals, Feb. 13, 4:30-7:30 p.m., $69, Clinton

Management: Project Management Professional certifi cation prep, Feb. 7-28, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., $1,145, Oak Ridge; Front-line su-pervisory training, Feb.

11-27, 5-9 p.m., $379, Clin-ton; Introduction to projectmanagement professional,Feb. 24-26, 5:30-9:30 p.m.,$395, Clinton; and Buildingan effective team throughleadership, Feb. 26, 8 a.m.-noon, $69, Clinton.

Other courses are indus-try-specifi c or software re-lated. Info: 865-481-2031.

8 • FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • Shopper news

THROUGH SUNDAY, FEB. 16“The Whipping Man” presented by the Clarence

Brown Theatre Company in the Carousel Theatre on UT Campus. Performances: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Info/tickets: 974-5161 or www.clarencebrowntheatre.com.

MONDAY, FEB. 3Tennessee Shines featuring The Howlin’ Broth-

ers and poet Dawn Coppock, 7 p.m., WDVX studio, Knoxville Visitor Center, 301 S. Gay St. Broadcast on WDVX-FM, 89.9 Clinton, 102.9 Knoxville. Tickets: $10, at WDVX and www.BrownPaperTickets.com. Info: www.WDVX.com.

“A Woman Called Truth” presented by the WordPlayers, 7 p.m., Moses Teen Center, 220 Carrick St. Free touring show; no reservations required. Info/full schedule of performances: 539-2490 or www.wordplayers.org.

Ossoli Circle meeting, Ossoli Clubhouse, 2511 Kingston Pike. Program, 10:30 a.m.: “Foothills Land Conservancy,” by Bill Clabough, Executive Director of the Conservancy. Business meeting, 11:30 a.m. Lunch to follow. Visitors welcome. Info: 577-4106.

“Shamrock Ball - A Father-Daughter Dance” ticket sales begin, Farragut Town Hall, 11408 Mu-nicipal Center Drive. Advance tickets: $15 for couple, $5 each additional person; at the door: $20 per couple, $8 each additional person. Tickets available at Town Hall during business hours (8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday) or www.townoffarragut.org through noon Friday, March 7. Info: Lauren Cox, lauren.cox@townoffarragut.org or 966-7057.

“Catalytic Structures: Transformed Types” lecture by Nader Tehrani, 5:30 p.m., UT Art and Architecture Building, 1715 Volunteer Blvd. Part of the UT Church Memorial Lecture Series. Free and open to the public.

TUESDAY, FEB. 4Caregiver Support Group meeting, 10 a.m.-

noon, Room E 224, Concord UMC, 11020 Roane Drive. Guest speaker: Cindy Cleveland of Wellsprings Senior Living. Info: 675-2835.

Reception honoring Farragut High School Art Show artists and their works, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Farragut Town Hall, 11408 Municipal Center Drive. Free and open to the public. Exhibit runs through Feb. 14. Info: Lauren Cox, 966-7057 or lauren.cox@townof farragut.org.

TUESDAYS, FEB. 4-25Pilates class, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Community Room, Far-

ragut Town Hall, 11408 Municipal Center Drive. Instruc-tor: Simon Bradbury. Cost: $40. Registration/payment deadline: Monday, Feb. 3. Info/to register: 966-7057.

TUESDAYS, FEB. 4-MARCH 11Living Well with Chronic Conditions, 9:30 a.m.-

noon, Knox County Health Department classroom, 140 Dameron Ave. Free. To register: 215-5170.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 5Regal Classic Film Series featuring “Groundhog

Day,” 2 and 7 p.m., Downtown West Cinema 8, 1640 Downtown West Blvd.

“Adventures in Media Advertising: 58 Years and Running,” A Brown Bag Lecture by Hal Ernest, noon, East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay St. Free. Attendees are encourages to bring a “brown bag” lunch. Info: 215-8824 or www.EastTNHistory.org.

WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY, FEB. 5-6AARP Smart Driver class, 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.,

Oak Ridge Senior Center, 728 Emory Valley Road, Oak Ridge. Info/to register: Carolyn Rambo, 584-9964.

THURSDAY, FEB. 6Beginning Jewelry class for ages 13 and up,

6:30-8:30 p.m., Community Room, Farragut Town Hall, 11408 Municipal Center Drive. Instructor: Sheila Akins. Cost: $35. Registration/payment deadline: Tuesday, Feb. 4. Info/to register: 966-7057.

Panel discussion on online journalism, 7 p.m., Laurel Theater, at the corner of Laurel Avenue and 16th Street. Hosted by the Knoxville Writers’ Guild. A $2 donation is requested at the door.

Free preview screening of “The Trials of Muhammad Ali,” 7 p.m., East Tennessee PBS studio, 1611 East Magnolia Ave. Followed by a moderated panel discussion with the Rev. Chris Buice of Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church and Dr. Amadou Sall, professor of African Studies at the University of Tennes-see. Free and open to the public.

FRIDAY, FEB. 7First Friday reception for the Arts & Culture Al-

liance National Juried Exhibition of 2014, 5-9 p.m., the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay St. Awards ceremony, 6 p.m. The National Juried Exhibition is on display Feb. 7-March 1, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday; 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. Info: 523-7543 or www.knoxalliance.com.

Opening reception for Art Market Gallery’s February featured artists, painter Diana Dee Sarkar and wood-turner Gordon Fowler, 5:30 to 9 p.m., Art Market Gallery, 422 S. Gay St. Complimentary refreshments and live music performed by Living Room Roots. The exhibit runs through March 2. Info: 525-5265; artmarketgallery .net; facebook.com/Art.

Market.Gallery.Opening reception for exhibit by artist Christi

Shields, 6-9 p.m., Bliss Home, 29 Market Square. Complimentary Steamboat Sandwiches. Exhibit will be featured for the month of February.

Free Valentine’s Day-themed open house, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Tennessee Theatre. House organist Bill Snyder will play the Mighty Wurlitzer; backstage tours; photo-booth available.

Church Women United meeting, 10:30 a.m., Washington Pike UMC, 2241 Washington Pike. Pro-gram: “Celebrate Human Rights.”

SATURDAY, FEB. 8“Year of the Horse Adult Dance,” a Chinese New

Year celebration, 7-9 p.m., Farragut High School com-mons area. Tickets: $6 per person in advance; $10 per person at the door. Info: 966-7057.

Winter Market: an indoor farmers market, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Historic Southern Railway Station, 306 Depot Ave. Hosted by Nourish Knoxville. Info: http://www.marketsquarefarmersmarket.org.

The Freight Hoppers Old-Time String Band, 8 p.m., Laurel Theater, corner of 16th and Laurel Avenue. Tickets, $14: http://www.knoxtix.com, 523-7521 and at the door. Info: Brent Cantrell or Toby Koosman, 522-5851, or email concerts@jubileearts.org.

Saturday Stories and Songs: Kindermusik, 11 a.m., Cedar Bluff Branch Library, 9045 Cross Park Drive. Info: 470-7033.

Saturday Stories and Songs: Molly Moore, 11 a.m., Lawson McGhee Library, 500 W. Church Ave. Rec-ommended for birth to not-yet-walking. Info: 215-8750.

Retro Game Night, 7-10 p.m., Heska Amuna Syna-gogue, 3811 Kingston Pike. Admission: $15 per person. Limited to the fi rst 25 to RSVP. To RSVP: 522-0701.

SATURDAY-SUNDAY, FEB. 8-9Holland Tulip Bulb Sale and Giveaway, 10 a.m.-

4 p.m. Saturday, noon-4 p.m. Sunday, Windsor Square Shopping Center, adjacent to Bailey’s Sports Grille. Hosted by Knoxville Green. Proceeds will be used to plant additional daffodils along Pellissippi Parkway and to support other projects of Knoxville Green. To pur-chase large quantity of bulbs (more than 500) before the sale: Suzy Compere, 706-614-3503.

SUNDAY, FEB. 9Regal Classic Film Series featuring “Sleepless in

Seattle,” 2 p.m., Downtown West Cinema 8, 1640 Down-town West Blvd.

MONDAY, FEB. 10Tennessee Shines featuring Darden Smith and

author Jayne Morgan, 7 p.m., WDVX studio, Knoxville Visitor Center, 301 S. Gay St. Broadcast on WDVX-FM, 89.9 Clinton, 102.9 Knoxville. Tickets: $10, at WDVX and www.BrownPaperTickets.com. Info: www.WDVX.com.

Muslim Journeys: Point of View – “The House of Stone,” 6-8 p.m., Cedar Bluff Branch Library, 9045 Cross Park Drive. Info: Mary Pom Claiborne, 215-8767 or mclaiborne@knoxlib.org.

Send items to news@ShopperNewsNow.com

ShoppernewseVents

As long as I can remem-ber, I’ve had a camera in my hands.

My parents always al-lowed me to use the family camera and I don’t ever re-call them fussing about the thousand shots I would take and ask to be developed.

I also remember creating a “newspaper” with my best friend, Rhonda Penland, using an old typewriter of my dad’s. I think we got 2-3 typed out before we were tired. It was more like a gos-sip column, but it kept us busy during a long summer.

I started taking pictures for the Shopper in 2003 when my oldest son, Joe, was a senior at Halls High. He was a pitcher for the baseball team which was having a great run for a dis-

trict championship. I began sliding photos through the mail slot at Shopper-News.

In August 2003, Sandra offered me a job.

There have been memo-rable times: the Christmas parade where Jake Mabe and I pretty much walked backwards in front of pa-rade fl oats taking photos and getting names; slog-ging through elephant dung at the newly-constructed Halls Convenience Center; climbing on the roof at Pow-ell Middle School; and my personal favorite – heading for the courthouse to grab a picture of a politician in trouble and hearing Clark yell, “Try not to get shot!”

I have a great job. I have met more people than I can count, cried a few tears

with friends, shared laughs, judged spelling bees and chocolate desserts.

I’ve attended a birthday party or two, shared laughs at a club meeting and cele-brated the success of several athletes.

I love sharing these cele-brations and successes with everyone and look forward to making more memories.

Meet the Shopper-News community reportersBy Sandra Clark

Shopper-News is bigger than the paper you’re holding. Each week we produce eight editions, seven zoned for specifi c communi-ties in Knox County and another mailed to every home in Union County.

This week and next, we’ll introduce our community reporters – the people who who develop relationships and cover local hap-penings.

Each will explain how she came to this job and why she stays.

Ruth White makes

cookies with her

grandchildren

Brayden (at left) and

Kynleigh White.

That’s when I snapped!By Ruth White

Community reporter for Halls, Fountain City and Gibbs

For the love of storiesBy Wendy Smith

Community reporter for Bearden

Coming up you’ll meet

Betty Bean

Betsy Pickle

Cindy Taylor

and

Sherri Gardner Howell

Wendy Smith, Rebekah Roberts and Jon Crow-

son celebrate their return from an out-and-

back trip on the city’s new designated bicycle

commuter route. Photo by an innocent bystander

When I was in high school, one of my best friends would always start off our con-versations with, “Tell me a story.” That was when I learned that any event could be re-told as a story, and when it was a story, it became relevant.

One of my most important career moves was accepting a summer internship at the Danville Bee.

It was the summer before my senior year at Virginia Tech, and I knew no one in Dan-ville. But I had a terrifi c editor who took the time to discuss each of my stories. I learned a lot about writing, and life, that summer.

After working as a graphic artist for several years, I pulled out my old clips and remembered that I am, deep down inside, a writer. Not long after that, I accepted my fi rst assignment from the Shopper-News.

When I’m driving on I-40, I don’t really like people. But when I sit down and talk to someone, I almost always like them. I want my readers to like them, too. That’s what makes our community more than just a bunch of people jockeying for position on the interstate. We need to know and under-stand each other. It makes us compassion-ate, which helps us make better decisions as a community.

Very few of my stories are hard-hitting news. But I hope all of them are relevant because they are about your neighbors, the kids at the school around the corner, or somebody who attends church or a civic club with you.

It’s a privilege to get to tell those stories. Thanks for reading.