All about that burger

Litton’s Market, Restaurant and Bakery has some dedi-cated purists. Their passion is the bur ger. Add whatever sides you want, choose cheese or not, but don’t leave Litton’s without eating the burger.

➤ See Mystery Diner on page 7

IN THIS ISSUE

Victims speakLynn Porter doesn’t be-

lieve in sugarcoating reality, and she’s confi dent that her 16-year-old daughter, Amber, is prepared for what she’s go-ing to hear when the man who gunned down her father six years ago stands before a judge May 28 and pleads guilty to voluntary manslaughter.

Sources say he will probably serve seven years.

➤ See Betty Bean’s story on page 4

Fiber therapyThere is a therapy session

going on every Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Cokes-bury United Methodist Church North Campus. It’s “fi ber therapy,” and the willing par-ticipants are members of the Thursday Bee.

They are quilters. Each Thursday 10 to 12 women fi ll the rented room with laughter, conversation, show-and-tell, advice, sharing and stitching.

➤ See Sherri’s story on page 3

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By Betty BeanBack in February, Gov. Bill

Haslam gave teachers a reason to hope when he included nearly $100 million in his budget to give them a 4 percent raise.

Superintendent James Mc-Intyre made it clear it was past time to do it. Sales-tax revenue numbers were holding their own, and over on the county general government side, the notoriously penurious Mayor Tim Burchett was poised to recommend a 3 per-cent employee raise.

But now, the possibility looms that teachers could be the only Knox County employees who won’t get a pay raise, and there have been fears that the annual merit pay (APEX) bonuses could be in jeopardy as well.

While Knox County Schools personnel were awaiting Mc-Intyre’s recommendation on how to deal with a budget shortfall, County Commission chair Brad Anders and school board chair

Teachers’ raise in play with reduced schools budget

Thompson promoted

Julie Thompson, longtime principal of Carter Elementary School, has been named ex-ecutive director of elementary education for Knox County Schools. She is currently an elementary supervisor.

Thompson joined Knox County Schools in 1993 as a teacher at Corryton Elementa-ry School. She was an adminis-trative intern at Christenberry Elementary and worked at Carter from 2003 to 2012.

Thompson holds bach-elor’s and master’s degrees in elementary education from the University of Tennessee as well as an education special-ist degree in administration and supervision from Lincoln Memorial University.

Christy Dowell, former principal at Ritta Elementary and most recently principal at Cedar Bluff Elementary, will replace Thompson as an elementary supervisor.

By Bill DockeryOff-the-cuff comments by a

would-be gardener and an advo-cate of urban agriculture are turn-ing an empty East Knoxville lot into a garden.

Art Cate, director of Knoxville’s Community Development Corpo-ration, was speaking to a recent East Knoxville community meet-ing when Michelle Neal, a KCDC resident, ask about having a gar-den near her home.

Robert Hodge, director of the Center for Urban Agriculture at the Knoxville Botanical Garden, commented that he had people in need of gardening space.

“See me about that after the meeting,” Cate responded and by the end of the week plans were underway to turn an empty lot on Juanita Cannon Street into a garden spot for nearby KCDC resi-dents.

Neal and her son, Sage, met with Hodge and two KCDC offi -cials – Sean Gilbert and Jack Can-ada – the following Friday morn-ing and quickly determined how to clear the lot so that Neal and oth-ers could have gardens at the site.

“We’re looking for successful community gardening on a small scale,” Hodge said. “I hope this is the fi rst of many gardens within the city.”

Hodge has been involved with other garden startups in Knox-ville, but putting this one on KCDC property is unique.

“Knoxvillians need to be able to

Garden to grow on KCDC plot

By Betty BeanThe public is invited to help roll

out the welcome mat at Washing-ton Oaks, the Helen Ross McNabb Center’s new supportive housing complex for homeless veterans, at 8 a.m. Thursday, May 28.

Washington Oaks, 3235 Wash-ington Pike, features 16 apart-ments – 15 for veterans and one for a resident manager. There

are several vacancies available to qualifi ed applicants.

Veterans who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness with lit-tle to no income may be eligible. Knoxville’s Community Develop-ment Corporation has commit-ted to provide rental assistance through Project Based Vouch-ers (PBV), and local VA hous-ing coordinators will serve as a

resource for identifying eligible residents.

As a developer and administra-tor of more than 150 housing units across East Tennessee, Helen Ross McNabb Center and its founda-tion have established links with other homeless housing providers. Through those providers, using a tenant selection plan, McNabb will identify disabled homeless

veterans to become future resi-dents. No persons will be excluded on the basis of race, color, sex, reli-gion, national or ethnic origin, fa-milial status, sexual orientation or disability. Tenants will pay rent on a sliding scale that will not exceed 30 percent of their gross monthly income.

Info or to make a referral: 865-524-1312, ext. 305.

McNabb to open veterans housing

Plans for a new garden brought out Michelle Neal and son Sage at 8 a.m. recently to talk with Knoxville’s Community

Development Corporation’s Jack Canada (left) and Sean Gilbert, and Robert Hodge, director of the Knoxville Botani-

cal Garden’s Center for Urban Agriculture. Neal lives in a KCDC residence on Juanita Cannon Street in East Knoxville.

feed themselves,” he said. “There is a particular challenge when you don’t own the land you live on.”

Neal, too, has tried urban gar-dening before, but found that transportation issues limited her ability to maintain a previous ef-

fort. The current lot is directly across the street from her resi-dence.

Hodge and Neal set up a meet-ing with other nearby residents who might want to garden. He said that community buy-in was

crucial to the success of the effort.Next steps including cutting out

bushes and unwanted trees and treating the soil with composted “zoo poo.”

“We’re thankful for the oppor-tunity to do this,” he said.

Mike McMillan were working out the details to convene a joint com-mission/school board meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 21, at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 South Gay St.

Both said everything will be on the table for discussion – includ-ing raising taxes.

“I’ve not had any discussions with Dr. McIntyre regarding cut-ting the teachers’ pay raise (from the 3 percent McIntyre has rec-ommended),” McMillan said. “The question becomes how much are you going to cut?”

Though noncommittal, McMil-

lan said he expects dis-cussion of some kind of tax increase to come up at the joint meeting. Anders was blunt:

“We haven’t had a property tax increase since 1999. I know it’s not popular among Re-publicans, but I’d like to talk about it. It’s going

to get to the point that we have to,” he said.

“And it’s not just for schools for me – I don’t think the schools are as effi cient as they could be. But there are great infrastructure needs across the county.

“We’re on a 100-year rotation on paving roads, for example. We’ve got 2,000 miles of roads in the county, and we’re paving less than 20 miles a year, most years. The Rescue Squad, whom we de-pend on, is in fi nancial trouble. Do we let them fall?

“In my district, we’ve got two parks – Harrell Road and Plumb

Creek – sitting, purchased and de-signed, but not done. We’ve got a subdivision in Karns, the road is coming apart from the curb. We should be doing more sidewalks around schools.”

But for now, the county’s fi -nance director, Chris Caldwell, said the problem is simple arith-metic.

Burchett’s budget appropri-ates $14 million more than last year to Knox County Schools, based on growth in sales and property tax revenues. But the state funding formula covers only 44 percent of KCS teachers, leaving the county to make up the gap – a gap that’s exacerbat-ed by last year’s decision by the school board to spend $4 million from its fund balance.

Caldwell also said automatic step raises are not built into coun-ty general employees’ pay scales (unlike teachers), making it dif-fi cult to draw an apples-to-apples comparison.

Jim McIntyre Chris CaldwellMike McMillan

2 • MAY 20, 2015 • Shopper news

health & lifestyles

00

94

-00

93

stroke:LIKE IT NEVER EVEN HAPPENED.No comprehensive stroke and rehabilitation center in our region

does more to reverse stroke’s devastating eff ects than Fort

Sanders Regional Medical

Center. That’s why hospitals

across East Tennessee refer their

most complex stroke patients to

us. And only Fort Sanders Regional is home to the Patricia Neal

Rehabilitation Center, East Tennessee’s elite rehabilitation hospital

for stroke, spinal cord and brain injury patients.

Certifi ed as a Comprehensive Stroke Center by The Joint Commission and accredited by the Commission on the Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities

Leading the region’s only stroke hospital network

www.covenanthealth.com/strokenetwork

Fort Sanders performs clinical trials and procedures

for stroke not available anywhere else in our region.

It was snowing hard. Flakes as big as snow-balls were falling onto Charlotte Wolfenbarg-er’s face as paramedics wheeled her stretcher down the ramp and into the waiting ambu-lance.

Less than 30 minutes earlier, she had opened her blinds and laid across her bed to watch it snow. But then, her left foot shook violently a couple of times and her entire left side went numb. Her left arm was fi xed in a curl up to her chin and her foot was so dead she couldn’t feel the fl oor beneath her.

Was it a stroke? She suspected so, but be-cause she could still talk, she didn’t know for certain. Neither did her husband, David, nor did the paramedics. But once she made it to Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center’s Emer-gency Department fi ve miles away, there was no doubt – she was diagnosed with an isch-emic stroke, likely caused by atrial fi brillation – one of the leading risk factors in the 800,000 strokes in the United States each year.

“The scariest words I ever heard were when the doctor looked down at me and said, ‘Char-lotte, you are having a stroke,’” she recalls.

Fortunately for Mrs. Wolfenbarger, she had sought treatment quickly enough that Dr. Ar-thur Moore, a neurohospitalist and medical di-rector of Fort Sanders Regional Stroke Center, was able to administer the clot-busting drug called tPA or tissue plasminogen activator, an intravenous thrombolytic that can prevent death or serious disability caused by strokes.

“I don’t know how many minutes it took, but it was quick,” said Mr. Wolfenbarger. “I was sit-ting there beside her, and she said, ‘I can move my foot and feel it now.’ And I took her arm and moved it,” If we moved it, it would move. Then she said, ‘Look here!’ and she moved her fi ngers!”

“They hadn’t even fi nished giving me the IV before I could move my foot,” said Mrs. Wolfenbarger. “It was a miracle! A total mira-cle!”

“I don’t claim to be a miracle worker – that one God can have,” said Dr. Moore. “We just do what we can to help people.”

Miracle or not, Mrs. Wolfenbarger was dis-charged the next day and her symptoms today are “so minimal that no one but a neurologist would fi nd them,” says Dr. Moore. “They won’t interfere with her life whatsoever. That’s the important part. I can look at a CT scan and say,

‘Yes, you’ve had a stroke.’ But if I look at the patient and they are perfectly normal, I don’t care what the scan says.”

The FDA approved tPA almost two decades ago but even today it has been characterized as “vastly underutilized.” In fact, more than 80 percent of the population lives within a one-hour drive of a hospital capable of adminis-tering tPA, but only 4 percent of those people actually receive it.

Why? The reasons vary, not the least of which is

that tPA can be fatal when administered too late or incorrectly. “There’s been a lot of nega-tive press about tPA from some in the emer-gency department community and others saying ‘We don’t like this drug – it increases our liability,’” said Dr. Moore. “But to be quite honest, they’re just wrong. There is so much fa-vorable evidence right now that not giving it is what gets them into trouble.”

The greatest reason tPA isn’t being used fre-quently enough, however, is time. FDA rules require that tPA be given within 3 hours (or, in certain cases, as late as 4.5 hours) of a stroke’s fi rst signs. For that reason, it’s important to note the time when symptoms (sudden confu-sion or speaking; sudden numbness or weak-ness of face, arm or leg on one side; sudden trouble walking, dizziness or loss of balance; sudden headache with no known cause or sud-den vision impairment) fi rst appear.

All too often, however, patients either fail to recognize those signs or discount their signifi -cance and delay treatment.

“The brain is a lot like real estate – every-thing is ‘location, location, location’ because each area of the brain controls something dif-ferent,” said Dr. Moore. “Even experienced doctors can miss the signs. It does happen. If the stroke hits in some of these areas that are relatively not important in the brain, then you may not have any symptoms, or very mild symptoms, and the paramedics may not have noticed it. That does happen. Usually, though, the paramedics tend to be very aggressive with identifying potential stroke patients, and we appreciate that because it lets us get patients in – if they don’t have a stroke, then we haven’t lost anything.”

The best stroke care centers, like Fort Sand-ers, are certifi ed by both the Joint Commission and the American Heart Association/Ameri-

can Stroke Association. That certifi cation en-sures patients receive the best and fastest carepossible by creating Acute Stroke Teams thatutilize best practices. These teams of emer-gency department physicians, neurologists,radiologists and nurses continually search forways to reduce the “Door-To-Needle” time – ameasurement of the time elapsed between en-tering the ER to receiving tPA.

“The national benchmark is 60 minutes, and we are currently at 45 minutes,” said Dr.Moore. “And when I am on, it’s right around 30minutes. I’m proud of that.”

As soon as a stroke is identifi ed, paramed-ics put Fort Sanders’ Acute Stroke Team onstandby. When the patient comes throughthe emergency department doors, the StrokeTeam is immediately paged as the patient re-ceives an identifi cation wrist bracelet and hasblood drawn before being sent directly to theCT department. There, they are met by Dr.Moore or his partner, Dr. James Hora. Aftera quick exam, the patient gets the CT scanwhile the hospital’s pharmacy is preparingthe tPA. “By the end of that scan, I generallyknow if I am going to be able to offer themtPA,” said Dr. Moore, who then discusses therisks and benefi ts with the patient and theirfamily as he accompanies the patient back totheir room.

“If they refuse it, fi ne – we’ve lost a vial of medicine and that’s OK,” said Dr. Moore. “Butif they say, ‘Yes, go ahead. I don’t want to livelike this. Give me the best chance you can,’ it’sready to go as soon as they get into the roomonce we’ve made sure that their blood pres-sure is OK. That’s about all that it takes. But it’smaking sure you follow this very clearly defi nedprocess again and again and again that gets youin the mindset you can reduce the times andthat’s what’s made the biggest differences.”

Charlotte Wolfenbarger is thankful she took that chance.

“People think, ‘I’m going to wait to see if this goes away. I couldn’t be having a stroke!’or ‘I don’t want to look stupid by going to thehospital’ But they’re not going to think you’restupid. Don’t sit and wait to see what’s goingto happen next because what’s going to hap-pen next is you are going to get worse. Call anambulance and go straight to Fort Sanders Re-gional because they are equipped for it. Don’tgo anywhere else.”

Time for a miracleClot-buster speeds Knoxville woman’s recovery from stroke

It’s not just the studies he’s read throughout the years that convinced Dr. Arthur Moore – it was seeing the differ-ence that the clot-busting drug tPA can make in the lives of ischemic stroke pa-tients.

“The benefi ts with tPA amount to about a 30 percent increased chance of minimal to no defi cit and being able to live on your own at three months,” says Dr. Moore, medical director of the Com-prehensive Stroke Center at Fort Sand-ers Regional Medical Center. “It’s not an overnight thing, but we’ve seen it turn patients around.”

Still, he says, the greatest obstacle to reducing death and disability due to stroke remains education of stroke’s warning signs and tPA – and not just educating the patients but health provid-ers, too.

“It starts with recognition on the pa-tient’s part,” he said. “Patients will wake up at night and not be able to move one side and go back to sleep. They’ll say, ‘Awww, it’ll be better in the morning.’ Well, by the time they wake up in the morning, I can’t do anything. That stroke is already there. So that’s No. 1 – in-creased recognition.

“Then, it’s increased recognition on the part of Emergency Medical Services and people in emergency departments where they say, ‘This is a stroke’ but will-ing to take it one step further: ‘This is a stroke and I can treat this.’ It’s recogniz-ing that tPA does have benefi ts. It’s say-ing, ‘We CAN treat this patient and they CAN get better.’ And if they can’t do it there at one hospital, it’s recognizing that they need to send that patient to a higher level of care.”

“Once we start educating people and they’re recognizing and getting to the hospitals, that’s great,” Dr. Moore contin-ued. “But if you have a bottleneck in the hospital – if you sit around for an hour and a half and see if it gets better before we think about giving the medicine – that’s the wrong way to approach stroke. We need to approach it as the emergency that it really is.”

Yet, failure to recognize those signs and seek treatment quickly continues to take a toll on the 800,000 victims each year, causing stroke to be the third-lead-ing cause of death and No. 1 cause of dis-ability in the United States.

Certainly, tPA carries risks – a 6 per-cent chance of bleeding with a 3 percent chance of worsening the symptoms and 1 percent risk of death. Even so, most pa-tients elect to take tPA rather than face a life of disability.

Additionally, the Food and Drug Ad-ministration requires tPA be given within 3 hours of the fi rst signs of stroke, mak-ing stroke treatment a race against the clock. Dr. Moore says Fort Sanders Re-gional is expected to handle hundreds of stroke cases this year. Of those, he proj-ects about a fi fth will be eligible to receive tPA. “It’s highly variable but here lately we’ve been administering tPA about 10 times a month,” he says. “We’re quite a bit higher than the national spectrum as far as percentage of patients. We have a goal this year of greater than 20 percent of not only getting tPA to obviously eli-gible patients, but getting those patients here in enough time to where we can do it. We want to be aggressive because we are comfortable with the medicine. We know what we are doing and when we give it, it helps patients.”

Charlotte Wolfenbarger (right), with her husband, David, is grateful for the quick action from the team of medical experts at the Comprehensive Stroke Center at Fort Sanders Regional.

Education key for treating stroke

NORTH/EAST Shopper news • MAY 20, 2015 • 3 community

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7

By Sherri Gardner HowellThere is a therapy session

going on every Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Cokesbury United Method-ist Church North Campus. It’s “fi ber therapy,” and the willing participants are members of the Thursday Bee.

They are quilters. Each Thursday 10 to 12 women fi ll the rented room with laughter, conversation, show-and-tell, advice, shar-ing and stitching. “We all have our own style and way of doing things,” says mem-ber Patty Ashworth. “When we are together, we feed off each other’s creativity.”

The Thursday Bee wom-en are a fun group. “We don’t like rules,” says Ash-worth. “We all have differ-ent styles – hand quilting, machine, embroidery, tra-ditional, modern – you will fi nd a little bit of everything in this group.”

Some are lifelong quil-ters, master quilters and teachers. Others are newer to the art. Some sell quilts at high-end shops in places like Asheville, N.C., while others make quilts for char-ities and family members.

With the love of art and creative expression found in this group, guests should not expect to see a lot of “Sunbonnet Sue” quilts being stitched – al-though Deb DiPietro ad-mits it was that traditional design that got her into quilting. She found a Sun-bonnet Sue quilt made by a family member and was intrigued. “I knew how to sew, so I just taught myself to quilt,” says DiPietro.

Tone Haugen-Cogburn, who is originally from Nor-way, learned to quilt after she came to the U.S. and holds a master quilter cer-tifi cation. “Quilting is really a big deal in Europe right now,” says Haugen-Cog-burn.

Painting drew Sheila Rauen into quilting. “Kind of an odd route,” she says with a smile. “But I love to sew, and I do paintings on silk. This led me to look for something to do with the silk paintings. So I do a lot of appliques, mixed me-dia and embroidery on the quilts I make.”

Ashworth says she is “semiretired,” meaning she isn’t taking on as many com-missioned pieces as she has in the past. “I actually kept a record of all my quilts,”

Quilters stitch with artistic fl air

Gloria Felter works on her quilt at the Thursday Bee.

Melissa Carter of the Thursday Bee quilters shows off one of her quilts that will be in the Smoky Mountain Quilters 2015 Quilt Show this Friday-Sunday, May 22-24, at Maryville College.

A little needlework, a little conversation is the formula for quilters at the Thursday Bee. From left are Patty Ash-worth and Deb DiPietro.

Patty Ashworth, who says she loves the color blue, shows her fellow quilters her progress on her latest project.

Quilters Shana Mar-grave, left, and Alison Darken are lost in the

process of creating beautiful quilts. Photos by

Sherri Gardner Howell

says Ashworth. “As of today, I have made 935 quilts.” She still sells at galleries, makes quilts for charity functions and participates in the events associated with the Smoky Mountain Quilters, a regional group that all the Thursday Bee quilters have in common.

The Thursday Bee quil-ters are getting ready for the Smoky Mountain Quil-ters 2015 Quilt Show, which will be Friday-Sunday, May 22-24, at Maryville Col-lege. The Smoky Mountain quilt guild has more than 100 members, so the show is always a large event with vendors, vintage quilts on display, quilts for sale and more than $6,000 in

awards given out to quilters.Admission is $5. The

show is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Sat-

urday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday at Maryville Col-lege’s Cooper Athletic Cen-ter.

COMMUNITY NOTES

■ Alice Bell Spring Hill Neigh-borhood Association. Info: Ronnie Collins, 637-9630.

■ Beaumont Community Organization. Info: Natasha Murphy, 936-0139.

■ Belle Morris Community Action Group meets 7 p.m. each second Monday, City View Baptist Church, 2311 Fine Ave. Info: www.bel-lemorris.com or Rick Wilen, 524-5008.

■ Chilhowee Park Neighbor-hood Association meets 6:30 p.m. each last Tuesday, Administration Building, Knoxville Zoo. Info: Paul Ruff , 696-6584.

■ Edgewood Park Neighborhood Association meets 7 p.m. each third Tuesday, Larry Cox Senior Center, 3109 Ocoee Trail. Info: edgewoodpark.us

■ Excelsior Lodge No. 342 meets 7:30 p.m. each Thurs-day, 10103 Thorn Grove Pike. Info: Bill Emmert, 933-6032 or w.emmert@att.net.

■ First District Democrats meet each fi rst Monday, Burlington Branch Library, 4614 Asheville Highway. Info: Harold Middlebrook, harold-middlebrook@gmail.com; Mary Wilson, marytheprez@yahoo.com.

■ Historic Fourth & Gill Neigh-borhood Organization meets 6:30 p.m. each second Monday, Central UMC, 201

Third Ave. Info: Liz Upchurch, 898-1809, lizupchurch1@gmail.com.

■ Inskip Community As-sociation meets 6 p.m. each fourth Tuesday, Inskip Baptist Church, 4810 Rowan Road. Info: Betty Jo Mahan, 679-2748 or bettymahan@knology.net.

■ Oakwood Lincoln Park Neighborhood Association meets 6:30 p.m. each third Thursday, Community Club House, 916 Shamrock Ave. Info: Bill Hutton, 773-5228 or s_wlhutton@yahoo.com.

■ Old North Knoxville meets 6:30 p.m. each second Monday, St. James Episcopal Church Parish Hall, 1101 N. Broadway. Info: Andie Ray, 548-5221.

■ Parkridge Community Organization meets 6:30 p.m. each fi rst Monday except holidays, Cansler YMCA, 616 Jessamine St. Info: Jerry Caldwell, 329-9943.

■ Second District Democrats meet 6 p.m. each second Thursday, New Hope Mis-sionary Baptist Church, 2504 Cecil Ave. Info: Rick Staples, 385-3589 or funnyman1@comic.com.

■ Thorn Grove Rebekah Lodge No. 13 meets 7:30 p.m. each second and fourth Mon-day, 10103 Thorn Grove Pike. Info: Mary Jo Poole, 599-7698 or mjp1101@aol.com.

■ Town Hall East. Info: Eston Williams, 406-5412 or eston_williams@yahoo.com; www.facebook.com/townhalleast/info.

4 • MAY 20, 2015 • Shopper news

Lynn Porter doesn’t believe in sugarcoating reality, and she’s confi dent that her 16-year-old daughter, Amber, is prepared for what she’s going to hear when the man who gunned down her father six years ago stands before a judge May 28 and pleads guilty to volun-tary manslaughter.

Betty Bean

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Teresa Lynn Porter Photos sub-mitted

Victims speak as Whiteside faces judgmentOn the west side

Whiteside’s legal issues appear to have had little effect on his so-cial, professional or political life. Within a couple of weeks of the shooting, he helped stage a gala fundraiser to celebrate the open-ing of the new Duncan School of Law.

In spring 2011, he co-hosted a lavish Las Vegas bachelor party for Zane Duncan, younger son of U.S. Rep. Jimmy Duncan and younger brother of then-trustee John Duncan III. Invited guests included a gaggle of prominent Republican political aspirants.

In June, a grand jury bumped Whiteside’s charge up to fi rst-degree murder. The following January, White side set aside his partisan preferences and served as an on-the-scene reporter for a

local TV sta-tion at the 2013 inaugu-ration of Presi-dent Barack Obama.

His most recent TV ap-pearance was as a proud parent when his son, a stu-dent at Webb School and point guard of

the varsity basketball team, inked the papers for a basketball schol-arship to Cornell University.

MPi Solutions, headed by Whi-teside’s wife, Jackie, aggressively pitches its expertise on the com-pany website:

“MPi Solutions offers a variety of services aimed at businesses seeking government contracts. … The New Wall Street is the U.S. Government! Are you ready to benefi t from the change? Let us help you. Large or small, just starting out or celebrating your 100th anniversary, we may have a solution for you.”

On the east sideWhiteside had other business-

es, including a Burlington event space called the Broker, which was set ablaze in February 2004. Three days later, a fi re broke out in Sudderth’s new nightclub, Phatz Sports Grill, a few blocks away. A second blaze further damaged Phatz a few months later. Each man suspected the other of arson, witnesses say.

Sources say the judge will hear proof that Whiteside and Sud-derth were rivals in yet another business. It wasn’t a T-shirt shop they were patronizing the night of the shooting (as described in media accounts), but an adjacent gambling establishment. They had been locked in a bitter dis-pute over a small, spring-mounted plastic device called “slap dice,” much sought after by craps play-ers. Whiteside had been importing them from Asia and making a tidy profi t; Sudderth was horning into the franchise. At least one crime-scene witness reported seeing Sudderth make a sudden U-turn on Martin Luther King Boulevard when he saw Whiteside’s SUV in the parking lot that night.

There is no dispute that Sud-

derth and Whiteside had a loud confrontation inside the “T-shirt shop,” or that Sudderth was or-dered to leave, or that Whiteside went outside shortly thereafter and within seconds, shot Sud-derth with a 9 mm Glock, left his body in the parking lot, got into his car and drove a block and a half to fl ag down a police offi cer and turn himself in. Investigators confi scated Whiteside’s handgun and picked up 14 spent shells from the pavement at the crime scene. An autopsy would show that 13 shots connected, mostly to Sud-derth’s side and back.

Lynn Porter ridicules White-side’s self-defense claim, saying that Sudderth made it his busi-ness to let everyone know he was unarmed because he was a con-victed felon and subject to a fi ve-year sentence if found to be carry-ing a gun.

She was shocked when Dan Armstrong, the newly elected Third Judicial District Attorney General who inherited the case from his predecessor, informed her of the plea agreement on April 27. But after prayerful consider-ation, she says she’s going to be at peace, whatever the outcome.

Moving on“I’m asking the judge to give

him the whole 21 years (the top of the sentencing range), but I’m just going to ask God to give me his peace and comfort,” Porter said.

after her relationship ended in 2003. She says he and his family were strongly supportive when she battled cancer, and that Sudderth always supported his daughter, emotionally and fi nancially.

Isaacs has stayed busy, and last month shepherded former Knox County Trustee Mike Lowe to a sweet plea deal on charges of defrauding the county by hir-ing ghost employees to perform phantom jobs. A couple of Lowe’s “ghost” employees were outside auditors/tax collectors, a position Troy Whiteside held 2000-2004. Lowe had a dozen outside auditors. Ed Shouse, who is now the trustee, has fi ve, a number he says is suffi -cient to the needs of the offi ce.

Neither Isaacs nor Armstrong would comment for the record. Moncier confi rmed that he will take up the wrongful death suit against Whiteside when the crimi-nal case is concluded.

He and Isaacs are old comrades who teamed up to defend accused serial killer Tom “Zoo Man” Hus-key in the longest-running, most expensive murder trial in Ten-nessee history, and, despite over-whelming evidence of guilt, won something of a victory when they helped Huskey avoid the death penalty via mistrial on a quadru-ple murder charge in 1999, leaving him to serve a 66-year sentence on multiple rape charges.

As adversaries in Wilson v. Whiteside, they threatened each other with gag orders, lobbed in-sults and wooed reporters as they battled their way up to the Court of Appeals.

Moncier offered a preview of his case when he described Sud-derth as “a big, jovial fellow – very responsible, punctual and intel-ligent. A businessman. There’s an old saying about justice delayed,” he said.

“And I believe the last line of that saying is ‘justice denied.’ ”

Troy Whiteside Knox County mug shot

Sources say he will probably serve

seven years.

This is the unedited letter 16-year-old Amber Sudderth has written to the court re-garding the sentencing of Troy Whiteside for killing her fa-ther:

“Ever since August 22, 2009, my life has changed drastically. That’s the day you took my fa-ther’s life and took him away from me.

“Taking my father away from me has caused me so much heartache and pain. … He was my best friend and to lose him is like losing a part of me.

“His death caused many is-sues like heartache and fi nan-cial problems. Even though my mama and daddy were not married they had a bond like no other. Seeing her struggle then losing him is still the worst feeling ever.

“We (me and my mom) struggle every day to get by without him and his help. My daddy was also there for me whenever I needed him. Some-

times my life feels empty with-out him.

“People make my daddy out to be all these things, but I don’t care. That is still my dad-dy, regardless. Mr. Whiteside

‘My life feels empty without him’

you don’t seem to be any less scary than they say my dad was.

“Honestly, you are scary to me. I never knew how I would face you because of what you’ve done. Nobody deserves to have their life taken away like this, not even you.

“I’ll forgive you, yes I do. But I’ll never forget what you did. It will always live with me. I’ll never forget hearing the words, ‘He didn’t make it.’ That will always replay in my head. You have kids. Can you imagine if someone took you away from them and they had to suffer through this?

“I wish my daddy was still here, but since he’s not justice should be served. There is no reason for u to shoot someone that many times. It’s not self-defense. It’s murder. Straight murder. I have siblings and in know they feel the heartache. I was the closest one to my father and our bond was be-yond strong. And now I have to live with knowing someone took my best friend from me.”

–Amber Sudderth

“I’ve turned it all over to

God. It will be made right

in God’s time, and in the

meantime, I’m not going

to let anybody steal my joy.

There’s nothing I can do

about it anyway.”

Sources say he will probably serve seven years.

Porter and her daughter, like the rest of Stacy Sudderth’s friends and family, had hoped for a mur-der conviction for the politically connected Troy Donovan “Pete” Whiteside.

To them, this is just the latest in a string of disap-pointments.

Ten days af-ter the shoot-ing, Sudderth’s survivors gath-ered at the City County Building for W h i t e s i d e ’ s s c h e d u l e d Sessions Court arraignment. They were shocked to learn that he’d already been arraigned on a charge of second-degree murder in an unpublicized hearing held at the Knox County Sheriff ’s De-tention Facility the day before. His bond was reduced from $750,000 to $50,000, and they had received no notification of the hearing.

Attorney Herb Moncier, who had represented Sudderth in an earlier murder-for-hire case and won an acquittal, had been retained by Sudderth’s mother, Erma Jean Wilson, to fi le a wrong-ful death claim against Whiteside. He challenged the arraignment but was rebuffed by Judge Mary Beth Leibowitz and the Court of Appeals, which ruled that defen-dants’ rights trump those of vic-tims. The civil suit has been in legal limbo, awaiting resolution of the criminal case, although Whi-teside’s attorney, Greg Isaacs, at-tempted to have it dismissed when Mrs. Wilson died in 2010. Lynn Porter says Wilson grieved herself to death.

Sudderth’s friends and fam-ily were further surprised when District Attorney General Randy Nichols and every Criminal Court judge in Knox County except Lei-bowitz, who has since retired, bowed out of the case due to con-fl icts of interest. Whiteside has been liberal with campaign con-tributions.

Porter and Sudderth, both Al-coa natives, had broken up by the time Sudderth moved to Knox-ville. She knew little of his busi-ness dealings here, and less about the documented feud with White-side, who grew up in Lonsdale but moved to West Knox County after his business, a minority contract-ing fi rm called MPi Business Solu-tions, took off.

“I’ve turned it all over to God. It will be made right in God’s time, and in the meantime, I’m not going to let anybody steal my joy. There’s nothing I can do about it anyway.”

Amber has written a letter

to the judge (see sidebar), which she hopes to be allowed to read in court. Part of the letter is ad-dressed to Whiteside. She says she forgives him.

Porter said she has always lev-eled with Amber about the way the man who called her his “Booger-Bear” lived and died, and she’s been honest about the cascade of troubles that have plagued her since she was the victim of a bru-tal 1998 rape and home invasion that drove her to leave the com-munity where both she and Stacy grew up, and resulted in Stacy be-ing tried and acquitted of murder-for-hire in the death of one of the accused rapists.

And maybe most diffi cult of all, Porter has been honest about the two bouts of breast cancer she has survived since 2003. Amber worries about losing her mother, and has been hurt by the sear-ing headlines describing White-side (who has no prior criminal record) as a respected business leader and Sudderth as a danger-ous felon. Along with the rest of the family, she suffered through repeated postponements and de-lays while Whiteside walked free. A low point was when he showed up at Amber’s school to watch his son’s basketball team play.

Porter fought through her struggles and earned a bachelor’s degree from Tusculum College while working at Denso, and re-mained friends with Sudderth

Shopper news • MAY 20, 2015 • 5 government

Marvin West

Billy Joe O’Kain, a pitcher on the most successful Ten-nessee baseball team, didn’t make it to the big leagues. I thought he might.

Never wanted anyone to feel sorry for me

O’Kain was a star for the 1951 Vols, second in the Col-lege World Series. The team had a 20-3 season, best winning percentage in UT history.

Soon thereafter, baseball and life took bad hops.

On a surprisingly cold and wet July evening in Winner, S.D., O’Kain was

pitching for an independent team against an all-star del-egation from Cuba. Some-thing wasn’t right in his shoulder, but he kept trying. The Cubans knocked him around. Billy tried some more. That was his nature.

The next day and for a week, doctors tried to deter-mine the cause of his affl ic-tion. They failed.

At UT the following spring, O’Kain confi rmed what he already knew, that he wasn’t as effective as he had been, that his fastball had slowed, that his shoul-der might never be the same.

All was not lost. Bill mar-ried his sweetheart, Ruby McGinnis, and forfeited his UT scholarship. Robert R. Neyland, athletic director, did not fund married ath-letes. He demanded full-

time devotion.O’Kain became an elec-

trician apprentice in Oak Ridge, saved some money, returned to UT and hit an-other roadblock. He sud-denly couldn’t see properly.

Doctors discovered retinal hemorrhaging but couldn’t fi nd the cause. He made the elite hospi-tal rounds – Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins and Vander-bilt. No precise determina-tion, no cure.

“I drove part of the way home from Baltimore and realized I couldn’t see very well. We didn’t use the word ‘blind.’ It was a bad word. But by 1954, I was.”

A weak man would have crumbled. A fi ghter would have been discouraged. O’Kain never considered giving up. He signed up for a fi ve-month rehabilitation

program at the Arkansas Enterprises for the Blind.

He met Dick Freeling, a World War II victim who had been shot in the face and had lost senses of taste and smell – and sight.

“Bill Freeling was a won-derful man with a positive outlook on life. He was a ham radio operator and an insurance agent.”

Bill O’Kain became a ham radio operator. He opened an insurance agency in the basement of his Oak Ridge home.

Nothing to it, folks. He walked to work. Well, some-times he tumbled down the steps, but he got up and kept on keeping on in business for 40 years.

Bill is father of two. He is twice a grandfather. He has two great-grandchil-dren. Because Ruby was a

bowler, Bill bowled. He has been a deacon at Roberts-ville Baptist. He talks with radio friends “all over the world.”

Bill says Ruby has been the winning edge in his life. Before he hired a secre-tary and then two, she did the insurance paperwork at night after getting home from her day job. She was his tour guide all the years they had season tickets to Tennessee football and bas-ketball.

Do what? Go to games you can’t see?

“I can feel them,” said O’Kain. “I can be part of the excitement. I can go to a Tennessee baseball game and know the team is play-ing on the fi eld where I played.”

Because he once saw Mickey Mantle in action,

O’Kain has long been a fan of the Yankees – and the Braves and a few other teams. He buys a radio package to follow baseball closely.

“I can see the action through a play-by-play announcer. Television announcers aren’t much help. They talk about too many things unrelated to what’s happening on the field.”

Bill O’Kain, 84, will ad-dress the lunch bunch next week at Lake Forest Presby-terian Church. He will tell the audience that God has blessed his life.

“I’ve tried to do the best I can with what I have. I never wanted anyone to feel sorry for me.”Marvin West invites reader reaction. His

address is westwest6@netzero.com.

U.S. Rep. Jimmy Duncan and wife Lynn are selling their home on Butternut Circle in Sugarwood sub-division in Farragut. They plan to move into a smaller, one-level home in Knox County once their current home sells. They also own a lake house in Grainger County, which is part of the second congressional dis-trict.

■ Jason Zachary is defi nitely running for state representative to replace Ryan Haynes. He has pur-chased a home in the dis-trict. He won the Farragut portion of the district in his race for Congress in August 2014. Others are expected to run, too, but this time Zachary will be taken seri-

Duncans are selling Farragut home

VictorAshe

ously by all. Others may in-clude Lou Moran and Karen Carson. Former Farragut Mayor Eddy Ford has his house for sale and will not run. His wife, Linda, is re-covering from knee surgery.

■ Nashville: While Knoxville may be a cake-walk for Mayor Rogero’s re-election (with no one else running), Nashville faces a hot and heavy contest with seven credible candidates (all Democrats) as Mayor

Karl Dean retires after two terms as mayor.

These candidates are all well funded (all having raised over $500,000 each and several at $1 million). For one, at least, funding is unlimited due to his wealth. Two are women and one is African-American, Howard Gentry, who stands an ex-cellent chance of being in the runoff should no one get 50 percent of the vote plus one. No Republican is run-ning.

Candidates are Metro Council member Megan Barry, attorney Charles Robert Bone, David Fox, multimillionaire Bill Free-man, Criminal Court Clerk Howard Gentry (former vice mayor), Jeremy Kane and

Linda Eskind Rebrovick (daughter of Jane Eskind).

The upcoming city of Knoxville election is such a snoozer that less than 7 per-cent of the registered voters (or 6,500 voters) may actu-ally vote. The challengers to the incumbents to date are not seen as signifi cant.

■ Books: In modern times, only three persons have written books on the complete history of Knox-ville. They were Betsey Creekmore Sr.; Bill Ma-cArthur, along with Lu-cille Deaderick; and Bruce Wheeler, who with Mike McDonald wrote “Knox-ville: Mountain City in the New South” in 2003, pub-lished by the University of Tennessee Press.

Wheeler, 75, is the only one still living. I had lunch with him May 4 at The Orangery. He now lives in Wears Valley in Sevier County and is open to writ-ing an updated edition of his book, now 12 years old.

In fact, his 2003 book was an updated version of his earlier Knoxville his-tory. Wheeler said it would take six months to update the prior book and then the printing. In all likelihood, if he started soon, a new book could be published in early 2016. The 2003 edition sold over 1,200 copies.

A decision has not been made to do it, but much has happened since 2003 that should be recorded.

Jack Neely and Bob

Booker are also very able local historians. Neely has written several outstanding books, but his books gener-ally are targeted to a specifi c issue such as the Tennes-see Theatre. Booker has a great grasp of our African-American history. Both could write solid histories of the whole city should they decide to take on the chal-lenge.

■ On a personal note, Joan and I were in Rich-mond May 10 for our daugh-ter’s, Martha Ashe, 22, graduation from the Uni-versity of Richmond with a summa cum laude degree in business. Our son, J Victor, 25 on May 22, lives in San Jose, Calif., where he works for Cisco Systems.

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6 • MAY 20, 2015 • Shopper news

By Mystery DinerLitton’s Market, Res-

taurant and Bakery has some dedicated purists. Their passion is the bur-ger. Add whatever sides you want, choose cheese or not, but don’t leave Lit-ton’s without eating the burger.

They have a point. The juicy, hand-patted Lit-ton Burger on a home-made bun with lettuce, tomato and onion is the cornerstone on which the restaurant part of the business was built. When Eldridge Litton founded Litton’s Market in 1946, it sold groceries, hardware, feed and gas, but not burgers. It was 1962 when Eldridge and his son, Ed-win, added a deli counter and sold the fi rst Litton Burger for 89 cents.

Barry and Kelly, the third generation of Lit-tons, are at the helm now. Today’s Litton Burger grew from a customer request in 1981. Barry cooked a hamburger on the market’s three-legged skillet – an eight-ounce burger with bacon on a hoagie bun for $1.99.

Being a rebel, Mystery Diner pushed the limit and ordered the Litton Thunder Road Burger. Having had the home-made chicken salad – take a tub home! – the lure of homemade pi-mento cheese on top of the famous burgers was too much to resist. The sautéed onions and jala-

peno peppers as toppers complete the symphony of fl avors.

Rebelling again, I chose a baked sweet po-tato instead of fries, then stole a few fries from my friend’s plate. Both were delicious.

The Thunder Road Burger was perfectly cooked. The pimento cheese was all melty and rich with fl avor that per-fectly complemented the burger and the onions. The buns at Litton’s are fresh, beautifully toasted and delicious. Thunder Road is simply a terrifi c entrée.

But here’s the thing about Litton’s: At some point, you gotta get past the burger. The quality of the food starts with the burger, but it doesn’t stop there. The salads are fresh and huge, with a home-made blue cheese dress-ing that is good enough to dip your fries in. The chicken salad is fi rst class. The steaks are high-end restaurant quality. Don’t even get me started on the onion rings. Desserts are in a class by themselves, with the coconut cream pie and red velvet cake at the top of the list.

If you eat out regu-larly, Litton’s can offer you a variety of great food choices. Every time I go, I vow to order something different, and I am stead-fast in my resolve – right up to the moment they de-liver the burger.

Shopper news • MAY 20, 2015 • 7 weekenderFRIDAY

■ Marble City Shooters in concert, Casual Pint Fountain City, 4842 Harvest Mill Way.

■ Midnight Voyage Live: Vaski and Marley Carroll, 9 p.m., The International, 940 Blackstock Ave. Info/tickets: www.intlknox.com.

■ SAFTA Stage presents “Cages,” 7 p.m., The Emporium’s Black Box, 100 S. Gay St. Plays include: “Tortillas” by Cathy Adams, “A Brief Play” by Alicia Cole, “Shelter” by Laryssa Wirstiuk and “Unactualized” by Saba Waheed. Tickets: $12 in advance or $15 at the door. Info/tickets: www.sundresspublications.com/safta/programs.htm.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY ■ Smoky Mountain Quilters 2015 Quilt Show, Maryville Col-

lege Cooper Athletic Center. Times: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday.

SATURDAY ■ Angela Floyd School for the Dancer Spring Dance Con-

cert, 5 p.m., Knoxville Civic Auditorium, 500 Howard Baker Jr. Ave. Info/tickets: Knoxville Civic Auditorium-Coliseum Box Offi ce, 215-8999; KnoxvilleTickets.com outlets.

■ ATL Takeover in concert, 9 p.m., The Concourse, 940 Black-stock Ave. Info/tickets: www.intlknox.com.

■ Ijams Creature Feature, 10 a.m., Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave. For all ages. Free program, donations to support animal care welcome.

■ Knoxville Track Club Expo 10K and 5K, 8 a.m., 100 block of Gay Street. Race-day registration, 6:15 a.m. Info: www.ktc.org; Justin Emert, emertj@comcast.net, or Kristy Altman, knoxvilletrackclub@gmail.com.

■ Old Time Mountain Music Jam, 1-3 p.m., Candoro Arts and Heritage Center, 4450 Candora Ave. Info: Trudy, 384-1273, or www.candoromarble.org.

■ Sheryl Crow in concert, 8 p.m., Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay St. Info/tickets: www.tennesseetheatre.com, all Ticketmaster outlets, the Tennessee Theatre box offi ce and 800-745-3000.

■ Social Paddle at The Cove!, 9-11 a.m., The Cove at Concord Park, 11808 Northshore Drive. All rental locations are open.

■ Storytellers and Craft Share, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Walter P. Hardy Park, 2020 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. Featuring: “The Story of The Elements” and the “Dreamcatcher”; Kokopelli story sticks craft project; songs and dances. Free event. Bring picnic lunch.

SATURDAY-SUNDAY ■ Statehood Day celebration, Marble Springs State Historic

Site, 1220 W. Gov. John Sevier Highway. Times: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Living history interpreters depict frontier life. Free and open to the public; donations appreciated. Info: 573-5508, www.marblesprings.net.

SUNDAY ■ SAFTA Stage presents “Cages,” 3 p.m., The Emporium’s

Black Box, 100 S. Gay St. Plays include: “Tortillas” by Cathy Adams, “A Brief Play” by Alicia Cole, “Shelter” by Laryssa Wirstiuk and “Unactualized” by Saba Waheed. Tickets: $12 in advance or $15 at the door. Info/tickets: www.sundresspublications.com/safta/programs.htm.

By Betsy PickleOscar nominee Carey

Mulligan (“An Education”) stars in a new adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s liter-ary classic “Far From the Madding Crowd,” opening Friday exclusively at Down-town West.

Mulligan plays Bathshe-ba Everdene, an unusually independent heiress who fi nds herself with three suit-ors: a sheep farmer (Matth-ias Schoenaerts), a dashing offi cer (Tom Sturridge) and a prosperous landowner (Michael Sheen). She must decide which – if any – is

right for her.Thomas Vinterberg (“The

Celebration”), co-founder (along with Lars von Trier) of the Dogme 95 movement, directed the fi lm.

Oscar winner George Clooney is back on the screen in “Tomorrowland,” a fi lm inspired by Walt Dis-ney’s Tomorrowland section of Disneyland and Epcot Center at Disney World.

Clooney plays a former boy genius who went into seclusion when his belief that a better world could ex-ist was destroyed. A science-loving, enthusiastic teen

(Britt Robertson) forces him to go on an adventure to prove that a secret world – Tomorrowland – exists.

Hugh Laurie, Tim Mc-Graw, Kathryn Hahn, Keegan-Michael Key and Judy Greer also star for two-time Oscar-winning director Brad Bird. The fi lm opens in wide release on Friday.

Also opening wide is “Poltergeist,” a remake of director Tobe Hooper’s 1982 horror classic.

Gil Kenan (“Monster House”) directed the new version, which stars Sam

Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt as a couple who move with their three chil-dren into a house in a sub-division that has seen better days.

Strange things imme-diately begin happening in their home, and when their younger daughter dis-appears, they realize that she has been abducted by supernatural forces. They call on a paranormal expert (Jared Harris) and a univer-sity professor (Jane Adams) for help.

Sam Raimi served as a producer on the fi lm.

By Carol ShaneReady for a fun family

outing? One with plenty of violence?

At fi rst glance those two things don’t go together. That’s why it’s important to stress that it’s theatrical violence. And not with guns – no, not by a (groan) long shot. We’re talking swords and quarterstaffs.

This weekend and the next in Harriman, Tenn., lords and ladies will be gathering for the Tennes-see Medieval Faire, and you’re invited. If you’ve ever longed to play dress-up, revel in food and drink from another era, cheer on a real, live jouster or just watch

otherwise sane grownups playing a very high-level form of make-believe, now’s your chance.

The event is produced by Lars and Barrie Paulson, Florida transplants and Ringling Medieval Faire vets who saw opportunity in East Tennessee for some “adventure tourism.” Own-ers and operators of Dark Horse Entertainment, LLC, Lars has specialized in car-pentry – he’s built sets and props for Pigeon Forge’s Titanic Museum, among others – and Barrie has her pedigree in fi ght training and performing. Though she proudly holds credentials in unarmed, single sword and

Thunder Road BurgerMatthias Schoenaerts and Carey Mulligan get close in “Far From the Madding Crowd.”

The Steele Sisters, who bill them-selves as “Beauties with Blades,” will appear at the Tennes-see Medieval Faire this weekend and next. In real life, their names are Nicole Skelly and Saman-tha MacDon-ald, and they get along just fi ne. Photo by Photo Persuasion

for youJoust “There is something for everyone,” Barrie says. “We have live jousting, warriors’ chess, trick shows, Celtic music, belly dancing, tur-key legs.” By the way, dads, there’s plenty of ale, and those frosty tankards are brought to you by “wench-es.” Beer alternatives are also provided. Women may prefer the “quality crafts, interactive period dance, handsome knights and ro-mantic actors.” Kids will enjoy puppet shows, sto-rytellers, games, warhorse and pony rides, and toy ven-dors. There are interactive comedy shows and plenty of good food.

And you and your little ones may end up learning a bit about history in the process. “It’s a new tradi-tion – joust for you,” says the website.

The Tennessee Medieval Faire will run the next two weekends, including Memo-rial Day weekend: May 23-25 and 30-31. Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Ticket prices are $14.95 for ages 13 and up, $7.95 for ages 5 to 12, free for ages 4 and under. Free parking is included. The fes-tival is located at 550 Fiske Road in Harriman.

More info: www.TMFaire.com or visit Facebook. Send story suggestions to news@shoppernewsnow.com.

‘Madding Crowd,’ ‘Tomorrowland,’ ‘Poltergeist’ off er variety

quarterstaff battle – “an extremely diffi cult gold star to get” – she mostly directs performers now.

“It’s been Lars’ lifelong dream to build a Medieval/Renaissance festival ‘right’ from the ground up, in-stead of fi xing other people’s festivals and managing them,” Barrie says. The pair mounted a preview show last October and decided to go full-tilt (sorry) in May 2015 with a three-weekend grand opening.

“It takes a lot of time, money, hard work and com-munity support,” Barrie says. “Medieval/Renais-sance festivals have a re-gional draw. The closest permanent sites for Renais-sance festivals are 150-250 miles away, near Nashville, Atlanta, Charlotte and Lou-isville.” To the Paulsons, East Tennessee seemed ripe for its own permanent site, especially considering the prevalence of Scots-Irish lineage in the area. “If you go up the Appalachian fam-ily tree,” says Barrie, “you get kings and queens. So we want to honor the region’s Celtic heritage.”

And what will you fi nd at the Tennessee Medieval Faire?

George Clooney plays a disillusioned inventor in “Tomorrowland.”

8 • MAY 20, 2015 • Shopper news

By Anne HartLegend has it that at the

end of every rainbow there’s a pot of gold, but at Mission of Hope, the rainbow that graces its logo signifi es something far more valuable than gold.

At the end of Mission of Hope’s rainbow stand dozens of young people with stars in their eyes and dreams in their hearts, each clutching a high school diploma and the promise of a college scholar-ship awarded by the organiza-tion that serves the families of poverty-stricken rural Appalachia in countless ways throughout the year.

One of those scholarship recipients is rising Middle Tennessee State University

(MTSU) junior Kellie Taylor. Mission of Hope Executive

Director Emmette Thompson describes her as “the zenith of what Mission of Hope has done so far in rural, dis-tressed communities.”

Poised, articulate, utterly delightful and well on the way to realizing her dreams, Kel-lie was a sixth grader in one of those rural schools when she fi rst encountered Mission of Hope.

“I remember when they came at Christmas and Santa pulled back those big sheets and uncovered all those toys and bikes and all kinds of wonderful things. It was one of the best days ever.”

It’s apparent, though, that

Kellie Taylor had also learned all about generosity at home. “My mom wanted me to give some of my toys to other kids,” she remembers with a smile.

That magical day in the life of a sixth grader marked the beginning of a long-term relationship between Kellie and Mission of Hope.

When she graduated from high school, Kellie says she cried when once again a sheet covering a big table was pulled back and every single student who had been award-ed a college scholarship from Mission of Hope also received a brand new laptop computer to help them in their college studies.

NEWS FROM MISSION OF HOPE

Kellie Taylor Photo by A. Hart

Thompson

What’s at the end of your rainbow?“It was very emotional for

everyone,” she recalls.Off to college with lap-

top in hand and a major in organizational communica-tions and minors in Spanish and psychology ahead of her, she landed a position as a reporter for the MTSU school newspaper her very fi rst semester.

And that was just the beginning.

Now she has won what she excitedly terms “my dream internship.”

In the fall she will head to Orlando to work at Disney World for a semester while continuing her work toward a degree at MTSU online.

“I can’t wait,” she enthuses. “I feel mature, but I’m a kid at heart. Every work uniform there is a costume. When I was a kid I used to dream of things like being a movie star, but this is a bigger dream than I ever had before.”

Kellie says one of the best things about having a Mis-sion of Hope scholarship is that “they don’t just hand you money and let you go. They stay with you. I have a mentor who sends me cards and keeps up with me and encourages me, and I feel like Emmette is my best friend.

Emmette Thompson says the schol-arship pro-gram, funded by donations, has seen great success. Thir-teen schol-arships are awarded an-

nually. To date, 73 have been granted, 17 recipients have graduated and two students

are in graduate school. “So far, of all the kids we

have helped, 87 percent are the fi rst in their family to graduate from high school, 97 percent are the fi rst to gradu-ate from college. With over-whelming percentages, they will make sure their children graduate. We are breaking the cycle of poverty one kid at a time.”

Thompson says that while Mission of Hope is known for gifts to children at Christmas and school supplies at the start of the school year, the program is ongoing through-out the year.

“We say that we bloom like a tree with roots and branches. The roots are the elementary schools and mountain ministry centers. We make the donations to them and they do the distri-bution because they know the families and where the needs are greatest.”

The branches are re-sources: back-to-school items, construction, health care, scholarship and evangelism.

A total of 27 elementary schools, which feed into 13 high schools, and 55 ministry centers are served.

Kellie Taylor doesn’t know what her career will be after graduation, but she says one of the fi rst things she will do “is give back to a child. Em-mette told me just today that someone has to pick up the baton.”

She wants to see more young people standing at the end of that rainbow.

For additional informa-tion or to make a donation to Mission of Hope: 584-7571 or www.missionofhope.org.

NORTH/EAST Shopper news • MAY 20, 2015 • 9 kids

THROUGH SATURDAY, JUNE 20Online registration open for Race to benefi t the

Corryton Community Food Pantry, to be held Saturday, June 20. Event is part of “The Run and See Tennessee Grand Prix Series.” To register: https://runnerreg.us/corryton8mile. Info: corryton8miler@yahoo.com; ron.fuller@totalracesolutions.com; or Joyce Harrell, 705-7684.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20Dollywood Penguin Players present “Old Bear

and His Cub,” 4 p.m., Carter Branch Library, 9036 Asheville Highway. Info: 933-5438.

Fish Fry, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Sharps Chapel Senior/Community Center. All seniors welcome. Bring a cov-ered dish.

International Folk Dance Class, 7:30-10 p.m., Claxton Community Center, 1150 Edgemoor Road, Clinton. Sponsored by the Oak Ridge Folk Dancers. First visit free. No partner or dance experience required. Adults and children accompanied by an adult welcome. Info: Paul Taylor, 898-5724; www.oakridgefolkdancers.org; on Facebook.

WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY, MAY 20-21AARP Safe Driving class, noon-4 p.m., O’Connor

Senior Center, 611 Winona St. Info/to register: Carolyn Rambo, 382-5822.

THURSDAY, MAY 21Burlington Game Night, 5:30-8 p.m., Burlington

Branch Library, 4614 Asheville Highway. Info: 525-5431.Dollywood Penguin Players present “Old Bear

and His Cub,” 4 p.m., Norwood Branch Library, 1110 Merchants Drive. Info: 688-2454.

Family Pajama Storytime, 6:30 p.m., Halls Branch Library, 4518 E. Emory Road. Info: 922-2552.

Growing “Killer Tomatoes” class, 3:15-4:30 p.m., Humana Guidance Center, 4438 Western Ave. Free to the public. Presented by Master Gardeners Joe Pardue and Marcia Griswold. Info: 329-8892.

Suicide Prevention Training, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Revival Vision Church, 154 Durham Drive, Maynardville. No registration fee; lunch provided. RSVP required. Con-tact hour certifi cates available. Info/RSVP: Rita Fazekas, 266-3989 or rita.fazekas@cherokeehealth.com.

FRIDAY, MAY 22Dollywood Penguin Players present “Old Bear

and His Cub,” 3:30 p.m., Burlington Branch Library, 4614 Asheville Highway. Info: 525-5431.

Dollywood Penguin Players present “Old Bear and His Cub,” 10:30 a.m., Powell Branch Library, 330 W. Emory Road. Info: 947-6210.

Gala Day, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Union County Senior Cen-ter, 298 Main St., Maynardville. All seniors welcome. Bring side item to go with barbecue. Music, food and fun; door prizes, volunteer recognition, crowning of the next king and queen. Info: 992-3292.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY, MAY 22-24Smoky Mountain Quilters 2015 Quilt Show

(35th annual), Maryville College Cooper Athletic Center. Times: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday.

SATURDAY, MAY 23Church yard sale, 8 a.m.-2 p.m., Lighthouse Chris-

tian Church, 8015 Facade Lane. Memorial Wildfl ower Garden Seed Sow-

ing, 6-6:30 p.m., Mac Smith Resource Center, Narrow Ridge, 1936 Liberty Hill Road in Washburn. Info: Mitzi, 497-3603 or community@narrowridge.org.

Music Jam, 7-10 p.m., Mac Smith Resource Center, Narrow Ridge, 1936 Liberty Hill Road in Washburn. Info: Mitzi, 497-3603 or community@narrowridge.org.

MONDAY, MAY 25Memorial Day Ceremony, 11 a.m., Union County

Court House, Main Street in Maynardville.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 27Computer Workshops: Internet and Email

Basics,” 2 p.m., Burlington Branch Library, 4614 Ashe-ville Highway. Requires “Introducing the Computer” or equivalent skills. Info/to register: 525-5431.

Sarah Moore Greene Magnet Academy recently hosted the fi nal showcase of the season, Multimedia Madness. The event gave parents and guests an op-portunity to see the great work the students have completed this school year.

I attended the event to host a booth for the com-munity school’s newspa-per club, an after-school program Sandra Clark and I have worked with on Wednesday afternoons. Sandra’s main goal for the club was to work with and

East Knox County Ele-mentary School security re-source offi cer Jimmy Dance was recognized by chief Gus Paidousis as the offi cer of the year for Knox County Schools.

East Knox principal Kris-ti Woods said the school is blessed to have him there.

“Offi cer Dance not only keeps our school physi-cally safe, he works to keep it emotionally safe as well,” she said.

“Students know he is an-other trusted adult they can go to when they need some-thing. He is a team player. He pitches in wherever he sees a need. He is proactive in making plans to improve

the safety of our campus.”And assistant principal

Theresa Winburn said Of-fi cer Dance stands out be-cause of his willingness to do whatever it takes to keep students, teachers and the school safe.

“He is constantly think-ing about ways to improve safety. For example, one of the first things he did was suggest we have fencing all around the school to ensure our students were safe the entire day. He also rerouted traffic around the school. This not only keeps our students safe but helps keeps the f low of traffic moving, which helps our parents get to

where they are going moreefficiently.

“He walks our campusevery day, checking doors tomake sure they are secure.He also checks on studentswho may need an extrafriend. He is an excellentsupport to all our students,and they know they haveanother adult they can talkto if they need it.

“He makes our schoola better place because wenever have to worry aboutour safety. He is proactiveand always on alert. He is ateam player, and he pitchesin wherever he sees a need.We are grateful to have suchan amazing security offi cerwatching over us!”

■ Dutton inks with Milligan CollegeCarter High senior Blake Dutton has

signed to play baseball at Milligan College next year.

The four-year start-er played second base for the Hornets and was named to the All-District team his junior and senior years. While at Carter, Blake learned how to be a better play-

er and a better practice player from his coaches and teammates.

He selected Milligan College be-cause it felt like a good fi t to him. While in school he plans to study business and minor in education.

Blake also played for the Runnin’ Hornets – the school basketball team – where he was a two-year starter, was captain his senior year and was named to the All-Region Tournament team.

Attending the signing with Blake were his parents, David and Toni Noe, siblings Justin and Alyssa Dutton, grandfathers Larry Hughes and Dale Noe, a host of friends and teammates.

Blake Dutton

Jarmarion Chambers, Sarah Moore Greene ambassador, hands out programs for the showcase event.

Erion Lee and Arianna Bailey pose for pictures during Multi-media Madness at Sarah Moore Greene. Photos by newspaper clubmember Jarmarion Chambers

Jimmy Dance, school resource offi cer a t East Knox Elementary School, was named offi cer of theyear for Knox County Schools. Pictured are school board chair Mike McMillan; Gus Paidousis,chief of KCS security; Dance and Dr. Jim McIntyre, superintendent.

Maurice Davis checks out the newspaper club booth at the showcase. Photo by R. White

Joseph Lundy (the lion) and Taylor Styles per-

form a scene from “Wel-come to the Jungle” dur-

ing a recent showcase. The play was performed

by the drama, choral and improv clubs.

Dion Dykes, Jai’Queze Fain and Madison Thomas watch the performances during the showcase. Jai’Queze is on duty for the night, videotaping the showcase for the school. Offi cer Dance gets county honor

Multimedia Madness at SMGRuth

White

guide budding journalists in hopes of the students being able to independently report on school events during the year.

Upon entering the gym, I was approached by student ambassador and newspaper

club member Jarmarion Chambers. His fi rst ques-tion was, “Can I take pic-tures?” I was reluctant to turn over my camera to him, and then he said, “I am part of the newspaper club.” It hit me: This is the golden opportunity that Sandra and I have worked for all year long, so I gave him my camera and waited for his return.

Like a true journalist, Jarmarion made his way through the crowd snap-ping photos, and as a per-formance began on stage,

he zoomed in on the action and returned with some very good photographs. I am especially proud of the composition of his photo featuring friends Erion Lee and Arianna Bailey.

10 • MAY 20, 2015 • NORTH/EAST Shopper news

CallCall

Since 1971

925-3700

SSoutheastoutheastTERMITE AND PEST CONTROL

Termites?

Rated A+

business

Bob Elmore, one busy man

who wants his clients to get to know him and be com-fortable asking questions. He also enjoys the commu-nity service opportunities through Modern Woodmen.

The “Matching Funds Program” has helped fami-lies, schools and other or-ganizations in our area. Halls High School, Adrian Burnett and West Haven elementary schools have received matching funds as well as the Agape Out-reach Homes on Jacksboro Pike. Bob explained how an organization in need of new equipment or supplies can raise money through a fundraising effort. Modern Woodmen will then match these funds up to $2,000.

Bob truly feels “at home” with Modern Woodmen. “I’ve become part of their family and they’ve become part of mine,” he says. He understands most people don’t want to think about death and their need for life insurance, but “provid-ing the services I can of-fer is important for family, friends and community.”

When not working, Bob and his wife stay busy with their four kids ranging in age from 2 to 9. He coaches baseball in the spring and fall and basketball in the winter. Bob says they defi -nitely couldn’t do all they do without their families who are “a great support sys-tem.” This busy two-career family is also active at Cen-tral Baptist Church. Bob’s favorite hobby is “playing around on the farm in the dirt.”

Bob’s offi ce is located at 5915 Rutledge Pike. Info: modern-woodmen.org or phone 546-0804 or 300-3479.

It was eye-opening to meet with Bob Elmore last

week. I met Bob over a year ago through the East Towne B u s i n e s s Alliance. A loyal mem-ber, he is c u r r e n t l y s e c r e t a r y

for the group. I just didn’t realize how busy his life is.

Bob’s background in-cludes the grocery busi-ness, but when he was ap-proached by a friend about getting into fi nancial ser-vices he decided to take a leap of faith. After he got his life insurance license, a new road led him to become a district agent for Modern Woodmen of America.

My fi rst misconcep-tion of a company with the word “modern” in the name is they are new. Modern Woodmen of America was founded in 1886. When asked the secret to the com-pany’s longevity, Bob says, “They take care of their peo-ple, and their products are affordable.”

It is obvious how proud Bob is to be part of this com-pany. Modern Woodmen is a “fraternal benefi t society – it is owned and operated by members to make sure the company is solid,” says Bob. He knows his clients are all individuals who need specialized treatment. “I try not to cookie cut a plan for everyone.”

Modern Woodmen of-fers life insurance and an-nuity products, retirement plans, investment products and even banking services. There is a huge list of frater-nal benefi ts for members. There is never a charge for Bob to evaluate an indi-vidual’s or family’s current plans.

“We just go in and try to educate and encourage our potential clients to learn more about what they have with their current plan – not only individually but also the employee benefi ts they currently have,” says Bob. He is a hands-on agent

Nancy Whittaker

Bob Elmore

The cemetery was opened 115 years ago by Dr. Reuben and Frances Kesterson to memorialize their son, Rob-ert Neil, who died at age 3.

Fountain City historian Dr. Jim Tumblin relates the story on his website. Robert was initially buried near Dr. Kesterson’s parents in Old Gray Cemetery. Frances and Reuben toured the coun-try, inspecting cemeteries to build a fi tting memorial to their son. They found it at Green-Wood, a 478-acre rural cemetery in Brooklyn, N.Y.

The Kestersons bought 175 acres on Tazewell Pike and erected a 45-foot mar-ble obelisk to memorialize their son. Tumblin said it was situated to be visible from the upstairs dormer windows of the Kesterson home.

Dr. Kesterson was the fi rst licensed dentist to prac-tice in Knoxville. He and Frances enjoyed the town’s fi rst Cadillac, a bright red coupe.

Kim Powers Bridges is a fan. She bought a bright red and white electric car to

give tours of the cemetery. She’s visited with Dr. Tum-blin and spent time at the Lawson-McGhee Library to learn the history of the Kes-tersons and their cemetery.

Most important, she and husband Dennis view them-selves as caretakers of the Kestersons’ vision.

On Friday, May 22, they will celebrate the history of Greenwood Cemetery, 3500 Tazewell Pike. Guided golf cart tours will be provided all weekend.

While much remains to be done, the Bridges family has made major improve-ments since buying the cem-etery last October.

Workers have cleared the area around the Kesterson family plot. Several monu-ments have been steam-washed. An old chain-link fence at the front of the property is gone and will be replaced by black rail fenc-ing. Seasonal fl owers have been added to the front gate, and the offi ce is being reno-vated.

Kim Bridges is especially eager to obtain pictures, family histories and memo-

rabilia from the cemetery’spast.

With almost 25,000 peo-ple interred here, there hasto be much history, she said.Sadly, previous owners dis-posed of much of that his-tory. “We have all recordshere since 1900,” she said.“We have a burial card forevery person.

“We waited (from Octo-ber until May) to announcethe ownership change be-cause we wanted to ‘show’rather than ‘tell’ what wewill do,” she said.

Kim, an Oklahoma na-tive, and Dennis, who grewup in Karns, met whileworking for a large funeralhome corporation. Kimsaid her orange suit caughthis eye. Between them theyhave six kids, ranging in agefrom 12 to 36.

Dennis, a funeral homedirector, fulfi lled a lifelongdream when the coupleopened Bridges FuneralHome in 2004. They alsoown cemeteries in threestates, but Knoxville ishome. “When I’m in town,I’m here,” Kim said ofGreenwood.

Dennis and Kim Bridges are

the new owners of Green-

wood Cemetery. Photo by S. Clark

New owners for Greenwood Cemetery

Friday, weekend tours set

Shipwash named equity and compliance directorPatrick Shipwash has joined the staff of Pellissippi State

Community College as the new executive director of equity and compliance.

In his role, Shipwash will serve as af-fi rmative action offi cer, equity and compli-ance offi cer, Title IX and Title VI coordina-tor, and ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) offi cer.

Previously, Shipwash worked for TVA’s law enforcement branch, the Tennessee Department of Human Services’ Offi ce of Inspector General, and Southern Califor-nia Edison’s equal opportunity and ethics

and compliance offi ces. He retired from Southern Califor-nia Edison in 2013.

Shipwash

By Sandra ClarkGreenwood Cemetery is

getting a facelift from its new owners, Dennis and Kim Bridges from Bridges Funeral Home.

Bush & Lane Victrola – It works!! 20 Pieces of Fenton – 2 signed by 11 Fentons, Pulaski Curio, 32 Cal Vest Pocket Revolver, Mens 7 Diamond 14K Ring, Bernhardt Triple China Hutch w/Matching Table, 6 Chairs & Server, Retro Patio Set, Hardin

Brass & Glass Tables, Oak Pedestal w/4 Leather Bottom Chairs, Tobacco

Twist Server, Waterford & Lenox Lamps & Table Clocks, Conga Drum,

Pet Hotels, Pictures, Albums, a Plethora of Other Items.

For pictures of these & other items go to: WWW.AUCTIONZIP.COM & enter Auctioneer ID # 22892.

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MEMORIAL DAY AUCTION FUNMonday, May 25 • 10:00AM

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Stop in our offi ce to apply at 5416 S Middlebrook Pikeor spply online at: www.ResourceMFG.COM

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Come see us, you won’t be disappointed!

• Roses – Over 200 varieties• Vegetables• Fruit Trees • Herbs • Berries• Containers & Garden Art• Trees, Shrubs & Native Plants• Annuals & Perennials• Bedding Plants

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OPEN MEMORIAL DAY • 9AM - 5PM

NO SALES TAX ON PLANTS!

FREE!Thousands of blooming baskets to choose from.

DIRECTIONS:From downtown, cross Henley St. Bridge to L on Lippencott

and R on Davenport.

By Sandra Clark Food City has always

got something going on. Last week it was a charity golf tournament and media gathering in Sevierville. Af-ter a great buffet lunch and an update by president/CEO Steven Smith, Food City sent us away with a neat gift bag of computer peripher-als and a box of fresh Scott’s strawberries.

What’s not to like?We saw John Jones, for-

mer Halls guy who moved to Abingdon, Va., when he was promoted. Emerson Breeden was there. He’s on his 61st year with the com-pany. John Edd Wampler of sausage fame gave the invocation. Drew Hembree, grandson of the founder, was introduced as interim director of marketing – a fresh, young face for Food City.

Jones presented a check for $235,000 to the Ju-venile Diabetes Research Foundation. The funds were collected from customers

Mary Moreland, executive director of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation; Kassie Per-

kins, Miss Food City 2015; and John Jones, Food City’s executive vice president/director of store

operations.

Food City grows; supports JDRF

who purchased a “sneaker” at checkout March 28 to May 3.

Smith said over the past fi ve years Food City and its customers have contributed more than $900,000 to the organization.

And Juvenile Diabetes is just one of the company’s partners. There are School Bucks, which supports local schools, and Race for Hun-ger, which supports area

food banks.Smith talked about the

growth of Sevier County. “We have fi ve stores here now and a sixth will start this year.” He said his dad, Jack Smith, began the gro-cery chain in 1955 with one Piggly Wiggly.

Food City has grown to annual sales of $2.3 billion, “and we’re No. 1 or No. 2 in every market where we serve,” Smith said.

Food City has introduced a new website and an en-hanced ValuCard that can upload targeted coupons to customers. Next up is curbside grocery pickup at selected stores. A new store is being built in Blaine (Grainger County), part of a $60 million capital invest-ment this year. And next year’s media lunch will bring more innovations.

I’m ready.

Shopper news • MAY 20, 2015 • 11

SALES • SERVICE • MAINTENANCEFamily Business Serving You Over 20 YearsFamily Business Serving You Over 20 Years

5715 Old Tazewell Pike • 687-2520“Cantrell’s Cares”“Cantrell’s Cares”

God Bless the USAGod Bless the USA

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“And I’m proud to be an American,where at least I know I’m free.And I won’t forget the men who died,who gave that right to me.”

– Lee Greenwood

Have a happy and safe Memorial Day!Monday, May 25, 2015

Knoxville native, Brill, and her band have toured with Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam, The Band Perry, Blues Traveler and Steve Earle.

With headliner

Logan Brillperforming

8:30 to 10:00 on Friday

Other groups performing during the two days are Fairview Union, Second Opinion, Public Apology,

The Early Morning String Dusters, Roger Alan Wade and others to be announced.

May 29 & 30 • World’s Fair ParkFriday, May 29 • 5-10

Saturday, May 30 • 10-6

For information and ticket availability

www.rockytopbbq.com

The Rotary Club of Bearden presents

The 3rd Annual

2 Days of MUSIC, FOOD &ENTERTAINMENT for the entire family!

Space donated by:

12 • MAY 20, 2015 • Shopper news

CARS • BOATS • HOMES • VACATIONS SPRING into action and apply for a loan for your “Spring Thing!” Easy

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