NEIGHBORHOOD BUZZ

Fulton football to be honored

The Army National Guard national ranking trophy will be given to the Fulton High School football team at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 26, in the school auditorium as part of the MaxPreps Football Tour of Champions.

Fulton (15-0) fi nished No. 129 in the fi nal rankings after completing its fi rst unbeaten season since 1967 and winning the state championship in 4A. MaxPreps ranks more than 16,000 varsity high school football teams. All are invited.

Public forum on Jackson Avenue

Officials will host a public meeting to discuss redevel-opment of the 500 block of West Jackson Avenue where the city cleared the McClung Warehouses following a fire.

Potential developers, downtown advocates and anyone with a redevelopment idea or suggestion is invited at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 3, at the Southern Depot, 318 W. Depot Ave.

What really matters ...

Fans are buzzing about the Tennessee quarterback derby. The race is on to determine who starts the last Saturday in August. Of course that is a big deal but the Vols can line up with any of the four.

➤ Read Marvin West on page 5

IN THIS ISSUE

SKA’s banner haulEvery month, members of

the South Knoxville Alliance head to Fort Dickerson to pick up trash, and every month they collect several bags’ worth.

But on March 15, they made a banner haul.

➤ Read Betsy Pickle on page 3

VOL. 2 NO. 12 March 24, 2014www.ShopperNewsNow.com | www.facebook.com/ShopperNewsNow

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By Betsy PickleThe sounds of percussion and

smiles on the faces of participants in the weekly drum circle at the East Tennessee Technology Ac-cess Center make it clear – ETTAC has found its rhythm.

ETTAC, 116 Childress St., is a nonprofi t devoted to giving people with disabilities access to and through technology. The new drum circle, which meets from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, gives young people access to mu-sical instruments so they can ex-press themselves.

Coordinated by April Stephens of the Cerebral Palsy Center, the group is open to anyone with a disability, along with family and friends.

“It’s a traditional circle because it’s about self-expression, but it isn’t traditional in the way that we have people who want to have less control and more direction,” says Stephens. It’s a learning time and a social time, she says. “It’s a way to make the day a little bit more fun.”

ETTAC, which serves 24 coun-ties, celebrated its 25th anniver-sary last year. It has grown from a basement at the University of Tennessee to offi ces on Broadway to its impressive facility on Chil-dress, a block off Chapman High-way just south of the Taliwa Drive traffi c light. But director Lois Symington worries that the center still lacks visibility.

“We need people in the South Knoxville community who have disabilities and have family mem-bers with disabilities to know we are here, and we’re a community re-source for them,” says Symington.

Jason Oglesby has a blast playing a drum.

Ja’doriauna Williamson (left) trades a high-fi ve with Cierra Burdick. With

them are (left, partly hidden) Tyree Gibson and Kobe Glass.

Houston Vandergriff and his mom, Katie, enjoy participating in

the weekly drum circle at ETTAC. Katie homeschools Houston, a

ninth-grader who has benefi ted from ETTAC programs since he

was 5. Photos by Betsy Pickle

ETTAC makesfun fi t

“We’ve got a basement full of durable medical equipment to give away to anybody who lacks insur-ance or money to get what they need. We have literacy services, equipment programs, veterans’ services.”

ETTAC tackles things many take for granted. It helps peo-ple with disabilities adapt their homes to make them more livable and teaches people who are blind how to use cell phones.

The center also has battery-operated toys that it has adapted for easier use by children with dis-abilities. A toy that might cost more than $160 at retail usually can be adapted for about $3 in parts.

ETTAC never denies services because people can’t afford to pay, and it also offers free programs. One example is its Accessible

Movie Night & Dinner, which is held quarterly in the center’s spacious basement. “The Aveng-ers” will be shown this Friday, with a pizza dinner at 6 p.m. and the movie at 7 p.m.

“People with dis-abilities don’t get to go to the movies with their friends,” says Symington.

Theaters don’t allow for multiple wheelchairs, and the spaces are often too close to the screen, where the volume can bother those with sensory is-sues.

“We make ours accessible on the front end,” Symington says. “It’s captioned, if you’re deaf. We have the descriptive video, if

you’re blind. It’s completely ac-cessible, if you want to come with your friend who also uses a chair.”

Movie nights can turn into a family affair.

“Last fall, I noticed that some

To page 3

By Kelly NorrellWhen Tyree Gibson, age 10,

shot baskets with UT basketball player Cierra Burdick recently, he tried to steal the ball from her and missed.

“You need to spend some time in the weight room,” Burdick teased Tyree. They were playing pickup basketball with some other neighborhood kids in JustLead, Emerald Youth Foundation’s lead-ership program for children at Mount Zion Baptist Church. Em-erald is a nonprofi t ministry that serves about 1,400 inner-city chil-dren yearly with faith, education and sports programs.

“Aw, you’re just older than me,” Tyree said. He added: “I don’t care if she is an SEC champion.”

Standout forward Burdick

laughed. She and her UT team-mates had just won the SEC wom-en’s basketball tournament in Du-luth. (They went on to receive a No. 1 seed for the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.) On this day, Burdick was doing another of the things she is passionate about – being a role model and friend to inner-city kids.

Burdick comes to Mount Zion Baptist in East Knoxville each Monday afternoon as a member of the UT DREAM (Daring to Role Model Excellence as an Athletic Mentor) Team, an outreach she initiated locally to benefi t area children. In February, the SEC commended Burdick for the work of the DREAM Team.

Burdick and her peers are com-mitted to being drug, alcohol,

Kids share the ‘dream’ with UT athletes

tobacco and violence free, and to promoting that lifestyle among kids. Since early January, she and fi ve other UT athletes have

been spending regular after school time each week with the about 75

By Sandra ClarkLast week candidate Bobby

Waggoner said at any given time there are fewer than 30 offi cers on patrol in the 400 square miles beyond the city limits, the area pa-trolled by the Sheriff’s Offi ce.

We asked Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones for a response and were told “The Sheriff doesn’t respond to purely political innuendos.”

This writer is old enough to re-member when Bobby’s grandpa, the late Bernard Waggoner Sr.,

was sheriff. In the mid-1960s, Knox County had four cars on patrol for each shift: south, east, north, west. Tim Hutchison drove on the north patrol.

Since then, under Hutchison’s leadership, the Sheriff’s Offi ce has

Counting the county patrol grown to some 1,000 employees. Most are eligible for a generous pension.

And I believe the folks who are paying the bills deserve to know how many offi cers are patrolling the neighborhoods on each shift.

It’s a simple question. Stay tuned. We will continue to ask un-til you get an answer.

Williams Creek public meeting

The city of Knoxville and Tennessee Clean Water Network are co-sponsoring a public meeting from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 25, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 600 S. Chestnut Street, to discuss the Williams Creek Urban For-est in East Knoxville.

Topics will include the de-velopment of the urban forest and amenities it will provide to the community, the closure of Dailey Street and the history of the project site. Everyone is invited to come learn more about the project.

2 • MARCH 24, 2014 • Shopper news

health & lifestyles

RESTORING ABILITIES. REBUILDING LIVES.

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Will and Dawn James of Knoxville are the proud parents of Skylar and Elijah. Elijah’s story has

captured the heart of many, thanks to his courageous battle with rachischisis. Dawn says of her

son, “He’s very much an extrovert and a bit of a show-off .”

A real life superheroLike the Superman hero he adores,

Elijah James, 3, has an entire city cheer-ing for him.

The son of Will and Dawn James of Knoxville, Eli is something of a pint-sized celebrity in his hometown. He has been featured in an article in the News Sentinel, has a video on KnoxNews.com, a Facebook fan page with more than 10,000 likes (Elijah James Journey) and has even been featured in the Journal of Pediatric Neurology.

That’s because Eli is something of a miracle. He was born with rachischisis, sometimes called complete spina bifida. It is a condition in which the entire spine is open, exposing the spinal cord.

The condition has always been con-sidered fatal; however, Eli has defied all odds. Although he is unable to walk, crawl or sit unassisted and has limited strength in his hands, Eli’s big personal-ity makes up for physical limits.

“That child is pure joy to work with, I can’t even begin to tell you,” said Michelle Lloyd, a physical therapist at the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center. Lloyd is cur-rently working with Eli to learn to use a motorized wheelchair.

Eli loves to talk and sing, and has an infectious laugh. He plays with his dogs, his big sister Skylar, his parents and his friends at preschool.

“He flirts with all the nurses. He’s very much an extrovert and a bit of a show-off,” said Dawn James, with a laugh. “He will tell you he’s awesome.”

And at the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center, Eli has captured the hearts of the staff.

Lloyd started working with Eli last October to find a motorized wheelchair with a customized seat to fit the curve of his spine and easy switches he could manipulate on his own. They settled on a three-button system, one each for left, right and straight ahead, mounted on a small table in front of the seat.

Now that the chair is ready, Eli is on a roll. In therapy sessions once a week, he cruises easily around the floor, saying hello to everyone and exploring on his own.

“He immediately figured out he can go places and explore his world, instead of being stuck in one spot,” said Dawn James. “It has broadened his entire world, just like it does with any exploring

Custom chairs for each individualThe Patricia Neal Rehabilitation

Center can customize a wheelchair to fi t any patient’s individual mobility needs.

“We offer highly customized feeding and positioning for clients who have a lot of diffi culties being positioned in their care,” said Michelle Lloyd, a thera-pist at the center.

“We do powered mobility not just with standard joy stick training, but also with alternative drive control. We have fi ber optic switches, or any kind of drive control available,” said Lloyd. “If they have the cognitive ability to drive a wheelchair, we can fi nd them a technol-ogy to get them mobility.”

Upcoming ‘Covenant Presents’ at Strang Center focuses on Stroke RehabOnce a month, a group of senior adults gathers at the Frank

R. Strang Senior Center in West Knoxville to learn information about a variety of health and lifestyle topics called “Covenant Presents.”

Covenant Health includes nine hospitals, employs thousands of medical professionals, and is affiliated with more than 1,300 of the region’s elite physicians of many different specialties. The new, expanded program connects medical professionals with local seniors to present health and lifestyle topics of inter-est to the group, topics such as medication safety, diabetes edu-cation, and vision and neurological conditions. The program’s purpose is to provide valuable health care information, as well as create an opportunity for participants to have concerns and questions answered.

On Wednesday, April 23, Dr. Mary E. Dillon, medical di-rector for Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center, will talk about stroke rehabilitation. With the world-renown Patricia Neal Re-

hab located on the campus of Fort Sanders Regional, patients find therapy more convenient for themselves and their families.

For more information about “Covenant Presents,” or about the pro-grams and services of Covenant Health, call 865-541-4500.

toddler. They learn about their world by going and seeing and doing. Limiting his mobility is so detrimental to his health on every level.”

To make therapy fun for Halloween in 2013, Lloyd transformed the therapy room into “Gotham City.” Therapists, volunteers and patients pretended the

city was under attack from villains, anddefended it with silly string battles. Lloyd dressed as Wonder Woman, and DawnJames dressed as Catwoman.

And Eli? Well, of course, he was Su-perman.

“We bought him the Superman paja-mas and a cape for this event, and he ab-solutely loved it,” said Dawn James.

“So now he has gotten completely hung up on Superman, from that day,” she said. “The power wheelchair is his ‘Superman chair,’ and he goes very fast, ‘Like Superman.’ He’s got three Super-man sweatshirts, and a couple of shirts and pajamas, and he has to wear Super-man, or Mickey Mouse, all the time.”

“It was a fun way of doing mobility ex-ercises,” Lloyd said of their Halloween party. “Eli had to seek out and find peo-ple, and then he had to remember what to do next.”

Despite the fun and developmental importance of the wheelchair, the diffi-cult reality right now is that the family’s insurance will not pay for it. The James family and the Patricia Neal staff are ap-pealing the decision.

“Mobility is important in vision de-velopment and cognition,” said Lloyd. “When you learn depth perception, you have to physically move to develop that. A typical developing child learns that when they start to walk, but Eli can’t.”

Dawn James said the fight with insur-ance is stressful, especially as she juggles Eli’s physical needs and those of the rest of the family. She said she has been grate-ful to have the support of the staff of the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center.

“We have been just blown away by how wonderful everybody there has been with us,” she said. “Not just the therapistswe’re dealing with, but the other hospital employees we run into in the hall, or thepeople that work in the café.

“They all recognize Eli, and they are sovery warm and welcoming. It’s so beauti-ful to see no pity towards my son, becausethat’s something we don’t ever want. Wewant him treated just like every otherchild is treated, and we’ve definitely felt that,” she said.

“If anything, there’s been nothing butawe, and wonder and excitement abouthis case. It’s been such a joyful experi-ence for us at Patricia Neal. We highly recommend them to anybody.”

Dr. Mary E. Dillon, medical director for

Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center

“Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center is the most intense, comprehensive, specialized care you can fi nd.” – Dr. Mary Dillon, medical director

Shopper news • MARCH 24, 2014 • 3

Every month, members of the South Knoxville Alli-ance head to Fort Dickerson to pick up trash, and every month they collect several bags’ worth.

But on March 15, they made a banner haul, fi lling the bed of a pickup truck with not just trash bags but also a tire, a rug and other discarded items. Apparently someone decided to use the park as a dump site.

South Knoxville has earned a reputation for the beauty of its parks, which are enjoyed by neighbors as well as people from other parts of town. SKA has ad-opted Fort Dickerson and is dedicated to keeping it clean, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us should use it as a dumping ground.

While I doubt that Shop-per readers are litterbugs, we can do our part to keep our parks beautiful. Pick up trash if you can, and report dump sites to the city or county. Please.

SKA had its regular monthly meeting last Mon-day. Plans are still being fi -nalized for the launch of a regular SKA promotion, but the event will now start in June instead of April.

The group is working on a brochure featuring South Knoxville merchants and has hired Tasha Mahurin to oversee public relations and social media.

School board candidate Amber Rountree, an Island Home resident and librar-ian at Halls Elementary School, visited SKA to in-troduce herself and pass around campaign materials. Rountree will participate at

Larry Hurst, Eric Johnson, Larry Setzer, Gene Burr and Edward McDonald load a tarp with brush

trimmings during the Vestal Community Organization’s workday at Mary Vestal Park.

Trash from the SKA’s

March cleanup day fi lls the

back of a pickup truck.

John Matteson, Evan Carawan and John Brown,

aka the Celtic Collaborators, entertain attend-

ees at Luck o’ the Ijams, a nod to St. Patrick’s Day

at Ijams Nature Center. Naomi, 17 months, with her mom,

Laura Carawan, enjoys listening to

Dad, Evan Carawan, play at Luck o’

the Ijams.

John Ryan, Antoinette Fritz, Marty McWhirter, Bob Riehl and

Carl Hensley fi ll up on trash at Fort Dickerson. Photos by Betsy Pickle

SKA – picking up after us

Betsy Pickle

the League of Women Vot-ers school board candidate forum at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 1, at Pellissippi State-Magnolia Campus, 1610 E. Magnolia Ave.

■ Clearing a path at Mary Vestal ParkThe Vestal Community

Organization had park cleanup on its mind, just like SKA, on March 15.

Instead of going after trash, however, the mem-bers of VCO took pruning implements to Mary Vestal Park to clear brush away from the walking trail and make it more visible from Maryville Pike.

The group spent several hours cutting back brush and using weed wrenches to dig out invasive plants. They expressed thanks to Jeff Mansour of the Aslan Foundation of Lori Go-erlich, coordinator of parks and greenways for the city of Knoxville, for the loan of some of the tools they used.

■ Luck o’ the IjamsIjams Nature Center

thinks green year-round, but the center got a little greener with a pre-St. Pat-rick’s Day celebration on Friday, March 14.

The party marked the

halfway point of Ijams’ sec-ond annual Hike-A-Thon fundraiser and was sup-posed to feature an evening hike, but for some reason, people seemed more in-terested in staying inside. Hmm, wonder why?

The Ijams website prom-ised food, beer and mu-sic. What it didn’t say was, “Wow!” And that’s what attendees got, thanks to a performance by the Celtic Collaborators – Evan Cara-wan on hammer dulcimer, John Brown on guitar and vocals and John Matteson on standup bass.

The trio formed a couple of years ago but has been on hiatus for a while. Carawan promises they will be play-ing more regularly soon. That’s great news for music lovers.

Thanks, Ijams! It really was a lucky night.

ETTAC From page 1

families had some younger kids. They had set up a table at the back, and some of the little kids were playing with a puzzle and drawing and coloring while the older kids were up front watching the movie.”

“Pirates of ETTAC” Sum-mer Camp will be held 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m. June 23-25, and is designed for ages 6-15. It is open to the fi rst 20 per-sons who register. Cost is $10 (fi nancial assistance is available).

The camp emphasizes art, music, technology and literature and was inspired by the impact that music can have on other parts of children’s lives. Info or to register: Shaynie Gray, 219-0130 or www.ettac.org.

Emerald kids aged 6-18 at Mount Zion.

“My mom always told me that to keep what you have, you’ve got to give what you can,” Burdick said. “I hope that coming here week in and week out shows the kids that I care. I try to be here as much as I can.”

She added: “I am 20 years old, and alcohol has never touched my lips. I think that is a good example for kids to follow.” She said the best way to infl uence children is to build relation-ships with them.

At Mount Zion, the DREAM Team athletes ac-complish that by spending time with young people after school and during Wednes-day evening dinner and devotional time. The other team members who come to Mount Zion Baptist are soft-ball players Hannah McDon-ald and Ellen Renfroe, soc-cer player Caroline Brown, runner Caroline Duer and rower Harper Lucas.

They join an already ro-bust program to reach urban youth. Burdick arrives at Mount Zion soon after school is out, striding into the fel-lowship hall of the church. She calls kids by name, helps them with homework in the church’s airy dining hall and spends time with them in conversation.

Burdick said her own background growing up with a single mom in Char-lotte, N.C., where money was tight and her dad was

not around much, helps her reach kids now.

“We were below aver-age income. Sometimes we couldn’t pay the rent. I want these kids to know that if they work hard, they can reach their dreams and the place they want to go,” she said.

On this day, kids were giddy about Burdick’s re-cent win and the magic of her presence. Wearing a Mickey Mouse T-shirt with her training pants, Burdick moved easily among them, bending (she is 6 feet 2 inches) to be on their eye level, sitting at tables to chat, and asking about their day.

Burdick and the younger children like Kobe Glass immediately began practic-ing tongue twisters: “How much wood would a wood-chuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?”

Later a group of children and teens gathered with Burdick for an impromptu sing-along, capped by a ringing rendition of “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” by Austin-East High School student Shernora Rogers.

On the asphalt basket-ball court outside, Burdick joined grade-school boys who dribbled and shot bas-kets with her. Burdick cau-tioned them: “Let’s cut out the ‘yo mama’ jokes, now.”

Robin Johnson, JustLead director at Mount Zion Bap-tist, and Anthony Ander-son, JustLead coordinator,

Kids share the ‘dream’ From page 1

said the children and teens love the involvement of the Dream Team members. “It is the experience of a life-time to spend time with a college athlete. It makes them feel special,” said An-derson.

Wednesday nights give particular opportunities for adults and youth to draw close, with dinner and small-group Bible stud-ies. On a recent Wednes-day evening, Dream Team members Lucas and Duer each led a devotional small group: Duer with fi rst-grade boys and Lucas with fi fth-grade girls.

The boys were full of energy and quickly piled onto one another in their devotional area, an up-stairs Sunday school class-room. Duer drew the boys into conversation when she asked each to tell the high and low points of their week. Each had a high point to tell: spending time with “Mr. Anthony” (Anderson), making a good grade, being named a class leader – as well as a low point: getting in trouble at school, be-ing yelled at, getting into a fi ght.

The girls readily drew close to Lucas, sitting around a table with her in another classroom. Lucas said later she feels that the girls are starting to trust her and open up to her. “I am praying for them every night. I look forward to this every week,” she said.

young (they graduated from West in 2000, 2003 and 2007), Brooks noticed so many Webb School buses rolling through her Se-quoyah Hills neighborhood that it looked as though it was zoned for Webb.

That spurred her to get involved in a controversial rezoning that expanded West High and its zoning lines and allowed it to de-velop as a culturally diverse college-prep school. Then she set about helping it be successful, fi rst as a volun-teer and concerned parent, then as a highly effective fundraiser for the West High School Foundation and, fi nally, as a full-time German-language teacher.

Along the way, she and her husband, Chris, an emergency-room physician, have taken in 13 foster chil-dren and eight to 10 foreign-exchange students.

Her students routinely blow the top off the annual national standardized tests,

and she offers big doses of European culture along with language instruction. She was Knox County’s 2010

High School Teacher of the Year.

She miss-es Donna W r i g h t , the former a s s i s t a n t superinten-dent (and former West

High principal) whom she calls “our guardian angel,” who left Knox County to take a job in Middle Tennes-see a couple of years ago.

On the same January day that Superintendent James McIntyre announced the re-sults of teacher surveys that found that 70 percent of Knox County’s teachers feel mistrusted and microman-aged, Brooks donned a red sweater and went to speak to the school board.

She said she was a little scared to be there but felt

an obligation to speak for the many young colleagues whom she fears are being driven out of the profession. They’re afraid to speak out, so Brooks, ever the volun-teer, stepped up to be their voice.

She warned of a coming “perfect storm” because TEAM evaluations are not coordinated with Common Core expectations, nor are schools equipped to handle the scheduled demands of PARCC testing plus current standardized testing. She predicted that school librar-ies will be overwhelmed with nonstop testing, there-by shutting out children who have no Internet access at home, and that schools are becoming data-driven assembly lines where teach-ers and principals are not valued.

“Could I, who love teach-ing, encourage my children to enter teaching? I don’t know. I just don’t know,” she said.

4 • MARCH 24, 2014 • Shopper news government

VictorAshe

Betty Bean

JakeMabe

Hardly anyone in Knox County has poured more time, work and love into a school than Mari Brooks at West High School, which she believes is the last, best hope for a better future for a signifi cant portion of its students.

Bob Gilbertson, owner of Bob’s Package Store on Winston Road in West Hills, has removed Russian vodka from his store in pro-test of the Russian occupa-tion of Crimea. Gilbertson was interviewed on Fox News from the University of Tennessee’s Communica-tions Building last week.

Vodka as foreign policy

Gilbertson said he was tired of Russia being a bully in its region and undermin-ing freedom. Wonder if any other package stores will join Gilbertson in his sup-port of freedom?

■ UT President Joe DiPietro has named a high-level committee to look at the Williams House on Lyons View Pike in West Knoxville and make recommendations as to its future. This is the historic home designed by famed Knoxville-born architect John Fanz Staub acquired years ago by UT and al-lowed to deteriorate.

It has become a major embarrassment to the uni-versity. Staub was also the architect for Hopecote on Melrose Avenue on the UT campus, also owned by UT.

DiPietro did this quietly without public announce-ment. Your writer learned of it through his own sources. The university confi rmed it and provided the membership list.

The committee is chaired by Butch Peccolo, the UT system’s chief fi nancial of-fi cer. Members are UT staff members Chris Cimino, Katie Colocotronis, Woody Henderson, Katie High, Robbi Stivers and Tonja Johnson; UT Trustee Raja Jubran and Pete Claussen.

Jubran is an active builder as owner of Denark Construction and has sup-ported historic preserva-tion. He is a friend to Gov. Bill Haslam, who chairs the UT Board of Trustees. Claussen, who is a short railroad owner of Gulf and Ohio, personally renovated and saved the James Park House on Cumberland Av-enue across from St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral. Both know and support historic preservation.

The group toured the

Williams House on March 18. Meetings are not open to the public, and a comple-tion date has not been set, according to spokesperson Gina Stafford. However, this house and adjacent carriage house, which DiPietro inherited when he became president, has become a problem that ev-eryone motoring on affl uent Lyons View Pike sees daily.

This writer is cautiously optimistic that something positive will come from the creation of the committee, despite it having closed, unannounced meetings. There appears to be a desire to resolve this continuing negative issue that was not the cas e with the prior three UT presidents.

■ With the heavy push by state and local Democratic leaders to urge citizens to enroll in Obama-care before the March 31 deadline rolls around, enrollment still has not reached the hoped-for num-bers due to intense nega-tive coverage on the rollout, which the president hopes to repair.

People undecided on whether to sign up need to study it carefully and make a decision based on facts, not on the partisan debate from both sides. Getting the facts, which are in fact true, may not be easy.

It is interesting to note that Mayor Rogero has held several high-profi le media events to urge people to sign up.

What is interesting is not that she would do this, as I have no doubt Rogero sincerely believes this is a good program. However, the city of Knoxville does not operate a public health program.

Certainly, the mayor should feel free to speak out on issues that she backs, even if outside the imme-diate jurisdiction of her offi ce.

However, public health falls under the county mayor, Tim Burchett, who was not invited to any of these events. Dr. Martha Buchanan, who heads the Knox County Health Department, also was not invited.

Since Obamacare is dis-liked by many Republicans, Burchett may be glad to have not received an invita-tion. However, this is a case where city and county lead-ers went separate ways on a signifi cant issue.

Mari Brooks

Brooks speaks out for colleagues

“I am a devout believer in public education,” she said. “It is the foundation of our nation, and it’s where kids learn to live in the real world. We’ve got kids born in 33 different nations at West and everything from the lowest socioeconomic group to the highest and everything in between. At West High School, you can excel no matter what your background.”

Twenty years ago, when her three children were

Who needs paid enter-tainment when you cover the county government beat?

The fun started at County Commission’s workshop last Monday, when Jeff Ownby,

apparently trying to re-claim moral high ground he lost when c e n s u r e d , went after Knox Coun-ty Schools and Super-i n t e n d e n t

Dr. Jim McIntyre, who of late is a too-easy target.

Ownby called the school system’s Physical Plant Up-grades (PPU) account “a slush fund.”

That’s a big-time charge. Richard Nixon nearly got thrown off Dwight Eisen-hower’s ticket as vice presi-dent because of a mere ru-mor that he had such funds.

Ownby said that a piano, a keyboard and the kitchen sink (OK, I made up that last one) were paid for out of said slush fund, and that Northshore Elementary School went about $3 mil-lion over budget with the difference made up from the fund, “and we’re still collecting bills.”

He said he requested info from KCS, didn’t get it and fi nally went to the commis-sion’s Audit Committee.

McIntyre made a beeline to the podium. He said mi-nor upgrades have for sev-eral years been paid for out of PPUs.

“If you have any ques-tions, please give me a call. These are fairly salacious

Best show in town (and where’s Ed?)

allegations. I think it would be a professional courtesy if you called me.”

Ownby said he requested info from fi nance guy Ron McPherson, sent a reminder

and waited longer than the requi-site number of days.

So I a s k e d , Ownby said.

“ E x c e p t for me, c o m m i s -

sioner,” said McIntyre, who later said he was aware of the request but not of any concerns about it.

While everyone was googling the word “sala-cious,” the ol’ English mi-nor here smiled. The word, the root of which is salire, which means to leap (as in leaping to conclusions) has a second meaning – which I’m not printing here – that if McIntyre chose to use on purpose at Ownby means I’m going to hire him as head writer when I take over for Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show.”

R. Larry Smith tried to corner the County Com-mission candidates pres-ent at the Halls Republican Club last week into saying whether they’d vote for a tax increase.

“It’s a simple yes or no answer.”

Michele Carringer, run-ning for an at-large seat, correctly said it isn’t a sim-ple yes or no answer, that it would be her last option, but she wasn’t prepared to take it off the table in case something catastrophic happened.

Seventh District com-mission candidate Charlie Busler gave a similar answer, while his opponent, Bo Ben-nett, said there are more ef-fi cient ways of using county tax dollars so that a tax hike wouldn’t be needed.

Point to ponder: No-body likes new taxes, but if someone makes up their mind before ever being faced with such a scenario, for my money that’s much more frightening than any tax increase.

Ed Brantley, former radio guy who is running against Carringer for the other at-large commis-sion seat, was on what he previously called a “long-

planned” vacation with his son last week.

Several folks say that family comes fi rst. I say that early voting is less than a month away …

■ NotesCounty Commission

meets in regular session at 2 p.m. today (Monday, March 24) in the Main Assembly Room at the City County Building.

Third and 4th District Democrats meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 25, at the Bearden Branch Library. Leland Price, candidate for Knox County Criminal Court Judge Division III, and Jim Berrier, candidate for Knox County Trustee, will speak.

Bo Bennett is hosting a “Hootenanny for Bo!” kick-off event 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 25, at Ivan Harmon’s place, Cumber-land Springs Ranch, 4104 Sullivan Road.“Pull Up A Chair” with Jake Mabe at jake-

mabe.blogspot.com

Jim McIntyre

Jeff Ownby

County Commissioner Dave Wright chats with fellow Com-

missioner Mike Hammond, who is running for Criminal Court

Clerk, at the New Harvest Park event. “We can’t talk to each

other!” Dave said, referring to the Sunshine Law. “A reporter’s

here,” someone shouted back. “Just talk about the weather!”

It’s Sneezin’ Season!

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eyes or a sinus headache. This year, don’t let your allergies keep you indoors. Come learn

how to clear your head, get rid of a stuffed up nose and be able to hear again.

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By Betty BeanRemember when some

reporter asked Pat Summitt if she’d stop and help Geno Auriemma if she found him stranded on the highway?

She said, “Sure.”When asked the same

question about Summitt, Auriemma said nope.

It’s been seven years since Summitt discontinued the hottest ticket in wom-en’s basketball – her team’s home-and-home series with Auriemma’s UConn Hus-kies. She’d had enough of his smart-alecky ways and cutthroat recruiting tactics, and nobody could change her mind. A lot has hap-pened since – Summitt’s 2011 Alzheimer’s diagno-sis and 2012 resignation, UConn’s continued rise to the top.

Tennessee continued Summitt’s practice of playing a brutal schedule crammed with top teams

and legendary opposing coaches, but there was so much respect and sorrow for what had befallen the leg-endary Summitt that games were played out in sort of an era of good feelings. And who among us can work up a good hate for legend-in-the-making Dawn Staley or nice guy Gary Blair?

Things had gotten kind of ho-hum. Something was missing.

There’s a classic sports book by North Carolina Tarheel fan Will Blyth that says it all: “To Hate Like This Is To Be Happy For-ever: A Thoroughly Obses-sive, Intermittently Up-lifting, and Occasionally Unbiased Account of the Duke-North Carolina Bas-ketball Rivalry.”

Hating Geno was fun, wasn’t it? Remember how his fl yweight associate head coach would grab his shirt-tail, dragging him spitting

and cursing away from the referees? Remember the big, noisy hordes of Connecticut fans who’d try to take over Thompson-Boling? Didn’t you just hate it? And don’t you miss it?

What could possibly take the place of such goings-on?

Enter Matthew Mitch-ell, head coach of the Ken-tucky Wildcats, somebody we liked quite a bit when he was a Summitt graduate as-sistant in 2000. We appre-ciated his good judgment when he hired a bunch of Tennessee alumnae as as-sistants (Niya Butts, Kyra Elzy and Shalon Pillow), and we appreciated his kind words when Pat Summitt fell ill.

But now he’s got a big mouth and a $7.95 million, seven-year contract that makes him the highest paid coach in the Southeastern Conference. He’s beaten Tennessee coach Holly

Warlick in a couple of re-cruiting battles and reacted in a churlish fash ion when she hired Elzy away.

Worst of all, when Ken-tucky won last month at Thompson-Boling (for the fi rst time ever), Mitchell did the “Nae Nae” dance in the locker room.

On our orange and white and Columbia blue chairs, people! The Nae Nae dance! (If you don’t know what that is, ask a kid).

The Tennessee team felt disrespected and returned the favor by beating Ken-tucky in a heated SEC tour-nament fi nal that featured two double technicals and freshman guard Jordan Reynolds dropping a post-game Nae Nae for the ESPN cameras at center court, pointing to her champi-onship hat while Mitchell stewed on the sideline.

It was, as Yogi Berra used to say, déjà vu all over again.

Matthew Mitchell performs at Kentucky’s Big Blue Madness. Photo by the University of Kentucky Athletics

Matthew Mitchell: The new Geno?

What really matters: off ensive line

Marvin West

Fans are buzzing about the Tennessee quarterback derby. The race is on to determine who starts the last Saturday in August. Of course that is a big deal, but the Vols can line up with any of the four.

There is a lot of talk about the new and multitalented receivers. The team is al-most certain to be better in the passing game.

All of this is very excit-ing, but what really matters at this stage of reconstruc-tion is the offensive line. So much of what happens this fall will depend on the spring development of the big uglies.

They’ve done all the weight, strength, endur-ance and fl exibility training. Now is the time to put it all together and begin to grow as a unit. I think it is called functionality.

Offensive linemen don’t get much attention unless they are really bad. This group does not appear bad, but it is different. Starters look OK. Depth is thin.

There is one baby bull in the bunch. Coleman Thomas, 6-6 and 311, was front row in coach Don Ma-honey’s meeting room, try-ing to grasp the mysteries

of tackle techniques, on the day he turned 18 years old. He was an early enrollee at 17 and did well in winter workouts.

If Thomas, No. 3, 4 or 5 high school center in the country while at Fort Chiswell High in Max Mead-ows, Va., lines up against Utah State, just think what Tennessee faithful have to look forward to when he grows up.

The switch from center to tackle was mostly a matter of need – and personality.

Coleman is a blue-collar player who gets after it. He brings the tough, gritty style necessary for survival in the SEC jungle. And he may have enough athleticism to cut off a linebacker. He has been a basketball center and baseball pitcher in spare time past.

The other probable tackle is older and more mature but also learning on the job. Dontavius Blair, 6-8 and 310, came from Garden City (Kansas) Community Col-lege for the explicit purpose of stabilizing Tennessee’s left side.

Blair could have signed almost anywhere. The Vols’ help-wanted sign was con-vincing.

Butch Jones and I are guessing that juniors Mar-cus Jackson (6-2, 305) and Kyler Kerbyson (6-4, 304) will be the guards. They are not strangers.

Jackson played a lot in 2011, not much in 2012 and none last season, red-shirt

year to preserve eligibility for this obvious need. Ker-byson has been a second-teamer waiting for this op-portunity. It is possible both will be more than adequate replacements for those who previously played the posi-tions.

The same could be said of junior center Mack Crowder, 6-2, 290. He has more toughness and smarts than actual experience but had a signifi cant role last year.

On my chart, depth is named Dylan Wiesman, sophomore, 6-3, 305, one of the six best linemen. He has the basic requirements – strength, intelligence and enough nimbleness. Be-cause he is versatile and un-selfi sh, he will likely be the primary reserve guard and tackle and maybe center.

Brett Kendrick, Marques Pair, Austin Sanders and Ray Raulerson are impor-tant components-to-be. Incoming freshmen? Some-body might help.

My most encouraging thoughts regarding the of-fensive line came from Kerbyson. These guys have a little chip on their shoul-ders, something to prove. The goal is to be better than expected, maybe even bet-ter than the 2013 line.

If that happens, Tennes-see might be able to make a fi rst down against Vander-bilt when it really needs one. Wouldn’t that be some-thing! Marvin West invites reader reaction. His

address is westwest6@netzero.com.

Last week we examined the current pension short-fall ($170 million) and the rising costs to the city of Knoxville to keep it funded. Those costs are approach-ing $30 million per year.

What can be done to make the older plans sus-tainable? Don’t we need to continue to work with em-ployees to fi nd a way to keep our pension plans and our city fi scally healthy? What does the Blackwell case have to say about it?

Blackwell is the oft-cited boogeyman of pub-lic pensions in Tennessee. Employees rattle its saber when reform is suggested. Government offi cials seem to cower in its shadows: “Oh my, oh my, what if we are sued?”

Don’t rock the boat. It seems easier to solve the problem by throwing your hard-earned money at it, rather than working through funding issues.

NickDella Volpe

Pensions: Is there room to fi x them?

Complicating that, most public offi cials are also members of the pension plan. Is there a confl ict of interest?

Can pensions be changed? What exactly did Blackwell hold?

The only factual dispute was whether Shelby County could legitimately change the base salary/ benefi t for-mula for employee James Blackwell, who was already vested in the plan, from us-ing his last year’s salary lev-el to calculate his benefi ts (rather than the actuary’s recommended highest-3-consecutive-years’ salary) as the formula base.

In the context of that

1981 case, the Tennessee Court ruled no, Mr. Black-well’s already vested inter-est in the plan benefi t could not be changed without mutual consent. That’s the holding of Blackwell. The rest is what lawyers call or-biter dicta, Latin for stuff that was said generally, but was not an essential part of the court’s holding.

These are important statements to consider cer-tainly, but not binding prec-edent in the next case.

Indeed, Blackwell states as much, in rejecting the lower court’s reliance on the earlier Miles decision (involving judicial pen-sions expressly covered by the state constitution), that Miles did not control its de-cision here: “That case, like any other, must be read and interpreted in light of its facts.” In short, courts are not legislatures. They do not make general laws; they in-terpret them in the context

of the particular factual dis-pute before it.

In surveying the law, Blackwell made clear that Tennessee public employees do not have a contract right to their job or their rate of pay. Except as protected by civil service rules, they serve at the pleasure. Their compensation “is subject to legislative control” and “may be raised or lowered by the employer during their period of service.”

Blackwell rejected plain-tiff’s claim that pension plans are “frozen” against detrimental changes once an employee begins to par-ticipate in it. Rather, the court ruled that “public pol-icy demands that there be a right on the part of the pub-lic employer to make rea-sonable modifi cations in an existing plan if necessary to create or safeguard actuar-ial stability, provided that no accrued or vested rights of members or benefi ciaries are thereby impaired.”

What does that pro-nouncement mean today? It is subject to debate. One thing is clear: the specifi c facts matter. There was, for example, no municipal fi -nancial crisis in Blackwell. No graven tablet cover-ing all issues was handed down. The court noted that

the Shelby County plan had already been changed 36 times before the Blackwell dispute. Plan amendments had doubled employees’ contributions since the 1949 origin of the plan.

Its indirect teaching is that parties can mutually agree to plan changes. Em-ployee contributions can be raised. Cost of living adjust-ed. Everyone has an interest

in keeping the plan fi scally healthy, affordable and sus-tainable, so it remains viable during later retirement. A growing number of munici-pal bankruptcies around the country reinforce that concern. So do labor-man-agement accords in nearby Lexington, Ky., and Chatta-nooga.Nick Della Volpe, an attorney, represents

District 4 on Knoxville City Council.

Taylor challenges TVAASBy Betty Bean

Mark Taylor has become the second Knox County educator to challenge the constitutionality of the Ten-nessee Value Added Assess-ment System for teacher evaluations.

The Tennessee Education Association fi led a lawsuit on Taylor’s behalf in federal court last week charging Gov. Bill Haslam, Education Commissioner Kevin Huff-man and the Knox County Board of Education with violating Taylor’s 14th Amendment right to equal protection from “irratio-nal state-imposed classi-fi cations” by using a small fraction of his students to determine his overall effec-tiveness.

“State policy has forced an over-reliance on fl awed TVAAS estimates in high-stakes decisions for our teachers,” said TEA presi-dent Gera Summerford.

Taylor teaches physical science at Farragut Middle, has primarily advanced stu-dents for whom no standard-ized test has been developed and was denied a bonus based on test scores of only 22 of his 142 students.

Last month, TEA fi led a lawsuit on behalf of Lisa Trout, who said she was mis-led about how her TVAAS score would be calculated. She is also challenging the state’s use of test results of a small number of her stu-dents to estimate her overall effectiveness.

6 • MARCH 24, 2014 • Shopper news kids

By Betsy PickleIf you build it, play it or

sing it, they will come.It felt as though the en-

tire community came to Mount Olive Elementary School on Thursday, March 13. Regular and overfl ow parking lots were packed, the halls were hopping, and

the grand fi nale was stand-ing-room only.

Billed as Night of the Arts: Roots & Branches, the event celebrated the diversi-ty of the area’s musical heri-tage. It also demonstrated the impact of Mount Olive’s Arts360 program, which creatively integrates the arts

Jonathan Blair, a 2008 graduate of Fulton High, par-ticipated in the Project GRAD program. He is now work-ing on his master’s degree at the University of Tennessee and wanted to say “thank you” to his teachers.

“My mom is a teacher, and I have seen fi rsthand the

hard work she puts into her job, and I know her reasons for teaching,” he said. “I wanted to let the staff at Fulton know how much I appreciate them.”

Blair came up with the idea of providing lunch for the staff as a small token of his appreciation.

Project GRAD College and Career access coach Kensey Zim-

merman serves cookies to a Fulton High teacher during a

recent luncheon. Photos by Ruth White

Fulton graduates Jonathan Blair and Roberta Sudderth help

serve lunch to teachers as a way to say thank you.

T h i r d - g r a d e r

Tanner Brown

and fi rst-grader

Zoey Brown

look for the pot

of gold in a lep-

rechaun’s lair

during the Dog-

wood Elemen-

tary School Art

Show. Photos by Betsy Pickle

Rylee Webster and big sister

Eden Webster come away proud

– and with purple fi ngers.

Kennedy Looney brings Mary Jane Queen – an old-time ballad

singer, banjo player and storyteller – to life at the third-grade

living wax museum during the Mount Olive Elementary School

Night of the Arts. Photos by Betsy Pickle

Max Baker gets into the groove as country-blues musician

Howard “Louie Bluie” Armstrong in the living wax museum.

First-graders Shermija Whitehead and Kyra Wallace and fi fth-grader Rezianae Patton show off

the fl owers they created at an art station.

Arts celebration packs the house

Project GRAD students give back

Art attack at DogwoodBy Betsy Pickle

Dogwood Elementary School turned into an art gallery/arts studio/pizza joint on Thursday, March 13, when students and teachers went overboard at the long-awaited Dogwood Art Show.

The walls were lined

with the creative offerings of all grade levels, and art stations enticed kids to learn methods of drawing and beadwork. Tabletops throughout the hallways were covered with students’ tiny clay creations.

The teachers hosting the stations and the parents ac-

companying the students and siblings through the hallways seemed almost as excited as the children themselves.

Once the attendees had fed their souls with art, they were welcome to chow down on pizza. Art and ’za – al-ways a good combination!

with regular curriculum.Fifth- and third-graders

put on living wax museums and brought to life historic fi gures such as Alex Haley, Ralph Stanley, Howard “Louie Bluie” Armstrong, Mary Jane Queen and Tom-my Jarrell.

Throngs fi lled the library, where volunteers helped students make their own banjos out of pizza boxes. Third-, fourth- and fi fth-graders demonstrated Afri-can dancing in the cafeteria.

Everything led up to the grand fi nale in the gym. Music teacher Rob Huffaker greeted the packed house and introduced local musi-cian Sean McCollough, who teaches musicology at the University of Tennessee and had worked with Mount Ol-ive students to prepare them for the night’s program. Vis-iting musician Kofi Mawuko

schooled the students on African music for the event.

McCollough taught the children not just the tradi-tional music they performed but also the backstory to the songs. Under McCollough’s direction, kindergarten through second-grade stu-dents enthusiastically per-formed by grade level and then as a group in a fi nale

that also included Mawuko, local musician Greg Horne and local band Subtle Clutch.

The eclectic selections ranged from “This Little Light of Mine,” “Froggy Went a Courtin’ ” and “John Henry” to “T for Texas, T for Tennessee” (an adapted ver-sion) and “Wagon Wheel.” The Night of the Arts was a night to remember.

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North offi ce:7049 Maynardville Pike

Knoxville, TN 37918 (865) 922-4136

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Shopper news • MARCH 24, 2014 • 7 business

Open house at Magnolia CampusNews from Pellissippi State - Magnolia Campus

By Heather BeckPellissippi State Com-

munity College will host an open house at its Mag-nolia Avenue Campus 4-7 p.m. Thursday, March 27. Open houses also take place around the same time at other Pellissippi campuses.

The events are free and open to all prospective stu-dents and their families.

“These open houses allow students to meet with ad-missions and fi nancial-aid representatives,” said Leigh Anne Touzeau, the college’s assistant vice president of enrollment services, “as well as with other support services like advising, coun-seling services, student life

and recreation, and some faculty.”

“The Magnolia Avenue Campus has a distinct and welcoming feel, and our open house will give stu-dents an opportunity to ex-perience that,” said Rosalyn Tillman, campus dean.

Open-house locations and dates for other Pellis-sippi sites:

■ Division Street Cam-pus: 5-7:30 p.m. Wednes-day, March 26

■ Blount County Cam-pus: 4:30-6 p.m. Thursday, April 3

■ Strawberry Plains Campus: 5-7 p.m. Tuesday, April 8

Each open house is a

drop-in event. Anyone who is interested may attend to learn more about Pellissippi State’s academic options, how to apply for fi nancial aid and to the college, and the many resources avail-able to students.

The Magnolia Avenue Campus is at 1610 E. Mag-nolia Ave. For more infor-mation about the campus, visit www.pstcc.edu/mag-nolia or call 329-3100.

To request accommoda-tions for a disability, con-tact the executive director of Human Resources and Affi rmative Action at 694-6607 or humanresources@pstcc.edu.

Justin Marks is proud to be the contract manager for the recently opened Dis-abled American Veterans (DAV) Thrift Store at 5308 Washington Pike in front of Kohl’s. His wife’s grand-father, John Simmons, was a Vietnam veteran and a huge advocate of the DAV. After Simmons passed away in 2009, Marks wanted to continue his legacy. Marks started clothing drives in 2011 to raise money for the DAV. This led to the oppor-tunity to open the store.

The DAV is currently helping more than 330,000 disabled veterans – 900 of them in Knoxville. The or-ganization works to ensure that veterans are receiving the benefi ts they deserve and that they have transpor-tation to and from the Veter-ans Administration hospital.

This new store will also become a training ground. Through the Chapter 31 Vo-cational Rehabilitation Pro-gram, veterans will become part of an 18-month entre-

Nancy Whittaker

Marks opens DAV thrift store

preneurial program where they will be taught manage-ment skills. This program provides assistance to eli-gible veterans with disabili-ties to give them skills need-ed to become self-suffi cient.

Marks invites you to come in and shop. With thousands of items, he promises every-one can fi nd something.

Inventory includes a huge selection of footwear including western boots, housewares, framed paint-ings, clothing, furniture and toys. There are even Easter baskets for sale.

All donations are needed, but especially good quality furniture. Call the Home Pickup Hot Line at 240-0295. Store hours are 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Satur-

Nominations for Home Federal Bank’s Hometown Heroes community ser-vice awards are due Friday, March 28. The program honors everyday citizens who do extraor-dinary things for others and for their community and also fi nancial-ly supports area nonprofi ts.

Little League coaches, se-nior-citizen center workers, teachers, Scout leaders, non-profi t volunteers and other individuals who work in their own way to make East Tennessee a great place to live are potential honorees.

“Hometown Heroes has two key components,” said bank president Dale Keas-ling. “First, it recognizes our community’s volunteers for the work that they do. Sec-ond, it offers fi nancial sup-port to the organizations they so passionately serve.”

Eight Hometown Heroes honorees will be recognized

for their volunteer work in the community and will se-lect a local nonprofi t for a $2,500 donation in their

name. From these fi nalists, a top winner will re-ceive an additional $2,500 for dona-tion to his or her chosen nonprofi t.

N o m i n a t i o n forms are available

for download at http://www.homefederalbanktn.com or can be picked up at any of the bank’s locations in Knox, Anderson, Blount and Sevier counties. Winners will be an-nounced beginning in April at various Home Federal Bank branches.

“Hometown Heroes re-fl ects the heart of Home Federal Bank,” Keasling said. “As a hometown bank, we are invested in our com-munity and welcome this opportunity to honor the people of East Tennessee who tirelessly give of them-selves to make it an even bet-ter place.”

Deadline nears for Hometown Heroes

By Alvin NanceOver 27 years, nearly 800

people have participated in the Knox-v i l le -K nox C o u n t y C o m m u -nity Action C o m m i t -tee’s com-m u n i t y leadership

class, including numerous KCDC residents and staff.

I encourage our employ-ees and residents to par-ticipate in this annual train-ing course for current and emerging leaders who live, work or volunteer in low- to moderate-income commu-nities, and I see a marked difference in the employees and residents who complete the training. Thanks to CAC, especially the leader-ship class coordinator, Lori Galbraith, for helping our residents and staff further invest in our community.

Shana Love, an admin-istrative assistant at Mont-gomery Village, was ac-cepted into this year’s class.

A single mother of two, she said the program has helped her learn to better balance home life, career and com-munity service.

“We have a great com-munity, and I’m so thankful to be active in it,” Love said. “The class is a great opportu-nity to learn about different organizations in our city.”

One of her favorite parts of the class has been seeing the behind-the-scenes work of local organizations. Love and her classmates have vis-ited such places as the City County Building, Knoxville Police Department and Knox County Schools and met with community lead-ers. The leadership class also teaches participants about CAC programs, in-cluding Mobile Meals, Head Start and the Offi ce on Ag-ing, among others.

Section 8 Housing Di-rector Debbie Taylor-Allen completed the class in 2010. Through the program, she became involved with Se-nior Citizens Awareness Network (SCAN) at the Sheriff’s Offi ce.

Training community leaders

Nance

News from Knoxville’s CommunityDevelopment Corporation (KCDC)

Montgomery Village

administrative assistant

Shana Love (right)

learns about the court

system from Knoxville

Circuit Judge Harold

Wimberly (left) and

Knox County Chancel-

lor Daryl Fansler at the

CAC leadership class

visit to the courthouse.

“It taught me a lot about the resources we have in our community and where we can go for help,” Taylor-Allen said. “It helps me con-nect clients with the help they need because it made me more aware of the ser-vices available.”

We have had many resi-dents who have graduated from the program. Tonja Warren, a Montgomery Vil-lage resident and program director for Montgomery Vil-lage Ministry, joined the class in 2013 to help make a differ-ence in her community.

“At the leadership class, I networked with local orga-nizations and learned how to bring different programs into your community to make your neighborhood better,” said Warren. “I want to be able to make a difference in Montgomery Village, changing one life and one family at a time.”

I am very proud of KCDC staff and residents who have dedicated the time to acquire these tools to im-prove themselves and their community.

day. Info: 394-9762.

■ Spring Fashion Show at Penney’sJ.C. Penney at Knox-

ville Center Mall is hosting a Spring Fashion Show at

noon Saturday, March 29. Prom and Easter collections will be modeled.

Immediately following the show, there will be a children’s competition for infants up to age 5. Contes-tants will be divided into three age groups and must wear a J.C. Penney outfi t. The contestant in each cat-egory who is voted “cutest kid” will win an Easter bas-ket full of goodies.

Contestants must pre-register by March 26 by calling 524-1688. Ask for the jewelry department.

■ Keys of Hope luncheon for YThe Knoxville YWCA

Keys of Hope luncheon will be 11:30 a.m-1 p.m. Thurs-day, May 1, at The Foundry. Proceeds will support the Keys of Hope women’s hous-ing program. The fundrais-er has no ticketed cost, but reservations are required. Info: Katie Fitch, kfi tch@ywcaknox.com or 523-6126.

Justin Marks stands in front of the new DAV thrift store. Photo by N. Whittaker

North offi ce: 7049 Maynardville Pike • Knoxville, TN 37918 • (865) 922-4136 • Fax: 922-5275

West offi ce: 10512 Lexington Drive, Suite 500 • Knoxville, TN 37932 • (865) 218-WEST (9378) • Fax: 342-6628

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Sugarlands Distilling Company opens in GatlinburgSugarlands Distilling Com-

pany offi cially opened March 21 and invites the public to en-joy the line-up of events.

“Music, moonshine and folklore fi ll the air,” said Brent Thompson, director of strategy for the company.

Located at 805 Parkway, Sugarlands Distilling Com-pany will stock its shelves with seven fl avors of moon-shine including the release of the highly anticipated “Legends Series”- a line of

shine featuring the storied recipes of some of Southern Appalachia’s most notable moonshiners.

Sugarlands Distilling pro-duces craft quality moon-shine and whiskey.

Guests can tour the dis-tillery, taste free samples of authentic Sugarlands Shine, take a behind-the-scenes tour of the production, and purchase a variety of moon-shine fl avors, mountainmerchandise and apparel.

8 • MARCH 24, 2014 • Shopper news

THROUGH TUESDAY, APRIL 15Registration open for UT-led Wildfl ower

Pilgrimage to be held April 15-19. Tickets: $75 per person for two or more days; $50 for single-day tickets; $15 students with ID. To register: http://www.springwildfl owerpilgrimage.org. Info: 436-7318, ext. 222.

THROUGH SATURDAY, MAY 17Tickets on sale for Tennessee Theatre’s annual

“Stars on Stage” event. Kenny Rogers will headline the event, 8 p.m., Saturday, May 17. Proceeds will benefi t the Historic Tennessee Theatre Foundation.

THROUGH SUNDAY, JUNE 8Registration open for AMSE Science Explorer

Camp for rising 5th, 6th and 7th graders. Two sessions: June 9-13, June 16-20. Info/to register: http://amse.org/visitors/summer-camps/.

MONDAY, MARCH 24“Towards a Theory of Earliness” lecture by

Eva Franch i Gilabert, 5:30 p.m., UT Art and Archi-tecture Building, 1715 Volunteer Blvd. Part of the UT Church Memorial Lecture Series. Free and open to the public.

Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour, 7 p.m., the Bijou Theater. Sponsored by Blue Ridge Mountain Sports and benefi ts the Legacy Parks Foundation. Tickets: Blue Ridge Mountain Sports or Knoxbijou.com. Info: Jill Sawyer, 403-762-6475 or Jill_Sawyer@banffcentre.ca.; www.banffmountainfestivals.ca.

Tennessee Shines featuring Irene Kelley and Word-play guest RB Morris, 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.

TUESDAY, MARCH 25“Chariot Racing in Roman Society” lecture by

Sinclair Bell of Northern Illinois University, 7:30 p.m., McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture, 1327 Circle Park Drive. Free and open to the public; followed by a reception. Info: 974-2144.

Final recital in KSO’s Q Series, noon, the Em-porium Center, 100 S. Gay St. Features the Principal Quartet, the Woodwind Quintet and special guests. Free and open to the public. No tickets required.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26UT Film Series: “Manufactured Landscapes”

documentary, 8 p.m., McCarty Auditorium of the Art and Architecture Building, 1715 Volunteer Blvd. Free and open to the public. Info: http://utk.edu/go/hf.

Knoxville Writers’ Group meeting, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Naples Italian Restaurant, 5500 Kingston Pike. Guest speaker: John W. Lacey talking about his book, “Smokey Tails: Smokey and the Southeastern Jungle.” All-inclusive lunch: $12. RSVP by Monday, March 24, to 983-3740.

Open house at Pellissippi State Community College Division Street Campus, 5-7:30 p.m. Free and open to all prospective students and their families. Info: www.pstcc.edu or 694-6400.

Dinner and health seminar by vegan chef Melody Prettyman, 6 p.m., Grace Seventh-day Adventist Church, 9123 S. Northshore Drive. Free but donations accepted. Preregistration required by March 24. To register: slowe8206@aol.com or 637-8160. Info: www.knoxvilleinstep.com.

THURSDAY, MARCH 27Parent to Parent Support meeting for parents of

children with mental health diagnoses, 6-8 p.m., K-TOWN Youth Empowerment Network, 901 E. Summit Hill Drive. Info: Alicia, 474-6692 or abanks@tnvoices.org.

Open house at Pellissippi State Community College Magnolia Avenue Campus, 4-7 p.m. Free and open to all prospective students and their families. Info: www.pstcc.edu or 694-6400.

National Stuttering Association Knoxville Chapter meeting, 5:30 p.m., UT Hearing & Speech Center, 1600 Peyton Manning Pass.

Kindergarten Konnection, 6:30 p.m., Freedom Christian Academy, 4615 Asheville Highway. An opportu-nity for prospective kindergarten families to meet teach-ers, see classrooms. Info: Kara Robertson, 525-7807.

THURSDAY-SUNDAY, MARCH 27-APRIL 13

“WRENS,” a semi-autobiographical story by Anne V. McGravie, Clarence Brown Theatre’s Lab Theatre. Per-

formances: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets: $5 to $15. Info/tickets: 974-5161 or www.clarencebrowntheatre.com.

FRIDAY, MARCH 28UT Science Forum speaker: Stan Wul-

lschleger, project director of Next-Generation Ecosys-tems Experiments – Arctic at Oak Ridge National Labo-ratory, noon, Room C-D of Thompson-Boling Arena. Topic: “Arctic Alaska: Wild, Wonderful and Warming.” Free and open to the public. Info: http://scienceforum.utk.edu.

Opening reception for “Terra Madre: Women in Clay,” 5:30-9 p.m., The District Gallery, 5113 Kings-ton Pike. The show continues through April 18.

Meet & greet reception with appraiser Lark Mason, 6-8 p.m., McClung Museum, 1327 Circle Park Drive. Hosted by East Tennessee PBS. Tickets: $35 in advance, 595-0239. Info: www.EastTennesseePBS.org or 595-0220.

“Oak Ridge Has Talent” 7 p.m., The Historic Grove Theater in Oak Ridge. Featuring performances from community partners and other locals who want to support the Grove. Tickets: www.thegrovetheater.org or Seaira Stephenson, 481-6546 or 1seaira@gmail.com.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY, MARCH 28-APRIL 13“The Giver” by Lois Lowry performed by

the Children’s Theatre, 109 E. Churchwell Ave. Performances: 7 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 1 and 5 p.m. Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays. Tickets: 208-3677, tickets@childrenstheatreknoxville.com. Info: www.childrenstheatreknoxville.com, 208-3677.

SATURDAY, MARCH 29East Tennessee PBS Appraisal Fair, 9 a.m.-3

p.m., McClung Museum, 1327 Circle Park Drive. Cost: $10 per appraisal, payable at the door. No limits. No reservations required. Info: www.EastTennesseePBS.org or 595-0220.

“Irish Pub Quiz Night,” 7 p.m., The Grove Theater in Oak Ridge. Teams compete in trivia quizzes for unique prizes. Tickets: www.thegrovetheater.org or Se-aira Stephenson, 481-6546 or 1seaira@gmail.com.

Turkish cooking demonstration, 2-4 p.m., Ten-nessee Istanbul Cultural Center, 7035 Middlebrook Pike. Info/to register: 558-0040, info@knoxvilleturkish.org.

Baseball in concert, 10 p.m., Scruffy City Beer Hall & Brewery on Market Square. Tickets: $3, available at the door. The band plays a unique blend of jazz, funk and soul.

Free soft shoe dance lessons, 10 a.m., Connor-Short Center on Walters State Community College Sevier County Campus. Minimum age for participants is 13. To register: Laura Ritter, Laura.Ritter@ws.edu.

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