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VOL. 2 NO. 51 December 24, 2014www.ShopperNewsNow.com | www.facebook.com/ShopperNewsNow

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The cast of “Beauty and the Beast” perform “Be Our Guest” for the crowd gathered at Carter High School last week. Performing with the ensemble group

are (front) dancer Takiela Bone, Babette (Julia Thress), dancer Elizabeth Benn; (back) Mrs. Potts (Semaja Reed), dancer Hannah McCann, Cogsworth (Nate

Paul), Belle (Elizabeth Wilson), dancing china (Garrett Sandifur), Lumiere (Blake Jackson) and Madame de la Grande Bouche (Olivia Martin). More photos on

page 8. Photo by R. White

By Bill DockeryA landmark in the Burlington

business district is getting a color-ful makeover for its new role in the East Knox com-munity.

The old Mc-Carty Mortuary building at the corner of Martin Luther King Av-enue and Holston Drive is trans-

forming into a child-care center for Knoxville youngsters.

Beverly Holland, the owner of God’s Creative Enrichment Cen-ter, is supervising architectural and engineering upgrades to the

‘Be our guest’

The somber hues of the old McCarty Mortuary building have disap-

peared under a bright palette as Beverly Holland prepares to move

God’s Creative Enrichment Center into the Burlington landmark.

Color brightens Burlington

Holland

By Wendy SmithWayne Blasius, who began his

new job as executive director of the East Tennes-see Community Design Center this week, remembers having coffee with Annette Anderson back in 1977.

Anderson was executive director of the design cen-ter from 1973 to

1995. She was one of the fi rst peo-ple Blasius met when he arrived in Knoxville to begin graduate work in urban planning. They talked about the importance of getting involved in the community, and the conversation stoked his enthu-siasm for civic engagement.

In the years since, Blasius has volunteered for the design center,

Knox Heritage, Leadership Knox-ville, the Central Business Im-provement District and the Knox-ville Chamber of Commerce, along with other organizations.

“I strongly believe in giving back, that our community is only as good as the work its citizens are willing to put into it.”

He grew up in the Chicago area and didn’t intend to stay in Knox-ville. But the South grew on him − especially the warm winters.

After Blasius fi nished his de-gree, he was hired as a planner for the Metropolitan Planning Com-mission. He worked on the down-town master plan that ultimately led to that area’s renaissance.

His fi rm, InSite Development, also contributed to downtown’s revitalization with the redevelop-ment of the Phoenix and the Mast General Store/Gallery Lofts.

Knoxville has an incredible his-toric building stock, he says.

“If you look down Gay Street, there are not many missing teeth.”

The area has remained intact because businesses had little eco-nomic incentive to be there dur-ing the 1960s and 1970s, he says. If downtown had been booming, some of the buildings would have been torn down and replaced with modern equivalents.

When it comes to good design, there’s always room for improve-ment, and he hopes the design center will continue to be a play-er in that. Blasius took the reins from interim executive director Mary Linda Schwarzbart, whom he commends for her leadership. He also praises the design center’s staff and volunteer board.

He thinks his ability to envi-sion a new future for downtown’s

big, empty buildings will help him lead the design center, though its scope goes far beyond the city center. Knoxville and its outlying communities depend on each oth-er, and good design is benefi cial to everybody, he says.

The ETCDC, which serves a 16-county region, provides profes-sional design and planning services to communities and nonprofi t orga-nizations that would not otherwise be able to afford such services. Con-ceptual designs for projects, which are chosen based on service to the public, help organizations focus their vision and seek funding.

The design center was founded in 1969 by renowned Knoxville architect Bruce McCarty. Staff is composed of three full-time and two part-time employees. Fund-ing for the nonprofi t comes from grants and donations.

Wayne Blasius

Blasius is new director of design center

NEIGHBORHOOD BUZZ

IN THIS ISSUE

Bill DockeryFive Points UP brought

singing, dancing, cider and snacks to the neighborhood on Dec. 16 in an effort to build community and promote in-volvement.

➤ See story on page 3

Betsy PickleChristmas is a huge day for

movies, and Shopper-News previews two of the best ones: “Into the Woods” and “The Imitation Game.”

➤ See previews on page 6

Wendy SmithJudging at Tour de Lights

was a challenge. In the end, there were 1,023 riders, most of whom sported lights, tinsel or costumes.

“It was nothing short of magical to watch them depart for a tour of the Fourth & Gill neighborhood, even though my toes were numb.”

➤ See story on page 5

Christmas greetings!In this drawing by Carol Chilton of

Greeneville, Bill and Wanda Wil-

liams say it best. “Straight from

the heart.”

Festival of LightsWalk around Concord

Park to see the Knox County Festival of Lights, running from 6-9 p.m. through Dec. 30. It’s sponsored by the county’s Parks and Recreation Depart-ment.

Come for a Dam Road Ride Saturday, Dec. 27, at 9 a.m. as the Knoxville Bicycle Company sponsors the Saturday Dam Road Ride. Meet at 10657 Har-din Valley Road. Info: www.Legacyparks.org/.

Lights fantastic at Chilhowee Park

Tour Chilhowee Park by car after dark to see the city-sponsored forest of lighted trees fl oating on the lake. The exhibit will continue to Jan. 1.

2 • DECEMBER 24, 2014 • Shopper news

health & lifestyles

Fort Sanders Regional Medical Centerwishes you and your familya wonderful holiday season

and a happ y new year.

fsregional.com • (865) 673-FORT

Amy Taylor, pictured here on vacation with her son, Bryce, came to Fort Sanders Regional Medi-

cal Center earlier this year due to crippling hip, leg and back pain. Now, she’s back on her feet

thanks to Dr. Yau and the team at the Joint Center of Fort Sanders Regional.

Local entrepreneur receives ‘excellent care’ during two hip surgeriesAs an interior designer of professional of-

fi ce spaces, Amy Taylor of Knoxville knows how to make her clients comfortable at work.

But several years ago Taylor became very uncomfortable herself, whether sitting or standing. She had severe pain in her back and hips that made it diffi cult to bend and walk.

“I had a lot of lower back pain and leg pain. It progressed to hip pain, deep pain, in my back and lower legs. At night, I couldn’t sleep on my side. I’d wake up with a lot of hip pain,” she said.

“It got to the point where I came home and went straight to the recliner and put my legs up, because that was the most comfort-able position. I used to walk daily, but all of that stopped – going to the park or going outdoors. It defi nitely affected my level of exercise and activity.”

Taylor was diagnosed with femoroac-etabular impingement, or FAI, of the hip. It’s a condition in which the ball of the fe-mur (thigh) bone isn’t perfectly round and with activity patients can experience pinch-ing, tearing and premature wear. This can damage the cartilage of the both the ball and socket and, ultimately, lead to bone-on-bone arthritis.

“But not everyone needs a hip replace-ment,” said Dr. Paul Yau, an orthopedic surgeon at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center. “Caught early enough, tears can be repaired, the hip can be made round and balance can be restored to the joint. With modern techniques in hip arthroscopy, we can accomplish a lot of work through three tiny incisions.

“Hips are much like tires. If they’re not round, they’ll wear out sooner,” said Yau. “A lot of what I do is similar to being a me-chanic. If your tires are out of balance, you balance them to help them run smoother and last longer. If there is a hole or a tear, repair it. But if your treads are completely worn, it makes the most sense to replace the whole tire.”

Tips on how to avoid joint injuries

■ Avoid doing too much, too soon. Never increase the length of your workouts by more than 10 percent from one week to the next, and never increase both the length and intensity of your workout at the same time.

■ Maintain strength in the muscles surrounding the joint area. To strengthen the knees, do calf raises, lunges, squats and leg lifts.

■ Train smart by cross-training. Repetitive-motion injuries caused by doing just one sport or workout are some of the most common. You can prevent them by doing different sports or activities that work differ-ent muscles.

■ Never skip your warm-up or cool down. Tight or stiff muscles around a joint will make the area more prone to injury.

■ Always use proper technique and body mechanics when playing sports involving repetitive motion, such as tennis and golf. Taking lessons from a certifi ed coach or trainer every once in a while can help you learn and stick with proper form, which can reduce your injury risk substantially.

■ Keep in shape. A high cardiovas-cular fi tness level is crucial to avoid joint injuries. Otherwise, as you tire your form can fail and your joints carry unbalanced weight.

■ Be sure to wear proper shoes that provide adequate support during exercise.

A closer look at direct anterior hip replacementFort Sanders Regional Medical Center

is among only 15 percent of U.S. hospitals with the staff and facilities available to per-form the latest approach in hip replacement surgery, called direct anterior hip replace-ment.

In this procedure, the surgeon goes through the front (anterior) portion of the hip, instead of the side or back. This allows the surgery to sepa-rate important muscles and tendons instead of cutting through them to position a new hip joint implant.

“When I fi rst started do-ing hip replacement surgery this way, I thought it was

just another option to access the joint, but people have done amazingly well with this approach,” said Dr. Paul Yau, an orthopedic surgeon with Fort Sanders Regional Medi-cal Center.

“With traditional hip replacements, we have to cut muscles or tendons, which pro-longs the recovery process and may require limitations on hip motion,” said Yau. “It

is common to hear patients being told not to bend at the hip more than 90 degrees, squat, reach to the fl oor or cross your legs after hip replacement because it would risk a dislocation.

“With the anterior approach, none of these typical ligaments are cut, which means all of these common activities are safe, im-mediately after surgery,” Yau explained.

The anterior approach does require a specialized surgical table and intraoperative X-rays.

“The specialized table allows for safe leg placement not possible with a traditional surgical table,” said Yau. “This unique table improves access to the hip joint and permits the use of intraoperative X-rays to ensure accurate implant position.

“Traditionally, leg length discrepancies are a well-known complication after total hip replacement. The use of live, real-time imaging during surgery allows the surgeon to make both legs balanced and symmetric in length,” he said. “This means the implant will last longer. I no longer say you have to be a certain age to get a hip replacement.”

With the anterior approach, the patient

should expect usually one or two nights in the hospital.

“Some people even go home the same day,” said Yau. “People recover so much faster, it’s unbelievable.”

Yau said he began doing the anterior surgery routinely about a year ago and uses it today for about 95 percent of his hip re-placement and repair surgeries.

“It does require special facilities and a trained staff, which we have at Fort Sand-ers. There are a lot of moving parts to the surgery and they all need to be coordinated or you’ll have problems,” he said.

Studies have backed up Yau’s opinion of anterior hip replacement.

“You know how progress tends to hap-pen in increments?” he asked. “I want to say this is a giant leap instead of an incremen-tal one in orthopedic surgery. I haven’t seen anything this dramatically improve people’s outcome from surgery, ever.”

For more information on

direct anterior hip replacement,

call 673-FORT or visit our website

at www.fsregional.com/orthopaedics.

Taylor tried steroid injections to calm the pain, without success. So she went to see Dr. Yau.

Even though Taylor is only 42 years old, Yau suggested replacing both of her hips with artifi cial joints.

“Yes, it is quite unusual to be that young and need replacement surgery. I certainly spend a lot of time repairing and saving hip joints when possible. However, past a cer-tain point, replacement surgery has a much better chance of providing decades of pain relief. Recent data show the average age of hip replacement patients has dropped be-low age 50 and Amy’s not far from that,” said Yau.

Taylor had her hips replaced one at a time, one side in late August 2014 and the second two months later.

Both were done at Fort Sanders, with Taylor staying just one night in the hospi-tal each time. Taylor was able to go home so quickly because Yau used a minimally invasive technique called direct anterior hip replacement.

It requires only a 4-inch incision, and the muscles and tendons are spread apart to make room for the new hip joint instead of cutting them. This leads to a quicker re-covery.

Yau does a high volume of direct anterior hip replacements each year.

“This is a much easier way for patients to recover from hip replacement surgery,” said Yau. “I have some patients where I did one hip the old way and then we did the other one the new (anterior) way, and patient feedback reports the new way is about 70 to 80 percent easier.”

Taylor said in both surgeries, she felt dramatically better quickly. “In both cases by the third week I felt so much better and was off all my pain meds,” she said.

She is going through physical therapy to strengthen her muscles again after years of not exercising.

“I still have some back pain; I have a limp in my gait,” she said. “Dr. Yau recommend-ed I go to some physical therapy because my muscles are weak because I haven’t used them for two years. The pain in my hips is gone, and right now I just have muscle re-lated pain.”

Taylor said she would recommend Fort Sanders to anyone facing hip surgery.

“Dr. Yau is so personable,” said Taylor. “He talks to you, listens to you. He talked to my husband. He called me after the surgery and stayed in touch.

“Dr. Yau and Fort Sanders did a great job. The care at Fort Sanders was outstanding,” said Taylor. “They were very attentive to any needs I had, all very knowledgeable, with excellent care. I’ve already recommended them to about three of my friends.”

Paul Yau, MD

NORTH/EAST Shopper news • DECEMBER 24, 2014 • 3 community

Bill Dockery

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Burlington From page A-1

building, which opened as a mortuary in 1968. She de-scribes the facelift as a way to bring something back to the community.

“I just love red,” Holland said. “And we’ve accented the windows with primary colors that kids like.”

Holland has operated her three-star center on Wood-bine Avenue for 10 years and is continuing to do so as work on the Burlington site extends into next summer.

She employs seven staff members now but eventu-ally plans to increase that number, depending on the maximum number of chil-dren the Metropolitan Plan-ning Commission will allow her to serve at the new site. The Christian-based cen-ter enrolls children from 6 months to 12 years old.

“The center is not a drop-off service or babysitting. It’s a place where work-ing parents can provide

Five Points UP brought singing, dancing, cider and snacks to the neighborhood on Dec. 16 in an effort to build community and pro-mote involvement.

Winter Wonderland was an initiative by the Knox County Health Department to promote neighborhood activities that support im-proved individual and com-munity health.

“Our goal is to beautify and unify East Knoxville,” said Tanisha Baker, a Proj-ect GRAD leader and mem-ber of Five Points UP. “We’re

Five Points UPcelebrates holiday community

seeking not only the health of the individual but the health of the community.

“We want people to be safe and respected, and to enjoy the place where they live and worship and play.”

The health department partnered with a number

Dean Rosalyn Tillman brings

greetings from Pellissippi

State Community College,

Magnolia Avenue campus.

Christy Cozart, Elizabeth Rhone and Mariah Cozart from the Eternal Life Harvest Center praise and dance team perform for the

Winter Wonderland program staged by Five Points UP at Tabernacle Baptist Church.

Quineka Moten of Great Schools Partnership and Jasmine Siler

of Project GRAD answer questions about their programs dur-

ing Winter Wonderland.

of groups and organiza-tions to produce the event, including Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Community Action Committee’s East Neigh-borhood Center, Knoxville and Knox County govern-ments, Project GRAD and Pellissippi State Commu-nity College, among others. Tabernacle Baptist Church hosted the gathering.

Eternal Life Harvest Center praise and dance team members performed, followed by singers from the Overcoming Believers Church praise team. J. Tom-

FAITH NOTES ■ First Lutheran Church, 1207

N. Broadway, will host the

following special services:

Christmas Eve Candlelight

Service, 7 p.m. Wednesday,

Dec. 24; Christmas Day ser-

vice, 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Dec.

25; worship service, 10:30 a.m.

Sunday, Dec. 28; New Year’s

Eve service, 7 p.m. Wednes-

day, Dec. 31. Communion will

be served at all services. The

public is invited.

■ Macedonia UMC, 4630

Holston Drive, will hold a

Candlelight Christmas Eve

and Communion Service at 5

p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 24.

Finding the baby in a‘Walk Through Bethlehem’By Sherri Gardner Howell

Rumors were fl ying all through “Bethlehem.” The innkeepers were abuzz, and the shepherds shook their heads in wonder. Someone said a baby had been born, and that his birth was an-nounced by angels.

Thousands of visitors to Church Street United Meth-odist Church found the church transformed into the village of Bethlehem as it might have looked 2,000 years ago, with wood chips on the fl oor, sand spread all around and the village populated with shopkeep-ers, shepherds, animals and guests, some in town to pay their taxes and some to look for this new baby.

For 17 years, Church Street has created a Walk

Finnian Gilbert works as

a metal smith in the Walk

Through Bethlehem.

Little Brady Kaplan gets an early taste of acting as he plays the baby Jesus in A Walk Through

Bethlehem with his mother, Kelly Kaplan, and David Rosecrance as Mary and Joseph.Ainsley Lamar works the

dough to make some bread

at a Walk Through Bethlehem.

Through Bethlehem, an interactive village where guests can be transported back to what a village might have been like at the time of

Ginny Hill tells the story of David and

Goliath to a group of children at the

Walk Through Bethlehem at Church

Street UMC. Photos by Justin Acuff

ma Battle, an elder of Taber-nacle Baptist, sang a solo.

“Folks need to focus on unifying our neighbor-hood,” said Battle. “We need to celebrate the places we can come together.” Battle serves in a number of com-munity and religious orga-nizations.

Baker announced that the CAC East Neighborhood Center is taking donations of Christmas lights and dec-orations for use in the Five Points community.

“Some of the children never really see their neigh-borhood decorated and celebrated,” she said. “The parades and other holiday activities are in other parts of town.”

The health department received funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to engage three at-risk neighborhoods in addressing environmental barriers to good health. The

department facilitates Five Points UP to create events and programs to improve the community. The activi-ties are open to anyone who lives, works or plays in the Five Points neighborhood.

their children with some-thing more than TV after school,” Holland said. She and her staff try to provide an educational curriculum promoting parent-child en-gagement. “We give the chil-dren homework to complete with their parents.”

The old funeral home chapel is being converted to a gym, and another room will become a library. Part of the paved parking lot will be converted to a playground.

Holland recently com-pleted the Greater Knoxville Chamber of Commerce’s

mentor/protégé program. Prior to opening a child-care business, she had a 20-year career as a licensed dental assistant. She and husband Charles have two children, a daughter who just gradu-ated from the University of Memphis and a son who is doing the painting on the new center.

“Every child deserves to be loved, cared for and nur-tured, regardless of race or gender,” Holland said. “I love the satisfaction of seeing the letters and cards when we graduate another class.”

Jesus’ birth. It takes hun-dreds of volunteers to pro-duce, all receiving coaching for their positions – train-ing in what a shopkeeper might say, what wares he would be selling and what kind of interaction he was likely to have with visitors.

The marketplace offers authentic food, potters who let visitors try their hand at making clay pots, a jewelry-making shop and animals outside in a stable.

The live nativity has Jo-seph, Mary and baby Je-sus. Two babies shared the honors of playing Jesus this year, splitting the duties into two shifts.

The tradition began with Sue Isbell, Church Street

United Methodist Church’s children’s minister, back in 1997. Sue and her husband, Rick, went to a similar vil-lage creation when they lived in Nashville.

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Merry Christmas

4 • DECEMBER 24, 2014 • Shopper news

Last week, after Presi-dent Obama announced we would normalize relations with Cuba, I tuned in to a lo-cal radio station’s daily talk show anticipating wing-nut hysterics at the news.

I came away gratifi ed.One caller expressed his

displeasure at trading with any Communist nation by asking rhetorically, “Why are we (trading) with Viet-nam, anyway? They killed 55,000 of our men.”

Then, for emphasis: “We shoulda nuked ’em back to the Stone Age.”

For that fellow, nothing exudes Christmas cheer like a glowing, radioactive cra-ter.

Although Obama’s most recent treasonous action was enough in itself to curl his toenails, it turned out the caller was equally out-raged over the origin of his jockey shorts: made in Viet-nam.

After East Tennessee’s version of Gen. Jack D. Rip-per (of “Dr. Strangelove” fame) hung up, I tried to empathize with him.

My jockey shorts are “im-migrants” as well, made in Honduras, but we haven’t had a war with Honduras lately. If we had, I might feel differently.

Then I considered what

To arms, to arms, the #DanishAreComing

LarryVan

Guilder

this country would look like today if we had “nuked” Vietnam: probably a lot like Vietnam but without the jungle. But our actions would also have precipi-tated World War III, and we would have been nuked in turn by the Soviet Union and Red China.

(Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers …” As op-posed to “peacekeepers,” now-retired ICBMs once de-ployed by the United States.)

However, fair-minded individual that I am, I con-ceded that the caller might be on to something.

Vietnam is the wrong target, especially now that it produces serviceable un-derwear. But there are peo-ple, places and things that could do with a good Christ-mas nuking, so I made this list and checked it twice.

Denmark. Peaceful lit-tle Denmark, you say? Ha! Danes, with their well-paid McDonald’s workers and their cream-cheese pastries may seem to be the last peo-ple on earth who deserve in-

dustrial-grade irradiation, but read on. Denmark has decided to lay claim to part of the Arctic surrounding the North Pole. Because the continental shelf running under Greenland stretches to the pole and Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, the pushy Danes think they can just grab ter-ritory like it was formerly part of Mexico.

Anyone who writes or says anything pre-ceded by a hashtag (#). If you’re like me, it’s becom-ing increasingly diffi cult to restrain the impulse to strangle the next person who uses a hashtag to com-municate feelings, as in, “I feel #blue today,” or opin-ions like “#DanesAreNuts.” Nuking on this scale would mean the end of Twitter, a sweet collateral benefi t.

The National Football League. The conduct of pro football players makes a strong argument for nuking. I’ll exclude Peyton Manning if he agr ees to stop making Papa John’s commercials.

The next politician who says, “I’m not a sci-entist, but …” We’ve been hearing a lot of this from cli-mate-change deniers in re-cent years. We know you’re not scientists; we only wish you would listen to them.

Jacksons celebrate ChristmasKnox County General Sessions Court judge Andy Jackson and his wife, Janet (at right), celebrate

with daughters Rachel and Rebecca at the family’s annual Christmas party at their home in Sol-

way. Judge Jackson is a descendant of President Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the

United States. Photo by A. Hart

Forty years ago, in 1974, the fi rst woman to represent Knox County in the state Senate was elected in No-vember. Her name was Mar-tha Ashe, and there is quite a story as to how it all hap-pened in an unplanned way.

She was this writer’s mother, and the reader needs to be 60 to have much current memory of the fall campaign in 1974 in Knox County. In fact, the full sto-ry will take up much of two columns, so this story will be continued on Dec. 31.

Martha Ashe was also the fi rst Republican woman ever elected statewide to the Senate. Since then three more women (Jamie Wood-son, Becky Massey and, briefl y, Sue Atchley) have represented Knox County in the state Senate, and many more have served other parts of the state.

At the start of 1974, I was completing my third term in the state House and de-cided to run for the state Senate that year. Tennes-see’s Constitution requires that a state senator be 30 years old. In 1974, I was 29 and would turn 30 on Jan. 1, 1975.

Since the Senate would not convene until the sec-ond Tuesday of January in 1975, I would then be 30. I sought and secured a state Attorney General’s opinion that said I was eligible to run and the Senate would determine the qualifi ca-tions of its own members.

The state Constitution also provides that the term of offi ce begins with the day of election in November.

VictorAshe

The fi rst Martha Ashe

There is not a lame-duck period for state legislators.

My mother at that time had no inkling she might seek the Senate seat but was a vital supporter in my cam-paigns. I declared my can-didacy in the GOP primary and won the nomination over longtime Sheriff Ber-nard Waggoner in August. In addition to the Democrat-ic candidate, Betty Cathey, there was an independent candidate, former state Rep. Jack Comer, whom I had defeated two years earlier for state representative in the GOP primary after re-districting. Comer was irate over his loss.

He fi led as an indepen-dent candidate to gain legal standing to sue over my eli-gibility. The lawsuit is styled Comer v. Ashe and was fi rst heard in Chancery Court by the late Len Broughton, who ruled in my favor, holding that the Senate alone would decide the eligibility of its members. Since the Sen-ate would not convene until January, when I would be 30, the issue would be moot.

However, Comer quickly appealed the decision and asked that the state Su-preme Court hear the case, bypassing the appellate court. The Supreme Court agreed to hear it.

I was ably represented byJack Draper and the late Rob-ert Ritchie, father of formerstate Rep. Wayne Ritchie. Tomy dismay, the court quicklyruled that I was not eligibleto run since I would not be30 the day of the election andordered my name removedfrom the ballot. There wereless than seven weeks to theNovember election and nowno Republican nominee.

The public reaction wasmostly in my favor andagainst the court, which wasseen by many as an arm ofthe Democratic Party.

The story continues innext week’s column with thebattle to name a GOP nomi-nee and the fi ve-week cam-paign to election day.

■ Gov. Bill Haslamhas made an outstandingchoice in Randy Boyd ascommissioner of EconomicDevelopment. Boyd previ-ously helped Haslam on ed-ucation issues as an unpaidassistant for one year.

Boyd, founder of Pet-Safe, has been a communityleader. He follows anotherKnoxvillian, Bill Baxter,who served in this positionunder Gov. Don Sundquistfrom 1998 to 2000, andAlex Fisher, who lived inKnoxville then but has nowmoved to Columbus, Ohio.

■ Former KnoxvilleMayor Kyle Testerman,80, and retired city FireChief Eddie Cureton, 77,are recovering well from ac-cidents and were patientsrecently in adjacent roomsat NHC in Farragut. Bestwishes to them as they getback on their feet and be-come more mobile.

Shopper news • DECEMBER 24, 2014 • 5 government

Betty Bean

News gets hard to come by during the holidays, which made this announce-ment from Knox County Schools’ prolifi c public in-formation offi ce enticing:

“PUBLIC NOTICE: (14-173) Please note that two or more Board of Education members may meet on Mon-day, Dec. 15, at 11:30 a.m. at Panera Bread, 2000 Cum-berland Avenue. Education issues will be discussed and minutes will be taken. All board members are wel-come to attend and will pay for their own meals.”

So it was no surprise that two reporters played Cum-berland Avenue parking-spot roulette and showed up

Lunching in the sunshine

at the popular campus café. No telling what they were going to be talking about, right?

But there was no news broken at the meet-ing, which was attended by board members Patti Bounds, Amber Rountree, Terry Hill and Doug Har-ris, as well as assistant superintendent Elizabeth Alves (who got stuck taking notes). Also present were

Knox County Education As-sociation president Tanya T. Coats and Rountree’s 3-month-old son, Teddy, for whose affections Hill and Bounds competed as they discussed problems fi nding substitute teachers.

Afterward, Bounds was a little embarrassed about the announcement. Turns out that she, Hill and Roun-tree, who regularly attend Bible study together, just wanted to have lunch. In an abundance of caution, they reported it to KCS spokes-person Melissa Ogden, who “sunshined” the meeting, i.e., sent out a formal no-tice in compliance with the state’s sunshine law.

“We were just going to get together and have lunch. … Our intent was to convey that business ‘may be dis-cussed,’ but it was really just some people wanting to get together and have lunch, but not wanting our conver-sation to be limited to small talk. I’m surprised we didn’t have cameras rolling,” Bounds said, barely stifl ing a laugh.

This abundance of cau-tion is typical of Knox County elected offi cials, who are still smarting from the aftermath of “Black Wednesday,” when County Commission got itself into a world of trouble by ap-pointing spouses, kinfolk

and drinking buddies to seats they were being forced to vacate after the state Su-preme Court forced Knox County to abide by term-limits laws, thumbing their collective noses at Tennes-see’s Open Meetings Act in the process.

Even though school board members weren’t the offenders, they are extremely careful about such things, unlike some of their colleagues across the state.

Take the Metro Nashville school board, for example, which recently attempted to choose a new superin-tendent by secret ballot. Astonishingly unaware of

the state’s open-meetings law, they were publicly hu-miliated when Jeff Woods of the alt-weekly The Nash-ville Scene pointed out that state law is pretty clear: “No secret votes, or secret bal-lots, or secret roll calls shall be allowed.” A do-over fol-lowed.

Sometimes scoop-hun-gry local media get a little aggravated by investing time covering meetings that produce no fi reworks.

But those of us who’ve been around long enough to remember the bad old days can’t help but appreciate the transparency that has become a way of doing busi-ness.

My favorite Christmas memory isn’t really a mem-ory at all. It’s a feeling. It’s the excitement I experi-enced when I walked out of my grandmother’s house on Christmas Eve knowing Christmas was the next day.

My brother and I couldn’t stop grinning during the car ride home. “Can you believe it? Tomorrow, when we wake up, it will be Christmas!” we’d say, and fi ve minutes later, we’d say it again.

It was sheer bliss know-ing that something magical was going to happen, and no matter what we found under the tree, it was going to be good.

Each Christmas, I try to fi nd something − twinkling lights, a delicious smell or a beautiful carol − that makes me feel like a kid again. This year, it was the eighth an-nual Tour de Lights.

This was the fi rst year the annual bike ride was part of Knoxville’s Christmas in the City, and I was honored

Wendy Smith

Lindsay Lee, Angela Wampler, Stephanie Lee and Pam Lee, also known as the Snowfl akes, don’t

mind the chilly weather at the 2014 Tour de Lights. Photo by Wendy Smith

Tour de Lights is holiday magic

to be asked to help judge the event’s costume contest. When I arrived at Market Square, I was handed a clip-board and asked to mingle with the hundred or so cos-tumed participants.

The categories included best costume, best helmet, best group, best bike and best overall. I met a man wearing a top hat made out of a coffee can and adorned with a candle. I met Mayor Tim Burchett’s cousin, P.J., who restored the 1950s bike ridden by his wife, Beau-mont Elementary art teach-er Cheryl Burchett, as well as his own 1930s-era bicy-cle, which he found leaning against a tree in the woods.

He had to cut the bike out of the tree, which had grown around it.

I met the Three Wise Men, two of whom were women. They followed a star that hung from a pole attached to one of the bikes.

Saul Young, my favorite News Sentinel photogra-pher, looked more like Alice from “The Brady Bunch” than a wise man in his ruf-fl ed bath robe.

I met Steve McGhee, who had so many lights on

his bike and helmet that I thought he must be an engi-neer. He turned out to be a pharmacist.

My job would’ve been easy if not for the continu-ous stream of entrants. I thought I’d picked my favor-

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ites until I met David Stair, with a shiny, red present on his helmet, and his wife, Debbie, who wore a Christ-mas tree costume made of real hemlock branches. I also ran into my friend from the Dogwood Knitters, Lyndsay Crawford, who was dressed as the Doctor from Dr. Who.

In the end, there were 1,023 riders, most of whom sported lights, tinsel or costumes. It was nothing short of magical to watch them depart for a tour of the Fourth & Gill neighbor-hood, even though my toes were numb.

Judging was a challenge, given our absurdly creative community, but it was a pleasure to whittle down the fi nalists with my fellow judge, Erin Donovan of Visit Knoxville. It was even more fun to watch the winners, most of whom were grown-ups, grin as they accepted their prizes.

Perhaps the key to fi nd-ing childlike Christmas bliss is forgetting that you’re a grown-up − just for a little while.

6 • DECEMBER 24, 2014 • Shopper news

Alan Turing (Benedict Cum-

berbatch) works on a machine

that will break the Nazis’ Enig-

ma in “The Imitation Game.”

By Betsy PickleTwo intense stories are

at work in “The Imitation Game.”

The fi rst is Britain’s race to unravel the mysteries of Nazi Germany’s Enigma coding machine during World War II. The second is the lifelong emotional and sometimes physical assault on mathematical genius Alan Turing, who took the lead on breaking Enigma but suffered greatly as a gay man because of his coun-try’s laws against homosex-uality.

The movie jumps around in time, framed by an inter-rogation of Alan (Benedict Cumberbatch) after the war, when his home has been burglarized but nothing seems to be missing. A zeal-ous police detective, Robert Nock (Rory Kinnear), be-comes suspicious when he is unable to learn what Alan did during the war and sus-

By Betsy PickleBefore the novel

and stage smash “Wicked,” before the TV fantasies “Once Upon a Time” and “Grimm,” the-ater had “Into the Woods,” a dark fairy-tale mash-up that united charac-ters from “Cinder-ella,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Rapunzel” into one bewitching sto-ry. The musical’s col-orful, often-doomed characters and sly lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim won over critics and audiences.

Now, 28 years af-ter the stage debut, comes director Rob Marshall’s fi lm ver-sion of “Into the Woods,” with terrifi c singing and acting by stars such as Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Anna Kendrick, Johnny Depp, Chris Pine, Christine Baranski and Tracey Ull-man and a host of lesser-knowns.

While it deserves to fi nd a strong following – much more so than the recent “Les

Turing fi lm explores depths of humans, machines

Sturdy ‘Woods’ slyly twists fairy tales

pects him of being a spy.There are several fl ash-

backs to Alan as a youth (played by the appealing Alex Lawther) at school, but the bulk of the screen time is devoted to the adult Tur-ing’s work on building a ma-chine to decode Enigma at Bletchley Park.

Director Morten Tyl-dum, working from Graham Moore’s screenplay, based

on the biography by Andrew Hodges, tends to overdo the friction between Alan and his boss, Commander Denniston (Charles Dance), and between Alan and his colleagues, led by chess champion Hugh Alexander (Matthew Goode). But aside from that two-dimensional bent, the characters and plot twists are absorbing and suspenseful.

Keira Knightley is surpris-ingly good as a bright math-ematician stymied by the male-dominated world she inhabits, and Mark Strong is deliciously manipulative as MI6 chief Stewart Menzies.

The weight of the movie is on Cumb erbatch, however, and he carries it brilliantly. He uses Alan’s struggles – with relationships, working with those who are far from

his intellectual equal and creating his early computer – to move the fi lm forward as well as to make Alan sympathetic.

A quote from childhood friend Christopher Morcom (Jack Bannon) is the light that shines on and through Alan throughout his life. It, and the fi lm, testify to the complexity and potential of all human beings.

Miserables” or Marshall’s own “Chicago” – “Into the Woods” lacks a true show-stopping tune to act as a defi ning siren song, which may hinder its popularity with short-attention-span moviegoers.

James Lapine adapted the screenplay from his book for the musical, and with Sondheim’s words and

music the fi lm is a tantaliz-ing spin on familiar stories. The plight of a childless baker (James Corden) and his wife (Blunt) cursed by a witch neighbor (Streep) weaves the classic tales to-gether.

Everyone has some kind of dilemma, and some of the twists and turns are in-deed Grimm (and unsuited

Early presentsFive of the six fi lms hit-

ting town this week – “Big Eyes,” “The Gambler,” “The Imitation Game,” “Into the Woods” and “Unbroken” – will play once or twice to-night (Dec. 24). “Foxcatch-er” arrives Christmas Day.

■ In “Big Eyes,” Amy Ad-ams plays painter Margaret Keane and Christoph Waltz her husband, Walter, who tries to take credit for her work. Tim Burton directed.

■ A literature professor borrows money from his mother and a loan shark to pay off a debt in “The Gambler.” Mark Wahlberg, Jessica Lange, Brie Larson and John Goodman star in a fi lm adapted from the like-titled 1974 fi lm starring James Caan.

■ “Unbroken” tells the story of Olympic distance runner Louis Zamperini, who enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces before the attack on Pearl Harbor and survived for 47 days at sea after a search plane he was on crashed in the ocean, only to be captured by the Japanese, who mistreated and tortured him in a POW camp.

■ “Foxcatcher” stars Steve Carell as eccentric multimillionaire John du Pont, who recruits gold-medal-winning wrestler Mark Schultz and his wres-tling-coach brother, David, to train to compete in the Seoul Olympics. Bennett Miller (“Moneyball”) di-rected.

– Betsy Pickle

for little ones). Though there isn’t a “hit” among the songs, the lyr-ics are wonder-ful examples of Sondheim’s clev-er word-smithing and build to an emotional wallop with “No One Is Alone.”

It’s always a joy to hear tal-ented actors like Streep, Blunt and Kendrick show off their pipes, but it’s also fun to discover b r e a k t h r o u g h performers like James Corden (the baker) and Billy Magnus-sen (Rapun-zel’s prince) and youngsters like

Lilla Crawford (Red Riding Hood) and Daniel Huttle-stone (Jack) who can sing as well as act.

“Into the Woods” takes viewers on an engaging journey through atmo-spheric sets and timeless questions. It’s a reminder that “happily ever after” does not come smoothly – or predictably.

The baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) get

instructions from the witch (Meryl Streep) that will help

them undo a curse in “Into the Woods.”

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Shopper news • DECEMBER 24, 2014 • 7 weekenderTHROUGH WEDNESDAY, DEC. 24

■ Christmas in Old Appalachia at the Museum of Appalachia,

2819 Andersonville Highway. Info/schedule of events: 494-

7680 or www.museumofappalachia.org.

FRIDAY, DEC. 26 ■ Movie & Popcorn: “It’s a Wonderful Life,” 10 a.m.-noon,

Humana Guidance Center, 640 Plaza, 4438 Western Ave.

Free. Info: 329-8892, TTY: 711.

THROUGH SATURDAY, JAN. 3 ■ The Knoxville Watercolor Society exhibit at the Rose

Center, 442 W. Second North St., Morristown. Hours: 9 a.m.-5

p.m. Monday through Friday, Thursday until 7:30 p.m. Info:

www.knxvillewatercolorsociety.com.

THROUGH SUNDAY, JAN. 4 ■ Holidays on Ice presented by Home Federal Bank, on

Market Square. Hours: 1-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 10 a.m.-10

p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 1-9 p.m. Sundays. Info: www.

knoxvillesholidaysonice.com.

THROUGH FRIDAY, APRIL 10 ■ Tickets available for Rhythm N’ Blooms music festival, on

stages set exclusively along downtown Knoxville’s historic

Jackson Avenue. Features fi rst-timers, chart-climbers and

highly lauded acts from varied musical backgrounds. Info/

tickets: www.rhythmnbloomsfest.com.

The Cleveland County Courthouse in Shelby, N.C. Photo sub-mitted

Christmas lights and little kids

in my admittedly rose-col-ored memory.

But they really were spe-cial: red, gold and green curlicues culminating in a spectacular crown in the center.

The most anticipated night for me during Christ-mastime was my family’s tour of lights.

Mama, Daddy and I would bundle up and pile into the Dodge station wagon armed with a ther-mos of hot chocolate. And we’d drive all over town looking at the lights.

As an only child, all I had to do was sit, look, wonder and thrill.

Some of the more mod-ern-minded decorators in those “mad men” days favored pastel-colored wheels and artifi cial silver trees, or monochromatic color schemes. Though I appreciate them now, at the time I didn’t care for them. They didn’t “speak”

to a 5-year-old.For me, the only decora-

tions that mattered were bright lights of red, green, gold and white. Maybe a little blue. I could spot them as we started down a street and couldn’t wait until we were in front of the vivid, glowing colors.

My parents were egali-tarian and wanted me to see how everyone lived, so we didn’t just confi ne our-selves to the “better neigh-borhoods.” But it didn’t matter to me if those lights were sparkling on a majes-tic fi r in front of a three-story colonial or gleaming dimly behind a sheet of plastic taped to a cracked window in a wooden shan-ty. I loved them all.

To this day, though my neighbors in my 100-year-old Fountain City neigh-borhood favor elegant all-white light displays, I still put up colors for the little kids whose parents might

Here at the Shopper-News, we’re all counting our blessings this week.

Carol Shane

Among mine, I count the fact that I can claim as my hometown not one but two picturesque, charming North Carolina towns. One of them – Waynesville – is now a real tourist destina-tion, though it had little more than a drugstore and a fi ve-and-dime when I moved there as an adoles-cent in the late ’60s.

But my little-kid years were spent in the sweet hamlet of Shelby, where there’s still a courthouse in the town square. I took a friend there a few years ago. “It’s Mayberry,” she said.

Shelby has done well; it’s on the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places and has experienced a renaissance, thanks to several down-town preservation groups.

It was a wonderful place for a child. And the best time of all was Christmas. Downtown became a fairy-land. The lights strung across the streets were the prettiest I’ve ever seen. I’ve tried to Google them; no luck. So they’re stored only

be driving by. They’ll be in an SUV, not a station wagon, and they’ll prob-ably be glued to a CGI-saturated adventure on the overhanging DVD screen, or immersed in an adren-aline-pumping computer game.

But I hope they glance up, at least for a few sec-onds. I hope they get a glimmer of that sweeter, gentler kind of thrill.

You can view some Christmas lights yourself this weekend at the Con-cord Park Holiday Festival of Lights presented by the Knox County Parks and Recreation.

Every evening except Christmas, from 6 to 9 p.m., visitors can walk a .75-mile greenway trail to view the spectacular dis-play of several hundred thousand lights. The park staff at The Cove did all the decorating – including a series of lights coordinat-ed to music – and they’ve even provided bonfi res for roasting marshmallows.

What a wonderful place to take your family and friends! Pets on leashes are welcome, too.

The event runs through Dec. 30. It’s free, but please bring a nonperishable food item for the Love Kitchen, which provides meals and other types of aid to those in need. Info: 215-6600 or www.knoxcounty.org/parks.Send story suggestions to news@shop-

pernewsnow.com.

Space donated by Shopper-News.

Contact Debbie at 300-6873for adoption and fostering information.

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Want to adopt?come to our kitten adoption Fair

Visit our adoption center at West Town Petsmart. Open every day!

Adoption Fairs are held each Saturday from noon until 6.214 Morrell Road.

Coming soon!2nd Kitten Adoption Fair location!

New Petsmart at 2437 University Commons Way(located between the new Walmart and Publix off Cumberland)

Grand Opening Dec 20!!

Santa won’t be disappointed with a plate of

Panera Bread cookies and some hot choco-

late. Photo by Mystery Diner

Santa will probably leave a little something extra in your stocking if you treat him to a Mitten Cookie from Panera Bread. Throw in a Candy Cookie and some hot chocolate, and you might just jump from the naughty to the nice list!

Mystery Diner

Panera is the bakery that grew. The company began in 1981 as Au Bon Pain Co., lo-cated primarily on the East Coast. The purchase of the St. Louis Bread Company in 1993 added 20 bakeries and a change in growth plans.

In May 1999, all Au Bon Pain Co. businesses were sold, and the company was renamed Panera Bread.

Panera is now a bak-ery/café with h o m e m a d e soups, salads and sandwich-es on the menu. Fresh bakery items range from bagels to muffi ns to cof-fee cakes and the specialty cookies. The Mitten Cookie is replaced each season with a “new” seasonal shaped cookie – Easter eggs, jack-o-lan-terns, spring fl owers.

The Mitten Cookie is a shortbread cookie with a

Plate it

Panera Bread

crunchy-sweet icing. Pane-ra’s hot chocolate – both

regular and gourmet – is the perfect accompaniment.

Slamdot founder and CEO Sean Christman and

chief operating offi cer Daniel Monday get a

visit from Rocky Top Air owner and Slamdot

client Gerald Allison, dressed as Santa Claus.

By Sara BarrettSlamdot has offi cially

opened its new location in Northshore Village at 2053 Thunderhead Road.

The web design and host-ing group was founded in 2005 and has about 900 clients, ranging from mom and pop stores to large cor-porations.

Rocky Top Air owner and Slamdot client Gerald Al-lison attended the ribbon-cutting and had nothing but praise for the folks who built his website. Allison ex-pected several meetings and a long, involved process, but said he met with the folks at Slamdot one time for an ini-tial consultation, and every-thing afterward was done online. He said his business has benefi tted from Slam-dot’s ongoing support and

training in “Slamcamps,” which are customized train-ing sessions in small group settings.

Originally based in downtown Knoxville, the company moved westward “for a number of reasons,” said web consultant Wade McLemore. “We’re a grow-ing company, so we need more space. This is conve-nient to downtown and also has a small-town feel,” he said.

While CEO Sean Christ-mas prefers to work behind the scenes, COO Daniel Monday has a large person-al footprint. He has served as an offi cer for several business groups and is ac-tive in both the Knoxville and Farragut West Knox chambers. Info: 238-5600 or www.slamdot.com.

Slamdot relocates

8 • DECEMBER 24, 2014 • NORTH/EAST Shopper news kids

RuthWhite

Several magnet school teachers received a surprise last week as Buzz Thomas, president of Great Schools Partnership, popped in to say hello and present grant money.

Sarah Moore Greene Magnet Academy teacher April Lamb was speechless as principal Susan Espiritu

entered her classroom fol-lowed by Thomas and sev-eral camera crews.

The $7,000 grant for SMG will be used to pur-chase iPads for screen cast-ing to sharpen math skills.

Vine Middle School teachers Shawn Turner and Sarah Hobbs could barely contain their excitement as

Carter theater department presents

Maurice (Cameron Ellis) and Belle (Elizabeth Wilson) discuss life

in their small town during Carter High’s production of “Beauty

and the Beast.” Photos by R. White

Olivia Martin portrays the bureau in the castle.

Mrs. Potts (Semaja Reed),

the Beast (Alex Drinnen) and

Lumiere (Blake Jackson) dis-

cuss how the Beast can charm

Belle.

Lumiere (Blake Jackson) and Babette (Julia Thress) welcome Maurice (Cameron Ellis, center) into the castle to keep warm.

The Carter High School theater department per-formed Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” and it was nothing short of magnifi -cent.

Elizabeth Wilson was magical in the lead part of Belle. Acing the comedic role of Gaston, the egotis-tical villager in love with Belle, was Noah Fawver. Gaston’s bumbling sidekick, LeFou, was played by Bryce Massey.

Inside the castle were Lumiere (Blake Jackson) and Cogsworth (Nate Paul), the prince’s enchanted can-dlesticks and clock. Both actors nailed the essence of their characters, bringing many laughs to those in at-tendance.

Rounding out the cast were Alex Drinnen as the Beast, Semaja Reed as Mrs. Potts, Haley Myers as Chip, Olivia Martin as Madame de la Grande Bouche and Julia Thress as Babette. Adding to the spectacular cast were silly girls, villag-ers and a host of dancing china and napkins.

Gaston (Noah Fawver) tries

to convince Belle (Elizabeth

Wilson) to marry him in a

scene from “Beauty and the

Beast.”

Vine Middle School choral director Shawn Turn-

er, principal Cindy White and dance instructor

Sarah Hobbs seem happy to receive a $10,000

grant from Great Schools Partnership.

The so-called silly girls, played by Takiela Bone, Elizabeth Benn

and Katelyn Dailey, are distraught over the news that Gaston

plans to marry Belle.

Area teachers receive grants

Hubert Andersonturns 100

A 100th birthday cel-ebration to honor Hubert Anderson of Gibbs will be held noon-2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 3, at New Harvest Park, 4775 New Harvest Park Lane. The public is invited.

MILESTONE

Group provides stroke survivor support

HEALTH NOTE ■ Enrollment assistance for the Aff ordable Healthcare and

Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP):

3-7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21, South Knoxville Community Center,

522 Maryville Pike; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 3, Mount Calvary

Baptist Church, 1807 Dandridge Ave.; 3-7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 12,

Montgomery Village, 4530 Joe Lewis Road. Info: www.healthcare.

gov.

‘Beauty and the Beast’

they were handed a $10,000 check from Thomas.

At Vine, the grant will be used for a spring produc-tion that will encompass all of the STEAM components (science, technology, engi-neering, arts and math) and tie in academic classes with the arts. The money will help purchase literature,

materials, prop designs and more.

Sarah Moore Greene technology teacher April Lamb is stunned

to learn that she has received a grant from Great Schools Part-

nership president Buzz Thomas. Photos by R. White

The Knoxville Stroke Group welcomes stroke sur-vivors and their caregivers. It meets the second Tuesday of each month at Tennova’s Shamrock Room (next to Fulton High School).

The group offers help to stroke survivors with edu-cation as well as emotional,

social and recreational sup-port as they go through the recovery process.

At the January meet-ing, the group will have a speaker from the Disability Law Center. February is the annual bingo night and chili dinner. Info: Kerry Jones, familykjones@juno.com.

cluded. Landscaping, plumbing, heat and air –

Maud Booth G a r d e n s is main-t e n a n c e -free living. There is a laundry room con-v e n i e n t l y located on-site and

even a “library” where resi-dents can check out books.

Belinda Rogers Dyer is the service coordinator for Maud Booth Gardens. Dyer assesses residents to help them fi nd community re-sources so they can main-tain their apartments for as long as possible. Dyer also schedules educational programs and social events including crafts, bingo and exercising. These events

are held in the community room, which is also avail-

able for res-idents’ per-sonal use during nor-mal busi-ness hours.

Dyer has also lined up Second H a r v e s t to include

Maud Booth Gardens as one of their food drops. Residents get to pick up free food twice per month. The apartments are also conve-niently located close to the KAT bus lines. There are parking spaces in front of each resident’s entrance.

If you or someone you know is in the market for af-fordable senior housing, call Dunn at 865-546-7090.

By Betty BeanPutting the infrastruc-

ture in place to make things happen in East Knoxville is a slow, deliberate process, Mayor Madeline Rogero told members of the East Knox Business and Profes-sional Association.

“We promote reinvest-ment where there’s been disinvestment,” she said, citing the ongoing work on the “model block” of Mag-nolia Avenue (actually four blocks, from Jessamine Street to Bertrand Street) that will serve as the gate-way to East Knoxville from downtown. She predicted that the $4.2 million proj-ect will have the same ef-fect on East Knoxville as the city’s façade grant and infrastructure projects that have spurred and promoted growth on North Central.

On the other end of the Magnolia corridor, she re-ported that the Prosser Road redesign and improve-ments will be completed in January, alleviating the ar-ea’s chronic fl ooding prob-lems and opening up a criti-cal connector between east side and north side neigh-borhoods.

Improved bus routes should ease transportation issues, and grants and for-givable loans to homeown-ers are helping spruce up neighborhoods.

When the meeting was thrown open for questions, it became clear that the im-pending closing of central East Knoxville’s only drug-store – Walgreens on Mag-nolia – is a major concern for many residents.

Rogero said she has talked to Walgreens offi cials but didn’t make much head-way.

“You can’t make a busi-ness stay. You can’t artifi -cially prop up a business. We need to think about what will work (in that lo-cation). We don’t mind tak-

ing some risks, but we don’t want to be stupid about it.”

She chal-lenged the audience:

“ W h a t will work? We’re will-ing to in-vest, but we need some proposals.”

D o u g Minter, EKBPA president and business development manager for the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, said the closing of Walgreens should be viewed as an op-portunity.

“Walgreens’ closing is unfortunate. I’m not dis-missing that, but I don’t see it as a negative. Good things are happening. In-frastructure is being built. Good things are happening in the warehouse district, and the city’s still doing streetscapes. We’ve brought in 1,500 new jobs down the road (at Forks of the River Business Park). You can look at things on balance and say they’re bad, but I don’t buy the doom and gloom. This is a business decision Wal-greens had to make. Now we have to make a community decision.”

He suggested an “idea contest” to determine what would be the best fi t for the Walgreens location.

“This isn’t just an East Knoxville thing. We need to look at it as a city thing, a signal that we need to look at where’s the next oppor-tunity to make up for that health-care gap.”

City Redevelopment as-sistant director Dawn Mi-chelle Foster addressed ru-mors that Kroger has plans to close its Asheville High-way supermarket.

“I’m investigating that with Kroger corporate, and Kroger denies having any intentions of closing the store,” Foster said.

NORTH/EAST Shopper news • DECEMBER 24, 2014 • 9 business

FRIDAY, DEC. 26Knitting Caps for the Homeless, noon-1:30

p.m., Humana Guidance Center, 640 Plaza, 4438 Western Ave. Free. Info: 329-8892, TTY: 711.

SATURDAY, DEC. 27Thunder Road Gospel Jubilee, 7 p.m., 1388

Main St., Maynardville. All gospel singers welcome. Info: Joe, 201-5748.

MONDAY, DEC. 29Burlington Lego Club, 6 p.m., Burlington Branch

Library, 4614 Asheville Highway. Grades 1-5. Info: 525-5431.

TUESDAY, DEC. 30Senior Tai Chi, 3-4 p.m., Humana Guidance Center,

640 Plaza, 4438 Western Ave. Info: 329-8892, TTY: 711.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 31New Year’s Eve Celebration, 9 p.m., the Rose

Center Council for the Arts, 442 W. Second North St., Morristown. Featuring the Al Curtis Orchestra. Tickets: $35. Info/tickets: 423-581-4330 or info@rosecenter.org.

SATURDAY, JAN. 3Friends Mini Used Book Sale, 1-4 p.m., Burl-

ington Branch Library, 4614 Asheville Highway. Info: 525-5431.

Thunder Road Gospel Jubilee, 7 p.m., 1388 Main St., Maynardville. All gospel singers welcome. Info: Joe, 201-5748.

MONDAY, JAN. 5Kids Crochet Class 1: Beaded Chain Stitch Brace-

let, 9:30 a.m.-noon, Hobby Lobby classroom, 6580 Clinton Highway. Cost: $20. Info/to register: Monica Schmidt, 406-3971, monicaschmidt.tn@gmail.com or myquiltplace.com/profi le/monicaschmidt.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 7AAA Driver Improvement Course, 5:30-9:30

p.m., Knoxville AAA Offi ce, 100 W. Fifth Ave. Cost: $30 members; $35 nonmembers. Must preregister. Info/to register: Kate, 862-9254, or Don, 862-9250.

Computer Workshop: Introducing the Com-puter, 2 p.m., Burlington Branch Library, 4614 Ashe-ville Highway. Info/to register: 525-5431.

THURSDAY, JAN. 8Halls Middle “Pink Out” basketball game.

Donations to The Butterfl y Fund will be accepted during the school day and at the basketball game that after-noon. Info: Jill Wright, jill.wright@knoxschools.org or 922-7494.

Knoxville Choral Society auditions for all voice parts, 6-8 p.m. To schedule an audition time: 312-2440 or membership@knoxvillechoralsociety.org. Once a time is set, location and other details will be provided. Info/ audition form: www.knoxvillechoralsociety.org.

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ShoppernewseVents

Dunn Rogers Dyer

Rogero

There is a quiet and peaceful community just off Washington Pike that I have driven by many times. Little did I know what a special place it is.

‘Give us a proposal’Rogero challenges East

entrepreneurs

Aff ordable housing for seniors

Nancy Whittaker

In 1896, Ballington and Maud Booth founded Vol-unteers of America, which today is one of the region’s largest and most diverse service organizations. VOA offers numerous housing projects to people across the U.S., including Maud Booth Gardens in Knoxville.

Maud Booth Gardens was built in 2001 but looks brand new. Located at 4452 Maud Booth Way just off Washington Ridge Way, it has 37 one-story, one-bedroom apartments. Four are wheelchair acces-sible. These cute and cozy apartments are perfect for seniors who are ready to downsize but still want in-dependent living.

Karen Dunn has worked here as the community ad-ministrator for more than a year, and it’s obvious how much she enjoys the inter-action with the residents. Dunn accepts applications from individuals age 62 or older. Rent is based on in-come. Water and sewer are included, but residents are responsible for their indi-vidual electric bill.

All maintenance is in-

By Ruth WhiteThanks to Helen Ross McNabb, Mayor Tim

Burchett, KCDC, United Way, Federal Home Loan Bank, the Veterans Administration and a host of donors, volunteers and community part-ners, eight homeless veterans will have a place to call home by Christmas.

Pat Polis, pastor of Washington Pike United Methodist Church, blessed the event and the home, saying “today we are making a difference.” Jerry Vagnier, president and CEO of Helen Ross McNabb, added that he and his staff were “hon-ored to deliver this kind of care to veterans.”

The new home is located in the Inskip com-munity at 4821 Coster Road.

Present at

the ribbon-

cutting are

Randy Boyd,

Helen Ross

McNabb presi-

dent and CEO

Jerry Vagnier,

HRM board

chair Susan

Conway, assis-

tant director

of housing

and support

services Jana

Morgan and

Mayor Tim

Burchett. Photo by R. White

Exterior of the new veterans’ home

located in the Inskip community

McNabb builds home for eight vets

The Rotary Club of Knox-ville has elected its 2015-16 board of directors, which will be led by president San-dy Martin, retired president of Corporate Interiors Inc., when the board begins its term July 1.

Allen Pannell, owner of Allen Pannell LLC, is pres-ident-elect and membership director. Edwin A. Ander-son of Cannon & Anderson, Attorneys, is vice president and communications direc-tor.

Bill MacGrath, senior vice president and fi nan-cial adviser with Pinnacle Financial Partners, is secretary.

Jennifer A. Sepa-niak, chief fi nancial offi cer for Schaad Companies, is trea-surer and chair of the Financial and Audit Com-mittee.

Outgoing president Roy King, M.D., a dermapathol-ogist with Dermapathology Partners PC, will represent

past presidents.Other directors are: Jim

Decker, chief executive di-rector of Medic Region-

al Blood Center; Don Hasson, president of House-Hasson Hard-ware; Jody Mullins,

senior district man-ager for Takeda Phar-

maceutical USA Inc.; Brent Midyett, vice president of DFA/@home audio-video; Tiffany Walker, vice presi-dent of Elite Service Mort-gage; and Ginny Weather-

stone, retiring CEO of the Volunteer Ministry Center.

Founded in 1915, the Rotary Club of Knoxville is among the oldest and larg-est Rotary Clubs in Tennes-see. The club was instru-mental in the formation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and sponsor of several park projects. It is also the creator and steward of The Rotary Foundation of Knoxville, which provides college scholarships and special projects.

The Rotary Club of Knoxville 2015-16 board of directors: (front) Allen Pannell, Sandra T. Martin, Roy King; (back) Brent Midyett,

Tiff any Walker, Ed Anderson, Jennifer Sepaniak, Ginny Weatherstone, Bill MacGrath, Jody Mullins and Jim Decker. Not pictured

is Don Hasson. Photo submitted

Rotary Club selects new board

10 • DECEMBER 24, 2014 • Shopper news

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