Powell/Norwood Shopper-News 122513

POWELL/NORWOODVOL. 54 NO. 51 December 23, 2015www.ShopperNewsNow.com | www.facebook.com/ShopperNewsNow

7049 Maynardville Pike 37918(865) 922-4136

NEWS

[email protected] Clark | Cindy Taylor

ADVERTISING [email protected]

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To page A-3

Zaevion Dobson left this selfi e

on teacher Russell Mayes’ iPad.

Zaevion Dobson’s death

By Betty BeanClarence Mitchell was “Coach

Scooter,” to Zack and Zaevion Dob-son and their brother Markastin Taylor, and to a lot of other Lons-dale kids whom he coached in city recreation league basketball. Zae-vion wasn’t really old enough to be a Laker, and his chunky physique

must make a diff erence wasn’t ideally suited to basketball, but Mitchell took Zaevion on as a favor to his hard-working mother, Zenobia “Tinkerbell” Dobson. There was a caveat, though.

“I told her I was going to be hard on him, and I told him the same thing – ‘Now don’t you go crying on me.’ He told me he’d work hard, and he did. He worked as hard, if not harder, than the bigger boys, and he stuck with me the whole year and never complained. He became one of my key players off the bench. Tinkerbell trusted me to get the best out of her kids be-

cause I didn’t baby them.”Mitchell was at work last Thurs-

day when the dispatcher said there’d been another shooting, but gun violence has become so com-mon that he didn’t get really pay at-tention until he heard it happened in Lonsdale. He messaged a friend, and an hour later, he got the news.

“She said, “One of Tinkerbell’s sons got shot in a drive-by’. My heart just dropped… This is a good mom, and I was thinking this will kill her because she’s so close to her kids. At that point, I didn’t even know Za-evion had saved a young lady.”

Zaevion, who grew up to line-backer size, got hold of Fulton High School radio broadcasting teacher Russell Mayes’ iPad and left something tangible to remem-ber him by – a smiling selfi e.

Mayes got a chuckle out of it, but now he considers the 15-year-old sophomore’s gentle prank a trea-sured keepsake, a memento mori of the smart, funny kid who’s been proclaimed a national hero after he was killed protecting his friends.

By Sandra ClarkThe Powell Station Park disc golf

course is taking shape as workers for county contractor David Dewhirst in-stalled tee pads last week. A second contractor will install the poles and baskets.

This work was funded by a $25,000 grant from the Knox County Health Department as part of its smoking ces-sation program. Doug Bataille, director of parks and recreation, coordinated the grant and awarded the construction contracts through county purchasing.

Disc golf course, parking lot take shapeGift wrap it!

Phillips & Jordan Inc. donated site

preparation and installation of a 26-

car parking lot at Powell Station Park. Photos by S. Clark

P&J offi cers Max Morton and Teddy Phillips talk with Justin

Bailey about the parking lot specs.

Canine friend “Reagan” photo bombs

the picture. Yep, it’s a Republican family.

Old-timers will remember Tom Jensen as

House Republican Leader in the 1970s,

and Carolyn as executive director of the

YWCA. She later was fi eld rep for U.S. Sen.

Bill Frist.

Christmas By Cindy Taylor

Halls residents Tom and Carolyn Jensen have set many personal records. They have been married for 55 years, traveled to more than 50 countries and been honored by Wallace Memorial Church for teaching Sunday School to-gether for more than 40 years.

A 12-foot Christmas tree is the high-light of their living room and a smaller tree resides next to the window in their bedroom. Even with two trees Carolyn has run out of room to display her assort-ment of more than 200 ornaments col-lected from the couple’s extensive travels.

With both Christmas trees fi lled, the Jensens’ home is still full of ornaments lingering in remote places. Some orna-ments are placed on desks and tables or add a splash of color in an unexpected area of the home. Some even play music. The dining room chandelier is draped with breakable ornaments that hold special meaning.

from around the world

“I got my fi rst international orna-ments then from England, Austria, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Holland, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain and Italy,” said Carolyn. “The ornaments from Portugal were very inexpensive and I wish I had bought more. That was the trip that got me started.”

The couple began their world travels in 1966 with a tour of Eu-rope. Tom traveled with a group to China when it fi rst opened up to the west. One of Carolyn’s favorite

To page A-3

To page A-3

Holiday deadlinesShopper News will be on an

abbreviated schedule for this week and next.

Ad and copy deadlines are noon Thursdays, Dec. 24 and Dec. 31. Papers will be deliv-ered as usual on Wednesdays, Dec. 30 and Jan. 6.

Also, we are changing our offi ce setup in both Halls and Farragut. Details to follow.

Meanwhile, if you need us, just call Sandra Clark at 865-661-8777 and we’ll make what-ever you need/want happen.

We appreciate everyone who reads the Shopper. Your time is limited, and we strive to give you a product that’s worth reading.

Merry Christmas from all of us at Shopper News!

SOUP ahead Proposals are being sought

to compete for funding for the next SOUP dinner 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 7, at Vestal United Methodist Church.

Knoxville SOUP is a din-ner and micro-funding event designed to raise money for creative projects that are pro-posed, voted on and enacted by members of the community.

The most recent Knoxville SOUP, held Nov. 7, raised money for the Joe Hill Road-show. SOUP also showcases a local artist at each dinner.

Applications may be com-pleted online at Knoxville-SOUP.org

Project proposals should be submitted online no later than Dec. 31.

Proposals can be for any-thing that will benefi t the com-munity or society in general.

Christine Jessel won the Tour de

Lights costume contest for adults.

That’s her husband, Michael Grid-

er, at right. How did he get his

wife to dress as a tree? “I think the

art of persuasion came into play

when I convinced her to marry

me,” he says. Photo by S. Clark

A-2 • DECEMBER 23, 2015 • POWELL/NORWOOD Shopper news

health & lifestyles

Marilla Cable had suffered long enough. After years of on-again, off-again bouts of sciatica, spinal injections and physical therapy, she was ready to take the prover-bial bull by the horns.

“I had done everything, but none of it was working,” said Cable. “So fi nally, I just stood on my doc-tor’s toes and said, ‘We’re doing an X-ray today because I refuse to live like this another day.’

“I had to get this fi xed – I had a life to live,” said Cable, whose job as dispatcher at a Louisville-based charter company is to make sure the buses and limos run on time. “I have Girl Scouts I work with every week, I have three grandchildren. I don’t have time to be down.”

Without hesitation, her primary care doctor ordered the X-ray and didn’t like what he saw. After order-ing an MRI, he wanted to refer her to a new neurosurgeon in town. Ca-ble, however, knew who she wanted – Dr. Joel E. Norman, a neurosur-geon at the Fort Sanders Center for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery and the long-time partner of the re-cently retired Dr. William Reid.

“They said, ‘You’ll never get in there,’ but they called and I got in at his Maryville offi ce the next day – the very next day!” said Cable.

“We try to make sure that pa-tients are seen in our offi ce usu-ally within a week of calling,” said Dr. Norman. “We use nurse prac-titioners (NPs) to perform initial patient evaluations on people who have not already undergone the imaging procedures necessary for us, as physicians, to make an accu-rate diagnosis and treatment plan.

My partner (Dr. Barrett Brown) and I are each in the offi ce at some point four days a week and our NPs see patients every day. We do not require a referral to be seen.”

“We often open up additional pa-tient appointment slots in order to take care of our patients in a timely manner. I certainly wouldn’t want to spend a month in agony waiting for a doctor’s appointment, and I try to keep our patients from going through that as well.”

“In this case, we were even able to place Ms. Cable on the surgery schedule within two weeks of her initial evaluation,” Dr. Norman add-ed. “We are committed to providing prompt care for our patients in all aspects of their neurosurgical care.”

If Cable thought that getting an appointment was fast, she was even more startled when Dr. Nor-man scheduled her surgery on June 30, just 11 days later.

According to Dr. Norman, Cable’s clinical history and neurological exam strongly suggested a radicular component to her pain, meaning it was likely originating from a spinal nerve compression. Follow-up X-rays of her lower back confi rmed that there was signifi cant instability at the L4-5 disc space, and the L4 bone was clearly seen to slide forward on L5 when she bent over.

A review of her MRI confi rmed the diagnosis of a spondylolisthe-sis, or slippage, of the L4 vertebrae over the L5. “This signifi cant insta-bility led to the formation of a sy-novial cyst, or ‘outpouching’ of the material providing the cushioning of the joints in the spine,” said Dr. Norman. “This cyst was compress-

ing the nerve roots leaving her spine and running into her leg.”

While Cable ex-pressed some reser-vations about sur-gery, Dr. Norman said she had “reached a point where her pain was no longer tolerable.”

While the tra-ditional, open ap-proach would re-quire a large midline incision in the back, stripping muscle tis-sue away from the bone and placement of large retractors, Dr. Norman offered a minimally invasive surgery known as TLIF (transforami-nal lumbar interbody fusion). The mini-mally invasive ap-proach from Cable’s left side used small incisions around the center of the spine and state-of-the-art intraoperative image guidance to allow for less tis-sue damage and retraction.

During the 3-to-3.5 hour surgery at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, Dr. Norman placed pedicle screws into the L4 and L5 verte-bral bodies on both sides. He then removed the diseased facet joint from the left, and removed the sy-novial cyst. This allowed him to directly visualize the nerves as they leave the spine and ensure that

there was no longer any compression of those nerves. He also passed a probe along the course of the nerve to confi rm no compression was evident, even outside his fi eld of view. The disc between L4 and L5 was then com-pletely removed on both sides. Dr. Nor-man then placed a “cage” or spacer into the disc space to help hold that space open, and put material in the cage to help the patient to grow new bone across this disc space and form a solid fusion.

“Her surgery went very well,” said Dr. Norman. “I was able

to completely decompress the neu-ral compression. In her case, I was even able to bring the vertebral bod-ies back into normal alignment.”

Cable was in the hospital only overnight, but it was long enough that she was impressed by the hospi-tal staff. “When I was in holding and beginning to get woozy I asked them, ‘Could you please pray with me?’ And they did,” she said. “They were just

incredible. They took care of my ev-ery need before I needed it. I was verywell pleased with everyone there. Iwas very impressed. Everyone wasvery nice, very accommodating.They knew I was a little apprehen-sive – they had me in there and put alittle heater blanket on me, and they’dcome by and talk to me and they werejust really, really good.”

By the time of her one-monthfollow-up visit with Dr. Norman,Cable was already feeling better.At her two-month follow-up, sherealized that she had been hurtingeven worse than she fi rst thought.

“When I went back for my three-month visit, Dr. Norman asked whatall I had been doing. “I said, ‘Oh, a lit-tle mountain hiking, a little kayaking,a little paddling my boat and playingleap frog with my granddaughter.’ Hesaid, ‘You were playing leap frog?! Idon’t even play leap frog!’

“I said, ‘All I know is I can walk,I can sit, I can cross my legs and itdoesn’t hurt.’

“I recommended Fort Sandersand Dr. Norman to a friend of minea couple months ago,” Cable added.“I told her that she has to go see Dr.Norman, and she said, ‘I’ll never getin there.’ I said, ‘As soon as I hangup the phone, please call becauseI’ve been praying about this andit will happen.’ She picked up thephone and she got in to see him thevery next day, and she had surgerytwo weeks later. It was amazing.”

For more information aboutthe Center for Minimally In-vasive Spine Surgery at FortSanders Regional, call 865-541-2835 or visit fsregional.com/minimallyinvasive.

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

and a happ y new year.

fsregional.com • (865) 673-FORT

Marilla Cable is back to hiking, kayaking

and loving an active life after fi nding re-

lief at the Center for Minimally Invasive

Spine Surgery at Fort Sanders Regional

Medical Center.

Time’s awastin’Relief comes quickly for active Maryville outdoorswoman

Meet Dr. Joel Norman – local neurosurgeon and Seymour nativeDr. Joel Norman is a local na-

tive who returned to East Tennes-see after medical school and now cares for patients in the place he calls “home.” He recently talked about his journey from local boy to well-educated n e u r o s u r g e o n , and the minimal-

ly invasive spine surgery that is changing the lives of his patients.

Tell us your story – where did you go to school, and how did you decide to become a neurosurgeon?

I was born in Knoxville, and raised in Seymour. After I gradu-ated from Seymour High School, I went to college at MTSU in Mur-freesboro, then moved to Johnson City to attend ETSU Quillen Col-lege of Medicine. I completed neu-rosurgery residency in Lexington, Ky., at the University of Kentucky.

I’ve always had a keen interest in the sciences. I found neurosci-ence intriguing and challenging. Once I found my way into the op-

erating room, I knew I had found my calling. Combining my love of neuroscience with my love of the operating room, neurosurgery was a natural extension.

What do you like about this area? In other words, why are you still here, instead of in a larger city?

East Tennessee is my home. I love the scenery here, the people here, and the opportunity to give back to the community that raised me.

I appreciate the hometown feel here and the value that word-of-mouth retains in this community. The greatest compliment I receive is when someone tells me they heard about me from one of my patients.

What are some common problems your patients have, and how do you help them?

We treat an expansive variety of patients from brain tumors to herniated discs. Many of my spine patients have seen several different medical providers and some have undergone several different treat-ments for their back and leg pain before they arrive in my offi ce.

Most have complaints of back pain coupled with sciatica or nerve pain, typically running down the back of their legs. These patients benefi t from the minimally inva-sive approaches to lumbar discec-tomies and spinal fusions.

Which patients might be candidates for the surgery?

The ideal candidate for mini-mally invasive spinal fusion is someone suffering from back and leg pain due to a spondylolisthesis, or slippage, of the lumbar verte-brae. This is a condition sometimes missed on an initial workup as it often requires specialized x-rays with the patients bending forward or backward to clearly visualize.

Often, patients are pain-free while lying on their back, such as during their MRI scans, but upon standing their pain returns.

Can you explain how it works? What are the benefi ts of minimally invasive spine surgery?

Minimally invasive spine sur-gery uses specialized technology within the operating room to al-low for smaller incisions and more precise placement of instrumenta-

tion. We are able to actually obtain a CT scan of the patient while they are asleep on the operating room table and customize our surgical approach to the individual patient, in real-time.

This allows for much smaller incisions and less damage to the tissues surrounding the spine. Ul-timately, this approach gets people back on their feet sooner than is generally necessary for a more traditional, open approach to the spine.

What makes the Center for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery at Fort Sanders Re-gional Medical Center the best choice for this surgery?

Fort Sanders Regional has dem-onstrated a true commitment to excellence in spine surgery, and especially minimally invasive neu-rosurgery. The hospital has been instrumental in purchasing state-of-the-art intraoperative image guidance that allows minimally in-vasive surgery to be possible.

We have a dedicated team of nurses and technicians in the operating room who are experi-enced and specially trained to as-

sist in these minimally invasiveprocedures. Post-operatively, ournurses are also hand-picked andspecially trained in the manage-ment of our patients who have un-dergone minimally invasive spinalprocedures, and we have a dedi-cated fl oor of the hospital reservedfor neuroscience, and especiallyspine patients.

What’s it like to also prac-tice medicine in the placewhere you grew up?

Many of my friends and familystill live nearby and it’s been greatto reconnect with people I hadn’thad the opportunity to see in theyears I was away for training. It’salso been an honor and a humblingexperience to take care of peoplewho watched me grow up in a smalltown. I’ve taken care of my schoolteachers, old friends and familymembers of friends who knew mein high school.

I have a relatively unique ex-perience in that I graduated highschool with many of the samepeople I started kindergarten with.I’m honored that those people whowatched me grow up trust me nowwith their health.

Dr. Joel Norman

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“Our hearts are broken, but they’re fi lled with pride at what he did,” said Mayes, who is also an assistant football coach and overseer of the school’s student-run radio station.

“There was something that was special about Zae. The class was kind of small, and he got along well with everybody, even when he was picking on people. It was always done playfully, in friendship and love, and those kind of things stick with people. What people will always remember is that personality. You just knew he was something special, and when he found the key to un-lock all that potential, he was going to do something great.”

Millions of people, includ-ing the President of the Unit-ed States, believe Zaevion did something great when he died trying to protect his friends from gunmen who opened fi re on them.

He and Zack had just got-ten home from a Fulton bas-

ketball game and walked over to a neighbor’s front porch to join some other friends. Ev-erybody was festive because Christmas break was to start the next day.

The excitement turned to horror when men with guns – authorities say there were fi ve of them – probably gang members bent on revenging a shooting that none of the Fulton students had any-thing to do with, walked up and started shooting. The kids scattered. Zaevion and three girls attempted to run inside, but the front door was locked, so Zaevion told them to get down, and he threw himself on top of them.

The next day, one of the girls, Faith Gordon, wrote on her Twitter account:

“He died laying on top of me. I love him that’s my brother man. Rest easy Zae. I’LL NEVER FORGET YOU.”

Zack also reached out to social media for comfort:

“I swear man I’m losing

Zack Dobson, mom Zenobia Dobson, Zaevion and Markastin.

Zaevion Dobson From page A-1it. I’m lost without you bruh. I’m telling you I’m gonna make it for you.”

Jonathan Egert, who teaches social studies at Fulton, is mourning the future Zaevion will never have, both on and off the football fi eld.

“He was a really intelli-gent kid. If you engaged him in the material, he would ask about a million ques-tions – it was like being in a lightning round of a TV quiz show. Usually you can over-come freshmen in those bat-tles of wit, but Zaevion went toe-to-toe. Such a display of intelligence! He was one of those kids that you wished would believe in himself as much as we believed in him”

Zenobia Dobson’s name comes in every conversation about her boys.

“His mom is one of my all-time favorite parents,” Egert said.

Russell Mayes agrees.“She is one of our most in-

volved parents. We don’t get much turnout at open hous-es, but she’s always there, and there’s not much that goes on with her boys that she doesn’t know about.”

Fulton’s head football coach Rob Black and team chaplain Steve Diggs ar-rived at the Dobson house as soon as they heard what had happened. Black de-scribed Zaevion as a talent-ed, promising young athlete with a quick wit and an en-gaging personality.

“He was just one of those guys that everybody fl ocks to. A friend to everybody, and just so well liked. He had a very, very bright future. The only silver lining is that he’s going to be remembered as a hero and his story is go-ing to be one that lives on.”

Clarence Mitchell be-lieves that Zaevion has an-other chapter to write.

“He’s not the baddest or the biggest, but he’s the man with the biggest heart. He’s my hero, and I see the big-ger picture, the gift he gave.

“Sometimes we need something to put the fi re to us, and he’s going to make something happen in this community. We’re going to love on our kids and fi ght this gang activity. Just like he saved those young girls, Zaevion’s going to save those other kids and save our community.

“Something big is going to happen because of Zae-vion and his mother. Some-thing good’s coming out of the projects, and these kids are going to know it. We needed this hero.”

Funeral services for Za-evion Dobson will be noon Saturday, Dec. 26, at Over-coming Believers Church, 211 Harriet Tubman Street.

To donate to the Zaevion Dobson Scholarship Fund: gofundme.com/9yfmfu5b

To help fund Zaevion Dobson’s funeral arrange-ments: gofundme.com/longlivezae

Christmas From page A-1

ornaments from Venice is made of hand-done Vene-tian glass. The ornaments from farthest away are from Australia and Africa. Tom was a pilot so there are sev-eral airplanes adorning the trees.

The couple have learned a lot about Christmas tradi-tions of other countries as they traveled.

“I didn’t exactly do re-search,” said Carolyn. “I just

The parking lot for the disc golf course was in-stalled last week, thanks to the generosity of local engi-neering fi rm Phillips & Jor-dan. Powell resident Max Morton is a vice president at P&J. His son, Josh, is a Pow-ell High School senior.

Justin Bailey met with Teddy Phillips, CEO of the company, at the suggestion of Mike Edwards, president of the Knoxville Chamber. Phillips called in Morton to evaluate the plans.

Morton later met with Bailey onsite to refi ne the plans. And last week Robby Pressley graded the site and spread gravel to create a 26-car parking lot.

The rock was purchased at a good price from Pow-ell resident Mike Overton, owner of 33 Quarry. Stone was packed six inches deep, Pressley said.

The P&J guys resisted publicity, so we waited until the parking lot was done be-fore printing their picture. It was a great gift that en-hances recreational oppor-tunities adjacent to the high school.

Those who don’t yet play disc golf must check it out.

The 9-hole course is set up like regular golf with holes rated Par 3, etc. An added challenge at Powell is that several holes are in the woods. But you don’t need clubs, greens fees or a cart. The game is played by throwing a Frisbee-like disc. Squirrels and joggers, beware.

Phillips & Jordan is “fo-cused on work product, not self-promotion,” according to a recent trade journal article. Mike Edwards calls them a major local corpora-tion with headquarters on Parkside Drive and a plant off Callahan Road at I-75. The company has projects in almost every state. It held a clean-up contract at the World Trade Center af-ter the 9/11 attack in 2001. It also has cleaned up after hurricanes, tornadoes and fl oods.

Teddy Phillips Jr. became chief executive offi cer in 2009, and the company has grown under his leadership. He also plays drums for the Chillbillies.

Max Morton oversees the power generation and feder-al services groups for P&J. He is a civil engineer.

Gift wrap it! From page A-1

A hand-painted Venetian glass

ornament hangs on the bed-

room tree.

A hand-carved camel from

Egypt dons a Christmas bow

for the season.

The late morning sun refl ects off the sparkling 12-foot tree in

the Jensen home. Photos by Cindy Taylor

A blue, silver and white

tree matches the bed-

room decor.

talked to the people we met there.”

There are ornaments from the U.S. as well. Some are more precious than oth-ers; such as an ornament made by Carolyn’s mother and one that belonged to her grandfather.

The Jensens do all the decorating themselves. Sur-prisingly, their dog Reagan doesn’t bother any of the decorations, except for oc-casionally pulling a plush toy from under the tree.

“Our grandson does put the tree together,” said Caro-lyn. “I have to use a step lad-der to decorate to the top.”

The couple love to take their children and grandchil-dren when they travel now. They still fi nd new and exotic

destinations where Carolyn continues to make purchas-es. Her eyes twinkle and she laughs when asked about adding to the collection.

“I guess if I continue col-lecting ornaments I’ll just have to put up more trees.”


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Marvin West

As Farmer Charlie might say to Butch Jones in the next Farm Bureau commercial, let’s sing along in the same key this time, hi-ho, the mer-ry-oh, a bowling we will go.

In Tennessee’s century and a fi fth of football, the Volunteers have played in 50 bowl games. Some were delightful. Many were meaningless. Four were monumental.

The 1938 team went 10-0. It scored 293 points and gave up 16. It won the South-eastern Conference cham-pionship. The 17-0 victory over previously undefeated Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl validated those ac-complishments. The romp helped the rest of the world accept the fact that Tennes-

Four bowl games were big

see was pretty good.As the late Hall of Fame

tailback George Cafego said more than once, that game in Miami was one of the roughest (and maybe dirti-est) in bowl history. Some holiday outings are just va-cations and vigorous ver-sions of tag. This one was bone-bending fi erce. There were 242 yards in penal-ties (16 for 130 against Ten-nessee) levied for clipping, slugging, kicking, profane

taunting and irreverent quarreling with offi cials.

Cafego never said much about his spectacular knock-out block of Sooner star end Waddy Young on the fi rst play but he was very proud of how the Vols dominated – 268 in total offense to 94 for the Sooners.

Cafego’s favorite example from the combat zone: Rob-ert R. Neyland sent in sec-ond-team center Joe Little to talk to the team in the huddle and “settle everybody down.”

The message was “The Captain says cool it, guys, keep your poise.”

Two seconds after his fi rst snap, Little got into a scuffl e with two Sooners. One went down hard from a right hook. Offi cials im-

mediately concluded Joe had been dispatched as the designated troublemaker. He was ejected.

Neyland’s reaction was classic: “What the hell is go-ing on out there?”

The 1951 Cotton Bowl was signifi cant because it set the stage for a national championship.

A pre-game moment was unforgettable. I heard this one from Hall of Fame tail-back Hank Lauricella: “We were in the locker room and the General was talking to us but we had a hard time hearing him because their band was just outside the door playing ‘The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You.’

“The General paused, lis-tened for a minute and said:

‘When this game is over, they’ll be playing ‘The Ten-nessee Waltz.’”

He got that right – only it was the Pride of the South-land doing the playing. The Vols went to Dallas as No. 4 in the country. They de-feated No. 3 Texas, 20-14. Lauricella had a legendary 75-yard run. Andy Kozar scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

Tennessee fans have lift-ed the 1986 Sugar Bowl well above reality because it was such a joy to behold. Second-ranked Miami, brashness personifi ed, thought it was really No. 1 but fretted that a rout of the mismatched Vols might not provide enough boost to take the title from Oklahoma.

There was a rout, alright, as in 35-7 Tennessee. Da-ryl Dickey was better than Heisman hopeful Vinny Tes-taverde. The Ken Donahue-designed defense picked off three passes and sacked Hurricane quarterbacks sev-en times for minus 84. What a night in New Orleans!

The 1999 Fiesta Bowl qualifi es because we now know national champion-ships are few and far be-tween. Tee Martin threw well. Peerless Price caught four for 199 yards. Dwayne Goodrich picked off a Flor-ida State pass and hauled it back 54 for a score. The Vols won, 23-16.

Ah yes, those were the days.Marvin West invites reader reaction. His address is [email protected]

VictorAshe

Two weeks ago the Uni-versity of Tennessee made the front page of the Dec. 6 Sunday issue of the New York Times, dateline Knox-ville, with a story about UT student Michael Miceli and his 35-mile commute to UTK for classes.

Miceli, 23, is a linguis-tics major. He is upset because UT has imposed a $300 per semester din-ing fee on him and 12,000 other undergraduates in-cluding commuters who do not purchase other meal plans. He has no need for the meals. He does not use them. However, his photo is on page 18 of that issue of the New York Times.

One has to wonder about the fairness of charging stu-dents and adding to their college costs for services they do not seek or use. Miceli’s debt is already ex-ceeding $22,000 according to the article. UT will point

UT’s forced food plan makes New York Times

out that he can get a refund on the $300 for the amount not used for food at the end of the semester. However, even that forces Miceli, in effect, to make UT a forced loan of $300 for the dura-tion of the semester which he may not wish to do or have the funds to lend with-out borrowing himself.

It all comes about due to the food contract with Ara-mark which offers commis-sions and signing bonuses to UT to pay for campus im-provements and academic programs.

According to the Times, the Aramark contract, which runs to 2027, gives

UT 14 percent of all food rev-enues plus $15.2 million in renovations to dining facili-ties. There are costs to this which Miceli and other stu-dents get to pay off against their wishes. The state Leg-islature may decide to enact a ban on mandatory fees for unwanted meals. It is not a lot different from workers at a plant who do not belong to a union being required to pay the equivalent of union fees. That triggered Tennes-see’s right to work law many years ago.

Why should a student pay for food he does not eat or need?

■ State Rep. Jason Zachary has endorsed Su-san Horn in the March 1 Republican primary for the school board seat now held by Karen Carson who is re-tiring. Horn was active in Zachary’s unsuccessful race for Congress in 2014 and his winning race for state

representative in August 2015. Horn has been PTA president of both Farragut primary and intermediate schools.

■ Mayor Rogero over the past three months has been meeting quietly with members of the Knox Coun-ty legislative delegation to push her agenda in Nash-ville. She has advocated passage of Insure Tennes-see and an increase in the gas tax among other issues. Joining her in the meet-ings have been Bill Lyons, her deputy, and Jesse May-shark, her communications director.

The city’s paid lobbyist, Tony Thompson, was not part of the meetings. She has also voiced regret that laws allowing annexation have been weakened.

By meeting separately with the legislators, she avoids any legal require-ment to open the meeting

to the public or media and they were not on her pub-lic schedule. However, she will be meeting with the 10-member delegation at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday Jan. 6, for breakfast in the City County Building Room 691. It is unclear whether the media and public will be in-cluded in that meeting but it is hard to imagine anyone would be turned away if they came. It is unclear whether city council members are included or not. If they are then the open meetings law would apply.

While her backing for Obamacare expansion is well known and backed by 3 of the 10 Knox lawmak-ers (and opposed by the other 7 members), her ad-vocacy of the gas tax hike is less known to the public. No news release has been issued on it. In the recent special election for state representative, the winning

candidate, Zachary, op-posed both. His opponent, Karen Carson, also opposed the gas tax but backed In-sure Tennessee.

Rogero is viewed cau-tiously by the overwhelm-ingly GOP delegation be-cause she actively worked to defeat several of them, especially Richard Briggs and Eddie Smith. Rogero was a key Gloria Johnson backer (against Smith) and a Cheri Siler supporter in 2014 (against Briggs). She also backed Anthony Han-cock against then state Rep. Steve Hall.

Rogero, who is generally a strong backer of diversity, has not yet publicly backed UT’s Diversity Offi ce. Will she urge the Knox lawmakers to support it at the January breakfast? No word at this time.

Merry Christmas to all. Happy Hanukkah. Season’s Greetings.

POWELL/NORWOOD Shopper news • DECEMBER 23, 2015 • A-5 government

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Sandra Clark

Two years ago I quit covering the Knox County school board, turning it over to Betty Bean. I decid-ed, instead, to go hang out with some kids.

It has to be tough to be a Democrat in Knox County.

The governor is a Repub-lican. Both U.S. senators are Republicans. No Democrat has represented Knoxville in Congress since 1855. A Republican super-majority controls the state Legisla-ture. No Democrat current-ly serves in a countywide elective offi ce.

Democrats rarely win. Even worse, they rarely even run. Lately, Republi-cans have won on Election Day by simply showing up on the ballot.

That may be changing.Many Democrats were

giddy last week when the candidate withdrawal dead-line passed and their party had fi elded candidates for six of the seven county com-mission seats on the ballot next year.

They surprised nearly ev-eryone.

In the fi rst district, two Democratic candidates, Ev-

Wendy Smith

When I was a kid, my parents played a game with me called Dots and Boxes. It starts with a grid of dots, and the object is to draw lines between the dots while avoiding giving your opponent the opportunity to complete a box. When you complete a box, you put your initial in it, and the one with the most initials at the end wins. This is how parents kept children quiet before cell phones.

The game is easy at the beginning. You have to draw a lot of lines before it becomes a challenge.

That’s sort of where we are with city greenways. We’ve already drawn the easy lines, like the Will Skelton Greenway along the Tennessee River and the scenic Third Creek Green-way. The next lines require more thought. That’s why Mayor Madeline Rogero asked for an additional $45,000 for a study exam-ining the feasibility of 13 proposed urban greenways at the Dec. 8 City Council meeting.

Council unanimously approved the amended agreement after District 4 representative Nick Della Volpe asked if it was time to stop studying and start building. It was a valid question, but it reveals a lack of understanding of the complexity of building urban greenways.

David Craig of Ross/Fowler is working on the feasibility study, and every one of the 13 proposed greenway corridors is chal-lenging, he says. Acquir-ing property is the biggest obstacle; steep topography and buildings that are too close together are other physical challenges.

Many current greenways run along creeks or through pastoral settings, but urban corridors don’t offer as many natural perks. Now, the goal is to fi nd small sce-nic opportunities between point A and point B, he says.

He’s in the process of making revisions to the study based on feedback from the Greenways Com-mission. It’s a process that takes time.

“Anything in the public realm takes longer than

Urban greenways: slow, expensive,

worth it

what you expect,” he says.More hard work will

come after the feasibility study is completed. That’s when planning for the next fi ve to 10 years begins, says Parks and Greenways coor-dinator Lori Goerlich.

Deciding how to prog-ress will be one of her challenges in the coming year. Factors to be weighed include connectivity (con-necting current greenways to destinations or other greenways), equity (making sure everyone in town has access to quality green-ways) and available grants and partnerships.

One section that’s ex-pected to be completed in 2016 will take advantage of TDOT funding. The .6-mile section of First Creek Greenway, from Wood-land Avenue to Edgewood Avenue, has an estimated price tag of $1.225 million. A TDOT grant will cover $768,000, says Knoxville chief civil engineer Tom Clabo.

The project began before Goerlich took up her post 3.5 years ago. It shows how slow, and pricey, greenway projects have become.

The urban greenways are a huge investment, but Go-erlich thinks the city, Ross/Fowler and the Greenways Commission will produce a high-quality product.

“It’s unique for a city of this size to take on such an ambitious project. It’s 25 miles, and literally, block by block, everything is being explored.”

It’s also an evolving process. During the next 10 years, things will change and there could be new opportunities for greenway alignments, she says.

She’s looking forward to delving into the project in the coming months.

“We’re excited to be part of Knoxville’s growth. Greenways have gotten a lot of attention lately, and that shows that the community cares.”

Neat: Taleah Beal

Kind: J’Kaija Hughes and sister

Enterprising: Maurice Jacobs

Jamarian Chambers and Taleah Beal

Christmas cookies

Luckily, Susan Espiritu had just been appointed principal at Sarah Moore Greene Magnet Academy with the intention of start-ing a community school. I had known Susan since she and Charlie lived in Halls and Susan taught, I believe, second grade at Gibbs El-ementary. She was an out-standing principal at Pond Gap Elementary, leading Knox County’s fi rst (and model) community school.

“Sure,” she said, when I emailed her to volunteer.

Crazy me. I thought a community school meant people from the commu-nity volunteered to do af-ter-school programs. What I discovered is that I’m ap-parently the only one over at SMG running rogue. The others are organized by a leader who takes roll and makes it seem ever so much like school.

Flash-forward a year and a half. We wrapped up our semester last week with a party. We bought some blank gingerbread people and some fancy cookies at Rita’s Bakery and a bunch of plain cookies from Food City. My friend Kathy Fitz stirred some green food col-oring into white cake icing

(who knew?) and gathered several dozen jelly beans, M&Ms and sprinkles.

My plan was to read Christmas stories (it is the Authors Club, after all) while the kids quietly deco-rated cookies. Perhaps we would play soft music in the background.

It was not to be. I’m shouting “The Christmas Cat” over howls of delight as kids poke their fi ngers in ic-ing, try to balance sprinkles on a plastic knife and just can’t return to their seats because they might miss a chocolate drop.

I gave up, laying the book on a chair.

J’Kaija Hughes had painted a tree with lush branches and fruit. Under-

neath it said, “Thanks for helping us grow.” Teacher Krista Rines framed it and the kids gave it to me. Wow!

J’Kaija (it’s taken me four months to say her name right) brought her younger sister to the party. She dem-onstrates sensitivity and kindness that’s rare.

Taleah Beal is a teacher’s kid – probably bearing sim-ilar burdens to a preacher’s kid. Taleah is quiet, careful and conscientious.

Maurice Jacobs is all over the room. To heck with art-istry. His game is to cram as many sprinkles onto his cookies as possible. He even had one multi-layered one. But when you think Mau-rice has left the room on a sugar high, he comes over

and says, “That was a pretty good story.”

“What story?”“The Christmas Cat.”“But I didn’t fi nish it.”“I did. He gets adopted.” Maurice had found time

to pick up the book, fi nish the story and then report to the group. He also found time to bring along his younger brother, Micah.

The personal growth in this once-a-week group is going both ways. And I hon-estly don’t understand why that school is not packed with community volunteers every day from 3:30-5:30.

Know this. I’ve not missed those school board meetings at all.

Merry Christmas!Sandra Clark is publisher of Shopper News

Scott Frith

Local Democrats face challenges in ’16

elyn Gill and Rick Staples, are running to replace the Democratic incumbent, Sam McKenzie. In the sec-ond district, Laura Kildare and Cheri Siler are running in the Democratic primary to replace that Democratic incumbent, Amy Broyles. Recruiting candidates to run in either of these con-tests shouldn’t be much of a surprise. In both races, Democrats are running to replace Democrats.

More unusual are the Democratic candidates run-ning in the other commis-sion districts. In the fourth, fi fth, sixth and ninth dis-tricts, the Democrats have candidates on the ballot. At

a minimum, this ensures that the Republican candi-dates will have an opponent. Some Democrats may even be dreaming of taking over county commission.

That’s not going to hap-pen.

It’s a testament to how bad things have been for Democrats lately when there’s excitement merely by having a candidate on the ballot. Democrats are like UT football fans a few years ago. The results on the fi eld were so terrible that fans could only sit around and dream of po-tential recruits.

Democrats may be fi nd-ing candidates, but they’re a long way from relevance in county government.

Don’t believe me?Democrats failed to fi nd

any candidates for the only two countywide offi ces on the ballot next spring, Prop-erty Assessor and County Law Director. There are

plenty of qualifi ed lawyers, who are also proud Demo-crats, who could have run for law director. They didn’t. It’s too tough to win as a Democrat.

Also, it’s entirely possible that Democrats could put forth all these candidates for County Commission and yet still end up with fewer Democratic commissioners after the election.

How so?The only commission dis-

tricts currently represented by Democrats are the fi rst and second districts (two out of 11). Both seats are on the ballot next year. Due to redistricting and changed boundary lines, the sec-ond district now has more Republican voters than the previous version which elected Democrat Amy Bro-yles. Put simply, the second district is now winnable for Republicans. Although highly unlikely, it’s not im-possible to think that next

year Democrats could be swept off county commis-sion entirely.

Returning to relevance in county government will

be an uphill climb for lo-cal Democrats. They’re not there, yet.Scott Frith is a local attorney. You can contact him at [email protected]


SENIOR NOTES ■ Karns Senior Center:

8042 Oak Ridge Highway951-2653knoxcounty.org/seniorsMonday-Friday7:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

Off erings include: card

games; dance classes; exer-

cise programs; mahjong; art

classes; farkle dice games;

dominoes; computer lab;

billiards room. The Center

will be closed Thursday

and Friday, Dec. 24-25, and

Friday, Jan. 1

Register for: Noon

Year’s Eve party, 11:30 a.m.

Thursday, Dec. 31.

■ Halls Senior Center:4405 Crippen Road922-0416knoxcounty.org/seniorsMonday-Friday

Off erings include: card

games; exercise classes;

dance classes; craft classes;

Tai Chi; movie matinee each

Tuesday; Senior Meals pro-

gram, noon each Wednes-

day. The Knox County Vet-

erans Services will provide

one-on-one assistance to

veterans and family mem-

bers 9 a.m. Wednesday, Dec.

23. The Center will be closed

Thursday and Friday, Dec.

24-25, and Friday, Jan. 1.

■ Senior Citizens Infor-mation and Referral Service2247 Western Ave.524-2786knoxseniors.org

Provides information

about services for older per-

sons (age 60+) and persons

with disabilities who live in

Knoxville or Knox County

and referrals to these servic-

es when needed: health ser-

vices, employment services,

housing, transportation,

legal services, recreation,

support groups, emergency

assistance, in-home services

and minor home repair.

■ One Call Club2247 Western Ave.595-3006knoxseniors.org/onecallMonday-Friday8 a.m.-4:45 p.m.

Heiskell Senior Center mem-

ber Roberta Fogle is a happy

Christmas elf right down to

her toes.

Four senior members who were instrumental in getting items sewn for Safe Harbor children are Joyce Davis, Taff y Kanipe, Mary

Daugherty and Pat Needham.

By Cindy TaylorIt doesn’t take much for

folks at the Heiskell Senior Center to have fun. During the Christmas season fun comes through the door with each member.

At the Dec. 10 meeting/Christmas party seniors donned their gay apparel, brought gifts for each other and enjoyed a Christmas lunch together. It was also a good opportunity to bless others.

Safe Harbor Child Advo-cacy Center “COPE” coor-dinator Renee Poole joined the festivities. Poole was in-vited to come pick up quilts, dolls and hats handmade by members of the center. A group has been working together at the center since January to complete the gifts for the children.

“This is the best part of my job, she said. “It is so special for us to be able to give these items to the chil-dren who come to the cen-ter. They need something to take home that is a comfort to them.”

According to Poole chil-dren seen at Safe Harbor are there to report abuse. It is a diffi cult time for them.

“We always give them a gift,” she said. “And these items are their gift. Those of you who have made these should feel really good about the help you are giv-ing to these children.”

People have been busy all year buying tickets in hopes of winning the quilt completed by center mem-ber Mary Kate Smith. The drawing was held during the meeting. Retha Bass was the lucky winner. This was Bass’ fi rst time at the center since having back surgery. Money collected from the quilt raffl e goes to-ward the new senior center.

The regular monthly meeting of Heiskell seniors is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each sec-ond Thursday at the Heiskell Community Center. Speak-er at 11 a.m., lunch at noon, Bingo at 1 p.m. No meeting if Knox County Schools are out for weather. Info: Janice White 548-0326.

Renee Poole happily accepts

items for Safe Harbor.

A merry Heiskell

POWELL/NORWOOD Shopper news • DECEMBER 23, 2015 • A-7 faith

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keeps you in the know in Weekender.

There is a story that lives in my family lore. I had not thought of it in years and years, until this Christmas. I was stunned and saddened by how true and relevant it is in this season.

All of this happened almost a hundred years ago. In those days, cars were scarce, telephones (at least in the country) were rare and television was not yet invented.

Neighbors visited each other by walking from one house to another, and in nice weather, their visit was most likely to occur on the front porch.

One evening, when the visit was over, the neigh-bors said their good-byes and went home. My grandfather and grand-mother and assorted chil-dren stayed on the front porch a while.

A bit later, their neigh-bors returned, sheepishly. It seems they had forgot-ten to retrieve their sleep-ing baby who had been

… the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

(Luke 2:10-11 NRSV)

Don’t forget the baby!

CrossCurrents

LynnPitts

deposited on Papa’s bed for the duration of the evening visit.

I have known that story for most of my life, but it wasn’t until recently that I began to think of it in terms of today’s Christ-mas celebrations.

Too often, I think, folks are more concerned about Christmas shopping and gift giving and parties and festive food than they are about the birth of “a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” They forget the Baby who was born in a stable because the inn was full. They for-get because their lives are too full of other thoughts, other things.

Please, don’t forget the Baby this Christmas!

Carol Scarbrough and daughter Piper, 7, work on cookies that

will be delivered to people in Powell who will be working

Christmas Eve. Photo by Cindy Taylor

Allison Wood brings in a bike purchased by a Fellowship

Church North member for a student at Northwest Middle

School. Photos by Cindy Taylor

FAITH NOTES

Community services

■ Cross Roads Presbyterian,

4329 E. Emory Road, hosts the

Halls Welfare Ministry food

pantry 6-8 p.m. each second

Tuesday and 9-11 a.m. each

fourth Saturday.

■ Ridgeview Baptist Church,

6125 Lacy Road, off ers

Children’s Clothes Closet and

Food Pantry 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

each third Saturday. Free to

those in the 37912/37849 ZIP

code area.

Christmas services ■ Bookwalter UMC, 4218

Central Avenue Pike, will hold

Christmas Eve candlelight

and communion services led

by the Rev. Stephen K. Doyal,

5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 24.

Special music by the Chancel

Choir. Everyone welcome.

■ Fountain City Presby-terian Church, 500 Hotel

across from Gresham Middle

School, will have two ser-

vices on Christmas Eve, Dec.

24. The 5:30 p.m. service is

designed for children with

children will participat-

ing. Children of all ages are

welcome. The 7 p.m. service

will be a more traditional

candlelight service. Senior

Pastor Max Reddick will have

a special Christmas message

and communion will be of-

fered. All are invited.

■ Miller’s Chapel UMC, 2719

Hwy. 33, Maynardville, will

have a Christmas Eve Service

at 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 24.

■ Powell Presbyterian Church,

2910 W. Emory Road, will hold

Christmas Eve Candlelight

and Communion Service, 7

p.m. Thursday, Dec. 24, with

refreshments following. Info:

938-8311 or powellpcusa.org.

■ St. James Episcopal Church,

1101 N. Broadway, will host

special services: Thursday,

Dec. 24, Nativity Pageant

and Holy Eucharist, 4 p.m.

and Choral Prelude and Holy

Eucharist, 10:30 p.m.; Friday,

Dec. 25, 10 a.m., Holy Eucha-

rist. Info: 523-5687.

Classes/meetings ■ First Comforter Church,

5516 Old Tazewell Pike, hosts

MAPS (Mothers at Prayer Ser-

vice) noon each Friday. Info:

Edna Hensley, 771-7788.

■ Powell Church, 323 W. Emory

Road, hosts Recovery at Pow-

ell at 6 p.m. Tuesdays. The

program embraces people

who struggle with addiction,

compulsive behaviors, loss

and life challenges. Info: re-

coveryatpowell.com or info@

powellchurch.com.

Youth programs ■ Beaver Ridge UMC, 7753 Oak

Ridge Highway, hosts Morn-

ing Breakfast and Afternoon

Hang Out for youth each

Tuesday. Breakfast and Bible

study, 7:20 a.m.; Hang Out

Time, 3:30-5:30 p.m. Info: 690-

1060 or beaverridgeumc.org.

By Cindy Taylor Families of students at

Northwest and Whittle Springs Middle schools will have a merry Christmas this year thanks to local churches, civic clubs and businesses.

Fellowship Church North sponsored more than 50 children at the two schools with more than 200 gifts. Volunteers from the church also participated in the Dec. 15 “Token Night for Fami-

lies” at Whittle Springs. Robin Smith is the social

worker at Northwest.“We are so thankful for

the community support for our families who otherwise might not have anything this season,” said Smith.

The Allergy, Asthma and Sinus Center also supplied gifts and groceries to Whit-tle Springs students and their families. Employee Mary Wilson made the de-livery.

Gifts of the season

By Sara BarrettEthan “Big E” Parsley

had a bright smile that lit up his entire face and caused e v e r y o n e around him to smile back. I met Ethan in May at Am-

herst Elementary School.Diagnosed with Ew-

ing’s Sarcoma just over a year ago, Ethan was lim-ited in what he could do but it didn’t seem to stop him from living life. Thousands of people across the country followed his journey on so-cial media, and the hashtag #EthanStrong quickly went viral.

Professional football players including Peyton Manning and Eric Berry rallied for Ethan, sending videos encouraging him

to keep up the good work fi ghting his illness. But, on Dec. 16, he decided he had better things to do and left this world to be healthy and happy in a greater one.

Throughout Ethan’s journey, never once did he or his family and friends let the shadow of cancer over-power his love of football and hanging out with his younger brother, Logan. Their mom, Denise Rowe, kept us all updated until news of Ethan’s passing gave us hope that he was fi nally at peace and pain free.

A memorial service was held Saturday at Faith Promise Church. Ethan’s family requests donations be made in his memory to The Butterfl y Fund of East Tennessee, P.O. Box 31434, Knoxville, TN 37930, or to The Dream Connection, P.O. Box 10924, Knoxville, TN 37939.

By Cindy Taylor Powell Church members

always celebrate with can-dlelight, singing, scripture reading and communion during their Christmas Eve service. Afterward they celebrate the season with cookie deliveries.

“Part of our mission is to carry light and the love of Christ into our commu-nity,” said the Rev. Martha Atkins, associate pastor at Powell Church.

Volunteers from within the church do this by bak-ing and delivering cook-ies to people in the Powell community who have jobs that require them to work on Christmas Eve. Once the Christmas Eve service is over these volunteers take the goodies to more than 200 people working in busi-nesses throughout Powell. Carol Scarbrough and her daughter Piper baked some of the cookies.

“I’ve had to work during Christmas before,” she said. “I like to minister to people and this is a way to do that.”

“Our church family en-joys this service to the com-munity so much that we often have more people will-

Ethan Parsley

The impact of Ethan Parsley

Candlelight and cookies

ing to deliver than we have actual deliveries to make,” said Atkins.

The church has part-

nered with Prison Fellow-ship in hosting an annual Angel Tree party since 2005. The party is for chil-

dren in the community whose parents are incar-cerated. Gifts are provided to the children on behalf of the parents to help them maintain a relationship. The church started by sponsoring 15 children. The ministry has grown each year.

“This year we are spon-soring 75 children,” said At-kins. “Because we are about relationships we didn’t want to just deliver gifts.”

Church members host a party each year for the chil-dren with lots of food, crafts and games, a secret Santa shop and pictures with Santa that can be sent to the parents.

“We want the children to know that their parents love them, Powell Church loves them and most importantly, Jesus loves them.”

Powell Church contin-ues to host Recovery at Powell each Tuesday. An anonymous donor from within the church funded a holiday meal for the Dec.15 meeting.

Powell Church is at 323 West Emory Road in Powell. Info: www.powellchurch.com or 938-2741.

“We had some of our em-ployees who just weren’t going to be able to contrib-ute this year,” said Wilson. “When one of them told their children they couldn’t help, each child asked if they could give up some of their own gifts to the stu-dents in need at Whittle Springs.”

Knox North Lions Club contributed coats, gift

cards and school supplies to Whittle Springs and pro-vided Christmas gifts to 10 students. The club will sponsor a chili dinner in January for parents at the school.

“Because of these groups we are able to help more than 60 families have a bet-ter Christmas,” said Whittle Springs parent coordinator Florence Ndiaye.


Brickey-McCloud choir entertains with holiday favoritesBrickey-McCloud Elementary chorus entertained patrons at El Chico Restaurant recently with

a festive variety of Christmas carols. Pictured are Carter Gresham, Judah Rievley, Evan Eubanks

and Isaac Fraker as they join the group in song. The choir is directed by music teacher Michelle

Lakin. The group has performed at the restaurant for eight years, Lakin became good friends

with the staff and one staff member had a child in the choir. Lakin enjoys taking the group out

to sing for the public in a unique setting. Photo by R. White

The PHS swim team swam against Carter and First Baptist Academy re-cently and posted the final results: Powell won with 128 points over Carter with 28 points and First Baptist Academy with eight points.

First place finishers were: Girls 200 free: Abby Corea; Boys 200 free: Chris Wilbanks; Girls 200 IM: Sara Corea; Boys 200 IM: Alec Tripp; Girls 50 free: Lydia Moneyhun; Girls 100 free: Abby Corea; Boys 100 free: Alex Tripp;

Girls 200 free relay:

Abby Corea, Sara Corea, Lydia Moneyhun and Cay-lin Moore; Boys 200 free relay: Caleb Merritt, Pierce Anderson, Chris Wilbanks and Alec Tripp; Girls 100 back: Caylin Moore; Boys 100 back: Khan Ha; Girls 100 breast stroke: Sara Corea; Boys 100 breast stroke: Chris Wilbanks; and Boys 400 free relay: Pierce Anderson, Khan Ha, Caleb Merritt and Chris Wilbanks.

Powell Middle School also competed and scored 83 points to defeat Carter

and FBA. First place fin-ishers included: Girls 200 medley relay: Madeline Tripp, Lillie Brooke Daven-port, Sarah Richards and India Bradley; Girls 200 IM: Madeline Tripp; Girls 50 free: India Bradley; Girls 100 f ly: Sarah Rich-ards; Girls 100 free: India Bradley; Girls 200 free re-lay: Sarah Richards, Sum-mer Hoffer, Lillie Brooke Davenport and India Brad-ley; Girls 100 back: Sarah Richards and Girls 100 breast stroke: Lillie Brooke Davenport.

Powell High, middleswim team results

Learning pedestrian safety

Katy Davis with the Knox County Sheriff ’s Department discuss-

es the importance of being aware of surroundings during a les-

son on pedestrian safety at Powell Elementary School. Photo by R. White

Students at Powell El-ementary School got the op-portunity to sit down with Katy Davis from the Knox County Sheriff’s Offi ce-and learn how to be a little safer while walking in their neighborhoods.

She shared the statistic that every week, on aver-age 50 kids get backed over by a car across the United States. She showed slides to make sure students knew what a car in reverse looked like and what a person’s view from the driver’s seat looked like from her car and how view can be obstructed by car headrests and win-dow framing.

The students also re-viewed street signs and their meanings.

RuthWhite

Davis chatted with the older students because the age group known as tweens (10-13) is the most likely group to get hit as pedestri-ans.

Why is that? Davis said that through research and statistics, it’s most likely because kids in this age range are allowed to go out by themselves more often and that they are distracted pedestrians, thanks to cell phones and iPods.

“Just because you see a car doesn’t always mean that they see you,” she shared with the students. It’s critical for pedestrians to pay attention because in many instances, drivers are also distracted. She in-formed students to walk on the left side of the road if there isn’t a sidewalk avail-able and to always use a sidewalk when able, regard-less of the side of the road.

CALL FOR ARTISTS

■ Arts in the Airport:

juried exhibition al-

lows regional artists to

compete and display

work at McGhee Tyson

Airport secured area

behind the security gate

checkpoint from March

17-Oct. 12. Theme:

“Smoky Mountain Air

Show.” Entries deadline:

midnight Sunday, Feb. 7.

Info/application: knoxal-

liance.com; Suzanne

Cada, 523-7543 or sc@

knoxalliance.com.

■ Dogwood Arts Festival:

juried artists are

selected to exhibit and

sell their original work

in mixed media, clay,

drawing/pastels, glass,

jewelry, leather, metal,

painting, photography,

sculpture, and wood in

April. Info/application:

dogwoodarts.com.

■ Gallery of Arts Tribute: a

juried exhibition devel-

oped to recognize local

artists and honor the life

and times of Dr. Martin

Luther King Jr. Artwork

should be delivered 9

a.m.-5 p.m. Monday and

Tuesday, Jan. 4-5. Entry

form: knoxalliance.com/

MLK.htm; or SASE to

Arts & Culture Alliance,

P.O. Box 2506, Knoxville

TN 37901. Info: Suzanne

Cada, 523-7543 or sc@

knoxalliance.com.

■ “Past and Future

Conditions” exhibit: art

exploring the concept

of “truth” and “knowl-

edge” and how they are

aff ected by conditions

that change over time,

to be held 6-10 p.m. Fri-

day, Feb. 5, A1 Lab Arts,

23 Emory Place. Submit

entries to: a1artsubmis-

[email protected]. Entry

deadline: Sunday, Jan

17. Art drop off : Sunday,

Jan. 31. Info: a1labarts.

org.

■ Scruff y City Art Contest:

a juried art exhibit

competition celebrat-

ing Knoxville’s blend of

southern history and

modern development

on the banks of the

Tennessee River. Free

and open to all artists.

Submissions deadline:

Feb. 15. Info: liz-beth.

com/contest.

Her fi nal, and most im-portant, piece of informa-tion was to remind stu-dents to stop, look, listen and think when crossing a street. They should never just walk out into a street, even with a stop sign for traffi c without fi rst check-ing their surroundings fi rst.

www.ShopperNewsNow.com 922-4136

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pperNewsN36

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Call your sales rep to place your ad here.Ask about frequency discounts.

Cop Students for the month of November at

the Boys and Girls Club of H a l l s /P o w e l l are Eli G i l e s , a first g r a d e s t u d e n t at Brick-

ey-McCloud and Jacie King, a sixth grade stu-

dent at Halls Middle. Both students were se-

l e c t e d for their h a r d w o r k and good c h a r a c -ter while on the t r a n s -portation bus and

helpfulness during while at the center.

POWELL/NORWOOD Shopper news • DECEMBER 23, 2015 • A-9 kids

POWELL SERVICE GUIDE

To place an ad call

Tony Cranmore at 865.661.6560

To place an ad call

922-4136

THROUGH THURSDAY, DEC. 24Christmas in Old Appalachia, Museum of Ap-

palachia, 2819 Andersonville Highway, Clinton. Info: 494-7680 or museumofappalachia.org.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 23International Folk Dance Class, 7:30-10

p.m., Claxton Community Center, 1150 Edgemoor Road, Clinton. Info: Paul Taylor, 898-5724; oakridgefolkdancers.org; on Facebook.

Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker, 7 p.m., Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay St. Info/tickets: Ticketmaster outlets, the Tennessee Theatre box offi ce, and 800-745-3000.

SATURDAY, DEC. 26Kitten and cat adoption fair, noon-6 p.m., West

Town PetSmart adoption center, 214 Morrell Road. Sponsored by Feral Feline Friends of East Tennessee. Info: www.feralfelinefriends.org.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 30International Folk Dance Class, 7:30-10

p.m., Claxton Community Center, 1150 Edgemoor Road, Clinton. Info: Paul Taylor, 898-5724; oakridgefolkdancers.org; on Facebook.

THURSDAY, DEC. 31New Year’s Eve Gala, 10 p.m., World For Christ

Church Inc., 4611Central Avenue Pike.

SATURDAY, JAN. 2Kitten and cat adoption fair, noon-6 p.m., West


SUNDAY, JAN. 3Advance screening of the fi rst hour of “Downton

Abbey” fi nal season, 2 p.m., Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay St. Free. Info: 684-1200.

MONDAY. JAN. 4Mighty Musical Monday with Kukuly and the

Gypsy Fuego, noon, Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay St. Free. Info: 684-1200.

MONDAY-TUESDAY, JAN. 4-5New Play Festival auditions for Tennessee Stage

Company, 7-10 p.m. Monday and 7-9 p.m. Tuesday,

Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay St. No appointment neces-sary. Info: 546-4280.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 6International Folk Dance Class, 7:30-10 p.m.,

Claxton Community Center, 1150 Edgemoor Road, Clin-ton. Info: Paul Taylor, 898-5724; oakridgefolkdancers.org; on Facebook.

Jazz Lunch at the Square Room, noon-1 p.m., 4 Market Square. Featuring “Kayley Farmer sings the Rodgers and Hart Songbook.” Admission: $15; includes lunch buffet. Info/tickets: knoxjazz.org.

FRIDAY, JAN. 8Opening reception for “Gallery of Arts Trib-

ute”: a juried exhibition developed to recognize local artists and honor the life and times of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 6-8 p.m., Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay St. Info: 523-7543 or knoxalliance.com.

SATURDAY, JAN. 9Kitten and cat adoption fair, noon-6 p.m., West


Saturday Stories and Songs: Faye Wooden, 11 a.m., Powell Branch Library, 330 W. Emory Road. Info: 947-6210.

Saturday Stories and Songs: Georgi Schmitt, 11 a.m., Fountain City Branch Library, 5300 Stanton Road. Info: 689-2681.

The Tennessee Stiffl egs Old-Time String Band, 8 p.m., Laurel Theater, 1538 Laurel Ave. Tickets: $14, some discounts available. Info/tickets: www.jubileearts.org.

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Boys and Girls Club students of the month

Giles King

Holiday fun at Copper Ridge

Matthew Montgomery shows

how he turned his stocking

craft into a festive monster.

Madelynn Hopkins, Landon Heath and Brayden White get supplies to create a craft project to

help kick off the holidays.

Bella Reed shows her fi nished

craft project.

Drew Mullins snaps a

selfi e with classroom

volunteers Krystin White

and Juanita Mullins and

teacher Jennifer Kitts. Photos by R. White

McGinnis

Powell High student Syd-ney McGinnis recently re-

ceived the Berea Col-lege Pinna-cle Scholar Award of Excel lence for her ac-c o m p l i s h -ments in the fi eld of mu-sic.

The award is a way to recognize outstanding high school seniors for their work in the fi elds of science, music or service. Students are nominated by a teacher

or guidance counselor and then the faculty of the col-lege selects the top student in each category.

Berea College created the Pinnacle Scholar Awards to recognize students in the region who demonstrate a strong potential to exert a positive infl uence on the future of Appalachia. The program helps the college fulfi ll its mission of serving the region through a focus on learning, labor and ser-vice. Sydney was selected from hundred of nominees from across 10 different states.

McGinnis is Berea Pinnacle Scholar


New business boosts nonprofi tsBabalu Tacos & Tapas on Dec. 17 presents a check for $7,266.28 to Beardsley Farm and The Pat Summitt Foundation. The money

was raised by the new Gay Street restaurant during pre-opening parties Nov. 20-21, and the donation was split evenly between

the two nonprofi ts. Pictured are Maggie Callahan and Warren Weiss of Babalu Tacos & Tapas; Patrick Wade and Adam Waller of

The Pat Summitt Foundation; and Maya Carl, Khann Chov and Rachel Newcomb of Beardsley Farm. Photo submitted

Gerdau donates to Winter Gift ShopEmployees of steel recycler Gerdau’s Knoxville mill donated toys and coats for Lonsdale Elementary students as part of the

school’s annual Winter Gift Shop. Gerdau employees Carlus Thompson, David Moore, Donald Clark, Matthew Crumley, Katie

Wallace, Ronald Fritz, Kenneth Strickland, John Rauhuff , Buddy Wolfenbarger, Wesley Mills, Damien Rose, Rick Christopher, Brian

Bowen and Anthony Chaperon display some of the gifts they and other employees donated to the gift shop, held Dec. 14 at the

school. Photo submitted

Max Reddick, president of the North Knox Rotary Club, pres-

ents a big $17,000 check to Bob Sexton, executive director of

the Cerebral Palsy Center. Photo by Tom King

News from the Rotary Guy

By Tom KingThe back room at Harby’s

Pizza was packed on a recent Fri-day, fi lled by the 10 r e s i -dents p l u s staf f of the C e r e -

bral Palsy Highland Park Group Home and members of the North Knoxville Ro-tary Club.

It was billed as a Christ-mas Party – but it was much

North Knox gifts $17K to CP home

Tom King

more than just a party.The Rev. Max Reddick,

president of the North Knox club and pastor at Fountain City Presbyterian Church, presented a $ 17,000 check to Bob Sexton, executive

director of the Cerebral Palsy Center that sup-ports the Highland Park residents.

Club member Da-vid Dooley and two

others started the North Knoxville Rotary Golf Tour-nament at Three Ridges Golf Course 17 years ago to raise money for the group home. Since then the club has donated approximately $200,000 to the home.

“I am overwhelmed each year with Rotary’s support and you all are responsible for the survival of the group home,” Sexton said. “This $17,000 pays for an entire month for operating this home and that’s how impor-tant it is.”

Mark Rosser, president of the Cerebral Palsy Housing Corp., says the total budget for the home is $200,000 a year. “We have to raise about $25,000 a year to help keep the doors open so you can see how important your donation really is,” he said. “If not for Rotary we could not survive.”

Mark also turned into El-vis Presley at the party. He entertained the residents and the Rotarians with a great rendition of the Elvis holiday classic “Blue Christ-mas.”

The club also presented each resident with a gift card as their Christmas present.

■ Music to shoppers’ ears!The Salvation Army bells

were ringing Saturday, Dec. 12, at the Kroger store in Farragut as Farragut Ro-tarians manned the kettle from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. But shoppers also were treated to their favorite Christmas carols in the morning and afternoon.

Diane O’Brien, wife of Farragut Rotarian Jim O’Brien, played her accor-dion in the morning. Club president Dale Read enter-tained one and all on his accordion in the afternoon. The Kroger shoppers were very generous in fi lling the red kettle and very appre-ciative of the holiday tunes!Tom King is a retired newspaper editor, a

Rotarian for 27 years and past president

of the Rotary Club of Farragut. He can be

reached at [email protected]

Kramer

BIZ NOTES ■ Two Shoney’s restaurants

in Knox County will be open

on Christmas Day. The stores

at 4410 Western Avenue and

100 Walker Springs Road will

be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

with breakfast buff et from

9-11 and a dinner buff et with

ham and turkey starting at

11 a.m.

■ Wayne R. Kramer is the

president of

the Knoxville

Bar Associa-

tion for 2016.

Kramer is a

partner at

the law fi rm

of Kramer

Rayson LLP, a

fi rm founded

by his grand-

father in 1948.

He graduated from Maryville

College and received his

law degree from Seattle

University.

Catch up with all your favorite columnists every Wednesday at www.ShopperNewsNow.com

POWELL/NORWOOD Shopper news • DECEMBER 23, 2015 • A-11 weekender

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Celebrating15 Years!

Wi d

NGGGGGGGGG 15 Year

By Carol ShaneNo matter what your hol-

iday traditions are, you’ve got to admit that Friday is a great day for Christmas to fall upon! It’s the start of a long weekend; visit-ing friends and relatives from near and far will get a chance to breathe a little and have a true visit before they began the trip back home.

In our family, it was al-ways a treat when the cous-ins came to visit. I had built-in playmates close to my own age, and the same is true in any era – kids will be kids, and, to their way of thinking,

the more the merrier. After a while, though,

“the more” may need a di-version. Luckily, there’s plenty to see and do this weekend with the small fry.

The Knoxville Zoo is of-fering buy one, get one free admission tickets, spon-sored by Kroger, through Feb. 29. Winter is a great time to visit the zoo. Many of the animals prefer the cooler temperatures and are more active. Closed Christ-mas Eve and Christmas Day, the zoo will reopen from 10 a.m.-4.30 p.m. Sat-urday, Dec. 26, and remain open for those hours every

Many Knoxville Zoo animals such as this Hamadryad baboon

enjoy cooler temperatures. With the Knoxville Zoo’s BOGO

Days, this weekend is a great time to visit. Photo courtesy of the Knox-ville Zoo

for all

day. Tickets can be pur-chased at the ticket booth until 3.30. Info: 637-5331 or visit knoxville-zoo.org

For a truly spectacular light display, head west to the 2015 Holiday Festival of Lights at The Cove at Concord Park. Every eve-ning you and your fam-ily and pets on leashes can stroll on the three-quarter

mile greenway to view the lights. Food vendors will offer kettle corn, hot apple cider, hot chocolate, cotton candy, ribbon fries, funnel cakes and other treats. The display happens from 6-9 p.m. every evening except Christmas from now un-til Thursday, Dec. 31. Info: k noxc ou nt y.or g/pa rk s/events

Einar (Eddie Redmayne) helps his wife, Gerda (Alicia Vikander),

as she tries to complete a painting in “The Danish Girl,” open-

ing Friday at Downtown West.

By Betsy PickleDirector Tom Hooper

won an Oscar for “The King’s Speech,” Eddie Red-mayne won one for his por-trayal of Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Every-thing” and Alicia Vikander has been praised for many diverse performances in her short career. And all of that falls away as “The Danish Girl” plays out on screen.

A fi ctionalized biography set in the early part of the 20th century, “The Dan-ish Girl” is a glossy depic-tion of what no doubt was the much rougher path of a transgender pioneer. But gloss doesn’t diminish the authenticity of the emotion-al journey and the value of the perceptive storytelling.

Redmayne plays Einar Wegener, a rising star in the Danish art world. His series of paintings of the stark landscape of his child-hood resonates with critics and connoisseurs, yet he can’t seem to move beyond it, continuing to play with details as memories churn

within him.Einar’s wife, Gerda (Vi-

kander), is also an artist, but her talent has yet to be acknowledged on anything approaching a similar scale. She becomes more frus-trated with each setback, but she doesn’t take it out in jealousy of Einar.

Something clicks – for both of them – when Gerda cajoles Einar into standing in for a tardy ballerina while she works on a painting. Einar feels a connection to the distaff costume he dons, while Gerda unwittingly fi nds a model who will prove to be her inspiration.

From that point the story becomes one of love in the face of transformation. As Einar fi nds himself – her-self – as “Lili,” it would seem logical that Gerda would want to be rid of him, but their bond transcends the traditional marital dynam-ic. It’s more than loyalty, more than protection. They are two halves of a whole.

The passion that the ac-tors put into their work fi lls

‘Danish Girl’ fi nds itself in truth

It is the time of year to count blessings, and with all the talk lately of diversity – both in the national con-versation and the local one – I count myself very fortu-nate to know people from cultures other than my own.

As a member of the Knox-ville Symphony Orchestra, I get to see people of different races, religions and politi-cal stripes come together to make beautiful music. We have talented performers from Venezuela, Russian, China, Japan, Turkey, Korea and other nations, as well as from right here in the U S of A. Most, if not all, have become naturalized Ameri-can citizens, which says a lot about our great country and the opportunities it offers. But even so, these folks en-rich our nation and our lives with their own cultures.

They certainly enrich mine. Who knew that “my

life is a casino” means that “things are a bit crazy right now” to my Bulgarian friend?

Or that my Russian friend became a childhood fan of the Beatles by listening to reel-to-reel tapes sneaked into his Moscow home – the only way he could hear them? How else would I get to attend a festive ceremoni-al Korean birthday celebra-tion? Or learn of the hard-ships my Chinese friend endured when she arrived in this country, just to build a better life for her family here?

Knowing people from different backgrounds en-larges our world and helps us develop empathy for our neighbors. It’s up to all of us to bless each other and in turn be blessed.

Merry Christmas!Send story suggestions to news@shopper

newsnow.com.

‘Concussion’Will Smith delivers a Christmas present the NFL will want

to return with “Concussion,” a dramatic thriller about a

forensic neuropathologist who makes the link between

football injuries and chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

He fi nds deep resistance when he tries to get the NFL to

own up to the truth. Alec Baldwin, Gugu Mbatha-Raw,

Luke Wilson, Adewale Akinnyuoe-Agbaje, Stephen Moy-

er and Albert Brooks also star. The fi lm is rated PG-13 for

thematic material including some disturbing images, and

language.

the screen and makes the in-timate tale larger than life. As artists, Einar and Gerda in-terpret the world; Redmayne and Vikander do the same for the world of their characters – as well as for those who face a similar challenge –bravely and compassionately.

There are occasional splashes of ugliness, hints of the pain – both mental and physical – that LGBT persons experienced in that era and still face in our own.

Mostly, however, “The Dan-ish Girl” is about beauty,the beauty of unconditionallove and the beauty of beingtrue to yourself.

Hooper, directing from ascript Lucinda Coxon adapt-ed from David Ebershoff’snovel, never lets the lus-cious visuals get in the wayof the message. Until truthfi nds its way, everythingelse is not good enough.

Rated R for some sexual-ity and full nudity.

North Knox neighbors decorated veterans’ graves for Christmas, according to Ronnie L. Collins, president of the Alice Bell/Spring Hill Neighborhood Association.

“I would like to thank all those whose contribution made this possible,” he said. “We were able to cover all the graves at Lyons View. We

originally thought we would be short, but John Sevier had some left over and brought those to Lyons View.”

Collins said volunteers were short on decorations for the national cemetery on Broadway. “Let’s hope that next year we can honor all these men and women who have sacrifi ced for us.”

The Arts Mean Business.That is the message be-

ing delivered by the Arts & Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville which has joined the Arts & Economic Pros-perity 5, a national study measuring the economic impact of nonprofi t arts and culture organizations and their audiences.

In Greater Knoxville, the research study is being con-ducted by Americans for the Arts (AFTA), the nation’s nonprofi t organization ad-vancing the arts and arts

education in partnership with the Arts & Culture Alli-ance and the Tennessee Arts Commission, the state’s arts agency. This is the fi fth na-tional study over the past 20 years to measure the impact of arts and culture spending on local jobs, income paid to local resident, and revenue generated to local and state governments. This will be the Alliance’s fi rst time to participate.

As one of nearly 300 study partners across all 50 states plus the District of Columbia,

the Alliance will collect eco-nomic impact data from local nonprofi ts that offer arts and culture programming both formal and informal.

“This study will show how nonprofi t arts and cul-ture are an important in-dustry in our community – employing people locally, purchasing goods and ser-vices from local merchants, and helping to drive tour-ism and economic develop-ment,” said Liza Zenni, ex-ecutive director of the Arts & Culture Alliance.

The Alliance will also col-lect surveys from attendees at ar ts and cultural events. Previous national studies have shown that the average

attendee spends $24.60 perperson, per event, beyondthe cost of admission. Thosestudies have also shownthat, on average, 32 percentof arts attendees travel fromoutside the county in whichthe arts event took place,and that those cultural tour-ists typically spend nearly$40 per person – generatingimportant revenue for localbusinesses and demonstrat-ing how the arts drive rev-enue for other businesses inthe community.

Surveys will be collectedthroughout 2016. The re-sults of the study will bereleased in June 2017. Info:865-523-7543 or [email protected]

Neighborhood group decorates graves


• KNOXVILLE, TN - N. BROADWAY, MAYNARDVILLE HWY., HARDIN VALLEY RD.,KINGSTON PIKE, MIDDLEBROOK PIKE, MORRELL RD. • POWELL, TN - 3501 EMORY RD.

SALE DATES: Wed., Dec. 23 -Tues., Dec. 29, 2015Items and Prices are specifically intended

to apply locally where issue originates.No sales to dealers or competitors.

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