BEARDEN SHOPPER-NEWS • APRIL 23, 2012 • A-3
City of Knoxville Neighborhood Coordinator David Massey, back, visits with fellow city employ- Paul Scoonover brokers a deal by phone with raffle winner Nadim Jubran while Jacene England ees Bill Lyons, Bob Whetsel and Becky Wade before his Brown Bag Green Book discussion at the looks on. Scoonover and England are on the board of the East Tennessee Community Design Center. East Tennessee History Center. Photos by Wendy Smith
Better at giving than driving If you were to judge the fine folks of West Knoxville by the way they drive, most of us wouldn’t come off well.
Wendy Smith Some would seem downright despicable, like the driver I saw recently who pulled into the left turn lane so he could cut in front of a long line of cars waiting for the light at Gallaher View and Gleason to change. (Yep, I’m talking about you, Jaguar driver.) Then there was the SUV driver who was stuck to my back bumper until a fire truck, headed to our giant mulch-fire wiener roast, managed to squeeze between us. It worked out well for him, though, because he hitched a ride behind the fire truck and got ahead of all of us who pulled to the side. Is it just me or is that plain rude? The good news is that driving behavior isn’t necessarily indicative of character. Almost every day, I get to interact with truly selfless West Knoxvillians. Just this week, I met an architect who didn’t just help a needy family, but did it with child-like glee. I spoke to a Holocaust survivor who volunteers to relive painful memories so children can
Knoxville Breakfast Rotary Club members Buddy Brown, Dan Hipsher, John Powell, Pat Martin, Roger Kiefer, Terry Adams, Greg Maciolek and Doug Lesher help out at the club’s annual plant sale. understand the destructive nature of hate. And I witnessed two raffle winners who each gave away $1,000 of the $5,000 they had won five minutes earlier. (I would have had to sleep on that one, I think.) Stories like these make me proud to be part of this community. And being able to tell them makes me happy to be part of the ShopperNews team. ■
Raffle winners with a heart
The East Tennessee Design Center hosted a raffle drawing last week that made two lucky ticket holders very happy and supported the center’s mis-
BEARDEN NOTES ■ Boys’ Night Out will perform a mix of soul, blues and Carolina beach music 6:30 to 10 p.m. Friday, May 11, at Bearden Banquet Hall on Kingston Pike. All proceeds will go toward the Emory Valley Center Capital Campaign. Dinner from Buddy’s Bar-BQ will be served. Tickets are $15 ($20 at the door) and can be purchased at www.emoryvalleycenter.com or at any Tennessee Bank location. Info: Call 483-3659. ■ Downtown Speakers Club meets 11:45 a.m. every Monday at TVA West Towers, 9th floor, room 225. Currently accepting new members. Info: Jerry Adams, 202-0304. ■ UT Toastmasters Club meets noon every Tuesday at the Knoxville Convention Center on Henley Street in room 218. Currently accepting new members. Info: Sara Martin, 603-4756. ■ West Knox Lions Club meets 7 p.m. each first and third Monday at Shoney’s on Lovell Road. ■ West Knoxville Kiwanis Club meets 5:30 p.m. every Tuesday at Shoney’s on Walker Springs Road.
AARP driver safety class An AARP driver safety class will be held 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, April 23-24, at Maryville First UMC, 804 Montvale Station Rd in Maryville. For registration info about this and all other AARP driver safety classes, call Carolyn Rambo, 584-9964.
sion of providing architectural and engineering and design services for nonprofit groups. Two hundred tickets were sold for the reverse raffle, and the grand prize was $10,000, so enthusiasm was high as the last few names were drawn. The final two tickets belonged to Nadim Jubran and Jack Tallent, who were not present, but representatives of the men brokered a deal that netted each of them $5,000. Both winners were generous enough to chip in $1,000 of their share to the design center.
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Blight affects everyone’s property
Studies have shown that a single blighted property on a block can bring down property values by 25 to 30 percent, according to Alan Mallach, author of “Bringing Buildings Back: From
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Abandoned Properties to Community Assets.” The book was the topic of last week’s Knox County Public Library Brown Bag Green Book discussion led by Knoxville Neighborhood Coordinator David Massey. The talk covered the definitions of vacant, blighted and abandoned properties, and Massey said that aside from traffic and crime, such properties are the No. 1 complaint he hears. Organized neighborhoods are key to tackling the issue, according to Mallach. Massey agrees and is also in favor of tax foreclosure reform that would allow the government to take control of abandoned properties. “That rubs property rights folks the wrong way, but it protects the rights of those next door to the property.”
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Plants yield green for Rotary Club
The Knoxville Breakfast Rotary Club recently hosted its annual plant sale at the Rocky Hill Shopping Center. By the end of the day, the club had cleared almost $5,000 for its charitable gift fund, which is used for local projects, like a new pavilion at Belle Morris Elementary School, as well as overseas projects. The group meets at 7 a.m. on Wednesdays at Gettysvue Country Club, and president Greg Maciolek says it is always looking for more members. On Friday, June 15, the Knoxville Breakfast Rotary Club will host a benefit show featuring humorist Jeanne Robertson, who can be heard daily on Sirius/XM radio’s Family Comedy channels. For tickets: 675-5901
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