GOVERNMENT/POLITICS A4 | OUR COLUMNISTS A6-7 | YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS A10-15 | HEALTH & LIFESTYLES SECTION B | BUSINESS A16
A great community newspaper.
halls / fountain city
VOL. 50, NO. 19
MAY 9, 2011
INSIDE
Turning it all around Breakfast honors CHS students for exceptional academic gains See story on page A-13
New feature!
People, events and more! See page A-17
‘Scoop’ Remembering old-school newspaper reporter Bob Cunningham See Dr. Tumblin’s column on page A-7
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Norman says fire was ‘meant to send me a message’ By Betty Bean April 4 was unseasonably hot, with gusty winds up to 35 miles per hour. Around 10 a.m., a resident of Plumwood Road in West Haven noticed smoke billowing up from Tony Norman’s yard and called the Knoxville Fire Department. Before it was doused, the flames had climbed about 35 feet up a hickory tree, consumed a 15-foot section of a wooden privacy fence and destroyed a storage shed and its contents. The remains of a blue plastic Waste Connections container are puddled on the ground. Some small ornamental cedars closer to the house are badly, probably fatally, singed. Arson investigators told Norman and his wife, Jani, that the fire had been deliberately set, and although the damage was relatively minor, the “what ifs” were frightening. The property is heavily wooded, the fire not far from the wood-frame house. The Normans say the “whys” are disturbing as well. “I have a friend who was a private investigator who looked at it, and he said. ‘Obviously, somebody had been to your house at least twice (once to case property, once to set the fire).’ He
The burnt fence on Norman’s property.
Tony Norman surveys the spot where someone set his property on fire. Photos by Ruth White said it was an amateurish job meant to send me a message.” The Normans hadn’t spoken publicly about the fire until a meeting of the West Knox County Council of Homeowners when Tony Norman was called upon to talk about the Hillside and Ridgetop Protection Plan, which County Commission rejected by a 6-5 vote at its April meeting. The slope protection plan is a joint city/county project developed over a threeyear period by a group of
volunteers and Metropolitan Planning Commission staffers. Norman is the cochair and the face of the plan, which would apply to slopes of 15 percent or more, prohibit development on 50 percent grades and impose stricter guidelines for clearing and grading on steep slopes. The plan would allow narrower roads and shorter setback requirements for higher elevations with incentives for developers to place ridgetops under conservation easements. It is unpopular with de-
velopers, real estate interests and the Chamber of Commerce, and Norman has become a target of hate mail and Internet invective, which he says ramped up after Mayor Tim Burchett became a vocal critic of the plan. “A group of people and the Chamber decided this is not good for economic development,” Norman told the homeowners’ group. “In the end, the Chamber decided this needed to be killed, and they came up with their strategy to kill it.”
After Norman said that his wife and son would like to see him step back from the plan, Jani asked to be recognized. She said they have received “hate mail” and called the last few months “a horrible, horrible ordeal. “Three weeks before the vote, our property was set on fire. If we hadn’t had a Good Samaritan neighbor, 10 minutes later our house would have been set on fire.” City Council will be taking up the slope protection plan next, and Norman said he doesn’t plan to quit advocating for it. “This just makes me more determined,” he said.
FEATURED COLUMNIST JAKE MABE
How four teachers made a difference Chad Edwards says thanks, 50 years later See page A-6
Friendship Force charter member Humorist Sam Venable shares some Barbara Nix sips champagne at the jokes concerning old age with the group’s 30th anniversary celebration. Friendship Force. Photos by N. Lester
ONLINE
Thirty years young
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they come to America. Bill and Ruth Boys have been on several trips through the years and always enjoyed being a guest in a foreign home. “The best part about Friendship Force is staying in a native’s home instead of in a hotel,” Bill Boys said. “You are really immersed in the culture that way instead of being a normal tourist.” Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn began the program in Georgia when he was governor, and launched it nationally in 1977 after Carter became president. The organization came to Knoxville in 1981. Aileen Caldwell campaigned for four years to start the chapter. In the last 30 years, Knoxville members have exchanged with residents of Germany, Korea, Brazil, Israel, England, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Colombia. Venable paused during his routine to encourage members to keep traveling as a way to maintain their youth. “It doesn’t matter if you get older,” he said, “as long as you refuse to grow up.”
Friendship Force Knoxville celebrates anniversary
Scouts learn life lessons at Camporee Jesse McMillan and Caleb Brothers from Boy Scout Troop 25, sponsored by Fountain City Presbyterian Church, show Randall Barnes how to use a compass to find points on a map during the Great Smoky Mountain Council Echota District’s Camporee at Victor Ashe Park on April 30. Photo by Jake Mabe
SEE MORE PHOTOS ON PAGE A-2
As the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death circulated around the globe, a group of Knoxvillians celebrated 30 years of international travel. Before humorist Sam Venable began his sketch at Friendship Force Knoxville’s 30th anniversary celebration in Maryville, he wondered what the world would have been like with a more widespread Friendship Force presence. “Had more people bought into ideas like this organization we may have never had the twin tower incident, this war or the news of (Bin Laden’s) death the past few days,” Venable said. “I would hope that efforts like yours would continue to provide rich fruit and bridge cultural gaps.” Friendship Force is a nonprofit organization that facilitates international exchanges all over the world. Members stay in a country’s Friendship Force residents’ homes and, in return, they host the families when
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