GOVERNMENT/POLITICS A4 | OUR COLUMNISTS A6-7 | YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS A15, A17 | BUSINESS A18 | HEALTH & LIFESTYLES SECTION B
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VOL. 50, NO. 22
MAY 30, 2011
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Blast from the past Halls Elementary time capsule unveiled By Jake Mabe
World War II veteran Bob Courtney and Wade Jones enjoy the music, lunch and festivities at the Memorial Day celebration at New Harvest Park.
Happy Memorial Day! We salute our veterans.
Eagles score district title Gibbs High soccer team is District Champ See page A17
vbs 2011
So, 25 years slipped away when nobody was looking, just like that, in the blink of an eye. An overflow crowd was dropped back in time to 1986, the year Scott Haynes got the idea to bury a time capsule in the Halls Elementary School cafeteria. It took several hours, but they finally got the thing open in time for an unveiling May 21. “I didn’t remember making it so impregnable,” says Haynes, who was the principal from 1976 to 1988 and oversaw the move to the current building after the 1983-84 school year. Out the memories came, a lamiHaynes nated newspaper article on teacher Christa McAullife, killed in January 1986 along with six NASA astronauts in the Challenger disaster; a cafeteria menu (“I’m sure the food hasn’t changed,” somebody joked); a flour sifter; and, yes, plenty of Halls Shoppers. A banner, printed off an ancient Apple computer and unearthed in the time capsule, read, “An era ends … the tradition continues.” It was the theme of the day. Haynes says he got the idea for the
sule, but she couldn’t find it during the unveiling. “It was wearing one shoe. I still have the other shoe at home.” Some of the memories are poignant. Current principal Dr. Chris Henderson found art drawn by Hunter Holloway, who was later killed in a car accident. Teacher Kay Dawson had put a scrapbook in the time capsule containing the snapshots and ambitions of her students. One wanted to be an “enginer,” which I guess means engineer. For 2011, Dawson wrote that “we hope the world is at peace. We hope that people will be living in space. And we hope that no one will go hungry.” It’s sad to say we didn’t quite make it. The time capsule will be resealed this summer with all new memories. “Each grade level has a tub of Halls Elementary principal Dr. Chris Henderson, former principal Nancy Maland and County Commissioner R. Larry Smith share a laugh May 21 during the un- stuff,” Henderson says, which will veiling of the school’s time capsule, which was sealed by former principal Scott include Justin Bieber memorabilia, Haynes during the summer of 1986. The cornerstone is from the original Halls Spider-Man, an HPUD water bottle School, which opened in 1916 and was closed after the 1983-84 school year. and a VHS videocassette. R. Larry Smith contributed a resolution from Find more info in Jake Mabe’s column on Page A-2. Photos by Ruth White County Commission to be read at time capsule when the cornerstone teachers who were here back then. the next ceremony. from the original school was finally And I’ve seen lots of my former stuThe new time capsule is scheduled dents. It’s always fun to see them.” brought over to the new building. to be opened in May 2036. Haynes One of them, Maggie Meyers, says he plans to be here to see it. “It was too late to put it here and we didn’t know until we opened it says she carries “fond memories of If the first quarter-century was that it had stuff in it, too,” Haynes this building” with her. any indication, it’ll be here before you said. “We thought (2011) was so far “It seems a lot smaller than when know it, 25 years gone, just like that. in the future. …” we were here.” SEE MORE PHOTOS AT Haynes got hugs from former Shawni Day Eaker says she reWWW.FACEBOOK.COM/ students and staff members. members putting a Strawberry “I loved getting to see some of the Shortcake figure in the time capSHOPPERNEWSNOW
Council snoozes; sparks may fly Summer fun with a message See pages A10-13
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inadvertently created when codes dealing with fireworks were rewritten. It was ratified by six members of City Council who disregarded pleas By Betty Bean from Knoxville Police Department Every July Fourth scofflaw with Chief David Rausch and Knoxville a firecracker and a match knows Fire Department Chief Stan Sharp, that fireworks are illegal inside the who requested the ordinance to city of Knoxville, right? cure the legal defect. Wrong. The vote was 6-3, with Mayor On May 17, City Council voted not Daniel Brown, Chris Woodhull to close a loophole in the city code and Brenda Palmer voting in the that has the unintended effect of minority. At one point, Joe Bailey legalizing fireworks. The glitch was asked Deputy Law Director Ron
Loophole legalizes city fireworks
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A closer look at Burchett’s budget By Larry Van Guilder Amidst the controversy over Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett’s proposed slashing of the county’s contribution to the Beck Center and his inflexible stance on employee raises and property taxes lies the
Analysis
news@ShopperNewsNow.com ads@ShopperNewsNow.com EDITOR Larry Van Guilder lvgknox@mindspring.com ADVERTISING SALES Patty Fecco fecco@ShopperNewsNow.com Darlene Hutchison hutchisond@ ShopperNewsNow.com Shopper-News is a member of KNS Media Group, published weekly at 4509 Doris Circle, Knoxville, TN, and distributed to 27,825 homes in Halls, Gibbs and Fountain City.
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Mills if fireworks are illegal. Mills sighed, “Probably not,” he said, clearly uncomfortable at announcing the fact that citizens can now legally deploy roman candles, bottle rockets and other fireworks that do not violate the city’s noise ordinance. When contacted last week, he confirmed his misgivings. “The prohibition on sale and possession and use of fireworks in the
mostly non-discussed heart of the budget, where everything from potholes to playgrounds takes a bite out of your tax dollar. Before County Commission votes on the budget in June, it appears certain that a compromise will be reached on Beck’s funding. An even greater certainty is that no acrossthe-board raises will be granted this year and no property tax increase will be enacted unless commission can override a mayoral veto. But
what’s happening elsewhere with the mayor’s inaugural budget? Burchett’s FY 2012 budget unveils his plan to reduce the county’s debt by some $20 million per year between now and 2016. For those who watched with a great deal of trepidation the bonded indebtedness grow by more than $200 million under the former mayor, this will be viewed as a signal accomplishment if the administration pulls it off. There are two paths to get there: (1) Continue to shrink the size and scope of county government. There’s every reason to believe the mayor will go down that road until it hurts. (2) Grow your sales and property tax base. Because the mayor’s conservative principles dictate that government can do nothing more than create an environment in which businesses and individuals have the opportunity to thrive, there’s little direct action he can take to swell the revenue stream.
(These are mutually supporting paths, not mutually exclusive, and despite the administration’s pessimistic economic outlook this year, an eventual uptick in the economy has to factor into an ambitious debt reduction plan.) Outside the plan to whittle down the debt, it gets harder to find positives in the proposed budget. The school budget comprises nearly 60 percent of the total and is largely beyond the mayor’s control. The “general” budget, proposed for $149.2 million, continues to shrink, a trend that began with Burchett’s predecessor. Since 2008, and including the proposed FY 2012 budget, the general budget, which includes libraries, senior centers, parks, the sheriff’s office and public works, has shed $10.3 million. But that’s the aggregate, and it is deceptive. Over the same period, the sheriff’s budget has risen by $7.5 million. Take out public safety, and the remaining general budget
has declined by $17.8 million, 18.5 percent since FY 2008. Even allocations for which a strong argument could be made that a healthy increase is warranted aren’t receiving much help. For example, stormwater management, a component of the engineering and public works budget, is slated to receive almost exactly the same funding as it did in FY 2011. It doesn’t take a hydrologist to conclude that with more effective stormwater management over the years, and stronger codes enforcement in general, much of the time and effort expended on the hillside and ridgetop protection plan might have been avoided. The proposed budget is likely to pass without major modifications. The mayor’s “I’m not Ragsdale” honeymoon will last at least through his first budget cycle, but citizen reaction going forward is likely to test the proposition that smaller is in all cases better.
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