GOVERNMENT/POLITICS A4 | OUR COLUMNISTS A6-7 | KIDS A15 | BUSINESS A16 | HEALTH & LIFESTYLES SECTION B
A great community newspaper.
VOL. 50, NO. 27
halls / fountain city
JULY 4, 2011
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Gift of a lifetime Happy Fourth of July! NEIGHBORHOOD BUZZ
New jobs Adam Parker is moving from Gibbs Elementary School where he has been principal since 2004 Parker to become principal at A.L. Lotts Elementary School. He joined Knox County Schools in 1995 as a teacher at Powell Elementary and has also been principal at Corryton Elementary and assistant principal at Beaumont Magnet Honors Academy. Susan Turner, a principal since 1999, will become elementary supervisor. Most recently at A.L. Lotts, Turner she also was principal at BrickeyMcCloud, Rocky Hill and Ball Camp Elementary schools. She joined KCS in 1980 and taught at Rocky Hill and Cedar Bluff Middle School. Parker holds a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s in curriculum and instruction from UT. Turner holds a bachelor’s in elementary education from ETSU and a master’s in administration and supervision from UT.
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By Jake Mabe Anne Allen got the Christmas gift of a lifetime a couple of years ago. But she didn’t “open” it until last week. Here’s the deal. Allen is the longtime pianist at Beaver Dam Baptist Church. She loves music, has played the piano since childhood and is a staple of Beaver Dam’s Sunday services. A couple of Christmases ago, fellow church member Eddie DeBusk, who also plays in the church orchestra, won a package at an auction that included four hours of instruction with former UT Knoxville chancellor and noted organist Dr. Bill Snyder plus an hour’s performance on the Mighty Wurlitzer organ at the Tennessee Theatre. DeBusk gave it to Allen as a Christmas present. “I never thought I’d ever get to do this,” Allen said. The performance was supposed to be private, but Allen got permission from Snyder and the Tennessee Dr. Bill Snyder talks about the Tennessee Theatre’s 1928 Mighty Wurlitzer organ during Anne Allen’s special performance Theatre to hold a one-hour concert last Tuesday. Allen is pictured at right with the organ. Allen, the longtime pianist at Beaver Dam Baptist Church, received performance, featuring the Beaver a special Christmas present from fellow church member Eddie DeBusk, which included instruction time with Snyder Dam orchestra and music miniswhile learning to play the organ. Snyder and the theater allowed Allen to perform a special concert for church members, ter Mike Bundon, for church memTo page A-3 family and friends at the theater last week. Photo by Jake Mabe
HPUD opens new offices By Sandra Clark Anyone who has paid a bill at the offices of Hallsdale Powell Utility District encountered a jarring bell, a cramped, dusty lobby and an absolute lack of privacy. Behind the glass wall, conditions for office workers were worse. In the operations center out back, conditions were downright primitive. All that ended June 30, 2011, when HPUD employees marched 100 yards into their new headquarters. Coincidentally, it was the last day of employment for the man whose vision birthed the new facility. Marvin Hammond incredulously wore a Piggly Wiggly T-shirt, a gift, he said, from the late Max Hodge. Hammond had preserved it for decades, waiting for a special occasion. Darren Cardwell, Hammond’s successor as president and CEO of the water utility, said a community Retired CEO Marvin Hammond stands in the spacious lobby of open house will be held “in the new Hallsdale Powell Utility District headquarters on Cuna month or two, when we get ningham Road. Photos by S. Clark
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.
By Betty Bean When the Tennessee General Assembly wound up its 2011 business, a group of students and administrators at the University of Tennessee went out and painted The Rock with a special message: “Thank You, Jamie.” They were saluting Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Jamie Woodson, whose deSenate Speaker Pro Tempore parture from the state SenJamie Woodson Photo by B. Bean ate to become the president
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and CEO of SCORE – the State Collaborative on Reforming Education – means that Knox County is losing its most influential legislator and UT its most powerful ally. Prior to being named to the No. 2 position in the Senate, Woodson, who holds degrees in political science and law from UT, chaired the Senate’s education committee and developed a reputation as state govern-
everything settled down.” Power and gas will be dropped to the old building this week, and then workers will start tearing it down. The headquarters, designed by David Collins of McCarty Holsaple McCarty Architects, feels like Disney’s Epcot. Nothing is elaborate, yet the overall effect is futuristic. Hammond sat for a moment in the community room. “Someday people may ask why we built it like
this. They may ask why we did other things that we did. But we’re like the men who established the district. We all made the best decisions that we could for the time we’re in.” HPUD founders including general manager Allan Gill and longtime chair F.H. “Hack” Harbin went doorto-door collecting $5 per family to start the district. It opened in 1954 with 1,000 customers in a small buildTo page A-3
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ment’s leader in education policy. She says it is that passion that compelled her to give up her Senate seat to head the foundation created by former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. Woodson likely made a strong impression on Frist in 2009 when she was on the Race to the Top team that made Tennessee the first state in the nation to win the coveted $500 million federal education grant.
“I have worked with Sen. Frist for many years and have been inspired by his dedication. It is such an honor to be a part of this group, which is at the forefront of education reform. I will have the opportunity to move from policy work into implementation. At the end of the day, it’s all about making sure students in Tennessee are prepared for success in the global marketplace.” To page A-5
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