Mountain Views
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peacably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” —United States Constitution, Amendment One
■ The Mountain Press ■ Page A7 ■ Wednesday, March 10, 2010
c o m m enta r y
Time now to help save Arrowmont By ALI TINNEY Guest columnist We need to wake up the village to save Arrowmont. Gatlinburg, Sevier County, get ready to lose a crown jewel or stand up make yourself heard, now. If Arrowmont does not leave Gatlinburg, I will be very surprised. The village is sleeping. I talked to Arrowmont with ideas of raising money and the will to spearhead some of the ideas. The school is taking a wait-and-see attitude. They do not want to start a major fundraising campaign to stay in Gatlinburg, in case they do not stay. Does that scare you? It should. The month of May is when they will know what they will be doing. That is when the proposals are to be in from Gatlinburg, Knoxville and Greeneville. Do you really want to wait until then? It is a bit scary that the school is in the mode of business as usual and not pushing for the funding to stay. Arrowmont says, “We will do what is best for the life and longevity of the school. When making our selection we would like to stay where we are.” Well, what have you done to show your desire to keep Arrowmont in Gatlinburg? Knoxville is already coming up with a plan. It has formed a committee to bring Arrowmont to Knoxville. Are we going to let Knoxville pluck Gatlinburg’s crown jewel? Are you scared yet? What is the city of Gatlinburg doing? Does anyone know? I called and asked. I hear they have been talking about it among themselves. We are waiting to hear from Arrowmont and what they need. Waiting? Is it not clear what they need? They need a place that has their name on it and a strong community support system. Arrowmont is still teaching locals to help provide a living. I have seen it first-hand. This is what this school did in the beginning and still does today. If you do not want to lose Arrowmont, I suggest you get crackin’. What can you do? I believe where there is a will, there is a way. Here are some of the ideas that were passed to me by the school: n Contact your community leaders to express your opinion and/or desire to have Arrowmont in your community. Contact Barbara Huff Beville by e-mail to bevilleb@bellsouth.net; Jim Davis,public relations coordinator, City of Gatlinburg, e-mail to jimd@ ci.gatlinburg.tn.us. n Sign up for a workshop and bring a friend. Recommend Arrowmont and share one of its 2010 course catalogues with them. Increased enrollment is key to the school’s success. n Become a Volunteer! Give the gift of your time and expertise to keep Arrowmont growing and thriving in the community. Contact Jennifer Brown (865) 436-5860, ext.28) to sign up. n Add the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts toolbar to your computer. Once you add it, each time you shop at one of the more than 1,300 participating stores, a percentage of what you spend will be donated to Arrowmont at no extra cost to you. The toolbar also has a search box, and each time you search the Internet, about a penny is donated to Arrowmont. No registration is required. Visit http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/arrowmont-schoolof-artsand-crafts. n Make a tax-deductible gift and join Friends of Arrowmont or the Signature Circle. Friends is the annual giving fund of donor support. The Signature Circle is an active patrons group of supporters who donate $1,000 or more annually and receive invitations to programs. Gifts can be made online through the Arrowmont website or by mail. n Consider including Arrowmont in your long-term financial plans. n Follow all the various discussion groups on the Internet, Facebook (Arrowmont Art), Twitter (@ Arrowmont) and encourage others to support Arrowmont. Keep checking the Arrowmont Web site. Will Arrowmont stay or go? It is up to us to fight to not let Arrowmont go. Where there is a will, there is a way. It is time for us to hold ourselves, our city, and county officials accountable. Arrowmont needs us. — Ali Tinney is a resident of Sevierville. She can be reached by e-mail to GreatLoverOfMnt@aol.com.
E d it o r ial
Break in the case Justice for those responsible for 2002 double murder has been hard to attain The disappearance of two Russians from their Gatlinburg apartment in 2002 was the talk of the town for a while. The man and woman, who had come to the Smokies to work, vanished on that July day. Blood was found in their apartment. A person of interest, Yuriy Solovyev, was believed to have been living with the couple when they vanished. Authorities eventually said they found video evidence that Solovyev used one of the couple’s credit cards after their disappearance. Flash forward eight years or so, and officials report the skeletal remains of two people believed to be Vladimir Yemelyanov and Sufiya Arslanova were discovered not far from Highway 321 in Gatlinburg. The investigation is heating up.
So where’s Solovyev? He is believed to have fled the country and returned to Russia. He was indicted by a Sevier County grand jury in 2004 for murder and has been sought ever since. For a time he was on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s most wanted list, but eventually dropped off when the leads ran cold and other cases supplanted it. Authorities believe Solovyev is in Russia, but can’t extradite him. Not sure if it’s red tape, Russian resistance or some other bureaucratic reason, but if officials know he’s there and can find him, there should be a way to bring him back. Somewhere in Russia is a man believed to have killed two people in Gatlinburg and hidden their bodies. Police are not talking much about the new development in the case, waiting for forensics to look at the skeletal
remains and doing some more investigation. Whether this proves to be a major break in the case or merely closing a chapter in a notorious double murder remains to be seen. Sevier County attracts many Russians and people from Eastern Europe to work in our service industry. It can be hard to find enough workers to assist 12 million visitors a year. Importing them from other countries sometimes helps to fill the void. The circumstances that bring them here and the conditions under which they agreed to leave their countries for a chance to make money in America have always been a bit murky. Where this eight-year-old case is headed is anybody’s guess, as long as justice, however elusive it may be, is the goal.
P o liti c al v ie w
P u bli c f o r u m ‘Joseph’ filled with chaotic parody of superficial extremes
Editor: If you would like to see a true, beautiful and poignant story “interpreted” to a plagiarized, vaudevillian, chaotic parody of superficial extremes, complimented with weird songs and pretty good dance, then see “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” This production is supposedly based on the historical, true and powerful life story of a real man of God whose service saved both a country and himself from disaster written in the Holy Bible. His betrayal, persecution and condemnation by his brothers was turned inside out with blessing by the divine, providential design of God’s redemption which always prevails in the life of those who are under His blessing in spite of evil. Joseph, whose glossy mop of hair overwhelms his partially visible face, is thrown into a well by the rejoicing mob of jealous brothers who are annoyed by his dreams and obsession with his father’s ostentatious, garrish, gay “dreamcoat.” He twirls around while others help fan it out in a peacock-like circle around him so he can admire (ugh) it. After a scooter riding band of Ismaelites take him away with a credit card payment, he is welcomed into Pharoah’s home by the harem and evil, enthroned shopaholic wife. Instead of directing the construction of pyramids or something like that, we see Joseph prancing around feather dusting Pharoah’s castle, only to be clawed at by Potiphar’s wife and without even a brief time lapse necessary from the original account’s accusation, promptly and immediately
thrown into prison. Melinda Doolittle bravely tries to dignify the mess with her gifted voice, which only further highlights a disorderly and tragic attempt at comedy/entertainment. Although the Elvis-like Pharoah had some genuine talent and personality, the show lacked the one true and authentic character who made no appearance in the performance, nor was even made mention of, the giver of the gift of Joseph’s prophetically accurate dream interpretation, the Lord God Almighty, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who wrote the book projected onto the curtain of this warped production. I am sure, even if He had been consulted with, He would have had no part in it. The sickening fact is (although not the only one) the most honored star of the show is the overly sung about ugly coat which finally descends on a huge wire suspended hanger at the show’s conclusion. The mood of the audience: Bereft of joy, horrified fascination (such as when one views a Jerry Springer show), coupled with depressed handclapping out of sheer, polite tolerance. Needless to say, I didn’t clap at all. Know this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. Sign me a disgusted Christian. Eileen DiMeco Sevierville
which seemed to slam the Miracle Theater’s production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” I recently attended the show with my teenage son, and found it refreshing, professional and thoroughly entertaining. On the way home, my son admitted he thought it would be boring, and he was surprised at how much he enjoyed it. We shared a discussion about religion, morals and the way some human characteristics (i.e. the deceit of Joseph’s brothers) have been around for thousands of years. I notice that reporter Derek Hodges carefully quotes people with varied opinions, but after reading his article, I had the feeling that Mr. Hodges himself had not even attended one of the numerous showings complimentary to Sevier County residents. Perhaps he was trying to remain unbiased for literary purposes. As for Milton Greer, who made the comment about the theater taking a biblical story and making money on it, I would like to say that he is entitled to his opinion and criticism. I personally choose to applaud Fee/Hedrick for the generosity they have extended the county in providing weeks (not days) of free admission. I’m sure the employees, performers and utilities were not free to the theater during these performances, and many of us cannot afford much in the entertainment department in these times of economic downturn. It’s a shame that Mr. Greer and his party left before the last of the ‘Joseph’ show proves to be show — the final message was of Joseph’s magnanimous ability to forgive, which can only be entertaining, professional achieved with an open heart and mind. Editor: Lizabeth Campbell What a disappointment to see a headline Sevierville
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◆ Jana Thomasson, Publisher ◆ Stan Voit, Editor ◆ Bob Mayes, Managing Editor ◆ Gail Crutchfield, Community News Editor
◆ Rep. Richard Montgomery
◆ U.S. Sen. Bob Corker
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◆ U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander
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◆ U.S. Rep. Phil Roe
1-800-449-8366 Ext. 10981; 320 War Memorial Bldg., Nashville TN 37243 sen.doug.overbey@capitol.tn.gov
◆ U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr.
◆ Sen. Doug Overbey
(202) 225-6356; 419 Cannon House Office, Washington, D.C. 20515 (202) 225-5435; 2267 Rayburn Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20515