Sunny with a 0% chance of rain HIGH LOW 85 59
Hawn leads Diamond Vols over Lipscomb, 16-7
Thursday, April 15, 2010
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Issue 61
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PUBLISHED SINCE 1906
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http://dailybeacon.utk.edu
Vol. 113
I N D E P E N D E N T
Dogwood Arts’ off-shoot, Rhythm and Blooms, opens its inaugural festival
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‘Boulder Booties’ wins top Vol Court prize Nathan Berger Staff Writer
Key gov’t document released in Blagojevich case CHICAGO — A judge ordered the release Wednesday of a key document outlining the evidence federal prosecutors plan to present at former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s corruption trial, dismissing defense attorneys’ concerns that it could prejudice potential jurors. U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel issued an order on the court Web site granting immediate access to the socalled Santiago proffer to three news organizations that sought access to it — The Associated Press, the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. In a statement accompanying his order, Zagel dismissed defense attorneys’ concerns that releasing the document so close to the June 3 scheduled start of the trial could unfairly influence potential jurors. The 91-page document was released in its entirety.
“Boulder Booties” may be the next new product to hit the shelves. After eight weeks of business seminars, “Boulder Booties” was announced as the winner of Vol Court on Tuesday night. Vol Court is a venture between the UT Research Foundation (UTRF) and the College of Business Administration’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. “What we did was set up a series of eight speakers who talked about eight different elements critical to starting a business and it culminated in a pitch competition in the end, so that they could tie together all those ideas and present their business idea for funding,” Joy Fisher, UTRF director of marketing and business development, said. The prize for the pitch competition was $1,000 and a variety of legal and financial advising.
“It is one of our core mission objectives to create and support an entrepreneur culture here on campus and in the community,” John Hopkins, UTRF vice president, said. “This provides a dynamic framework in which we perform our core mission of technology commercialization.” The winner, “Boulder Booties,” produces a cover for rock climbing shoes that extends the life of the expensive footwear. The rubber and fabric booties protect the shoes while climbers are walking between climbs or belaying. Each of the eight teams took turns presenting their product with examples of marketing strategies, target demographics and revenue estimates. At the end of each presentation, a panel of four judges asked the teams questions on topics such as how they gathered their research and what competition they might face. “Start-up businesses are important for a lot of reasons,” Fisher said. “Innovation is key to jump starting the economy, and innovation typically comes from new businesses. It doesn’t come from
Historic downtown Knoxville neighborhood to host tours Rob Davis Staff Writer
Flora Theden Managing Editor
7-day-old Florida infant dies after pit bull bite NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — Police say a pit bull terrier fatally mauled a 7day-old Florida baby as the child apparently lay next to his sleeping teenage mother. The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office in New Port Richey says the boy was attacked Wednesday and died shortly after. Neighbors told the St. Petersburg Times the 16year-old mother didn’t discover her son was dead until a neighbor knocked on the mother’s door and woke her around noon. They said mom answered the door, then turned around and saw what had happened to her newborn son. Neighbors said the dog belongs to the baby’s father. It was taken away by county animal services. Mustache advocacy group seeks tax break ST. LOUIS — It’s time that mustached Americans got in on the stimulus money. At least that’s the proposal being pushed by tax policy professor John Yeutter and the St. Louisbased American Mustache Institute. The tongue-incheek group dubs itself “the world’s only facial hair advocacy and research organization.” On the eve of the deadline to file income tax returns, the professor and the AMI are pushing for a $250 annual tax incentive for people with mustaches. The funds would be used for mustachegrooming supplies. The AMI said the current system “provides a disincentive for the clean-shaven to enjoy the mustached American lifestyle.” The AMI said the stimulus money could be used not only for trimming instruments but for wax, combs and mirrors. — The Associated Press
the large existing businesses. It comes from people with ideas who take a step forward and make things happen.” A variety of companies were exhibited, including “Integrated Technologies,” whose product generated electrical power from car pressure on interstates. Only one other company in the world, Israeli-based Innowattech, has developed a similar product. “Ratemyhostfamily.com, LLC,” is a Web site that allows study abroad students to better research host families and foreign residence halls and to interact with students who have lived in those locations before. The contest’s judges announced that their decision leaned toward companies that “kept the ball moving” and had already shown the most progress. While the judges were making their decision, Fisher asked the teams for input on the Vol Court process. Participants said they learned valuable tips about all aspects of starting a business, and they only wished they had more time with the program.
Hayley DeBusk • The Daily Beacon
UT football standout Eric Berry participates in the 2010 Bowl for Kids’ Sake Wednesday afternoon. Each team bowled for an hour and there were prizes awarded to the team with the most money raised for Big Brothers Big Sisters.
The historic Knoxville neighborhood, Fourth and Gill, will conduct its 20th annual Tour of Homes Sunday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. “Fourth and Gill is close to downtown, and there are several students who live in the area,” said Brett Burdick, who is on the board for the Fourth and Gill Historic Tours. “If students wish to just drive by the homes, cruise up Luttrell Street for a quick glance.” The Fourth and Gill homes are set in the style of architecture that was popular in the area during the 1880s and up until the 1940s, and the area of North Knoxville was annexed into the city in 1897. However, the area began to decline during World War II as many people moved out. Within the last two decades, however, the area has gone through renovations and was put on the national historic register. The Tour of Homes invites the public to take a walk through this historical neighborhood of Knoxville. There are 10 homes in total, and guests are invited to walk through each one. There is also a guided trolley tour which goes by the homes. Joe Hammer, graduate student in speech pathology and audiology, said he is interested in attending the Tour of Homes. “I really don’t know much about the Knoxville area because I’m from Nashville, and this sounds interesting,” Hammer said. The homes include singles, duplexes, an old school building that has been converted into apartments, and the Central United Methodist Church, which date back to the 19th century. The tour is part of the Dogwood Arts Festival, which celebrates the art as well as the natural beauty, that abounds in the city. The tour of homes is the only walking tour affiliated with the Dogwoods Arts Festival. Maps are available next to the Brownlow lofts, and the maps detail different historical trees, places, as well as just for a self tour of the 1300 block of Luttrell Street. Tickets can be purchased at the Central United Methodist Church, 201 3rd Avenue, during the event. Tickets are sold until an hour before the event ends. Adult tickets are $10, and children under 12 are admitted free.
Dollywood celebrates 25th anniversary The Associated Press NASHVILLE — Dolly Parton seems to live her life by the motto “Go big or go home.” With her signature theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., she did both. Parton opened Dollywood in 1986 on the site of what had been the Silver Dollar City theme park. The first year, 1.3 million visitors came. Now at the start of its 25th anniversary season, Dollywood has more than doubled in size to 150 acres, and over 40 million people have passed through its gates, with 2.5 million guests in a typical season. “I always thought that if I made it big or got successful at what I had started out to do, that I wanted to come back to my part of the coun-
try and do something great, something that would bring a lot of jobs into this area,” said Parton, 64, in a recent interview. “Sure enough, I was lucky, and God was good to me and things happened good. We started the park and 25 years later, we’re still at it.” Parton expanded her brand locally to include the Dixie Stampede dinner theater in 1988 and Dollywood’s Splash Country waterpark in 2001. All three together employ 3,000 people. When asked why she thinks Dollywood has been so successful, Parton didn’t hesitate. “Location, location, location. It’s a great place to be going right into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park,” she said. “We’ve got plenty of stuff to be entertain-
ing for anybody that wants to come to this area, and all the beautiful things that are not mine, that are in this whole area. This is a wonderful place to visit, whether you get over to my businesses or not.” Dollywood is Tennessee’s No. 1 ticketed tourist attraction and has been for over a decade. “They’ve created a lot of economic benefit for that entire region, which then sends an enormous amount of state and local tax to pay for education and keep other expenses to the community down,” said Susan Whitaker, Tennessee’s tourism development commissioner. Whitaker says over 88 percent of tourists drive instead of fly to attractions in Tennessee, particularly to Dollywood, and that leaves
ripples throughout the state as visitors arrive. “People come in and they may spend one day or two days there, but they’re in the area and they’re going to spend money all over the place,” she said. Matthew Lambert from Knoxville, Tenn., has been a season passholder to Dollywood since 1995. There are many reasons he keeps coming back. “I love the atmosphere,” he said. “Everytime you come here it’s like coming home. You see people that you know that are working there. Everybody’s friendly. The shows are amazing. The food is wonderful. The rides are great. It’s the whole experience. It’s the way a park should be, not a giant megaconglomerate, corporate run park.”
That, and “They still have my favorite wooden coaster in the whole wide world, The Thunderhead,” he added. “I’ve ridden it over 1,900 times.” Theme parks, with their relatively high per-person admission, do not always fare well in recessions. Six Flags is struggling to emerge from bankruptcy; Cedar Fair saw a 7 percent drop in attendance last year; and even Disney has offered incentives in the last two years like free admission on your birthday and free tickets for volunteers. Dollywood saw a 6 percent drop in attendance last year, but spokesman Pete Owens says the park attributes the decrease more to bad weather than the recession. Online ticket prices for one-day admission this year are $56 for adults, $45 for kids.
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