The Resistance Continues

Friday night's fund-raiser for the Fort Sanders Neighborhood Association—resisting the massive "Jefferson Commons" development project which would demolish several well-preserved Victorian houses—was a smashing success, raising over $2,500 for the cause, most of it earmarked to pay legal fees. The Laurel Theatre was packed for the show starring local heroes R.B. Morris, Scott Miller, and Todd Steed. Some 50 more who couldn't get inside to see the performances bought tickets anyway, to support the cause. (For more about the show, see Eye on the Scene.)

Unfortunately, at least two of the 250 supporters parked on a near-empty gravel lot near the Laurel—perhaps unaware that it was owned by Robert Shagan, the landowner who is sponsoring the development the fund-raiser was held to resist.

Sometime after 10 p.m., fund-raiser organizers noticed the arrival of tow trucks on the lot. Stopping the show, they announced that anyone parking in that lot should move their cars immediately. Meanwhile, the tow drivers hitched up one car and readied to haul it to West Knoxville. Insisting the cars' drivers were on their way, female supporters stood in the way of the truck, Tienanmen-style. Enraged, one tow truck driver, employed by Cedar Bluff Towing, lunged at the women, swinging a large flashlight at them. "Don't think I won't hit you!" he shouted. One driver got to her car and tried to leave, but the tow truck driver blocked her exit; he said he was going to hook her up and tow her to West Knoxville anyway. Neighborhood supporters called the police.

The disappointed tow truck drivers left empty handed, but with $45—from the fund-raiser's coffers—for their trouble. The event seems emblematic of the rift between absentee landowners and residents—and of the beautiful friendship between Cedar Bluff 24-Hour Towing, Inc. and owners of underused, subtly marked parking lots in the UT area. From the stage, Morris mused, "They tear down houses to build parking lots, and then they don't let you park there."

Here Comes the Judge

Looks like the new 6th division of General Sessions Court will come on line in February 1999, with a judge to be appointed by County Commission. It will be a drug court patterned after the highly successful one in Nashville known as, naturally, Drug Court. There's a $304,307 federal grant to kick it off, and expect to see familiar faces among the judge hopefuls lining up commission votes. Watch for Cynthia Chapman, who was the first Knox County justice coordinator, and will likely be the last. She recently became a juvenile court referee and her old position is not being filled. She was a contender for the 5th division judgeship several years ago, and is strongly allied with John Gill of the attorney general's office. Dennis Francis, a Democrat with Republican friends, is another likely candidate. And so may be the newly-unseated Gail Harris Jarvis, another Democrat-turned-Republican, who defeated Francis for a General Sessions job in 1990.

Cover Girl

So there she is, our own Number 23, accessorized with tasteful pearl earrings and barely-there lip gloss and all decked out in BLUE? KNICKS BLUE? Yup. It's Chamique Holdsclaw checking in with her first magazine cover of the not-yet-begun season, becoming the first woman on the front of Slam, a hard-core hoops rag that usually features MJ or Kobe or the Mailman or somebody. "Is the NBA ready for Chamique Holdsclaw?" they ask. Inside, on the editorial page, there's a close-up of her tattoo, the one just above her left ankle that Pat makes her cover up with a sock. The editor, some guy none of us ever heard of, adds the following P.S.: "If you are a rabid UT fanatic and strongly object to our cover (and if your name is not Pat, Micki (sic) or Kellie Jolly), please mark your envelope N.U.T.S.(which stands for Non-Understanding Tennessee Supporter), so we can make sure that your letter of complaint goes in the right place. Thanks."

P.S.: The names are Summitt—two Ts. And Mickie. Mickie DeMoss with an "ie." Thanks.