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Calling Miss Manners

The Growth Policy Coordinating Committee, legislated into being by last year's annexation bill, was forced to schedule an additional April meeting to clean up unfinished business after Victor Ashe once again commandeered the regularly-scheduled get-together. This committee, appointed to carve the county into areas that can and cannot be annexed, has been hearing from various interest groups, and the April meeting was Rural Metro's turn to talk about fire service. In March, Ashe's disruptive behavior had been aimed at Metropolitan Planning Commission head Norm Whittaker. This time, he launched a withering attack on Rural Metro's fire-fighting abilities during a presentation by RM chief Susan Brown, who specialized in annexations when she was an Ashe employee. When Patra Rule, who is not a member of the committee, spoke in defense of Rural Metro's service, Ashe ripped into her, and then made a motion to limit citizen participation to five minutes at the end of the meeting (which he didn't stick around for). "He suggested that I was acting as a 13th member of the committee," Rule said. "He has taken over those meetings."

Miracle Man

Halls mulch man Bill "Bud" Lunsford met with a world of opposition from his neighbors when he tried to expand his business, Bud's Mulch. He took his case to County Commission, but assurances that his mulch doesn't stink fell on deaf ears, as did his veiled threats ("If you kick an ole' dog enough times, he's gonna bite..."). After the big anti-mulch crowd cleared the building, Lunsford's attorney Joe Levitt met with Lee Miracle, Mayor Victor Ashe's point man for annexation forays into Halls. City officials have repeatedly denied offering favorable rezoning deals in exchange for voluntary annexation.

Looking the Part

Knox County schools have seen a predictable crackdown on student attire in the wake of the Columbine shootings. Students have been sent home for wearing trenchcoats, black clothes or T-shirts with the names of "objectionable" bands like Marilyn Manson and Korn. And kids who see such strictures as a clampdown on civil rights should prepare themselves for more to come; board member Steve Hunley has asked that the board discuss the possibility of new dress codes at its mid-month meeting in May. "I'm not saying uniforms, I'm saying more of a uniform dress code," Hunley says. "I just felt like it would be good to put it on the floor for discussion."

Whatever Happened to Jayne?

We had just started to wonder what had become of our friend Jayne Morgan, the vigorously talented Clarence Brown Theatre stalwart—not to mention former Best Actress honoree in our annual readers' poll. Well, expect to see her soon at a theater near you. She has a significant role in The Good Baby, a major independent production that debuted at last weekend's Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. Billed as a "hypnotic murder mystery," the movie involves a hunter who finds a baby abandoned in the North Carolina woods. Morgan plays "Sarah," described as "a bitter local beauty with a curious wanderlust," opposite star Henry Thomas, the now-grown actor first famous for his role as the boy in E.T. It's produced by the same folks who brought us Safe, Kiss Me Guido, and the Sundance-award-winning documentary, Crumb. They're waiting for distributors, but are encouraged by the Hollywood Reporter's review this week, which praised Morgan's "riveting performance." Morgan still lives in Knoxville, but is hoping this opportunity will lead to other movie roles.

Margaret Ferguson Remembered

The death of Margaret Ferguson is a crushing loss not only to her family and friends but also to the community at large and the Knoxville Symphony in particular.

It is very hard to accept that someone as vibrant and vital as Margaret could have her life snuffed out so suddenly in an automobile accident. It is equally hard to fathom the loss of all the wonderful qualities she brought to her work as the symphony's director of development. It is hardest of all to realize that her two sons have been deprived of their mother at ages 13 and 11.

Our heartfelt sympathies to her husband and her boys.