|
Tough Love
New school Superintendent Charles Lindsey likes to talk about the "school family." His demotion of Gibbs High Principal Jerry Sharp to classroom teacher this week didn't leave any question about who's the daddy.
On the surface, it might look like a pretty strong reaction to Sharp's reported offense—slagging Lindsey for not supporting Gibbs' proposed dress code—but there are other factors at work.
For one thing, it was the new supe's first real confrontation with the county's ol' boy network—a network Lindsey's predecessor Allen Morgan went some way toward dismantling with a series of new principal appointments, but one still entrenched in the northern and eastern reaches of the county. For another, if Lindsey wanted to set an example, Sharp was a relatively safe target. Although the 36-year veteran has his supporters, particularly in his hometown of Halls, an often abrasive administrative style earned him plenty of detractors over the years. And one of those detractors was Eighth District school board member Steve Hunley, a man given to a little imperiousness of his own. ("I'm like Sgt. Schultz," a smiling Hunley said when asked about Sharp's displacement. "I know nothing, I say nothing.")
Sharp's planning to challenge his removal in court. If he does end up back in front of the blackboard, though, he'll at least be the best paid guy on the hall—he gets to keep his $70,000-a-year salary, more than twice the average teacher pay. "He signed a contract, and we've indicated we will honor that contract at least for this year," school spokesman Mike Cohen says. In the meantime, it's a safe bet other principals are paying attention.
Let the Election Sign Wars Begin!
The election sign planting season has begun and at least one candidate has already seen a fresh crop of self-promoting placards ripped from the soil by a city employee.
Bob Whetsel with the public service department says candidates were sent a letter in July warning them about the city's election sign policy, which forbids the placement of signs in public right-of-ways. Then last week, signs promoting Danny Mayfield's run for the mayor's office were removed from public traffic medians and grassy strips next to sidewalks. Apparently, election signs are allowed only on private property, unless a small piece of land—like a grassy strip by the sidewalk in front of someone's house—is maintained by a private individual. In these spaces, signs are allowed if the person who mows the strip says it's okay.
Whetsel says he has a city staffer on the job.
"We do it the same for everybody," assures Whetsel. "If we don't, we'll sure hear about it."
Best bet if you gotta plant on public ground: Wait until the night before election day and then go nuts. "We basically just let that go," says Whetsel.
Newspaper War Gets Dirty
It's hard-ball time over in Blount County, where the Daily Times has just expanded its publication schedule from five days a week to seven. Daily Times editor Larry Aldridge says he wasn't worried when the News-Sentinel ran a story in its Sunday Blount County edition quoting its publisher Bruce Hartmann saying "...we're looking forward to a healthy rivalry," or when the cut-rate subscription offers appeared, or when veteran newsman John Stiles was moved back to Maryville, or even when the Daily Times found itself cut out of the coupon business by News-Sentinel exclusivity contracts.
But what's finally gotten to him are calls from the comic syndicates saying they're canceling their contracts. (N-S editor Harry Moskos is famously interested in the comics page.)
"They're saying they 'got a call from Knoxville,'" says Aldridge.The end result is that comics fans will have to look elsewhere for Linus and Lucy. In a nice bit of synergy, Peanuts happens to be distributed by United Media, which—like the News-Sentinel—is owned by E.W. Scripps.
| 
