Cheap Shots
I'm writing in regards to an article in your "Ear to the Ground" column [Vol. 9, No. 47] about KAPOW (Knoxville Area Pagans Or Wiccans). I have been reading your paper for several years now and have always respected how you tried to show the whole story. I thought your paper was different from the News-Sentinel, but this article makes me wonder just how different you really are. I would expect these comments and attitudes from the Sentinel but I felt Metro Pulse was above cheap shots like this. Maybe your writer was just trying to be funny, maybe he didn't think there was enough of a Pagan community to worry about, or that we wouldn't care enough to complain. Well he was wrong, we do care very much. KAPOW has been very important to me and KAPOW has done many good things for this community such as community service and educational workshops etc. No matter what religion or community group I belonged to, I would have been offended by an article like this written about my religion or civic group. There should be no need for discussion about whether KAPOW should get the sign or not. They followed the rules like everyone else did and should get the sign like everyone else. Anything less would be discrimination. I really am disappointed in your paper this week and I feel you owe KAPOW an apology.
Elaine Brown
KAPOW Steering Committee Member
Knoxville
Hard Work, No Nose Twitching
I would like to reply to the article on the Adopt-A-Highway program in the Metro Pulse and the controversy over giving the KAPOW organization a sign.
I was somewhat amused by the title and language in this article but I was also extremely disappointed in the ignorance displayed by the writer and Mr. Bruce Wuethrich, head of the Adopt-a-Highway program. I don't easily offend, but I am concerned that this article will only perpetuate misunderstanding about us and about the KAPOW organization. Mr. Wuethrich's comments were rude, disrespectful, and uncalled for.
Please note: it is KAPOW—not KAPAW as the article erroneously stated. The "O" in our logo is a star in a circle containing a lightning strike. It also turns our acronym into a word rather than just being KAPW.
As one of the founders of this group, I want to state here that Knoxville Area Pagans and Wiccans (KAPOW) was created as a community organization and inter-faith group, which includes several dedicated Wiccan and Pagan churches and traditions in East Tennessee. Some of those represented are Wiccan churches and solitaries of various traditions (denominations), Druidic, Celtic, Shamanic/Native American, the Norse traditional religion Asatru, Golden Dawn, and others. Our purpose is not to convert people to our faiths, but to offer a support network to members, to foster unity in the community, and to educate the public on who and what we are.
I volunteered on this roadside cleanup that Mr. Moyers helped us organize. It was HARD WORK and it was HOT that day not to mention that I also came down with a bad virus that weekend! It also took several hours to clean, as this stretch of roadside has not been cleaned in years. You can bet I was wishing I could just "twitch my nose." All of us were exhausted at the end of the day.
I did this cleanup not merely as a public awareness tool but because it is part of my religious faith to take responsibility for the health and beauty of the environment. I lost count of the beer bottles, cigarette butts, plastic bags, cans, cups, wrappers, car parts, straws, cardboard, discarded highway equipment and broken glass that I picked up that day. How many non-Wiccans threw this stuff out there? What about the churches that are sitting on that stretch of road? Why did they allow the roadside to get in this condition? We were also picking up trash on "their" road frontage.
If Mr. Wuethrich doesn't want to give us the credit we earned, let him go out there and personally clean the roadside himself. I am sure his nose will twitch plenty before he is done—courtesy of the delightful smell of refuse.
We are planning to do another cleanup and we will appreciate support from the community for this effort. Give us our sign, spell our name out, and enjoy a beautiful roadside.
For information on KAPOW's other activities, please visit our website at www.kapow.faithweb. com or contact one of our members. We are also beginning a food drive for the hungry and our new KAPOW kids auxiliary is now taking off. The organization is open to anyone with an open mind and KAPOW sponsors open socials, meetings, and workshops every month.
Rev. M.L. Wells, HPS
AKA "Rainwater"
Knoxville
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