Metro Pulse/Ear to the Ground

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School Bully Pulpit

Knox County school officials took some heat last week for hosting what turned out to be a standard-issue (or, rather, issueless) campaign rally for George W. Bush. School spokesguy Mike Cohen says Dubya's people initially planned an education-oriented stop at South-Doyle Middle School, complete with classroom visits and a policy speech on education. But by the time his Bush-ness arrived last Tuesday, it had turned into a simple stump appearance in the gym, no students or teachers invited. Cohen concedes that purely political events in the middle of the school day aren't generally part of the curriculum. "If they told us they just wanted to have a political rally, I believe we probably would have said no," he says. Adding insult, Bush reportedly didn't even acknowledge the student welcoming committee waiting for him outside the school, or pay any lip service during his speech to Superintendent Charles Lindsey, who was seated anonymously if not ignominiously toward the back of the bleachers. Actually, it may be a good thing the Dub steered clear of his education platform—he's a big backer of school vouchers, which are nearly universally abhorred by public school types, including Lindsey.

CHR Saga Continues...

There's a lot going on with the anti-annexation group Citizens for Home Rule. A general membership meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 2 at the Halls Community Center. Or not, depending upon whom you believe. CHR has split into two factions roughly described as the faction led by board member Patra Rule and the faction led by John Emison, who may or may not be president. Each faction accuses the other of various types of wrong-doing and seeks to oust selected members of the other faction. The mayor's office, which sees CHR's potential demise as possibly removing a major thorn in its backside, is watching with interest.

The special meeting was requested in September by some 50 CHR members who oppose Rule's efforts to oust Emison and CHR attorney David Buuck. In October, Rule's faction did just that at a raucous board meeting convened in the back room of a West Knoxville Kroger. The Emison faction, which has filed suit against the Rule faction, says that the Kroger meeting lacked the quorum required for ouster, and means to replace Rule and her allies. The Rule faction, which installed Rule as board chair at that meeting, says that Emison and his allies are history and the board "...is active and fully functioning in behalf of the members..." (according to a letter from CHR secretary Pat Hunter).

The location of the Halls meeting seems to work in favor of Emison, since it is far removed from Rule's West Knox/Loudon County power base. CHR has been an uncommonly successful annexation fighter for some two decades, and has a treasury of around a quarter million dollars, near as anyone can tell, since the Rule faction secretary and the Emison faction treasurer aren't speaking.

Term Limits, Schmerm Limits

How serious is longtime County Commissioner Wanda Moody about running for City Council? Serious enough to make her first visit to the Norwood Homeowners Association in many years this past week. Moody's potential entrance into the race for the seat to be vacated by the term-limited Jean Teague next year could upset the long-laid plans of Teague ally Barbara Pelot, a West Hills neighborhood activist and Friend of the Mayor. Moody, a real estate investor who dabbles in development and also lives in West Hills, tends to be less popular with homeowners but more palatable to developers. She owns another fundraising advantage, too, since she is the Aunt of the Mayor (by marriage).

Scenic Billboards

Ever enjoyed the mass plantings of daffodils blooming in the interstate medians, particularly along Pellissippi Parkway? If you have, you should thank Maria Compere, who is largely responsible for the displays of springtime gold. Compere spent her 85th birthday in court last week, listening to arguments in the Community Forum case that seeks to prove that the billboard Mercedes mogul Sam Furrow has erected at the Parkside Drive interchange on the scenic highway is illegal. "Maria's been fighting to keep Knox County beautiful for most of her life," one Community Forum member said. "And now, they've installed garbage on a stick on her beloved Pellissippi."