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Seven Days

Thursday, Jan. 4
Knox County Commission approves its historic annexation peace pact with City Council. Yasser Arafat and Ehud Barak send congratulations.
From the Dept. of Mobius Strips: a legislative committee in Nashville recommends that half of the state's tobacco settlement money go to agriculture programs—including scholarships for students from tobacco-producing families.
UT athletic director Doug Dickey says his department will put $1 million a year toward academic scholarships. We assume he knows "track and field" and "rowing" don't count as academic subjects.

Friday, Jan. 5
Sheriff Tim Hutchison closes his temporary jail in Northeast Knox County, forcing the relocation of 13 "maximum security" inmates to the downtown jail. But he warns the worsening economy could push up crime rates and overcrowd the downtown facility again. Hmm. Maybe we need a new jail. Let's form a committee to study it.

Monday, Jan. 8
UT officials say they're holding talks with Chris Whittle about forming a teacher-training program. Well, we know a nice building on Main Street he could use...
Knoxville Curse continues: Singer Neil Sedaka becomes the latest performer to suffer health problems in Knoxville. He's forced to cancel a KSO Pops show for unspecified reasons, just as Dionne Warwick did last year. In case you're keeping count, both Russian legend Rachmaninoff and heavy metal guitar hero Randy Rhodes played the last shows of their lives here.

Tuesday, Jan. 9
Mayor Victor Ashe finally consummates his long, passionate affair with the Knoxville News-Sentinel, bringing associate editor Frank Cagle in as his new deputy. At $90,000 a year. Jeez, he coulda got most of the Metro Pulse staff for that. (And we come with movable parts, too!)

Knoxville Found

(Click photo for larger image)

What is this? Every week in "Knoxville Found," we'll print the photo of a local curiosity. If you're the first person to correctly identify this oddity, you'll win a special prize plucked from the desk of the editor (keep in mind that the editor hasn't cleaned his desk in five years). E-mail your guesses, or send 'em to "Knoxville Found" c/o Metro Pulse, 505 Market St., Suite 300, Knoxville, TN 37902.

Last Week's Photo:

This angular design detail is from the concrete railings of the Church Ave. Viaduct, built in 1937, which runs between the First Presbyterian Church and the Civic Coliseum. When it was built, it crossed broad Third Creek; now it crosses the James White Parkway. A few months ago, maverick financial planner Robert Loest (and yes, we are contractually obligated to refer to Loest as a "maverick") observed that the concrete viaduct's art-deco stylings are remarkably similar to the design of the art-moderne annex to the Miller's Building, built about the same time three blocks away on Gay Street. The first right answer, we're pleased to announce, came from previous entrant but never (until now) winner Jenny Stansberry of Knoxville. She gets a copy of Marjorie Klein's acclaimed new comic novel Test Pattern. Also, we can now belatedly announce the winner of the previous week's contest: 7-year-old Claire Coker recognized the clown swingset in the 4th and Gill park, because she lives just down the street and plays on it regularly. Good eye, Claire! (And we compliment you on your astute choice in reading material, too.) Your prize, headed your way, is a genuine Pentax point-and-shoot camera. Send us some photos!

Meet Your City
A calendar of upcoming public meetings you should attend

METROPOLITAN PLANNING COMMISSION
THURSDAY, JAN. 11
1:30 P.M.
CITY COUNTY BUILDING
400 MAIN STREET
MPC is scheduled to consider an amendment to the city's zoning ordinance to allow larger lot sizes in NC-1 (neighborhood conservation overlay) and H-1 (historic overlay) districts.

FRIENDS OF HAW RIDGE
THURSDAY, JAN. 18
7 P.M.
LIFE DEVELOPMENT CENTER
OLD EDGEMOOR ROAD (OAK RIDGE)
The Friends of Haw Ridge, a group of supporters for the 788-acre public park in Oak Ridge, will plan upcoming events, including a spring mountain bike race, shoreline clean-up and a management plan for the park.

Surly No More

Humane Society will work with city and county for animal welfare

Vicky Crosetti, once the dragon lady of the Humane Society of the Tennessee Valley, has turned pussycat. She's finally getting to do what she always wanted to do as executive director of the society and manager of its animal shelter.

She's running a no-kill facility for the first time in her more than 10 years in Knoxville. That means she won't be saddled with the responsibility for destroying thousands of dogs and cats each year. As a result, her disposition is improved markedly. The shelter is currently operating at its familiar—if out-of-the-way—location at 800 Millwood Road in South Knoxville. A move to new shelter and office space in Halls is contemplated when the building is ready, which Crosetti guesses is still weeks away.

Crosetti, whose organization operated the general shelter for the city and county until the first of the year, says the conversion to a no-kill facility was decided upon "when we rejected the city and county budget offer last year."

She's already selecting animals from the population of the fast-filling temporary shelter the newly established Knoxville-Knox County Animal Welfare Board has set up off of Sutherland Avenue in West Knoxville that she hopes her new program can place in adoptive homes.

"We picked up nine cats [last week] and expect to begin getting some dogs from them soon," Crosetti says.

Randy Keplinger, hired by the city-county board as director of the new animal welfare center, says though it opened officially on Tuesday Jan. 2, the staff started accepting animals Dec. 31. By the end of last week, the population was already approaching 150 animals, and some had already been euthanized owing to disease or disposition. "We have to think of the safety of our staff first," he says of animals that show undue aggressiveness on arrival. But, in the same breath, Keplinger says that in his 23 years in animal shelter work "you never get used to [the killings]."

The temporary shelter, built in 59 days as a space convertible to other government uses in the future when a permanent facility opens, is a cinderblock building with a modular component. It holds enough cages in its 9,500 square feet to house about 250 to 275 animals, and almost all of the cages are installed, meaning the center was more than half full in less than a week.

"It's probably the best temporary facility I've ever seen," says Keplinger, who came to Knoxville from Oak Ridge. He brought his staff veterinarian, Michelle Williams, along from Oak Ridge, where she'd worked six years, and they have another 15 workers at the center. The operating budget for the first six months is $324,000, according to Kathy Hamilton, the county's finance and administration director, who says the $1.5 million budgeted for establishing the temporary shelter may not all be spent. The permanent facility, at 25,000 square feet, is budgeted at $5.3 million, but as yet there are no architect or engineering plans drawn up.

Hamilton says the city and county will each put up $118,000 of the operating budget, with the balance coming from fees and donations.

The 11-member Animal Welfare Board includes two veterinarians, and the board will be trying to drum up donations.

But most city and county officials believe the Humane Society may now be in a better position to gain charitable contributions. Crosetti hopes so. She will be working without city or county funds for the first time, relying on donations and grant money, plus fees for adoptions. But she's excited about the prospects.

"We'll now have much more time to counsel owners about their pets' problems and to provide the public education needed on the necessity for spaying and neutering of pets to keep the unwanted population down," she says. She also says referrals will be made to a professional animal behaviorist to try to keep pets and their owners together when the owner appears ready to give up.

Of the no-kill shelter concept, Crosetti says, "The support has already been tremendous." She's optimistic about the Humane Society's relationship with the new city-county board and welfare center, she says. And Keplinger concurs, pointing out that he and Crosetti have worked together for 10 years and become friends as well as colleagues. "He's very professional," says Crosetti, confirming their long-standing friendship and mutual respect.

"It's a win/win situation for Knoxville," Keplinger says, explaining that he's confident that the two shelters will be able to work together to reduce the numbers of unwanted pets and to bring the euthanasia rate down. It's been above 50 percent at times, but the Humane Society is proud to point out that it had gotten down below 30 percent through the success of its adoption programs. Both the Humane Society's shelter and the animal welfare center will have access to the society's two adoption centers in West Knoxville—one on Kingston Pike near Papermill Road and the other in the PetSmart business off Morrell Road.

The start-up Knox County Humane Association, partly formed by people who were roundly critical of Crosetti's curt style, was in the process of gathering support for its own no-kill shelter. It may have been beaten to the punch. The Humane Society's no-kill shelter is up and running and working with the governmental bodies.

Ellen Adcock, the city's director of administration and a member of the city-county board, says the key to full success of the joint program will be to get the permanent facility built, so that enough space is available to keep as many animals through to adoption as possible.

"We've got a bunch of puppies and kittens out there, and there are going to be a lot more," Adcock says.

Crosetti agrees, while urging her interviewer to adopt another pet. "Call for an appointment," she says.

—Barry Henderson

Off Track?

Plans for the Coster Shop delayed but still moving

When Knoxville city officials announced their two-for-one development deal last year, with The Knoxville News-Sentinel relocating to the Center City Redevelopment Area near Mechanicsville and Eagle Distributing Co. giving up that property in exchange for a site on the long-fallow Coster Shop grounds off I-275, it almost sounded too easy. Apparently it was.

But despite delays in putting together the deal, city officials say they still think it can come together more or less as planned. "It was pretty tense and frustrating for me right before Christmas, but I feel pretty good about it now," says Doug Berry, the city's director of development.

The Coster Shop rail yards have long been on the city's wish list for redevelopment—not least because they are among the first things you see when you're entering Knoxville on the interstate from the north. But the 44-acre site, owned by Norfolk Southern railroad, is fraught with environmental problems. Over the years, a lot of diesel fuel, lead paint, and assorted cleaning supplies seeped into the ground at the train maintenance lot.

City officials knew that going in. But as the deal—in which the city would purchase the property from Norfolk Southern and then sell 30 acres of it to beer distribution giant Eagle—approached its Dec. 13 deadline, the city's law office got nervous about long-term ramifications. Even with an environmental clean-up plan approved by the state, there's the possibility of state or federal regulators revisiting the site later on and demanding further work. Plus, the extent of the contamination won't be known for sure until the project gets under way.

So, somewhat to Berry's chagrin, Law Director Michael Kelley put the brakes on and recommended the city purchase environmental insurance as protection. "Within the next few months, I would hope we would be able to obtain the insurance and have the closing scheduled," Kelley says.

In the meantime, the city, working through Knoxville's Community Development Corporation, filed suit to condemn the prospective News-Sentinel property, which is still owned by Eagle. Eagle, which had acquired the West View neighborhood property from the city several years ago but not redeveloped it, had not reached an agreement on a sale price. KCDC's suit offers $2 million for the 27.5 acres.

All of which means that Berry won't be able to put together the tidy land swap—the West View property for the Coster Shop property—he originally envisioned. But he says the Coster Shop deal with Eagle and Norfolk Southern is still on. "This past Friday, we had a good conversation [with the railroad]," he says—a relief, because the delay in closing could have allowed Norfolk Southern to pull out.

"It quite possibly won't delay the redevelopment of the actual site at all," Berry continues. "We're going to keep moving as though we own the property while we're waiting for this. What we're dealing with is that we're one of the first communities to move into voluntary 'brownfield' redevelopment." Brownfields are abandoned industrial sites, often environmentally sensitive

"There's not a lot of case experience for us or our attorneys or anyone to fall back on to see how the regulators will treat us," Berry says.

Also in question now is whether the city will use part of its Empowerment Zone funding to acquire the site. Initially, Berry planned to put about $1.9 million of Knoxville's federal EZ money toward the Coster Shop's estimated $6 million acquisition and redevelopment price tag. But recently, Mayor Victor Ashe has spoken of using some of the Knox County economic development money promised in the recent city-county annexation accord.

"Right now, I don't know" which money will go where, Berry says.

—Jesse Fox Mayshark