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Seven Days

Wednesday, Sept. 19
"I warned the CIA about getting involved with this sort of Muslim extremist...This business of 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' can be very dangerous." —Adm. Pierre Lacoste, former head of French intelligence, on the CIA's relationship with Osama bin Laden during the Soviet war against Afghanistan.
"I'm not sure we would want to tell the bad guys exactly what would happen."—Bill Brumley, National Nuclear Security Administration, in explaining that an aircraft crashed into Oak Ridge nuclear facilities would not cause a nuclear blast.

Thursday, Sept. 20
"...This country will define our times, not be defined by them."—President George W. Bush.

Friday, Sept. 21
"We are ready for the trial of Osama bin Laden in light of the evidence."
—Abdul Salam Zaeef, Afghanistan's ambassador to Pakistan, explaining that his country would not turn over any accused terrorists without proof of their deeds (one day before the claim that the ruling Taliban government has lost track of bin Laden).

Sunday, Sept. 22
"Integrity is what happens when no one is looking." —The Rev. Steve Chesney, at a memorial service in Knoxville for Rob Lenoir, who told his West Knoxvillian father on the phone that he was helping people get out of the World Trade Center just before the towers collapsed.

Monday, Sept. 23
"Now is clearly not the time to leave."—U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson in Nashville, announcing his decision, following the events of Sept. 11, to seek reelection by Tennessee voters next year.

Tuesday, Sept. 24
"Wherever there are Americans and Jews, they will be targeted."—Naseer Ahmed Mujahed, chief military commander for the al-Qaeda extremist network.
"No threat—no threat—will prevent freedom-loving people from defending freedom." —President Bush

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:
In the days before Sept. 11, this Frederic Remington statue of a bucking bronc and rider on South Gay Street carried nothing more dramatic than a paintbrush. Then, says local resident Gary Atkins, "The day after the attack, my girlfriend and I decided the hand of the bronco rider would be a good place for Old Glory." Apparently the statue's owner, attorney J.D. Lee agreed, and the flag has been flying ever since. Thanks to Gary for the info, but the first right answer came from John L. Sanders, a project director at nearby Martella Associates on Market Street. John wins a seasonally fitting prize, a copy of spooky writer Ray Bradbury's latest tome, From the Dust Returned.

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

KNOX COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
Monday Oct. 1
3 p.m.
Andrew Johnson Bldg., 1st Floor
912 S. Gay St.
Work session to receive the long-awaited template for the superintendent's proposed "internationally competitive school system."
Wednesday Oct. 3
5 p.m.
City County Bldg., Large Assembly Room
400 Main St..
Regular monthly meeting.

CITY COUNCIL
Tuesday Oct. 2
7 p.m.
Knoxville Museum of Art
World's Fair Park
Regular scheduled meeting, being held at KMA.

METROPOLITAN PLANNING COMMISSION
Thursday Oct. 4
6:30 p.m.
South Doyle High School, Choir Room
Tipton Station Road
Commission will hold a public meeting on the South County Sector Plan.

Primary Suspects

In the limited terms of Knoxville vote turnout, Tuesday's elections were a big improvement

When is low voter turnout good news? When it's higher than it used to be.

One spin being put out about Tuesday's City Council primary elections, by Mayor Victor Ashe and others, is that the low turnouts show the failure of term limits to generate increased interest in local politics. Ashe, a four-term mayor who opposed the term limits legislation that Knoxville voters enacted six years ago, noted in posts on the k2k Internet forum that Tuesday's showing was low despite five open seats and 29 candidates.

It's true—according to unofficial tallies, 10,621 Knoxvillians voted in the five district races. That's about 12 percent of the 84,000 registered voters who were eligible. Some observers blamed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington for having turned people's attention elsewhere. Others, including Ashe, suggested the city election cycle should be moved to correspond with state and national elections that draw more voters.

But Tuesday's numbers look different if you compare them to the same primaries in 1997. In fact, it looks as if term limits did exactly what their proponents said they would: dramatically increase both the number of candidates and the number of voters.

Four years ago, there were incumbents running in all five districts. Only two of them drew any opponents, for a total of 10 candidates (five of those candidates were in the 6th District, in the race that upstart challenger Danny Mayfield eventually won). And on the voter side in 1997, having so many uncontested races kept most people at home. With vote totals ranging from a low of 231 in the 1st District to a high of 1,207 in the 6th District, the turnout for all five races was just 3,218.

In other words, both the number of candidates and the number of voters tripled between 1997 and this year's election. "I am thrilled the way it came out," says City Councilwoman Carlene Malone, who supported term limits.

Others may be less enthused by what is still a fairly miserable showing. But as statistically low as Tuesday's turnout was, it still produced interesting results. The top two finishers in each district will now go on to the citywide general election on Nov. 6. Some thoughts on each of the races:

1st District: The surprise isn't so much that progressive candidate Joe Hultquist will face off against Greg Pinkston as that Hultquist was the first-place finisher rather than the strong runner-up many people assumed he would be. It was unclear for most of the evening whether Pinkston would make the run-off at all; he ended up topping the union-supported Sylvia Woods by fewer than 70 votes.

The Pinkston name carries a lot of weight south of the river, largely thanks to Greg's influential uncle, County Commissioner Howard Pinkston. But Greg Pinkston has yet to define himself as a candidate with strong views on much of anything, and the family influence is unlikely to carry as well in the broader general election. Hultquist, who is well-informed and a good public speaker, would seem to have a strong edge. However, this is one race to watch for dirty tactics. Some voters reported Pinkston supporters outside the polls on Tuesday warning them against "the drug dealer" (a reference to Hultquist's decades-old minor drug conviction, which Hultquist has always acknowledged), and that phrase may well turn up in the kind of "anonymous" mailings and word-of-mouth campaigns that often mark local politics.

2nd District: In a close three-way race, neighborhood activist Barbara Pelot demonstrated the strength of her support network, built up through many years of local involvement. Pelot is a confidante of current 2nd District Councilwoman Jean Teague, which makes her the most obvious incumbent's heir running in any district. That was clearly an asset in the primary. Whether it remains one in the citywide race is an interesting question. Especially as she'll be running against second-place finisher Joe Bailey, who's an heir of sorts himself—his father, Ed Bailey, was a longtime City Council member. Bailey has the support of some in Knoxville's establishment (Jim Haslam, for example), but he's also been careful to cultivate support from some anti-Ashe quarters. Firemen stumping for Bailey at the polls made no secret of their dissatisfaction with Ashe.

Among the also-rans, developer Archie Ellis didn't get the level of support some people predicted in his home district of Sequoyah Hills. Although he was the top vote-getter in that precinct, it was only by a matter of degrees—he got 299 votes there to 200 for Bailey and 145 for Pelot. Meanwhile, dark horse candidate Leslie Terry, an activist on k2k and in the KnoxRecall movement, took home a healthy 450 votes—which would have made her a threatening third-place finisher in any other district.

3rd District: Many observers noted they couldn't tell much difference on the issues between front-runners Bedford Chapman and Steve Hall in the run-up to the primary. They'll have another six weeks to try to sort it out, as the two ran a close finish on Tuesday. Chapman had the edge, with 685 votes to Hall's 588, but Hall's greater name recognition in politics citywide could be an advantage going into the general election.

4th District: Everyone expected Rob Frost and Jim Cortese to emerge as the top vote-getters, in that order, and they did. But Frost's margin of 795 votes to Cortese's 648 was narrower than expected, considering the widespread sense that Frost has been "anointed" for the seat (as two different observers put it Tuesday night). Still, Frost has a large edge in fundraising and has been campaigning outside the 4th District for weeks, making him the continued presumptive favorite.

6th District: Again, a finish that most observers predicted, with Mark Brown and Sheryl Rollins heading for the Nov. 6 run-off. But Brown's margin was larger than expected—he had 949 votes to Rollins' 443, and he took more than 50 percent of the vote in a race with seven candidates, making him the biggest percentage winner in any district. And Brown, a former chairman of the Knox County Election Commission, is better-known than Rollins outside the 6th District, which would seem to put him in a particularly strong position.

If you're one of the many who didn't vote on Tuesday, you'll get another chance Nov. 6. If you're not even registered, Oct. 5 is the deadline to register for that election. Call the Election Commission at 215-2480 for information.

—Jesse Fox Mayshark

Giving Them a Tool

Locally created website helped families in search for those lost in the World Trade Center

Like a lot of people, April Cox had trouble focusing on her job in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attack two weeks ago. She spent Sept. 11 driving back from a vacation at the Gulf Shores in Alabama, flipping from radio station to radio station as she headed north, listening to the news in disbelief.

Wednesday was pretty much shot, as she spent a lot of it in front of the TV. "Everything I had done the day before as a routine didn't matter anymore," Cox says. "I couldn't imagine calling someone and saying, 'Hey, what'd you think of that proposal?'"

Watching TV Thursday morning after the disaster, she heard about people searching for their family and friends. "I was watching the Today Show, and learned about all these people walking the streets of New York carrying pictures of their loved ones," she says.

Suddenly, Cox knew how she could help. Vice president of Webcentric, an Internet hosting and web-design company, Cox put some of her employees to work designing www.wtclocator.com. Friday at noon, the site was up and running.

Anyone searching for someone lost in the World Trade Center collapse could post pictures, descriptions, or any other identifying information. Based on that information, those accessing the site could search by name, photo, age, or an identifying mark, such as a scar, birthmark or tattoo.

"I feel like we did a lot of good. I feel like we gave people a tool to use, instead of just waiting for the inevitable," she says. "Those things matter to your psyche when you're going through something like this."

Cox spent that day and all weekend publicizing the WTC Locator, via other websites and New York papers, radio and TV stations.

"We had to be real careful to make sure it didn't look like a big PR thing for Webcentric. That was my biggest concern," Cox says.

So far, about 80 people have posted information on it. There was one success story—a woman unaccounted for was found alive.

Although it gave Cox and her workers something to do, it also connected them to the deaths in a more personal way, as families emailed them about the missing. "For two days, every post we would read it and cry. We know these people because they've all been emailing us," she says.

One woman posted a picture of her husband on the website twice. Cox emailed her to ask which one to use, and the woman apologized. "I'm like, 'Please don't apologize. You have nothing to apologize for,'" Cox says she replied.

With little chance of anyone else being found alive, the site is still useful in the recovery of bodies. "It's gruesome but it's just the truth of the situation," Cox says. "If I was missing a loved one I'd want to know about every trace of that person found just for some closure."

The site will stay up indefinitely. "I could see us working to turn it into a memorial site," she says. "I'd like to see that happen, I'd like to participate in that."

—Joe Tarr