Metro Pulse/Ear to the Ground

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Sweet Tooth

State Sen. Tim Burchett had a bad first week in the Lege last week, and it all started when Knox County government lobbyist Alison Wagley, perhaps aware of his fondness for free food, brought him some home-made cookies. Burchett bit into one, broke a tooth and ended up in the office of a Nashville dentist who charged him $810 to grind the tooth down and crown it, all the while assuring Burchett that he was getting a "Republican discount" of 10 percent.

Burchett describes the cookies as "cream of cinder block," and says he's wondering if there's more to it then meets the eye.

"Alison and I had a blind date, and we went to the Wendy's drive-through, and now I regret not letting her super-size her order."

Hard Times

So Burchett had a bad week. He won't get much sympathy from members of Knox County Commission, who probably can't wait to close the books on the month of January. It's been a tough one for them, and not just because it's the start of an election year and they are picking up opponents like garbage trucks draw flies. But that's not the worst of it. First, Larry Stephens got shot in a hunting accident, luckily only a minor wound. Then Wanda Moody was hospitalized and had her gall bladder removed. And most recently, John Schmid's house nearly burned down. As you may recall from the last election, Schmid lives on the Haslam estate (but has refuted rumors that he is the pool boy, therefore it would be unfair to insinuate that this is the pool house that caught fire).

Schmid actually figures he got lucky on this one—it was a Friday night and he was leaving to meet friends for dinner when he heard crackling, smelled smoke, touched a light fixture and found it hot. He called 911, reminded them that he is in the city (thanks to a controversial Haslamic voluntary annexation awhile back), loaded his dog into the car and waited for the fire trucks to arrive. The Knoxville Fire Department made short work of the nascent attic fire, but were spotted by a neighbor who called Jim and Natalie Haslam, who were at the movies.

"Somebody called Haslam to see if he was having a fund raiser," Schmid said. "He said 'No, the house must be on fire.'"

Ivan Update

Following up on last week's Ear bit about former Councilman Ivan Harmon getting hired on at the city Engineering Dept. a scant month after leaving office, we talked to Engineering Director Sam Parnell for the details. Parnell assures us that Harmon, who recently left the grocery store biz after many years, will be handling "requests for service and complaints," a sort of community liaison position recently vacated by longtime Engineering employee Hollis McPhetridge. "You need somebody that can work well with the public, talk with the public," Parnell says. The meet-n-greet post, which pays "in the 40s," will presumably suit Harmon just fine, since he was planning on doing some door-knocking anyway—he's planning a run for County Commission's 3rd District.

Them Aginners Agin

Participants in the Internet discussion forum k2k often get branded (by people who don't like what they say) as lousy good-fer-nothin' negative lazy whiners who spend all their time hunched over computer keyboards bitching about local politics and never do anything about it. (We happen to know this isn't true—from what we can tell, k2k regulars spend much more time drinking beer than they do hunched over keyboards. They've also been known individually or collectively to rehab buildings and houses by the dozens, raise money for the Bijou and other causes, and serve on all manner of volunteer boards and committees.) Anyway, they were at it again this week—in an effort spearheaded by longtime civic activist and downtown business owner Jim Ullrich, they purchased and presented to City Council members hardcover copies of John Clayton Thomas' tome Public Participation in Public Decisions. A noble goal, of course; but around here, sometimes we'd settle for City Council participation in public decisions. Anyway, we look forward to book reports at the next meeting.

Katie Did

Add to the growing list of County Commission contenders a rather familiar name: Katie Allison Granju, who has written a well-received book on parenting and also happens to be a Metro Pulse columnist and freelance reporter, announced this week that she plans to run against 4th District Commissioner Phil Guthe. The redoubtable Ms. G. will not be doing any political writing for MP in the interim, but you can still catch her regular "Loco Parentis" column on the trials and triumphs of parenthood.