Metro Pulse/Ear to the Ground

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Rip Van EPA

By all accounts but one, the multi-agency team that handled the public safety crisis in the wake of Sunday's train derailment and sulfuric acid spill did a superb job. Nobody was seriously hurt and the evacuation of the area went like clockwork. Shelters were set up, and the perimeter was shut off and patrolled by sheriff's deputies against the possibility of looting.

But West Knox residents who'd been given the all-clear early Tuesday to return to their homes were probably alarmed to hear news reports that a representative of the Environmental Protection Agency was saying that the decision to let them return was premature. All morning, TV and radio news outlets reported that the decision to let the refugees go home was made "without notifying the EPA." And on Wednesday, the News-Sentinel reported that EPA on-scene coordinator Barbara Caprita "wasn't included" in the 5 a.m. meeting when the decision to issue the all-clear order was made.

Caprita says that she missed the meeting because no one told her about it. But the News-Sentinel didn't report that it was Caprita's own fault that she wasn't included in the meeting, because she slept late. "There were about 30 people who made it to the scheduled 5 a.m. meeting and were present to examine the data," says Mike Cohen, Knox County spokesman. "Every test of the water said clear, every test of the air said clear, and the tanker was gone. Once you know its safe, you don't keep thousands of people away from their homes just because she overslept." Insiders say it took a call from Sen. Bill Frist, who was aboard Air Force One on a Nashville campaign junket with President George W. Bush, to Caprita's Atlanta office to change Caprita's attitude.

Cool Media

Many Knoxvillians claim to get most of their news from public radio; but just for their own safety, they may want to keep a TV on in the background. Sunday afternoon, when viewers of NFL games and commercial-radio listeners were getting further updates about the sulfuric acid spill and the evacuation it caused, WUOT listeners got a two-hour rerun of "A Prairie Home Companion." When the evacuation had been underway for almost four hours, a WUOT announcer gave a bland weather forecast having to do with variable cloudiness and a chance of rain. No mention of a large toxic cloud of sulfuric acid in the listening area. Then came a National Public Radio news brief including a short item about a major toxic derailing somewhere "in Tennessee."

The following morning, during the break between NPR's "Morning Edition," a local WUOT announcer recited a list of school closings—but didn't suggest any reason why those schools might be closed. Then NPR's national broadcast ran a full story about the incident and evacuation, emphasizing the gravity of the situation. It was filed by WKNO, NPR's affiliate in Memphis.

Agee Amble II

The biennial Agee Amble Saturday afternoon went off as planned, with stops in four downtown watering holes and liberal readings from the diverse works of Knoxville native James Agee, including his often-merciless film criticism and unpublished journals. There was even a step-by-step recreation of Agee's and his father's stroll from Gay Street to Fort Sanders in Agee's A Death In the Family. Market Square's Preservation Pub—the closest thing to the "market bar" described in the book—hosted a long and enthusiastic round of Agee-penned toasts, as well as a rare showing of Agee's 1940s Harlem documentary, In the Streets.

Among the dozen readers were actors, journalists, teachers, and random boulevardiers, among them recording artist R.B. Morris, novelist Brian Griffin, and Sundance-award-winning director Paul Harrill. About 35 pilgrims finished the eight-and-a-half hour adventure with a flashlight-lit reading of "Knoxville: Summer 1915," at the site of Agee's long-demolished home on Highland Avenue, a further reading by Morris at the nearby Agee Park site, and the group celebrated with some deli sandwiches at Vic & Bill's.