Metro Pulse/Ear to the Ground

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Press Release Politics

Who knew that Friends of the Library would become such a hotbed of political intrigue? The group is generally identified as the center of opposition to the appointment of former board chair Charles Davenport as interim director of the Knox County library system. In a letter to the editor in Sunday's News-Sentinel, former Friends president Julie Webb tried to dispel that notion by making the point that the Friends are not fomenting Davenport discontent and that the group is apolitical. The Friends, Webb said, "made a point of taking no public position or action. This movement of protest is made up of people far and wide who appreciate and cherish our fine public library and want a permanent director who is the best-qualified person available."

The following day, News-Sentinel political columnist Georgiana Vines announced that Tennessee Secretary of State Riley Darnell would be meeting with the Friends "to discuss Knox County library issues" the following day at the Farragut Branch Library meeting room. The discussion, Vines said, "is sponsored by the Bill Owen for state Senate Campaign Committee" As secretary of state, Darnell has theoretical control over theoretical state funding to libraries. It is not clear whether Darnell was aware that Charlie Burchett, father of Owen's opponent, incumbent Tim Burchett, has taken Davenport's place as library board chair and is seen as a Davenport supporter.

But the following day, an story written "by News-Sentinel staff" appeared, and was headlined "Friends of Library back out of meeting." The story said the meeting had been announced in an Owen press release as "a meeting to discuss issues in the Knox County Library system," but that Friends of the Library complained the event was 'becoming politicized.' "

Losing Our Lunchers?

Last Thursday, a teleconference for East Tennessee social workers and therapists drew about 40 participants to the UT Conference Center. From Nashville, the moderator on the big screen announced that local organizers in each of the four participating cities would direct participants to convenient lunch spots.

One of the good things about meeting downtown is the availability of great restaurants to suit nearly every taste: dozens of them in all, from Chesapeake's to Tomato Head, from the newly reopened Crescent Moon to the unique Court-Top Cafe. McLeod's, J. Scott's, the Soup Kitchen, Preservation Pub, the Bistro, Chopsticks, both locations of Pete's: all of those, and several others, are within four blocks of the conference center.

But the conference organizer apparently hadn't caught wind of them. She confidently announced that there were two places to eat downtown: the Hilton and the Holiday Inn.

We know how busy our bureaucrats must be and that it might take as much as an hour to type up and copy a guide to downtown lunch spots to distribute to conferences like these, but considering that we heard similar stories from the Junior Olympians, we're beginning to wonder if downtown's alleged promoters are still on summer break.

A Communal Déjà Vu

Some familiar faces were featured in the New York Times Magazine's "What They Were Thinking" last Sunday. Every week, the Times publishes a photograph and asks the subjects in it to talk about it. This photograph was of Moonshadow, the small homestead/commune outside of Chattanooga in Sequatchie County. The group was featured in a 1999 Metro Pulse story on communal living. The photo pictured several Moonshadow residents, including John Johnson (who was wearing a T-shirt from Katuah Earth First, which is the Knoxville chapter of the environmental group). Patrick Ironwood (formerly Patrick Kimmons), whose family owns the property, was quoted underneath the photo: "My wife and I want to open Moonshadow up to just about anybody, where it's a win-win situation for them to stay here and work. My folks are a little concerned. If someone builds their own house on our land, what would happen if we weren't friends anymore? That's the complexity of communal interaction. Our life is unique, but it doesn't mean full-on free love—though in our generation, that type of thing goes on. Our community is not built on a sexual relationship—unlike a nuclear family that's about a mother and a father producing a child. We have a common creed: to use the minimum of resources to live the good life. We are lifestyle activists." The photo is part of "In Community, Skyblue" exhibit at the Gorney Bravin + Lee Gallery in New York.

Craig in Charge

A lawsuit aimed at forcing a Nov. 5 referendum on changing the city election cycle has taken some odd turns.

When City Law Director Michael Kelley moved to take a deposition from Election Commission Administrator Pat Crippins, attorney Richard Beeler, who is representing the Election Commission, decided to take the deposition from whoever is in charge of the city's legal maneuvering.

So who do you think showed up to answer Beeler's questions: Mayor Victor Ashe? Lawyer Kelley?

Nope. Deputy-to-the-Mayor Craig Griffith is the guy who got off the elevator from the sixth floor of the City County Building. The suit was originally filed by former City Councilman Gary Underwood against his former colleagues, who allegedly ticked him off by voting this summer to rescind Council's earlier vote to place the question of changing city elections cycles on the November ballot. For someone with such a passionate interest in the issue, Underwood, who didn't attend any of the court proceedings and was dismissed as a plaintiff after Chancellor John Weaver ruled he had no standing, has been curiously disengaged. Meanwhile, Kelley intervened to keep the suit alive, and now the city is seeking a temporary injunction to force the Election Commission to place the election cycle change on the ballot, even though the paper ballots are already printed and the clock is ticking.

During Griffith's brief deposition, he said that even though he is the one allegedly "driving" the city litigation, he has not discussed this case with the mayor and he has not read any of the pleadings. Kelley, who is known for his scorched-earth deposition style, deposed Crippins, who is in ill health, for four hours. A hearing on the city's request for a temporary injunction was scheduled for Thursday morning.

Etymologies

At the gubernatorial debate at Knoxville College Tuesday night, we appreciated Van Hilleary's witty response to Ted Hall's question about the Republican's rumored intellectual shortcomings: "Would you please repeat that question, and go slower." We also appreciated Phil Bredesen's confession that maybe he's not an attractive man.

All night, Hilleary kept us guessing. If he sent a public official a postcard from the Persian Gulf in 1991, what's he doing with the card now? If Mayor Bredesen left Nashville with such high taxes and such high debt that it is best compared to a "perfect storm," then what does that make Knoxville (which has a much higher combined city and county property tax than Metro Nashville)? And we remember pundits parsing every minor gesture of the 2000 Gore-Bush debates, but did Hilleary really mean to overtly draw attention to the fact that he volunteered to shake Bredesen's hand as an example of "leadership"? Finally, did the UT football team actually fumble 19 times against Florida?