Metro Pulse/Ear to the Ground

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No Rest for the Voters

Thousands of Knoxville residents who went to the polls on Tuesday were greeted by mayoral candidates Madeline Rogero and Bud Gilbert, or volunteers representing them. Rogero's squad, about 20 strong, stood outside precincts and handed out leaflets. "I probably spoke to about 200 people this morning," she said at about 1 p.m., as she headed out the door to go to more voting locations. Gilbert's team of about eight folks handed out literature, and gave muffins and candy to election workers. "This is a wonderful way to reach people," said Gilbert, speaking on a cell phone en route from his eighth to his ninth precinct.

Curiously enough, the third candidate was a no show. Bill Haslam says that he had over a hundred volunteers set up to hand out free coffee in "Haslam for Mayor" coffee cups. But he canceled the coffee crusade due to inclement weather.

Being There

When the going got tough, former Gov. Ned McWherter used to tell members of the General Assembly "If you didn't want to work, you shouldn't have hired on." On Monday afternoon, Mayor Victor Ashe appropriated the exact same McWherterism in chiding four City Council members for not showing up for a special council meeting.

The four absent Council members—Rob Frost, Nick Pavlis, Joe Hultquist, and Steve Hall, are reportedly pretty steamed at Ashe's remarks. All of these Council members oppose Ashe's plan to give Sam Furrow, who has purchased the old downtown post office building on Main Street, a $500,000 grant—one of the items on Monday's agenda. All four Council members said they had obligations, mostly work-related, that preceded the hastily-called meeting.

Pavlis is openly annoyed.

"That was a cheap shot, and I took great offense, especially coming from somebody who's been a career politician and who's never met a payroll in his life, except on the taxpayers' backs," Pavlis said. "I plan my personal vacations around Council meetings while he's been gallivanting the world."

Slings and Arrows

Elizabeth Hilliard Staten's family lives in the heavily-wooded Lyon's Bend area, and for the past two years, the Hilliards have befriended one of the deer that roam the ritzy neighborhood.

"The buck drank out of the bird feeder and ate persimmons and chestnuts in the woods. He was very tame and very trusting," Staten says.

The Hilliard property is adjacent to that of big Jim Haslam, and County Commissioner John Schmid lives on the Haslam property. Schmid and Staten locked horns after she found the deer killed by an arrow at the base of the Hilliard driveway.

"We saw John Schmid drive up and down the road in his Jeep, and finally he pulled in our driveway and told us his friend had shot the deer. He said "That's Jeff's deer—he shot it and I'm going to get it." Staten characterizes Schmid as "rude and confrontational."

Schmid, who has displayed a rather fiery temperament on the County Commission dais from time to time, says he was nothing but calm and polite to Hilliard, and that the Haslams had given his friend permission to kill the deer because it had been ripping up the Haslams' yard and shrubbery. He describes Staten's behavior as "hysterical and screaming at the top of her lungs."

"I tried to explain that he was hunting legally (with a bow and arrow), and when I saw she was upset, I went back and got Jeff."

Staten says Schmid added insult to injury by coming onto the Hilliard property to retrieve the carcass. At the end of the day, the Hilliards allowed the deer's body to be removed by the hunter, but they do not consider the matter resolved.