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Seven Days

Wednesday, January 29
It's revealed that the Knoxville Glove Co. property across the river from Neyland Stadium will be redeveloped into a massive apartment and condo complex with a marina. Now, if Leigh Burch, the developer, who also did the Sterchi Lofts, can figure a way to convert the Holston Gases tank farm just upriver to house downtown residents (in the tanks?) we'll begin to have a nice riverfront.

Thursday, January 30
Hamblen County officials say they are investigating illegal dogfighting in the area after confiscating pit bull terriers from a residence there and finding a breeding chart with dogs named Sabretooth, Ninja, Bonecrusher, and Iron Maiden. What makes them think such dogs would be pitted illegally?

Friday, January 31
The News-Sentinel reports that a study of the state's ailing, moribund tax system suggests that the Legislature "wipe the slate clean." There's an idea. Eliminate all state taxes. That should end the tax crisis. But, we'd still get roads built, we bet.

Saturday, February 1
The National Park Service gathers public comment on whether to develop part of the Elkmont area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for rental cabins or return the land to its wild, pristine state. The debate has been going on for more than 75 years. Does anyone think a new round of "comment" will settle it?

Monday, February 3
Mayor Victor Ashe announces that he has acquired hearing aids to compensate for a 25 percent loss of hearing. OK, but when's he going to break down and get listening aids?

Tuesday, February 4
Kentucky throttles Florida, just as the Gators had risen to No. 1 in the national basketball polls. Now, if the 'Cats can just figure a way to get that done in football, they'll make some new friends in Knoxville.

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:
It doesn't seem like there would be more than one "HOE of Kentucky" in Knoxville, does it? We received just one response on last week's photo, from Charles Clapp, identifying it as "the iron casting of a stormwater catch basin in the parking lot near the International House at UT." But we found our HOE in a parking area near St. Mary's hospital. As it turns out, there are likely plenty mo' HOEs of Kentucky out there. J.R. Hoe & Sons is a good-sized iron-and-steel foundry based in Middlesboro, founded in 1909 and still in business.

Since Charles was our single respondent, he gets the prize, Miss Julia Takes Over, by Ann B. Ross, which has no less a literary light than Fannie Flagg offering her endorsement: "Miss Julie is one of the most delightful characters to come along in years." No doubt, "feisty" and "capable" Miss Julia would easily resolve this matter of the Kentucky HOEs.

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

URBAN DESIGN FRAMEWORK MEETING
Thursday, Feb. 6
5:30 p.m.
Knoxville Museum of Art
1050 World's Fair Dr.
The first of several meetings set up to gather public input on a new downtown master plan funded by Nine Counties/One Vision.

POLICE ADVISORY & REVIEW COMMITTEE
Thursday, Feb. 6
6 p.m.
Pellissippi State Technical Community College
1610 Magnolia Ave.
Regular meeting.

MARIE MYERS PARK DEDICATION
Tuesday, Feb. 11
1:30 p.m.
Marie Myers Park
Scottish Pike Park, 2801 Scottish Pike
Hizzoner will do the honors for the park he planted in the path of the South Knoxville Connector.

METROPOLITAN PLANNING COMMISSION
Thursday, Feb. 13
1:30 p.m.
City County Bldg.
Main Assembly Room
400 Main St.
Regular meeting.

What's the Story?
TVA rate increased is challenged

When the Tennessee Valley Authority announced a residential electric rate increase last month, it blamed the hike on the cost of meeting the Clean Air Act.

The 8.1 percent increase for residential customers is expected to raise an extra $365 million a year that will be used to make the company's coal power plants burn cleaner, TVA announced. It is dropping industrial rates by 2 percent in order to make them more competitive in the region.

However, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy—an environmental group that advocates cleaner energy sources—says TVA is using the environmental regulations as an excuse for the rate hike. The Southern Alliance points out that just as important in the rate increase is the cost of reopening the Browns Ferry nuclear power plant in Alabama.

TVA estimates it will spend $2.6 billion between 2002 and 2010 on environmental controls in order comply with the Clean Air Act. However, it will also spend about $1.8 billion to reopen Browns Ferry, TVA spokesman John Moulton says. The plant is expected to be open by 2007, says Moulton, who adds that the agency is looking at "alternate ways" to finance Browns Ferry.

Stephen Smith, executive director of Southern Alliance, points out that the nuclear plant costs just as much as the pollution controls when looked at on an annual basis.

Based on TVA's figures, the utility will spend $325 million a year reducing its pollution between now and 2010. But, Browns Ferry will cost at least $360 million a year between now and 2007.

"There's a whole lot more there than what's being told," Smith says. "But they put out a press release and blame the whole thing on the coal clean up."

Smith says that TVA could have spread out the cost of the pollution controls over the past 20 years. But it dragged its feet and resisted meeting the requirements of the Clean Air Act until pressured by the EPA and environmental groups, he says.

"It might have been $50 million here or $30 million there," Smith says. "But, now all of a sudden the EPA is saying you've got to have this stuff on line by 2004. TVA waits until the last year and starts putting this stuff on line, it creates a big hump."

But, Moulton denies TVA dragged its feet on environmental controls. He says between 1994 and 2001, the agency spent $1 billion on Clean Air Act regulations. Asked why TVA didn't make more improvements earlier on, Moulton says, "You have to make business decisions.... Last week, when temperatures were 5 degrees, everybody had power."

Moulton says that although Browns Ferry will cost a lot of money to start up, it will eventually produce revenue for TVA, something the environmental controls won't do.

"The money we invest in Browns Ferry, we'll get a return on," Moulton says. "The environmental controls...we won't get any return on our investment for those. Of course, we'll get a return on clean air. It's the right thing to do. But we won't get a financial return."

The industrial power rates are being cut by 2 percent in order to make TVA more competitive, Moulton says. TVA's residential rates are among the lowest in the country, and with the hike they'll remain below average. However, Moulton says TVA's industrial rates are 12 percent above other utilities in the region.

David Smith, TVA's chief financial officer, said in a press release: "In today's economy, the Valley is losing manufacturing jobs. Therefore, it is more important than ever that TVA's rates be competitive with other utilities in the region."

Matt Kisber, Tennessee's new commissioner of Economic and Community Development, agreed with TVA's assessment. "If you had asked me a month ago about industrial power rates in Tennessee, I would have said that I thought they were on par or lower than most states," Kisber said. "But since I took office I have been made aware of the fact that we have lost a few projects due to rates that were out of line with the competition. It would appear as if some of the investor-owned utilities in other states have gone to great lengths to offer lower rates to draw industry."

But Stephen Smith says TVA is not being up front about its intentions. "Their industrial rates are competitive. The reason they're lowering industrial rates is they want to recruit more high-energy users, which means they've got to run the coal plants harder," he says. "It's not about sustainable growth or economic development in the sense that you could attract a lot of industries that would be low energy users."

And while TVA is hiking residential rates, it isn't spending any additional money promoting conservation methods that would help residential customers keep their bills low, Smith says.

Cecelia Waters, director of Community Action Committee's energy and housing services, says the rate hike will affect her clients, which include the poor, elderly and disabled. "It will certainly be a big deal for me," she says. "If you're on a fixed income, all increases have an effect. Some families have to make difficult decisions every day between keeping warm and feeding children. Those are hard choices."

—Joe Tarr

Bowled Over
The national bowling tournament cranks up

They are starting to arrive in Knoxville already, and they are going to be doing more than just rolling 16-pound composite balls at painted maple pins for pride and prizes. They're coming for the American Bowling Congress annual tournament, the 100th in its history. It's the biggest event for the new Knoxville Convention Center. It's drawing upwards of 150,000 people to the city, four or five days to a visit, over the next five months.

Who are these people? They represent a broad demographic, weighted toward the blue- and white-collar middle-income ranks. A third are from the Rust Belt states of the Midwest. They are great fans of their own sport, if not fanatics. Each of the 60,000-plus actual bowlers is bringing along an average of 1.5 people in the form of family members or friends. And taken together, one in eight will claim a share of the $4.4 million in the ABC's 2003 tournament prize fund.

And what else are they doing? Lots, according to their sponsoring organization and Knoxville's tourism and business establishment.

Butch Whitman, a former ABC executive who is a management and public relations consultant for the tourney, says the bowling teams are coming from all 50 states and five foreign countries and are an active lot. "These are mostly... people who like to get out and do it," he says.

The average annual income of the participants is more than $40,000, with 77 percent over $35,000. Almost half are between the ages of 25 and 55, with about 40 percent younger and a little more than 10 percent older. Half of them attended or graduated from college, and more than 75 percent are married.

Whitman says team makeup varies widely, but he knows of teams composed of a father and four sons. Because of the average scores required to qualify in the two tournament divisions, and because women bowlers have their own annual national tournament, only about one percent of bowlers in this group will be female. But wives will accompany many of the participating men, he says. "Many of our people make this their vacation every year," Whitman says.

About two-thirds of the participants are driving their own vehicles in for their tournament stay, Whitman says, and he says he expects many of those to do some touring in the area.

Visits to the Great Smoky Mountains, Gatlinburg, and Pigeon Forge are high on the options list with the bowlers who will have their own or rental transportation. Whitman says he anticipates each bowler will spend about $1,000 during the tournament stay, which may include a day or two extra.

Rental car agencies are expecting a spike in business here over the tournament period, but the companies are not yet sure how big the boost will be. "There's no way for us to tell yet," says Sharon Sivley, corporate account manager for Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Knoxville, which has several offices here and in East Tennessee and just added a walk-up booth at McGhee Tyson Airport.

One sticky problem for those flying in for the tourney was solved last year for the Billings, Mont., venue. Airport security guidelines were developed for the bowlers, most of whom bring six or seven bowling balls to the event. Plus, the ABC has established a shipping center, so those who don't want to go through the airports with their bowling balls can ship them here and back instead.

Hotel reservation business is brisk, to say the least. Whitman says the ABC has its own travel agency to provide booking assistance to members, but he says many of the participants bypassed the agency and booked their stays over the Internet all around town, especially in the West Knoxville area. The Holiday Inn Select on the World's Fair site next to the center has 12,000 room-nights booked, Whitman says, but other hotels and motels are also reporting reservations from bowlers. Jill Thompson, who owns the Super 8 Motel on Merchant Drive and also serves as executive director of the Knoxville Tourism Alliance, says her organization has held meetings to determine how to meet the tourney demands. She says her motel's area along Merchant Drive is a natural, with more than a thousand rooms, a string of popular restaurants and nearby retail, which are among the first things bowlers from the North will see as they drive in on I-75.

Although food and drink are available inside the convention center, the attendees are expected to eat out often, according to Curt Gibson, operations manager for the Knoxville-based Copper Cellar Corp., which is an official sponsor of this year's tournament and whose outlets are the tourney's official restaurants.

With a Chesapeake's, a Calhoun's, and a Copper Cellar each within a mile of the center, Gibson says his company expects to have a good chance of getting each attendee in for at least one meal. It's hard to project dollar figures, Gibson says, but the company felt the sponsorship was worthwhile.

Gibson says he's already talked with a number of the bowlers and that their loyalty to each other and to the sport and their knowledge of bowling history is evident. "They know all the greats and can recite stuff like their averages and their big wins...it's about like baseball fans," he says.

Jim Bevins, Jr., agrees. Bevins, current president of the ABC, is a Knoxvillian. A men's clothier, Bevins has been involved in each of the yearly ABC tourneys since the one held here at the Civic Coliseum in 1970, when he was 24 years old. An avid bowler then, Bevins says he served as a scorekeeper at minimum wage.

"I didn't earn much, but I earned enough to buy my first car, and I got the bug, I guess you'd say," says Bevins. "These tournaments are terrific."

Having the tournament back in Knoxville has him more than busy this week. "I am absolutely chasing my tail," he says. But is it worth it? "Oh yeah," Bevins says wistfully, "It's a dream come true for me."

—Barry Henderson
 

February 6, 2003 * Vol. 13, No. 6
© 2003 Metro Pulse