Metro Pulse/Ear to the Ground

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Conservative Badasses

So what's the deal with all the motorcycle-riding Republicans in this town? And who's the dude in the do-rag, sleeveless T-shirt and wraparound sunglasses?

If he's sitting on a big old chrome-covered Royal Star Venture, it's probably county GOP chairman Chad Tindell, who rides his Yammy down to Myrtle Beach every spring with former party chairman Billy Stokes, who has a Harley Heritage soft tail. Tindell describes his ride as "big and fast, and pretty nice to look at."

Then there's Circuit Court Clerk Cathy Quist, who's street legal now that she has taken a motorcycle safety course. She brands herself "the terror of my subdivision" on her new Honda Shadow (which she calls "a chick bike").

And there's county law Director Mike Moyers, whose wife Stephanie banned him from two-wheelers a couple of years ago when he banged his knee up in a wreck. Moyers has wheedled his way back into the saddle, and is having a good time on his 2001 Suzuki Bandit 1200, which he says has "a little tiny fairing and a whole lot of speed" (this sort of sounds like something a guy wouldn't want to own up to, but Moyers seems pretty proud when he says it).

But the bull-goose Grand Old Easy Rider is none other than that Dixie-Chick-bashing, John-Shumaker-butt-kicking Tim Burchett, who says he's going into the motorcycle sales business and owns more than 100 bikes—his faves being a 1954 panhead hog with a jockey shifter and suicide clutch, a 1947 Whizzer J model motorbike and a '59 Cushman Super Eagle scooter. In keeping with the theme of Republicans on bikes, Burchett says he's planning to make a trip to Detroit City and do some riding with a new bud he met this summer at the Kenny Chesney's Neyland Stadium concert: "Kid Rock's a Republican, too," Burchett says.

Moyers has the most succinct explanation of this GOP need for speed: "We're badasses," he says. "We're the Republicans your mother warned you about."

Just Being Neighborly

Mike Hamilton, UT's new athletic director, went to some pains to distance himself, figuratively speaking, from his predecessor and mentor, Doug Dickey, when he took office earlier this year. He wasn't just Dickey's boy, according to the line reeled out by UT at the time of his naming. That distance more recently closed, literally, as Hamilton bought his new home, right next door to guess whom?

Close, But No Cee-llar

There's often little difference between a successful business venture and an unsuccessful one; in the case of Tivoli Restaurant in West Knoxville, the difference is only five feet.

The little Mediterranean-Italian eatery in the Heritage Square Shopping Center on Kingston Pike got word in July that its liquor license will not be renewed because state Alcoholic Beverage Commission recently learned that the building is about five feet outside Knoxville's city limits. Liquor by-the-drink is not legal in unincorporated portions of Knox County.

Tivoli owner Jamilee Saoud says she went to considerable lengths to coordinate her wine list with her menu when she opened two years ago; she attended seminars in Italy, where European gourmands taught restaurateurs the finer points of serving vin with victuals.

Without a wine list, Saoud believes she will have to close in October when her lease runs out.

"All they told me was 'Sorry, we can't renew you." says Saoud. "All my menu is made for the wine."

Saoud could remain open if her establishment were to be annexed, but she says her landlord has been staunchly opposed to annexation. "I wish they hadn't given me the license in the first place."

Crossing Jordan

In July, Knox County co-sponsored a reception honoring County Commission Vice-Chair Diane Jordan, who has been named Outstanding Black County Official of 2003 by the National Association of Black County Officials. It's September now, and Jordan finds herself fighting, if not for her life, for her Commission leadership spot.

Jordan, a Democrat, has served one year as vice chair, and is the first African-American woman to have done so. She caught some heat last year for supporting Republican David Collins over Democrat Billy Tindell. Collins was elected chairman, and Jordan got the number two spot.

What she's been hearing is that rookie Commissioner Scott "Scoobie" Moore, a Republican from Halls, has been soliciting votes to unseat her, by way of an appeal to GOP loyalty. This caused Jordan to start down her phone tree, beginning with Moore, asking for support from Commission colleagues. She says her calls have been warmly received, for the most part, although she found some irony when one commissioner had a request of his own. He asked her to chip in $25 for a group wedding present for Moore, who is getting hitched soon. And what did Moore have to say to Jordan? "He has not returned my call."