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Which Name Doesn't Belong?
Some of our more suspicious brethren and sisteren are predicting that the search for a new president of the University of Tennessee is going to be—contrary to promises from all concerned—the same-ole', same-ole' charade of openness that inevitably results in the appointment of the hand-picked favorite of the establishment. Many believe that former Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Bill Madia is that fat-cat fave. So it's of more than passing interest to them that the hosts at the Education Summit sponsored by the city of Knoxville, Knox County, the Knox County School System and the Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership this Friday include County Mayor Mike Ragsdale, Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam, Knox County Schools Superintendent Charles Lindsey, Chamber Partnership CEO Mike Edwards, Tennessee Assistant Education Commissioner John Scott and, yes, former ORNL Director Madia.
Free Speech: Will We Ever Get It?
Evidently Bob Becker didn't get the Standard Operating Procedure memo for members of City Council on the occasion of a presidential visit. That's probably why he was out there in the First Amendment Zone protesting George W. Bush's policies instead of inside the Rights Rescission Zone kissing the presidential hem and jockeying for a prime position on the dais—or at least parked in a VIP section seat in the Knoxville Convention Center.
The rookie Council member's presence on the protest line has caused some tongue-wagging among more conventional K-Town politicos, something that Becker says he finds surprising.
"I've heard second-hand that some people think it is vaguely inappropriate to be there as a City Councilman. I think it's exactly the right place to be. I've been doing protests like this for 20 years, and with the same set of people. Now it's Bush we're protesting instead of a trade deal with Clinton."
Becker, by the way, was not critical of Bush minions or local authorities for herding the protesters into the oddly-named "First-Amendment Zones" (which most of us had thought pretty much extended from sea to shining sea). "I think there is a level of crowd control that is legitimate," he says. "These are just standard security measures, and I thought the KPD officers were incredibly kind and polite." Mayhap they got the word who that protester was.
If He Told Us, He'd Have to Kill Us
It's been awhile since we've had an update on the love life of swinging bachelor Tim Burchett, Knoxville's junior state senator, and since we know people have been wondering, here's a Burchett report from last week's celebration for Burchett's colleague, Knoxville's senior senator Ben Atchley, who is retiring from office at the end of this legislative session. Knox County GOP head Chad Tindell introduced Burchett to the crowd, and dropped a dime about Burchett and an unidentified "date" being caught by the Kiss-Cam at the most recent Vols home basketball game.
"Maybe Senator Burchett would like to explain it to us," Tindell said.
The ever-modest Burchett gave the question the aww-shucks routine, and allowed as how it must not have been much of a kiss, "since I'm here solo tonight." He refused to sully the reputation of the woman in question by divulging her name, beyond revealing that her first name is Michelle.
On the Radio
Knoxville folks seem to be becoming celebrities of National Public Radio. An NPR report this Wednesday was based on the findings of Dr. David Bassett, a UT professor of exercise science, who went to Canada to study an Amish community with pre-Industrial Revolution work habits. NPR suggested that the study could produce another new weight-control fad called the "Amish Diet," in which you eat all the carbohydrates and fats you want, but be sure to walk it off. Bassett found fewer than 4 percent of the Amish adults he studied to be obese or grossly overweight, compared with about 30 percent of Americans, despite the fact the Amish consume copious quantities of food and calories. The reason could be in their steps they take as a matter of course—approaching or exceeding 20,000 steps a day and burning off lots of calories—that he found by fitting them out with pedometers to see how much they walk. Take that, Atkins fanciers.
Meanwhile, Weekend Edition personality Scott Simon has made a habit of interviewing Knoxville folks. A couple of weeks after he interviewed local music heroes Robin(ella) and Cruz Contreras, (Quotably, Simon remarked that if country music came east, and jazz took a vacation down South, they might meet up in Knoxville). Then, this past Saturday, Simon interviewed Knoxvillian Mike Toomey of the East Tennessee Historical Society, who filled Scott Simon in on the strange history of the ca. 1784 State of Franklin, the pseudo-state that predated the somewhat more durable State of Tennessee. When Toomey mentioned that Franklin's dismantled capitol building was on display at the state centennial in 1897 and disappeared shortly afterward, Simon proposed that it may have been an ambitious prank by UT-Knoxville students. Which is, come to think of it, a plausible hypothesis. It might be worthwhile to check the Sigma Chi basement for an extra 18th-century house or two.
January 15, 2003 * Vol. 14, No. 3
© 2004 Metro Pulse
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