Comment on this story Seven Days Wednesday, May 19 • The state Legislature approves an amendment that would forbid same-sex unions—on the grounds that they undermine the institution of marriage—but refuses to give the same approbation to an anti-adultery provision. The lawmakers apparently see this as a way to screw their mistresses, their wives, and gay people all at the same time. Thursday, May 20 • The News Sentinel reports that a group of Jefferson County grade school students has collected nearly two million aluminum soda can tabs as part of a charitable recycling effort. Coincidentally, several of the kids are also participating in an attempt to break the existing world record for “longest uninterrupted burp.” Friday, May 21 • The Associated Press tells us that state senators have approved a bill to allow police to stop motorists on suspicion of seat-belt violations. Other pending legislation will target drivers who pick their noses at stoplights, hang fuzzy dice on the rearview mirror, and anyone who operates a motor vehicle during the course of an exceptionally bad hair day. Saturday, May 22 • A Sentinel legislative wrap-up story reports that Gov. Phil Bredesen departed the 103rd General Assembly having successfully pushed through a $24.1 billion budget bill that adheres to most of his recommendations. Bredesen likens the feeling to that of a high school kid leaving home on Friday night with a couple of C-notes and keys to the Bentley. Sunday, May 23 • Coinciding with the recent emergence of 17-year cicadas, the daily paper’s “Outdoors” section includes an entire page devoted to locust recipes. Finally, proof positive that the “Atkins” obssession with consuming animal protein at the expense of carbohydrates causes rotting of the brain. Monday, May 24 • The Sentinel reports that City Council members may cut funding of the “Jobs Now!” economic development campaign in light of the current budget crunch. As a compromise, one council member suggests simply retooling the program and renaming it “Jobs, Maybe a Little Later?” Tuesday, May 25 • Transportation officials are telling Knoxvillians that they can “make a statement” to incoming westbound motorists with a proposed road-widening project that could shut down I-40 through downtown for much of 2005. We can already hear it, in fact. Sounds a lot like, “Go away!” Knoxville Found 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: The curiosity featured in the previous issue is painted on the side wall of the Oriental Rug Gallery on Kingston Pike in the heart of Bearden. The ethnic mural failed to draw a solitary submission, so this week we implore you to take a closer look around. Embrace the sights, scents and subtle sounds that make our city unique. You just might stumble on or sniff out next week’s Knoxville Found.

Public Refuge
Educating the homeless at the library

When Gary Cooley was living on the streets in Knoxville a decade ago, the downtown library was the one place he could go and be like everyone else.

“That was a place I didn’t have to be stigmatized as being homeless,” he says. “So I could hang out there all day.”

Cooley is now a drug and alcohol counselor with Volunteer Rescue Ministries, helping other homeless people cope with the problems he overcame.

The library is still a refuge for many homeless people, but it’s also a place of tension. To help educate people about the problem of homelessness, the Lawson McGhee Library will hold a series of three Monday evening lectures starting June 7.

“We want to increase awareness of the issue about why people may be homeless,” says Nelda Hill, a reference librarian who helped organize the series. “Many of these people were middleclass people, working class people, and things just fell apart for them.

“We’ve worked with homeless people for years, and they’re not scary people,” Hill says. “They’re not that much different from you and me.”

Nevertheless, there are sometimes problems. “Once we got the Internet we had a big, big problem,” Hill says. “There’s a criminal element among the homeless, just like there’s a criminal element among the rest of us. Those were the people that had nothing but time on their hands. They could be pretty intimidating and harassing. Putting a few rules in place took care of that.”

Only people with valid library cards can use the library’s main computers for an hour. Anyone can use the express computers for 15 minutes, she says.

“A lot of the people who hang at the library, they’re dealing as best they can, and it’s a refuge for them. Inwardly, they’re fighting their demons, I’m guessing. They need a safe place to be. Is the library the best place for it? I have mixed feelings about that,” Hill says.

Cooley is empathetic to the homeless, but he also understands the problems they can cause. Many homeless use the library to read or look for jobs. Some use it as a place to crash, especially during bad weather. He cautions that it’s often difficult to pick out who is and isn’t homeless, however.

“[Lawson McGhee] has been friendly, even a little too friendly,” he says. “This clientele will push the limits. They’ve got their hands full over there. You’re talking about a public venue.

“How many people are not accessing the downtown library because of [the presence of the homeless]? How many people are going out to the Sequoyah Hills library because of that? How many parents are afraid to drop off their 15 year old to work on a school project?”

Cooley also understands what a hassle it can be to deal with homeless people. “It’s hard for me to sometimes stop and speak to somebody even though I’ve been there,” he says.

But there’s a lack of services to help the homeless, and people often don’t know about the services that do exist, he says. He’d like to share with people how it is best to help the homeless.

“How can we help our fellow man? I’m not asking people to take these folks home with them,” he says. “There’s a fine line, not to categorize these folks, but also not to enable them.”

Each Monday night talk kicks off at 6 p.m. Cooley opens the sessions on June 7 in the library’s Rothrock Café, the area near the main entrance. On June 14, Gayle Anderson will talk about her life on the streets and mental illness. On June 21, Ginny Weatherstone, executive director of the VMC, and Roger Nooe, a UT professor who has been studying homelessness for 20 years, will talk about programs and strategies to combat the problem.

—Joe Tarr

D-Day Tribute
A salute by Remote Area Medical

The sturdy but weather-beaten old DC-3 aircraft at Knoxville Downtown Island Airport has a long history as both a cargo plane and as a shuttle for the locally-based Remote Area Medical (RAM) relief charity. But its first and most vital mission was as a World War II carrier plane, one of more than 800 that dropped some 13,000 U.S. paratroopers behind enemy lines on D-Day, the pivotal June 6, 1944 Normandy Invasion.

The DC-3 will be the centerpiece of RAM’s upcoming Salute to Service, a day-long event recognizing the 60th anniversary of D-Day at Island Airport’s historic WWII-era hangar on June 5.

“I’ve always wanted to hold a commemorative D-Day event; but a thing like that takes a lot of organizing, and I’ve always felt that our chief mission is providing free health care to folks who need it,” says RAM chief Stan Brock.

One of the stars of the 1970s-era nature/adventure television program Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, Brock retired to Knoxville and founded Remote Area Medical in 1985 in order to bring free medical care to some of the indigent peoples he encountered throughout his globe-spanning TV travels.

“But this year, we came to the realization that this was the 60th anniversary of D-Day, and that we ought to make an effort to recognize some of these gentleman while they’re still around. They changed the course of the world as we know it.”

The commemoration begins at noon on Saturday, June 5, with a memorial service; a presentation featuring members of all four branches of the armed services; hoisting of the Allied colors; and a flyover by an entire squadron of WWII-era planes.

The RAM DC-3 and a handful of other vintage military aircraft and vehicles will be on display throughout the afternoon in and around the hangar, and a WWII reenactment group will stage mock battles in honor of the Normandy invasion.

The day concludes with a dinner and dance at the hangar, the proceeds from which will fund RAM medical relief efforts. Several of RAM’s outreaches have taken the form of weekend dental and medical clinics in poorer counties here in East Tennessee.

“The dance, of course, will be in a much more light-hearted vein than some of the rest of the day’s events,” Brock chuckles. Entertainment will include period big-band music performed by the Lynn Clapp Memories Orchestra; the evening’s emcee is local television personality Marshall Andy. Tickets for the dinner/dance may be purchased by calling 970-1726.

—Mike Gibson

May 27, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 22 © 2004 Metro Pulse