|
Eye to the Bumper
Metro Pulse’s first informal, ad hoc, semi-surreptitious survey of political bumper stickers was conducted Sunday at the Calvary Baptist Church parking lot and its counter-counterpart across Kingston Pike at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.
The results weren’t all that surprising. Bush-Cheney decals outpaced Kerry-Edwards stickers at Calvary Baptist, 16-1. At the TVUU lot, Kerry-Edwards stickers blanked Bush-Cheney 31-0. As a bonus, our intrepid sticker spook counted 11 “Power T” stickers or decals at Calvary to three at UU, where two Rainbow Gay Pride stickers were in evidence. None of the latter showed at Calvary. Wonder who that lonely Kerry backer at Calvary could be.
LC Who B?
About 70 percent of Lenoir City Utilities Board’s customers are in West Knox County, but the board has not had representation from Knox County. That may be about to change. Lenoir City will have a charter change on the ballot Nov. 2 to increase the utility board by two positions. The measure has been unanimously endorsed by the Lenoir City Council and the city’s economic development group. The change was recommended by the city’s charter commission.
Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale’s administration has been quietly lobbying LCUB, arguing that given the number of customers in Knox County there ought to be Knox County members on the board. The effort has been kept low-key, as Lenoir City voters will make the decision. The extensive LCUB holdings in West Knox County generate about $1 million a year for Lenoir City from in-lieu-of-tax payments.
City-County Love Fest II
Knoxville Police Chief Sterling Owen IV came into office pledging to improve relations with the Knox County Sheriff’s Department and end the traditional bickering and in-fighting. After his first month, how’s he doing? We asked a sheriff’s department spokesman and got this response: “First rate. A flat-out pleasure to work with. Courteous, professional, cooperative. Outstanding. Couldn’t be more pleased.”
Some may view this as a positive development, but we fear it may deprive columnists, editorial writers and gossips of a rich vein of topic material for years to come. Owen is a former career FBI agent who was hired by Mayor Bill Haslam at the beginning of September. Owen quickly met with Sheriff Tim Hutchison, and the two have discussed bringing back joint task forces to fight major crimes. The two law enforcement agencies have had a long history of in-fighting, fueled by feuds between city-county officials on a variety of issues. Metro crime task forces on drugs and homicides have withered away as a result.
But Where Were the Fans?
WBIR offered a real treat for Vol football fans Saturday with a 10 p.m. infomercial called Tennessee Football Legends Reunion. Former Vol greats, coaches and players, sat around telling funny stories and sharing the lore that has grown up around the program brought to prominence by Gen. Robert Neyland. It may prove a ratings winner, but for the first quarter of the program the Vols were still playing football against Louisiana Tech on the Vol radio network and pay-per-view. And for the balance of the program 104,000 potential viewers were still streaming out of Neyland Stadium trying to get home.
We enjoyed the stories, but confess that part of the fun was watching the body language of former Coach Johnny Majors and the assistant that replaced him, Coach Phillip Fulmer.
Prime Nags on Display
Most times when you go to a horse show you compete for a blue ribbon. This Sunday at River Glen we’re talking a $50,000 Grand Prix event that is expected to attract 30 to 40 of the best jumping horses in the country, negotiating 16 custom-designed obstacles. It’s a big social gala to benefit the Baptist Sleep Institute, the Jessie Paige Hazelwood Scholarship Fund and Shangri-La Therapeutic Academy of Riding. The show will be Sunday (Oct. 3). There will be jumping classes beginning at 8:30 a.m. and the Grand Prix will begin at 3 p.m.
If you haven’t already gotten your invitation to the Friday night gala dinner at Villa Collina, home of Deane Conley, or to the catered luncheon Sunday, (tables for eight $1,000), you have our sympathies. But you can still go and sit in the bleachers and watch some fantastic flesh, uh, horse flesh. You go up U.S. 11E toward Jefferson City and after about 15 miles start looking for a sign on the left directing you to River Glen Equestrian Center. It’s back there a piece.
Witch Hunt Concludes
The witch-hunt into Deputy Gov. Dave Cooley’s fixed speeding ticket has concluded with the Tennessee’s attorney general finding no reason for a criminal prosecution. Whew! Cooley has received a letter of reprimand from Gov. Phil Bredesen, which will be placed in his personnel file. The letter will mean that Cooley can never be promoted—that letter and the fact that he already occupies the highest appointed position in state government.
Today It’s Yesterday’s Cafe
J.Scott, the popular downtown lunch purveyor, retired last week, selling his Union Avenue business to Jerry Squires, a longtime restaurateur whose employers have included Quincy’s and the Bel Air Grill. The lunchtime spot, with the same familiar J.Scott’s menu nearly intact, reopened this week as Yesterday’s Cafe.
Mail-Order TennCare Test?
Local pharmacists are concerned that a mail-order firm is making inroads into the TennCare patient market. TennCare has received complaints that an out-of-state mail-order pharmaceutical company got names and personal information on TennCare patients, which they fear would be a violation of federal privacy regulations.
Doctors are being called and asked for prescription information on patients (druggists are allowed to do this if they have the patients’ personal information) then the drugs are mailed to the patients and they are asked to sign up for continued delivery. TennCare responds by saying this was an attempt to try out a program of intensive management for a very small population of the chronically ill, in this case diabetics. Blue Cross has been asked to stop the test. There was no privacy issue because Blue Cross has a right to the information.
At issue are pharmacists’ concerns that this was a trial run and that TennCare will go to mail order drug purchases in order to save money. Pharmacists argue that in some rural areas there is a single drug store and 90 percent of the business is TennCare patients. Mail-order cherry picking could result in elimination of small town drug stores, drying up the network that serves TennCare patients. TennCare has told pharmacists in the past that mail order will not be required without consultation with pharmacists.
VARDATE
© 2004 Metro Pulse
|
| 
