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Offer to Buy Rejected
We understand a private concern has approached the management of the financially strapped Bijou Theater with an offer to buy it. The company would guarantee it continue as a public venue with restrictions to preserve the historic theater. The private company would have tax advantages against potential losses and if the theater were free of a mortgage, it could operate at a profit.
Thus far the management of the theater has rejected the offer and has refused to take it to the board for consideration.
Meanwhile the board is attempting to raise funds to save the theater in its current non-profit form, but facing an uphill battle. The fund-raising effort to restore the Tennessee Theater up the street has sapped local government budgets and philanthropists alike.
Hostile Work Environment?
Sullivan County Mayor Richard Venable is afraid the current legislative races are about to cost his community 700 jobs.
Mylan Laboratories is in the process of acquiring King Pharmaceuticals of Bristol, and the former owners are using some of the proceeds of the sale to support various conservative causes and Republican candidates for the legislature. The Democrats, upset about the infusion of hundreds of thousands of dollars into legislative races, are accusing the company of using “dirty money” to affect elections. Gov. Phil Bredesen has returned $10,700 he received from the Gregory family or executives of King Pharmaceuticals. Some Democrats are running television commercials lambasting the company using terms like “drug money” and “dirty money.”
Venable and community leaders have been working with the company, fearful that the new owners might move the high-paying production jobs out of state. The negative publicity and the hostility directed at the company, by the governor and legislative leaders, are exacerbating the situation. “We’ve had concerns from day one and this is not helpful,” said Venable.
Restaurant Round-up
Just when you thought Knoxville had reached its quota for restaurants, two new eateries crop up. Oodles Noodle and Wine Bar located on Market Square provides variety for noodle-lovers, with house specials and a “You be the chef” menu feature that allows guests to choose their own Asian or Italian pasta, meat, sauce and topping combinations. The Wine Bar is slated for Dec. 1. Oodles provides extreme-carb dining for lunch and dinner every day.
Bonefish Grill on Bearden Hill gives inland seafood fanatics a fresh approach to fish, offering an overabundance of seafood selections delivered, inspected and cut daily with original toppings and sauces, and prepared in a wood-burning stove. The “polished casual” Bonefish opens Nov. 1.
Tax Dollars Going to Thievery?
As Nov. 2 draws near, rumors are flying around town of both Kerry and Bush signs being stolen out of people’s yards in broad daylight. Though we can’t confirm the hearsay, MP has received several specific complaints from people accusing city workers of stealing Kerry signs and leaving behind the banners of his nemesis. Ronald Parkey, owner of Parkey Auto Sales on Fifth Avenue, gave a firsthand account of his run-in with the sign pilferers. “A city truck was picking up the signs, so I got in my truck and chased them down. I got my signs back, but what I was really curious about was that all the signs in the back of the truck were just Kerry signs,” he recalls. Though the workers claimed the signs were on the right of way, Parkey says they were all on his privately owned car lot. He continues, “later on, they called from the city and apologized and said they weren’t supposed to get them off private property and asked if we needed any more signs.” Apparently, they’ve got a surplus.
Lest we assume there’s a Republican conspiracy in city hall, not all city vehicles are in on the thievery ring. A correspondent was driving down Cherokee Boulevard very late one Saturday night when he braked behind two city police cars proceeding slowly on either side of an Isuzu Trooper. The little motorcade stopped occasionally, and an occupant got out and planted a Kerry sign in one yard after another. The funny thing was, the Trooper was plastered with Bush stickers. We gather the cops were offering the Bush supporters an option somewhat more appealing than jail.
We hear at least one Sequoyah Hills homeowner woke up surprised to find an extra Kerry sign in her front yard.
Sod It, He Said
McGhee Tyson Airport has 262 acres of land it doesn’t use. Since 1996 a company called Volunteer Turf has used the acreage as a sod farm under an agreement negotiated with airport management. Becuase the property is subject to any agreement being canceled with 180 days notice, the airport retains the flexibility to use the land if they need it for a project. The agreement calls for the UT Department of Agriculture to set the market value of the rental. Vol Turf has installed an irrigation system valued at $200,000. It has been paying $125 an acre for the land and $11,135 to rent a warehouse building.
The Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority, the board that governs the airport, had a couple of members suggest that they ask for sealed bids to operate the sod farm going forward. They received bids from Vol Turf at a rate of $145 an acre and from Augusta Sod and Turf at a rate of $190 an acre. Vol Turf attorney Keith McCord argued that Augusta Sod LLC isn’t even registered with the Secretary of State’s office and thus isn’t a legal entity. He also argued that it would be two years before the new company could get grass planted and sod in production and an expensive irrigation system would have to be installed. The business plan didn’t work and thus the airport would lose the stable revenue it now enjoys from the unused land.
The motion last week to give the contract to Augusta was a tie 3-3 vote among board members present and thus the contract was not awarded. Of the three votes new company Augusta Sod received, one was from a board member that is a Sequoyah Hills neighbor of one of the owners; another was from an attorney that has represented them in the past.
The status of the sod farm is in limbo. If grass isn’t planted this week there will likely be no sod for the coming year, and thus no revenue for the airport, estimated at $65,000 annually.
October 28, 2004 • Vol 14, No. 44
© 2004 Metro Pulse
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