NEIGHBORHOOD BUZZ

Welcome to the new guys: VFL

To the new guys who signed up to be Volunteers: Welcome and be advised that Tennessee football is forever – unless you fail miserably, embarrass us something awful or just plain quit.

Tennessee fans never forget. Your obituary will mention that you are an old Vol and whether you made all-SEC.

➤ Read Marvin West on page 4

7049 Maynardville Pike 37918(865) 922-4136

NEWS

news@ShopperNewsNow.comSandra Clark | Bill Dockery

ADVERTISING SALESads@ShopperNewsNow.com

Patty Fecco | Tony Cranmore

Wendy O’Dell | Sara Whittle

To page 3

VOL. 3 NO. 6 February 11, 2015www.ShopperNewsNow.com | www.facebook.com/ShopperNewsNow

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Pellissippi State Community College has opened the Center for Student and Community En-gagement at the Magnolia Avenue Campus.

The center provides a one-stop resource for student support

services, including fi nancial aid, advising, counseling, tutoring, service-learning, and safety and security.

“Life sometimes gets in the way of academic success,” said Rosalyn Tillman, campus dean. “The goal

of the center is to provide every service we can to help our students overcome those distractions and roadblocks to success. Everything we do, we do so they can focus on school.”

Tillman was joined for the

PSCC opens support center at

Mayors Madeline Rogero and Tim Burchett were honored by the Tennessee Board of Regents Feb. 6 at Pellissippi State Community College’s Magnolia

Avenue campus. Pictured are (front) Anthony Wise, PSCC president; Rogero; Burchett; Larry Cox, former member of Knoxville City Council; (back) council

member Duane Grieve, Trustee Ed Shouse and council member George Wallace. Photo by Ruth White

Magnolia Avenue Campus

grand opening by L. Anthony Wise Jr., Pellissippi State president, as well as representatives from the Tennessee Board of Regents, Knox County and the city of Knoxville.

Aaron Maddox is new principal at Corryton

By Sherri Gardner HowellI have bad news for greeting

card companies, restaurants and fl orists. When it comes to fi lling hearts with love on Valentine’s Day, you have some heavy compe-tition that you will never beat.

Elementary schools.My sweet husband, who groans

like all men when February rolls around, has presented me with some very lovely cards, beauti-ful fl owers and delicious dinners for Valentine’s Days through the years. Nothing can compare, how-ever, to the Popsicle sticks picture frame with crayon red hearts on all sides and a second-grade photo of our younger son grinning from ear to ear. The scrawled “I love you Mommy” on the back completes the heart-tug.

And then there is the plaster of Paris handprint from our fi rstborn

when he was 5 with a teacher-as-sisted poem on the back: “Here’s my hand on Valentine’s Day; Hold me close as I grow and play.” Even now, in the midst of trying to de-clutter, I can’t part with the school-made Valentine’s Day cards.

I have been away from elemen-tary schools so long that I don’t even know what’s “allowed” any-more as far as giving Valentines to classmates. I remember my own Valentine’s Days at school, how-ever. Who knew so much could be read into the size and sentiment on silly “tear on the dotted line” Valentines? Yes, class lists were sent home with proper admonish-ments for every child to provide a card for every other child and that no additional “gifts” could be brought to school, unless there was one for everyone.

And, yes, we followed all the

rules in my small town in the 1960s. But that doesn’t mean each chipper “Barbie says: You’re the grooviest” or Yogi Bear’s “I can’t BEAR to be without you” we re-ceived wasn’t analyzed, dissected and conclusions drawn.

I knew Greg Hart loved me after Valentine’s Day in fourth grade. Greg and I both bought The Bea-tles Valentine’s pack to pass out in our classroom that year. We both gave each other the same card: the largest one in the pack with all FOUR Beatles on it and the senti-ment: “Love, Love Me Do. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

I knew it was true love. I, per-sonally, had spent almost an hour deciding between that card and the “All You Need Is Love” smaller card for Greg. It was destiny.

(Destiny took an ugly turn the next year when Greg threw me

Love, love me doLove, love me doover after I won Miss Lexington Junior First Princess. He imme-diately declared his love for Teresa Smith, who won queen. He moved out of town shortly thereafter, but I had nothing to do with that.)

Unfortunately for adult men and women today, all this com-petition from elementary school crushes and children’s handprints doesn’t take the pressure off for Valentine’s Day. We all love to be loved, and we love to be reminded that we are loved. The point, of course, is to look inside the heart of whoever it is you love. You’ll fi nd the right “gift” in whatever brings that smile to his or her face.

And if you just can’t fi gure it out, call an elementary school teacher.

Meet the toreadorBass-baritone Ryan Kuster

thinks that most people can relate to George Bizet’s opera “Carmen,” which is being per-formed by the Knoxville Opera Company this weekend.

“For one thing, people will recognize the music. Most people know a lot more of ‘Car-men’ than they think they do.

And the story is compelling. There’s no real hero. It’s

very human – there’s not a clear moment where you say, ‘Oh, this is the person that I root for.’”

➤ See Carol Shane’s story on page 7

Aaron Maddox is the interim principal at Cor-ryton Elementary School, replac-ing Jamie Snyder, who will become dean of academ-ics for the new Emerald Academy charter school.

Maddox joined Knox County

Schools in 1995 as a teacher at Fountain City Elementary School

and also served as teacher at Cop-per Ridge. He entered adminis-tration in 2009 when he was ap-pointed as an assistant principal at Cedar Bluff Elementary School and has served as an assistant principal at Dogwood Elementary since 2012.

Maddox holds a bachelor’s de-gree in business from the Univer-sity of Tennessee, a master’s in ed-ucation from UT and an education specialist degree in administra-tion and supervision from LMU.

Aaron Maddox

Don’t be scared of Friday the 13th ■ North Knoxville Business and Professional Asso-

ciation will meet at 7:45 a.m. Friday, Feb. 13, at the Haslam Family Club University of the Boys and Girls Club, 407 Caswell Ave. Markus Jackson, vice president of operations for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley, will speak.

■ Sand Branch United Methodist Church will host a Valentine’s party from 6-8 p.m. Friday with a potluck dinner, soup and salad, and music and games. The church is at 2301 Thorn Grove Pike.

■ KnowHow Knoxville is celebrating the conjunction of “Love & Horror” with a program that will include costumes, ka-raoke and live music. The program will hosted by Paulk & Co., 510 Williams St., from 5-10 p.m. Friday.

IN THIS ISSUE

Level playing fi eld for students?

Unexpected barriers await-ed the Austin-East Robotics Team when they applied to participate in the FIRST Ro-botics Competition, an interna-tional program that challenges talented high schoolers to solve high-tech science and engi-neering problems.

➤ See Bill Dockery’s story on page 4

Magnet showcase Thursday at SMG

Wonder what all the excite-ment’s about at Sarah Moore Greene Magnet Academy?

Come see for yourself at the magnet showcase from 4:30 until 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12.

Several community members are sponsoring after-school clubs, including Shopper-News with our “soon-to-be-famous” newspaper club.

Carol Springer has produced a slide show to illustrate this year’s guests and speakers.

Ruth White has visited vari-ous clubs and fi led a report on page 8 inside.

Hope to see everyone there. It’s easier to create a communi-ty school when the community comes out.

– S. Clark

2 • FEBRUARY 11, 2015 • Shopper news

health & lifestyles

Fred Thomforde is grateful for Dr. Edward Tieng and the staff

at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center. He said of the indi-

vidualized treatment he received after being diagnosed with

prostate cancer, “Early detection made all the diff erence.”

‘Excellent treatment’ for prostate cancerred Knoxville attorney makes case for early detection

Retired Knoxville attorney makes case for early detectionIt was a freak accident – Fred

Thomforde of Knoxville had just hooked the ball to the left and down a hill. Upset over the shot, he hopped into his golf cart and sped toward the ball.

But when he pressed the brakes, the cart began sliding on the wet grass. “Like some kind of fool, I stuck my foot out to stop it, and boom! Hit a bump, went up in the air and came down with my groin on the handle,” Thomforde re-counted.

While it hurt and caused some bruising, the 70-year-old retired attorney didn’t think much about it until later that evening when blood in his urine prompted him to seek medical attention, a decision that not only would change his life, but save it as well.

For it was that visit to his pri-mary care doctor, Dr. Michael Passarello, in 2008 that got him a referral to Dr. Edward Tieng, a urologist at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center – a decision that ul-timately led to Tieng’s early detec-tion of prostate cancer.

Dr. Tieng determined Thom-forde’s golf cart injury was not seri-ous but, because of the blood in the urine and because Thomforde had been a smoker, the doctor moved cautiously. He ordered a test to determine the amount of prostate-specifi c antigen (PSA) in Thom-forde’s blood. That test came back

Speed kills: PSA velocity aids in early detectionRiding a bike, getting a digital rectal exam,

certain medications and age are among the things that can cause it to rise.

Herbal mixtures, obesity, aspirin and cho-lesterol-lowering drugs can cause it to fall.

It can yield false-negative or false-positive results, making your day or ruining it.

It’s the Prostate-Specifi c Antigen test, a tool for measuring the level of a protein pro-duced by the prostate gland. The higher the level, the more likely is a man’s chance of prostate cancer.

Since its approval by the Food and Drug Administration in 1986, it has been the stan-dard for prostate cancer screening. Now, however, it is under scrutiny by some advi-sory groups which recommend against it be-cause of questions surrounding its accuracy.

PSA levels of 4.0 nanograms per milliliter and lower are considered by most doctors as “normal” and any levels above that would merit a biopsy. Recent studies, however, have shown that some men with levels below 4.0 have cancer and men with higher levels do not have cancer.

“There is now so much controversy re-garding using PSA as a value and I tell my patients outright, especially nowadays, that it’s not the best test,” said Dr. Edward Tieng, urologist at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center. “There are a fair number of patients

who will have a normal PSA but their pros-tate nodules feel like cancer. That’s why you can’t just base prostate screening on the PSA levels alone.”

Tieng says, instead, he uses the PSA test in conjunction with a host of other tools, including the digital rectal exam which, he says, a lot of men prefer not to have but tells his patients, “you don’t die of embarrass-ment, but you can die from cancer.”

An equally important factor, says Dr. Tieng, is PSA “velocity,” which is not a sepa-rate test but rather a measure of how quickly the PSA is rising over time, a potential indi-cator of a cancer’s aggressiveness.

PSA velocity is the measurement that prompted Tieng to recommend a biopsy to patient Fred Thomforde although his PSA level was still considered normal. “If the PSA level rises more than .75 nanograms per mil-liliter (ng/mL) over a 12- to 18-month period, to me, that is considered abnormal and I am a little more aggressive in making sure there is not something causing that rise in PSA,” said Dr. Tieng.

Other types of PSA tests used by Dr. Tieng are the age-adjusted test and the percent-free test. The age-adjusted test takes into ac-count that PSA levels are normally higher in older men even when they have no cancer. The percent-free PSA looks at the amount

of protein that circulates free vs. attached to blood proteins. Men with prostate cancer have a lower percentage of free PSA.

Sometimes, doctors use a PSA density test to measure the size of the prostate using a transrectal ultrasound because levels run higher in men with larger prostate glands. It is not considered as useful as the percent-free PSA test, however.

Because prostate cancer is typically slow-growing, Dr. Tieng says a patient’s age and other health issues are also taken into con-sideration when diagnosing and treating. Also, those with a family history of prostate cancer and African-Americans have a slightly higher risk.

“Prostate cancer takes about 10 to 15 years to grow to the point that it may actually kill a patient if not treated at all,” said Dr. Tieng. “That’s why I tell folks, the ones that are most likely to benefi t from early detection and more aggressive therapy are the ones who expect to live another 10 to 15 years.”

Once cancer is suspected and a biopsy confi rms the diagnosis and imaging shows the extent of the cancer, Dr. Tieng says the patient will have a choice to make. One pub-lished report says most of the 217,000 men diagnosed in the United States with prostate cancer each year are in their mid-60s or older and have a low risk of dying from the disease

if they defer treatment. But, the report con-tinued, more than 90 percent with low-riskcancer, including 80 percent of those 75 andolder, opt for treatment.

“There are tons of options out there, they all work and they all have side effects,” saidDr. Tieng. “A lot is dependent on the patient in terms on what they want to do when they weigh out the risks and the benefi ts. In mypractice, I feel with surgery, you get yourside effects early on but it gets better overtime. With radiation, you do well initially before the effects of radiation catch up with you. If you compare both groups 10 years out, the side effect profi les are pretty similarin terms of incontinence and erectile dys-function.”

Dr. Tieng believes that radical prostatec-tomy – whether performed in the traditional“open” procedure or with the daVinci robotwhich is less bloody and offers the surgeon abetter visualization – is often the better solu-tion.

“Surgery is a good option, but it’s defi nitely not for everybody,” he said. “It’s the most in-vasive option, but my advice toward surgeryversus other treatments is you know exactlywhat your found pathology is because studieshave shown that the biopsy specimens don’talways correlate with the actual cancer. Youmay have more or you may have less.”

with a PSA score of .8 nanograms per milliliter – well within the nor-mal range.

“I think the ‘danger zone’ is something like 2 and above,” Thomforde said of the PSA score. “I never got into the danger zone, but early in 2010, Dr. Tieng said, ‘They are still normal, but these levels are rising.’ He wanted to check it again in three months.”

Three months later, the PSA lev-

el was still within the normal range, but Thomforde was asked to return yet again. “I’m still in the normal range,” he said. “I started out at .8 but now I’m at 1.8. So we had a long talk.”

It was during that “talk” that Dr. Tieng recommended Thomforde undergo a biopsy, a procedure in which 12 core samples were re-moved from the prostate gland by a needle. The biopsied tissue

was then sent to a laboratory and “graded” by a pathologist who as-signed it a Gleason score, a scoring system of 2 to 10 used to describe the cells’ appearance. A score of 2 to 4 indicates the cells appear normal, 5 to 7 indicates interme-diate risk of prostate cancer and 8 to 10 indicates an aggressive form of prostate cancer. Thomforde’s Gleason score was 7.

“I guess everybody reacts differ-ently when they hear ‘you have can-cer,’ but for me, it came like a blow to the soul,” said Thomforde, who previously had undergone surgery and radiation treatment for a form of cancer called sarcoma a year and a half earlier. “I may have been more mentally prepared for this than a lot of people. I don’t think you ever get completely prepared for the news that you have cancer but I had at least been through it.”

To determine whether Thom-forde’s prostate cancer had spread, Dr. Tieng ordered CT and bone scans. When the imaging indicated that his cancer was contained to the prostate, Dr. Tieng presented Thomforde with his options.

“By this time, I had a good re-lationship with Dr. Tieng and had complete confi dence in him – he’s a very likable person but very pro-fessional,” said Thomforde. “He explained to me the various options – there’s radiation treatment, hor-mone treatments and so forth – and

I fi nally said to him, ‘I will defer toyour judgment on this’ and he said,‘If I were you in your particular con-dition and health, I would recom-mend surgery.’ I didn’t even thinkabout it. I just said, ‘Let’s do it.’ ”

In an almost 3-hour minimallyinvasive procedure, Dr. Tieng usedFort Sanders’ da Vinci® robot toremove Thomforde’s cancerousprostate gland. The pathologist lat-er confi rmed that Thomforde wascancer-free.

“I was a little uncomfortablethe fi rst couple of days or so, andthere was a little leakage for a fewmonths but even that wasn’t all thatserious. When you consider whatthe risk was, it was pretty minor,”said Thomforde. “My body hadreturned to normal within aboutthree months or so.”

“My hospital experience was ex-cellent, my recovery was excellent:Nurses, technicians, lab people, thedoctors, the whole experience tome was fi rst rate,” said Thomforde.“My PSA never got into the ‘dangerzone’ per se but Dr. Tieng made ajudgment based on his personalhistory with me. Rather than justkeep going with the PSA, he wentwith the biopsy and it caught thecancer while it was confi ned to theprostate. Early detection made allthe difference.”

For more information aboutFort Sanders Regional MedicalCenter, please visit fsregional.com.

NORTH/EAST Shopper news • FEBRUARY 11, 2015 • 3 community

Bill Dockery

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True love and bad luck

No, it’s not the tagline for another country song. It’s activities two East Knox organizations are staging on Friday the 13th to celebrate Valentine’s Day on Saturday the 14th.

Both KnowHow Knox-ville and Sand Branch Unit-ed Methodist Church have scheduled Valentine’s Day activities on the night be-fore the traditional holiday.

KnowHow Knoxville is making a twofer of the back-to-back days, celebrating the conjunction of “Love & Horror” with a program that will include costumes, karaoke and live music. The program will hosted by Paulk & Co., 510 Williams St., from 5 to 10 p.m. Friday.

“This is a fundraiser for our activities,” said Eliza-beth Wright, cofounder of KnowHow. “We suggest a donation of $10 a person, but no one will be turned away.

KnowHow Knoxville is a community organization that attempts to support leadership development and community engagement among Knoxville youth, us-ing art, culture and media as tools to give young people power to improve the qual-ity of their lives. The orga-nization has worked with youth at Lonsdale, Vine and Norwood schools.

In 2014 the group spon-sored Girls Rock Camp, a program aimed at introduc-ing 8- to 17-year-old girls to musical performance. The

PSCC support From page 1

The center is designed to encourage student engage-ment within the school and in the community. Support programs and other re-sources will promote overall student health and wellness, prepare students for careers, and connect them with es-sential social support.

“The (Magnolia Avenue Campus) went from one computer to 200 work sta-tions, began with 50 stu-dents and now has close to 700 and has added a nurs-ing department. We have a lot to be proud of,” said Till-man.

During the ceremony, Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero and Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett accept-ed the Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Philan-thropy on behalf of the city and county.

Coming onFriday the 13th

organization also sponsored a weeklong camp on docu-mentary fi lmmaking for youth.

“We’ll have some type-writers and some ghost-writers, and people can get a letter written to their spe-cial someone,” Wright said. “We’ll deliver them person-ally on Saturday.”

At Sand Branch United Methodist Church, the con-gregation is holding a Val-entine’s party Friday night as part of a series of events to raise money to send 20 children to Camp Wesley Woods this summer. The Sand Branch event from 6 to 8 p.m. will involve a potluck, soup and salad, and music and games. The church is at 2301 Thorn Grove Pike.

“We’re trying to have a spirit-led ministry in our community,” said Amanda Bell Madison, pastor of the church. “Last summer we brought Camp Wesley Woods to 50 children in our neighborhood. This year we’re raising $6,000 to send 20 to the camp itself.”

Future events include a parents’ night out on Feb. 27, including pizza and a mov-ie, a pancake breakfast on March 13, and a chili cookoff. The church also operates a food pantry. Madison can be reached at 865-524-7601.

Going … The Public Art Committee has turned down the

opportunity to buy a stainless-steel sculpture that stands in

front of the State Street Garage. Titled “Threaded,” the piece

by Chattanooga artist Isaac Duncan was off ered at a price of

$36,000. It is part of the Dogwood Arts yearly program, Art in

Public Places.

By Bill DockeryThe city’s Public Art

Committee voted on Thurs-day not to buy a $36,000 sculpture on State Street and postponed consider-ation of another sculpture that has been offered as a gift for Mary Vestal Park in South Knoxville.

The stainless-steel sculp-ture is by Isaac Duncan of Chattanooga and sits in front of the State Street Ga-rage. It is part of the yearly Art in Public Places program that Dogwood Arts has sponsored for eight years.

Dogwood Arts executive director Lisa Duncan (no relation) said that the piece is for sale for $36,000 or can be removed when the

Art in Public Places pro-gram makes its selections for the upcoming Dogwood Arts Festival. Duncan noted that for $35,000 the com-mittee could place seven sculptures around town in the Art in Public Places pro-gram.

The committee discussed whether to spend its bud-get on purchasing the Isaac Duncan piece or to have the space empty and commis-sion a sculpture specifi cally designed for the State Street location. The voice vote not to buy the sculpture ap-peared unanimous.

The sculpture under con-sideration for the park in Vestal is a marble and steel construction by sculptor

Coming (maybe) … The Public Art Committee took under ad-

visement the off er of a marble and steel sculpture done by Bruce

Bennett. The gift, if accepted, would replace an earlier sculpture

at Mary Vestal Park that deteriorated in the weather.

One sculpture to go;hold the second

Bruce Bennett. Gene Burr, who was the architect when the park was created in 1978, said the Bennett piece is being offered to replace a redwood and ceramic sculp-ture by Joe Falsetti that was removed by the city when it deteriorated because of weather and insect damage.

Burr said the piece is sit-ting in front of Bennett’s former studio in Vestal and that property owner David Witherspoon has offered to move it to the park for free.

“The marble piece is very appropriate in Mary Vestal Park. It’s a little whimsical,” Burr said. “The Vestal com-munity is excited about it.”

Committee discussion centered on whether the group has guidelines for accepting gifts of artwork. City Council member Duane Grieve, a committee mem-ber, raised the issue of how the committee can receive input from the public on po-tential art placements and

how to pay for maintenance of pieces that have been put in place. Members took no action on Burr’s request.

The panel briefl y dis-cussed public art opportuni-ties in Suttree Landing, the new park in South Knoxville, and also talked about the $250,000 upcoming com-mission to place a sculpture in the center of the Cradle of Country Music Park at Gay Street and Summit Hill.

When asked, committee chair Liza Zenni indicated that no members of the committee are from East Knoxville and the group has no current plans for placing art in that part of town.

“We will be welcoming input from the public,” she said.

COMMUNITY NOTES

■ Alice Bell Spring Hill Neigh-borhood Association. Info:

Ronnie Collins, 637-9630.

■ Beaumont Community Organization. Info: Natasha

Murphy, 936-0139.

■ Belle Morris Community Action Group meets 7 p.m.

each second Monday, City

View Baptist Church, 2311

Fine Ave. Info: www.bel-

lemorris.com or Rick Wilen,

524-5008.

■ Chilhowee Park Neighbor-hood Association meets

6:30 p.m. each last Tuesday,

Administration Building,

Knoxville Zoo. Info: Paul Ruff ,

696-6584.

■ Edgewood Park Neighbor-hood Association meets

7 p.m. each third Tuesday,

Larry Cox Senior Center, 3109

Ocoee Trail. Info: http://edge-

woodpark.us./

4 • FEBRUARY 11, 2015 • Shopper news

It’s offi cial: God hates in-surance, especially health insurance for poor people.

We have the “Reverend” June Griffi n to thank for revealing His Truth. Her prayer to open the special session of the state Senate scratched seven Republican committee members right where they itch, and Gov. Haslam’s Insure Tennessee proposal went down 7-4.

Here are seven names to remember next election (or when your medical bills force you into bankruptcy): Frank Niceley, Mike Bell, Janice Bowling, Rusty Crowe, Todd Gardenhire, Brian Kelsey and Kerry Roberts.

Newly-elected Sen. Rich-ard Briggs, Sen. Becky Massey and Sen. Ed Jack-

God hates health insurance

LarryVan

Guilder

son were the Republicans who backed the governor. Democratic Sen. Jeff Yarbro also voted for the proposal.

There may be people walking around more de-mented than June Griffi n, but the vast majority of them are medicated. That doesn’t bother Sen. Niceley, who invited Griffi n to pray.

Griffi n is a “watchdog of democracy,” Niceley said. “There are things that hap-pen in this country that scare everybody.”

There certainly are, like Republican supermajori-ties and June Griffi n. In her prayer, Griffi n let God know that the same health insur-ance he provided Moses and the 12 tribes of Israel – none – was good enough for poor folks in Tennessee.

On the brighter side, the Knox County Health De-partment is warning of the dangers of chikungunya:

“With many residents making plans for spring and summer vacations and mis-sion trips to the Caribbean, ... be aware of chikungu-nya.”

Chikungunya is a viral infection transmitted by mosquitos. It causes fever, joint pain, headaches, rash-es and assorted miseries and lasts about a week.

Why have you never heard of chikungunya? First, you probably can’t afford a Caribbean vaca-tion. Second, there’s a much more dangerous viral infec-tion making the rounds in the states: measles.

Unlike chikungunya, measles is transmitted by an infected person, and the number of infected is grow-ing thanks to the unforgiv-able lunacy of the anti-vac-cination crowd.

Unvaccinated children in Disneyland in Decem-ber were exposed to a much greater health threat.

If I were sending bul-letins, I’d make sure I im-pressed parents with the absolute necessity of hav-ing children vaccinated on schedule.

Marvin West

To the new guys who signed up to be Volunteers: Welcome and be advised that Tennessee football is forever – unless you fail miserably, embarrass us something awful or just plain quit.

Tennessee fans never forget. Your obituary will mention that you are an old Vol and whether you made all-SEC.

Proof positive: The recent Shopper column about what happens when the cheering stops just missed matching the record for the most e-mail comments in one week.

Readers generally ap-proved but seven told me, with different tones, that I had overlooked Jim Haslam and his many gas stations. Not so. Too obvious. Big Jim is the ultimate success story and a very, very generous supporter of the university.

Five wondered why at-torney Tim Priest wasn’t mentioned. Similar logic. He is in the spotlight at least 12 Saturdays a year as Vol Network analyst. Good match. Honest without be-

Tennessee fame is forever

ing harsh. I’m a fan.One reader caused this

follow-up column. She thought I should have told you about Alan Cockrell, former quarterback, base-ball all-American and new assistant hitting coach for the New York Yankees. She and I agree the Yankees are/were big time. Trying to instruct Alex Rodriguez is certain to make news.

Cockrell is a baseball lifer but he had his football mo-ments. He was the fi rst Vol freshman to start a game at quarterback, Colorado State, 1981. Two weeks later, he suffered a bad knee inju-ry. It was thought he might be fi nished.

He made it back and threw two touchdown

passes in the dramatic 1982 upset of Alabama (Mike Terry interception game). I remember a 40-something-yard scoring run against LSU in ’83. Alan was a co-star in the Citrus Bowl win over Maryland and Boomer Esiason.

Ah yes, now you remem-ber. That was Cockrell’s last football game. Thereafter, he concentrated on base-ball, won distinction as a slugging outfi elder, was MVP in the SEC tourna-ment and fi rst-round draft choice of the San Francisco Giants, one pick ahead of Mark McGuire.

The theme of his pro ca-reer was never give up. He played and played in nine minor league seasons be-fore the Colorado Rockies fi nally provided the prover-bial September cup of coffee in 1996. He was 33.

Alan appeared in nine games, one as an outfi elder, eight as pinch hitter. He had a double off Tom Glavine and one other hit, two runs batted in, four strikeouts.

That was that.

Technically, Cockrell was near fl awless with the bat. He had leadership skills. He had the patience to teach. He stayed in baseball as a scout, coach and manager in the Rockies’ farm system. He helped the big club for a few minutes in 2002 and came back as hitting coach in 2007, the World Series season. Ask Todd Helton how much Cockrell did. Colorado led the National League in batting, on-base percentage and total hits.

Too soon the Rockies re-gressed and Alan was un-employed – for a few days. Seattle wanted him. After that, he worked for the Ari-zona Diamondbacks as mi-nor league hitting coordina-tor.

His period of obscurity is fi nished. Fifty-two New York reporters, bloggers and sports-talk types will ask about growing up in Jo-plin, Mo., about fi ve seasons with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox and about being on the Vols’ all-century base-ball team.

Tennessee quarterback? Really? Do you know Pey-ton Manning?Marvin West invites reader reaction. His

address is westwest6@netzero.com.

The controversy over radio purchases for E-911 continues, and much of the political fallout for Mayor Rogero was self-infl icted. She was the person who decided not to attend E-911 board meetings and not to instruct her proxy on how to vote. No one made her do it.

In fact, Bill Haslam, as mayor, attended several E-911 board meetings.

The need for a special board meeting would not exist had Rogero been pres-ent and prepared to vote on Jan. 21. It could not come at a worse time for her as she is seeking her second and fi nal mayoral term in September. Skipping every E-911 meeting does not look good.

Her mea culpa excuse for not attending was that the meetings were techni-cal and logistical. Does that mean she might not understand the discus-sion or be bored? Wow! Is she really serious? She could easily take qualifi ed staff with her to assist, as she does at biweekly City Council meetings where she presides.

She says her police and fi re chiefs did nothing wrong, but it is their silence on the radio bids, along with everyone else’s, that has triggered the mayoral demand for a special meet-ing. One assumes they will vote with her when the next meeting is held.

She criticizes the inad-equate website for the 911 board (www.knox911.org) and the absence of bylaws as if this is a new discov-ery. Had she paid atten-tion to 911 over the past three years she would have already known about it and could have solved the mat-ter long before now.

Rogero would be much better off acknowledging error on never attending 911 and pledging to do bet-ter. Voters accept apologies. 911 employees would also welcome a visit from her.

Don Howell, the 911 attorney for 20 years, says the chair can call a special meeting. He is one of the few attorneys who has not

VictorAshe

Rogero’s wound is self-infl icted

raised his rate for services for a public body, being paid $2,000 a month in 1995 and the same in 2015.

■ KAT: Mayor Rog-ero is apparently irked that Mayor Tim Burchett endorsed Hubert Smith (a Rogero appointee to the Knox Area Transit) to be chair of KAT in a recent vote. Jim Richards, man-ager of Mast General Store, was actually elected.

Rogero apparently called Burchett to berate him for sending a letter supporting the Smith candidacy, which had the backing of former Mayor Dan Brown who also serves on the board. She also criticized County Clerk Foster Arnett for endorsing Smith.

Interesting that Rogero has time to call Burchett and Arnett over a minor endorsement letter but has not had time to attend other meetings. County Com-missioner Amy Broyles, a Democrat, also wrote KAT backing Smith, along with city council member Mark Campen.

Normally KAT board meetings are quick and quiet. A contested vote for chair is most unusual, es-pecially with endorsement letters from public offi cials.

■ MPC: The special MPC director search com-mittee is nearing a deci-sion. The committee meets behind closed doors at the direction of Bill Lyons, deputy mayor to Rogero. But the decision is down to three persons who are now being vetted.

A recommendation is a few weeks off. Burchett and Rogero will have to approve it for it to become effective. The MPC board has no voice in the choice as the new director will not report to them but to the two mayors, which makes for an unclear and poten-tially unworkable line of author ity.

The playing fi eld still is not level.

The gates to the stadium have been opened to every-one, but the fi eld is tilted, uneven. Home-fi eld advan-tage is more than a myth. Some teams always have to kick into the wind.

Recently the Shopper-News reported on Robotics Team 5744, the fi rst group of Austin-East students to compete in the FIRST Ro-botics Competition, an in-ternational program that challenges talented high schoolers to solve high-tech science and engineering problems.

The A-E team came to the fi rst stage of the contest both scared and eager. Un-der the leadership of their

Bill Dockery

Let’s level the playing fi eld

Project GRAD director, Tanisha Fitzgerald-Baker, they came to the University of Tennessee College of En-gineering, where they got a crash course in putting to-gether a fundamental robot from a kit. In a grueling 11-hour day, they worked out how to assemble and wire it, and one young man sat down with the program-ming manual and learned to make it obey. Other high school teams with more

experience were generous consultants. Sometime in February, Team 5744 faces its next step – making their robot do the chores the contest requires. They are working on it.

But there’s always a back story, the part that doesn’t make the paper. In this case it was the bureaucracy needed to get the A-E team into the contest.

When Fitzgerald-Baker began to put together the A-E application, she was welcomed by the state FIRST coordinator and ad-ministrators in the College of Engineering. But the ap-plication process had unex-pected barriers: Parents of participating students were required to go online. Only

one family of the half-dozen involved A-E students had ready access to the Internet.

“I had to print out all the forms, send them home for the parents to sign, and take them with me the morn-ing of the competition,” she said. “Then I had to explain why I was bringing paper forms instead of completing the process online.”

The groundskeepers – the people who created the game and drew up the rules – threw up unnecessary barriers for some would-be players because of the as-sumptions they made about the lives and resources of the people they expected to go out for the team.

Expectation is also a ma-jor factor in warping the playing fi eld. When the UT philosophy department cre-ated its Ethics Bowl compe-

tition in 2009, David Goff, the librarian who sponsors the A-E team, quietly ad-mits that there was a lack of respect for the team from the East Knoxville school.

“When we won third place in 2011, everyone was shocked,” he said. Not so much now, for the team went on to win fi rst place in the 2012 and 2013 bowls and came in second in 2014. In fact, for the fi rst time since they began to partici-pate, the A-E team failed to place in the top three fi nish-

ers in the 2015 competition recently.

“Our team knew they did well. We were shocked not to place,” Goff said. “The students deserve the credit. They worked hard and ex-pected to win.”

Downpage in the same issue of the Shopper-News was another story about an uneven playing fi eld – the contest to keep all students in school and out of the ju-venile justice system.

To page 5

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On the Knoxville leg of her statewide listening

tour, Mary Mancini ar-rived early, stayed late, a n s w e r e d q u e s t i o n s and refused to be de-terred from her mission as the new

chair of Tennessee’s Demo-cratic Party:

Elect Democrats. Strengthen the Democratic Party brand. Damage the Republican brand, some-thing she said the opposi-tion is making it easy to do.

“Chip, chip, chip, chip, chip away,” she said, rais-

The Knox County Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) has come a long way since private citizens took it over from Knox County Commis-sioners.

The BZA is the last place to appeal a zoning before going to court. Until 2009, county commissioners ap-pointed themselves to the nine-member board.

A 2008 state law barring commissioners from serving on boards or commissions appointed by commission-ers forced all but two board members, Scott Moore and William Daniels, to step down. Daniels had fi nished his term as an interim com-missioner and Moore had been ousted from commis-sion for perjury.

Some were concerned that the commission would appoint developers and real estate agents to the board, says former BZA chair John Schoonmaker, who was re-cently appointed Fifth Dis-

Betty Bean

Wendy Smith

Mary Mancini

Schoonmaker

Mancini hits the ground listening

ing the issue of Chattanooga state Sen. Todd Garden-hire’s getting caught telling a whopper when he claimed he doesn’t get state-subsi-dized medical insurance (Gardenhire was one of fi ve Republican members of the state Senate’s Health Com-mittee who voted to kill Gov. Bill Haslam’s Insure Tennessee proposal.)

Mancini is a known quantity in Nashville, where she owned a Nash-ville rec ord store and punk

rock venue, had a radio talk show, spent 10 years as an Internet provider and was executive director of Ten-nessee Citizen Action, but not so much across the state, so last week, she hit the road for a statewide tour that, if her Knoxville stop is typical of the others, is as much “get to know me” as “listening.”

“Mary’s kind of data-driven and goal-oriented,” said former state Rep. Glo-ria Johnson, who lost her seat by 183 votes and was also a candidate for state chair until she withdrew to clear the way for Mancini, about whom she is enthusi-astic. “She’s really current on all that stuff and will

utilize those tools to make good things happen.”

Randy Neal, Knoxville’s most prominent progres-sive blogger, describes her as smart, high energy and charismatic.

“Mary did outstanding work as executive director at Tennessee Citizen Action, where she was the go-to person on voting rights and campaign fi nance. … Her challenge now will be fund-raising and recruiting. I don’t know how wired in she is with the old-school Dem-ocrats and money people in Nashville, but maybe a fresh new approach is what the party needs.

“I hope she can get Ten-nessee Democrats back on

the right path and lead us out of the wilderness. She seems up to the task.”

Organizers tagged the headcount at 125. Mancini pronounced it her biggest crowd of the tour. Repre-sentatives of the civil rights community, labor groups, Young Democrats, College Democrats and party lead-ers from surrounding coun-ties were present.

The Rev. Harold Mid-dlebrook offered the ob-servation that “We have a Democratic pulpit and a Re-publican pew.” Tax reform activists John and Nancy Stewart acknowledged that amending the state consti-tution to outlaw an income tax last year has driven a

stake through the heart of their efforts.

“That’s 38 years of work down the tubes,” John Stewart said, lamenting the diffi culty of communicating the advantages of a system that is not dependent on sales-tax revenue “We need to simplify what we say.”

When a labor union rep-resentative pushed her to take a stand against the Trans Pacifi c Partnership (called “NAFTA on Ste-roids” by opponents), Man-cini didn’t let him down easy:

“I’ll be blunt: I don’t think there’s anything I can do to stop it. My priority is the state. My job is to elect Democrats in Tennessee.”

The new BZA – no politics allowed

trict county commissioner.But that didn’t happen.

Schoonmaker, who was president of the Council of West Knox County Home-owners at the time, was encouraged to apply for the post by then-Commissioner Craig Leuthold. He thought Schoonmaker’s expertise would benefi t the BZA.

Schoonmaker was ap-pointed, along with other community leaders and professional experts from each district: Daniel Brown, Markus Chady, Jean Teague, Larry York, Les Spitzer and Carson Dailey. Daniels be-came the chair.

Politics plays no role in the decisions of the citizen

board, Schoonmaker says. Their decisions are based solely on county ordinances.

There is no time limit on cases. One case lasted four hours, Schoonmaker said.

BZA board members recognized that developers and builders had a tendency to overlook rules, like set-back requirements, and ask for forgiveness later. They changed the fee structure: $200 if construction had not begun; $400 if it had.

In one case, a builder who ignored a setback require-ment had to move a house that was already undeway.

While experts, like archi-tects, are helpful, common sense is the most valuable attribute for board mem-bers, Schoonmaker says. Petitioners seek variances for things they can’t control, like property lines that were established before survey-ing was an exact science. Other times, they create their own hardships, and

it’s important to be able to tell the difference.

Schoonmaker says he’s proud that board mem-bers don’t make deci-sions be-fore they’ve heard a case. Some-times, a case seems simple on

paper, but when it’s present-ed, it calls for a different outcome.

His biggest disappoint-ment is the Metropolitan Planning Commission’s lack of action on the discrepancy between the city’s and the county’s minimum size for parking spaces. The coun-ty’s minimum size is 200 square feet, and the city’s is 162 square feet. Business owners in the county regu-larly appear before the BZA, and pay a $200 fee, to re-ceive a variance that allows

them to have the same size parking spaces as business-es in the city.

BZA asked County Com-mission to request that MPC change the county code in January 2012, and there has been no action, he says.

But his time spent with the BZA was overwhelm-ingly positive, he says.

“It was an absolute privilege to serve on BZA. I looked forward to every meeting because it was al-ways a challenge.”

In a recent workshop by the NAACP and the Chil-dren’s Defense Fund, pre-senters used federal fi gures from Knox County Schools to show that African-Amer-ican students are suspended from school almost three times more often than their white fellow students. If dis-ability is factored in, about one in 10 white students will be suspended, while around one in four black students will be sent home.

Students who are sus-pended are much more likely to leave school and fall under the jurisdiction of the crimi-

nal justice system.The assumptions our in-

stitutions make about the lives and resources of our students are the factors that warp the playing surface, that skew even those hon-est attempts to level the fi eld so that everyone gets a fair chance to succeed.

The groundskeepers – schools and courts, govern-ments and charities – must make sure that their own expectations do not tilt the fi eld so that people of color and people with disabilities have no possibility of suc-ceeding.

Playing fi eld From page 4

6 • FEBRUARY 11, 2015 • Shopper news

By Betsy PickleA mind is a terrible thing to lose. What’s

worse is realizing that it is slipping away as you are still trying to live your life.

This is true at any age, but “Still Alice” focuses on the horror and tragedy of early-onset Al-zheimer’s disease. Julianne Moore b r i l l i a n t l y captures the struggles of a woman who real-izes perhaps more than most people all that is she is losing as the process marches on.

Alice Howland is a highly regarded linguistics professor at Columbia Univer-sity in New York. She has a strong marriage with John (Alec Baldwin) and has reared three children who are now out on their own: Anna (Kate Bosworth), Lydia (Kristen Stewart) and Tom (Hunter Parrish).

Winding up her regular jog one day, Al-ice is disconcerted when she realizes she doesn’t know where she is. Little details begin to elude her, and she talks to her doc-tor about the problem. When she fi nds out she may have early-onset Alzheimer’s, John promises to see her through the travails.

Alice’s deterioration is pretty fast, and

though she tries to hold on to her life, the disease is stronger than she is.

Other movies have shown how Al-zheimer’s tests a family. This one comes

from the patient’s perspective. Moore digs deep into the

frustration and fear of the experience, us-

ing her eyes, her face and her

body language to express what Al-ice is going through.

This isn’t e s c a p i s t e n t e r t a i n -ment, but

it’s a form of relief for those

who’ve been touched by the

disease – a story that’s relatable, a per-formance that is true to life.

The fi lm shows how her family reacts to the crisis; some behav-ior is sadly predictable and some sweetly surprising.

The writing-directing team of Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, who adapted the novel by Lisa Genova, steers clear of manipulation, letting the natural-ism of the situation hit poignant notes.

And, always, there’s Moore, creating a ball of confusion so believable, so powerful that “Still Alice” will stick with you long af-ter you leave the theater.

Romance – or something – is in the air

Has the controversy fi zzled out, or will “Fifty Shades of Grey” reignite the blaze it set off when it de-buted in book form? We’ll know more this weekend, when the R-rated sex fan-tasy arrives in theaters.

It’s interesting that “Fifty Shades” is being marketed as a Valentine’s Day movie but actually debuts on Fri-day the 13th. The fi lm stars Dakota Johnson – daugh-ter of actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffi th – as literature student Anasta-sia Steele, who goes to in-terview wealthy, handsome Christian Grey (Jamie Dor-nan) and winds up falling for him.

The attraction is mutual, but naïve Anastasia may not be able to keep up with Christian’s nontraditional proclivities or his control-ling nature.

Neither of the stars has an extensive list of credits, so they don’t carry much baggage with them onto the screen (so much for hiding their nakedness!). Johnson appeared in “The Social Network” and “21 Jump Street.” Dornan was in “Ma-rie Antoinette” but probably was seen by more people during his stint as the sher-iff on ABC’s “Once Upon a Time.”

The cast includes Luke Grimes, Jennifer Ehle, Mar-cia Gay Harden and Callum Keith Rennie. Sam Taylor-Johnson directed.

On the surface, “Kings-man: The Secret Service” doesn’t seem to be targeting the libido like “Grey,” but it does star Colin Firth as an extremely well-dressed spy. (And isn’t it odd that he and his “Pride and Prejudice” leading lady, Jennifer Ehle, both have new fi lms out this week?)

Harry Hart (Firth) works for an independent spy agency and has just taken a rough but promising street kid (Taron Egerton) under his wing when an evil genius starts making some scary moves. The Force is strong with this fi lm: “Star Wars” alums Samuel L. Jackson and Mark Hamill both co-star. Michael Caine, Mark Strong and Jack Davenport are also in the fi lm directed by Matthew Vaughn (“X-Men: First Class”).

“Still Alice,” which stars Julianne Moore in an

Oscar-nominated perfor-mance, looks at early-onsetAlzheimer’s from the suf-ferer’s perspective.

Moore plays a linguisticsprofessor who feels the painof the dread disease prob-ably more than most. AlecBaldwin, Kristen Stewartand Kate Bosworth co-stars.

Also scheduled to open locally this week are “Mom-my” and “Mr. Turner.”

Canadian fi lm “Mommy” is about a widowed mother who struggles to keep life on an even keel when her teen-age son – who’s prone to violent outbursts – returns to live with her after being institutionalized.

The fi lm has won and been nominated for several festival and critics’ prizes. Anne Dorval, Antoine-Oliv-ier Pilon and Suzanne Clem-ent star for director Xavier Dolan.

“Mr. Turner” won two awards at the Cannes Film Festival last year and is up for four Oscars: cinematog-raphy, production design, costume design and original score. Timothy Spall plays eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner, whose odd lifestyle makes it hard for the public and royalty to ac-cept him.

Mike Leigh (“Secrets & Lies”) directed the fi lm.

Betsy Pickle

HOW-TO STAGE

February 13-15KNOXVILLE CONVENTION CENTER

James Farmer Author &Southern Living Magazine’s Editor-at-Large

Harry (Colin Firth) shows

Eggsy (Taron Egerton) how to

dress for the spy biz.

Alice (Julianne Moore) grapples with

losing her memories in “Still Alice.”

Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan)

and Anastasia Steele (Dakota

Johnson) don’t always see eye

to eye in “Fifty Shades of Grey.”

Moore fi nds truth in Alzheimer’s drama

Shopper news • FEBRUARY 11, 2015 • 7 weekender

FRIDAY ■ “Carmen” presented by the Knoxville Opera, 8 p.m., Ten-

nessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay St. Tickets: KnoxvilleTickets.com,

656-4444; Knoxville Opera Box Offi ce, 524-0795. Info: www.

knoxvilleopera.com.

■ Mandy Barnett in concert, 8 p.m., Ronald and Lynda Nutt

Theatre, Clayton Center for the Arts, 502 E. Lamar Alexander

Parkway, Maryville. Tickets: KnoxvilleTickets.com, 656-4444.

■ Winter Jam 2015 Tour Spectacular, 7:30 p.m., Thompson-

Boling Arena, 1600 Phillip Fulmer Way. Tickets: $10 at the

door. Info: http://2015.jamtour.com/shows/knoxville-tn.

SATURDAY ■ Disney Junior Live On Tour: Pirate & Princess Adventure, 2

and 5 p.m., Knoxville Civic Auditorium, 500 Howard Baker Jr.

Ave. Tickets: Coliseum Box Offi ce, 215-8999; KnoxvilleTickets.

com, 656-4444.

■ Pack of Wolves in concert with special guest Drew Sterchi

& Blues Tribe, 8 p.m., Open Chord Brewhouse & Stage, 8502

Kingston Pike. Cost: $10. Benefi ts The Love Kitchen. Info:

www.openchordmusic.com.

SUNDAY ■ “Carmen” presented by the Knoxville Opera, 2:30 p.m., Ten-

nessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay St. Tickets: KnoxvilleTickets.com,

656-4444; Knoxville Opera Box Offi ce, 524-0795. Info: www.

knoxvilleopera.com.

■ Jacob Whitesides in concert, 7:30 p.m., Bijou Theatre, 803

S. Gay St. Tickets: $22 advance, $25 day of show, $126.50 VIP.

Info/tickets: http://www.knoxbijou.com.

Bass-baritone Ryan Kuster thinks that most people can relate to George Bizet’s opera “Carmen,” which is being performed by the Knoxville Opera Com-pany this weekend.

There’s just something about a man in a cape. Audrey Babcock in the title role and Ryan Kuster

as Escamillo the bullfi ghter strike a fi ery pose in Knoxville Opera’s production of Bizet’s “Car-

men.” Photo by Megan Clute Photography

Bass-baritone Ryan Kuster

enjoys a break in “Carmen” re-

hearsals at the Knoxville Opera

Company. Photo by Carol Shane

Carol Shane

Meet thehe

“For one thing, people will recognize the music. Most people know a lot more of ‘Carmen’ than they think they do. And the story is compelling. There’s no real hero. It’s very human – there’s not a clear moment where you say, ‘Oh, this is the person that I root for.’”

Kuster is intrigued by the shades of gray in the char-acters he plays and prefers to paint even the bad boys as fl awed humans rather than villainous archetypes. “There’s a little bit of bad in the best of us,” he says, “and a little bit of good in the worst of us. It’s not black and white.”

His favorite role so far is Don Giovanni, the title character in Mozart’s op-era based on the legend-ary fi ctional character Don Juan, who just can’t keep away from the women. The notorious libertine eventu-ally has to pay the piper; he’s dragged down to hell by the ghost of the man he murdered. “Why does he do the things he does?” Kuster muses. “What is he trying to silence or compensate for?”

The handsome singer – he’s been featured on http://barihunks.blogspot.com, a website dedicated to

operatic beefcake – is look-ing forward to performing the part of bullfi ghter Esca-millo this weekend. It’s his fourth time as the dashing matador. He enjoys singing the role and is having fun in rehearsals, though “having to dredge up all that energy time after time is exhaust-ing!”

Understandably so. Kuster belts out what is ar-guably the most famous aria in “Carmen” and one of the most famous in all opera: “Votre Toast,” also known as “The Toreador Song.”

You know the tune. Ev-

eryone does. The same was true in Bizet’s time, appar-ently to his immense frus-tration.

“Bizet wrote ‘Votre Toast’ as a joke,” says Kuster. “He was upset when it became the crowd favorite.”

Indeed, according to the website www.classical-notes.com, the composer wrote the aria “to stroke his star’s ego.” He considered the last-minute composition very much beneath him, re-ferring to it as “fi lth.”

Yet it’s guaranteed to set toes tapping, and strains of the chorus will undoubtedly

linger in memory long after the audience leaves the the-ater: “Toreador, en garde! Toreador! Toreador!”

Kuster’s background in-cludes a prestigious Adler Fellowship with the San Francisco Opera. He’s much in demand these days, having most recently performed as a soloist in Handel’s “Messiah” with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Other fall 2014 appearances included “Don Giovanni” at Memphis Op-era and “Carmen” at Opera Grand Rapids in Michigan. Next up is the role of An-

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gelotti in Puccini’s “Tosca” with the Orlando Philhar-monic in Florida.

Originally from Illinois, Kuster now says, “I live out of my suitcases. I’ve done that since 2013.”

The singer thinks that there are signifi cant simi-larities between his bull-fi ghter and Carmen, the free-living temptress.

“In terms of the way they live their lives, they’re well-matched. It’s one day at a time for each of them.”

But if you know the sto-ry, you know that Carmen and the matador are mere-ly “ships that pass in the night,” whereas her main squeeze, tenor Don José, is

so obsessed with Carmen that – well, no spoilers here. You’ll just have to go, see and hear how it all turns out.

The Knoxville Opera Company will present George Bizet’s “Carmen,” sung in French with Eng-lish supertitles, at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 15, at the Tennessee Theatre. Each performance will be pre-ceded by an opera preview hosted by KOC Maestro Brian Salesky. For tickets and info, call 524-0795 or visit www.knoxvilleopera.com.Send story suggestions to news@shop-

pernewsnow.com.

I have been told by those who know and cook great food not to mess with a good chef’s creation. Don’t ask to substitute the collard greens for a baked potato. Don’t switch up the salad dressings. Chefs don’t just throw this stuff together, they correctly say. There is a symphony of fl avors that should be experienced all together.

I get that. And 99 per-cent of the time, I follow

The bouillabaisse at Northshore Brasserie is a mix of seafood,

sweet potatoes and risotto. Photo by Mystery Diner

Plate it

Northshore Brasserie

Mystery Diner

the rules. So please forgive my 1 percent this week as I confess: I wanted to try the bouillabaisse at Northshore Brasserie, but I cannot, will

not, eat mussels. I asked for them to be omitted.

Northshore Brasserie, 9430 S. Northshore Drive, serves French cuisine the way the French do it. The food is upscale, imaginative and creatively put together (again, sorry about the mus-sels), but the atmosphere is relaxed. If you mistak-enly think of French food as “frou-frou,” leave that

attitude at the door. Bras-serie serves hearty dishes, and you won’t be looking under a lettuce leaf for your entrée.

Brasserie owners encour-age the neighborhood ap-peal of the restaurant, and the bar is a lively place after working hours. It’s a gather-ing place – for lunch, dinner and in the bar.

In spite of my tinker-

ing with the bouillabaisse, it was delicious. The dish includes pan-seared cod, shrimp, mussels, sweet po-tatoes and risotto in a rich, savory saffron broth. Crusty French bread is served with

it and is the perfect accom-paniment to the dish. This is a fork dish with just enough broth to make each mouth-ful perfect. The bread is bet-ter than a spoon for getting that last bit of broth anyway.

8 • FEBRUARY 11, 2015 • NORTH/EAST Shopper news kids

THROUGH SATURDAY, FEB. 28“Buy One, Get One Free” admission tickets

available for Knoxville Zoo. Tickets can be purchased at the zoo ticket window during regular zoo hours. Info: 637-5331, ext. 300 or knoxvillezoo.org.

THROUGH FRIDAY, MARCH 27Call for local authors of children’s books for

“Farragut Book Fest for Children” to be held 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, April 11, at Founders Park at Campbell Station. $25 fee includes tent, table, two chairs and lunch at the event; authors will supply their books, decorations and signage. No fee: bring own set-up materials, which must include a tent fi tting a 10’x10’ space. Info/to register: www.townoffarragut.org/register and click the Programs tab; Farragut Town Hall, 11408 Municipal Center Drive; 966-7057.

THROUGH FRIDAY, APRIL 10Tickets available for Rhythm N’ Blooms music

festival, on stages set exclusively along downtown Knoxville’s historic Jackson Avenue. Features fi rst-timers, chart-climbers and highly lauded acts from varied musical backgrounds. Info/tickets: www.rhythmnbloomsfest.com.

THROUGH SATURDAY, JUNE 20Online registration open for Race to benefi t

the Corryton Community Food Pantry, to be held Saturday, June 20. Event is part of “The Run and See Tennessee Grand Prix Series.” To register: https://runnerreg.us/corryton8mile. Info: corryton8miler@yahoo.com; ron.fuller@totalracesolutions.com; or Joyce Harrell, 705-7684.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 11Burlington LEGO Club, 2 p.m., Burlington

Branch Library, 4614 Asheville Highway. For grades

1-5. Info: 525-5431.

THURSDAY, FEB. 12AAA Safe Driving for Mature Operators, 8:30

a.m.-4:30 p.m., John T. O’Connor Senior Center, 611 Winona St. Cost: $10. Info/to register: Kate, 862-9254, or Don, 862-9250.

55 Alive Seniors meeting, noon, First Lutheran Church meeting room, 1207 N. Broadway. Cost of hot luncheon: $8. Speaker: Chris Pluger, a Lutheran Bible Translator and Missionary. Topic: His life in Petauker, Zambia. Public invited; reservations required. Info/res-ervations: 524-0366.

The Heiskell Community Seniors program, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Heiskell Community Center, 9420 Heiskell Road. Speaker: R. Larry Smith. Topic: History of UT men’s basketball. “Chocolatefest” entries must be at the center by 10:30 a.m. Bring a dessert and a friend. Info: Janice White, 548-0326.

Read About It, Talk About It: “Dog on It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery,” 1 p.m., Halls Branch Library, 4518 E. Emory Road. Info: 922-2552.

Say It Loud! documentary,, 6:30 p.m., Burlington Branch Library, 4614 Asheville Highway. Info: 525-5431.

VFW meeting, 7 p.m., 140 Veteran St., Maynard-ville. All veterans are invited. Info: 278-3784.

FRIDAY, FEB. 13Valentine dinner fundraiser, 6 p.m., the Old

Southern Terminal, 306 W. Depot St. Hosted by the Grace Christian Academy baseball team. Music: The Lore Family. Speaker: Tim Lovelace. Dinner served by The Foundry. Tickets: $125. Info/tickets: coach Mitchell Turner, mturner@gcarams.org; Dave Dunaway, dhdunaway@aol.com; staff of Legal Properties Inc., 524-3670; Grace Christian Academy baseball team, 5914 Beaver Ridge Road, Knoxville TN, 37939; 691-3427.

SATURDAY, FEB. 14Saturday Stories and Songs: Miss Lynn, 11

a.m., Powell Branch Library, 330 W. Emory Road. Info: 947-6210.

Saturday Stories and Songs: Robin Milhollan, 11 a.m., Fountain City Branch Library, 5300 Stanton Road. Info: 689-2681.

SUNDAY, FEB. 15“Remembering Red,” A Tribute to Red Skel-

ton featuring Brian Hoffman, 4 p.m., Historic Grove Theater, 123 Randolph Road, Oak Ridge. Tickets: www.KnoxvilleTickets.com, 656-4444, 877-995-9961 or at the door. Special group rates: 288-0672.

MONDAY, FEB. 16Crochet Class, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Hobby Lobby,

6580 Clinton Highway. Cost: $24. Info: Monica Schmidt, 406-3971, monicaschmidt.tn@gmail.com, myquiltplace.com/profi le/monicaschmidt.

Luttrell Seniors luncheon, 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the community center off Tazewell Pike. Everyone wel-come. Box lunches will be provided.

Open house for prospective families, 4:30-6:30 p.m., Freedom Christian Academy, 4615 Asheville Highway.

TUESDAY, FEB. 17Crochet Mania, 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m., Burlington

Branch Library, 4614 Asheville Highway. Info: Candee Fultz, cdfultz10@comcast.net.

Honor Guard meeting, 7 p.m., 140 Veteran St., Maynardville. All veterans invited. Info: 256-5415.

Mardi Gras cooking class, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Avanti Savoia, 7610 Maynardville Pike. Cost: $50. Info/to regis-ter: 922-9916 or www.avantisavoia.com.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 18Computer Workshop: Word Basics, 2 p.m.,

Burlington Branch Library, 4614 Asheville Highway. Re-quires “Introducing the Computer” or equivalent skills. Info/to register: 525-5431.

THURSDAY, FEB. 19Burlington Game Night, 5:30-8 p.m., Burlington

Branch Library, 4614 Asheville Highway. Info: 525-5431.

FRIDAY, FEB. 20Chili Fundraiser hosted by the Union County Little

League, 5:30-8 p.m., Maynardville Elementary School. Cost: $5 for bowl of chili, drink and cookie. Silent auc-tion. Info: Union County Little League Facebook page.

SATURDAY, FEB. 21Ranch Rodeo, 7 p.m., the Great Smoky Mountains

Expo Center, 1615 Pavilion Drive, White Pine. Sponsored by the Walters State Ag Club. Proceeds go to scholar-ships for the Walters State Agriculture Department. Ad-mission: $10 for adults; $5 for students ages 7-17; 6 and under free. Tickets available at the door. Info: ws.edu.

Saturday Stories and Songs: Sean McCol-lough, 11 a.m., Fountain City Branch Library, 5300 Stanton Road. Info: 689-2681.

Saturday Stories and Songs: Emagene Rea-gan, 11 a.m., Powell Branch Library, 330 W. Emory Road. Info: 947-6210.

Send items to news@ShopperNewsNow.com

ShoppernewseVents

Falcons celebrate National Signing Day

By Simmone SmithSix members of the state championship

Fulton football team celebrated National Signing Day in front of the school, marking the next step in their football careers.

Taking part were D.J. Campbell, who signed with Georgia Military College; Adam Diggs and Anthony Gunn, who will play for Maryville College; K.J. Roper, who committed to play at UT-Chattanooga; Jonathan Roth, signing with Middle Tennessee State University; and Domonique Williams, who will play for Eastern Kentucky University.

RuthWhite

Belle Morris students Nesline Garcia and Micah McGill read the instructions for assembling so-

lar-powered robots with teacher Doug Reynolds. Photo by R. White

Building solar-powered robotsBelle Morris third-grade

teacher Doug Reynolds has received a grant for $340 from the Junior League of Knoxville and has put the money to good use.

The grant was for a proj-ect that includes kits to build solar-powered robots, something that his class

to 14 robots and will help students learn and reinforce skills such as listening, fol-lowing directions, problem-solving and teamwork.

The third-graders are now building their robot creations in anticipation of warmer days when they can test them outside.

Community schooloff ers enrichment

opportunities

Several schools in the area are taking part in the Community Schools Initia-

tive, using public schools as a hub for organizing com-munity resources to im-

Campbell Diggs Gunn

Roper Roth Williams

Xavier Hill and Yasmine

Croom practice “Dances

Across the Decade” for

the magnet showcase

at Sarah Moore Greene. Photo by R. White

Book Club member Angeline Chen draws a picture of Ruby

Bridges in celebration of Black History Month. Photo by Danea Sum-merford, SMG student

prove neighborhood health and safety and the academic success of students.

Sarah Moore Greene Magnet Academy is in its second year as a success-ful community school and continues to grow. Principal Susan Espiritu revamped Pond Gap Elementary’s popular program for Sarah Moore Greene, making it a vital part of the learning en-vironment at the school.

The program is available fi rst-come, fi rst-served, to third- through fi fth-grade students selected through an application process. Tu-tors from the University of Tennessee and staff mem-bers are on hand to teach different club activities and assist students with home-work when needed. Magnet clubs include video, photog-raphy, dance, drama, cho-rus, improvisation, reading and leadership.

Sarah Moore Greene’s community school begins after regular school hours and ends between 5:30-5:45. In addition to academic sup-port, students receive a snack during the day and are fed supper before boarding the bus for the trip home.

To learn more about Sarah Moore Greene, the magnet program and community schools, make plans to attend the school’s magnet show-case, 4:30-6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12. Sarah Moore Greene is at 3001 Brooks Ave. Info: 594-1328.

voted to purchase. Each kit includes pieces to build up

Shopper news • FEBRUARY 11, 2015 • 9 business

HEARTWISE

Our Mission To serve through healing, education and discovery

To see a complete list of all HeartWise activities, please visit www.utmedicalcenter.org.

Are you wise about your cardiovascular health?Join us for this comprehensive community wellness fair.

Saturday,February 217:30 a.m. – 12 noon

For more information or

to schedule a screening or a seat for the cooking demonstration, call 865-305-6970.

Free Parking

Discounted Screenings for adults:(space is limited)

• Comprehensive Cardiovascular Risk Assessment (Cholesterol/Glucose Testing, EKG, Carotid and AAA Ultrasound) Fasting Required but Breakfast included after screening, Only $35

• COPD Pulmonary Testing, No Charge• Cardiac Calcium Scoring (Utilizing the

Non-invasive 64-slice CT Scanner) Only $99

A Heart Smart Breakfast9 a.m. – 10 a.m.Join the Healthy Living Kitchen staff for a healthy breakfast demonstration featuring our delicious pancakes from our cookbook, A Recipe for Life. You will learn new recipes and ideas to start your day off right with a heart healthy breakfast. There is no charge for this class but registration is required as space is limited. To learn more about Healthy Living Kitchen programs, please visit www.utmedicalcenter.org/hlk.

TOWN & COUNTRY REALTORS OF EAST TN, INC.Billie Barber • billiegibson@tds.netCell: 865-256-5547 • Offi ce: 865-982-5000

SEYMOUR – Lovely 3BR/2.5BA, 2-story home. Open fl oor plan w/extra lrg LR & kit. 2 bonus rooms & 3-car gar. Very spacious home and yard w/ pretty country setting! $229,900. MLS#912471

By Bonny C. MillardBob Sexton, executive di-

rector of the Cerebral Palsy Center, has seen many posi-tive changes in services for people with disabilities dur-ing his 39 years, including increased opportunities for employment.

Sexton, who started as executive director when he was 26 years old, spoke to the Rotary Club of Knox-ville recently about the cen-ter and what he’s learned over the years.

“(The participants) were thought of as individuals who did not have abil-ity and did not have a way to make their own way,” he said. “I’m talking about people with signifi -cant disabilities, but what I’ve learned over a period of time is that we all vastly underestimated people with disabilities.”

In the 1960s and ’70s, services involved caretak-ing because people didn’t think that individuals with disabilities could take care of themselves.

“They have slowly evolved into services that help people to help them-selves and to make their own way,” he said. “I just think that’s a tremendous, positive change in the way things happen today for

people with disabilities.”Sexton learned early in

his career to listen to the people he served rather than a s s u m i n g what they needed or w a n t e d . He discov-ered that

people with disabilities are like everybody else in that they want to have value and make a difference.

Sexton and his staff started meeting with

employers in the 1980s about provid-ing work opportuni-ties. The center now

has individuals work-ing with 48 different com-panies.

“Each of them has a job that fi ts them in a company in our community,” he said.

The center also helps in-dividuals fi nd places to live that they are comfortable in as well as providing oppor-tunities to develop relation-ships with others, which en-rich their lives.

Info: www.cpcenter.orgNote: Rotarians from

across Knox County will be in Fountain City Saturday, Feb. 21, World Rotary Day, for a general cleanup at the CP group home.

Last week, I had a fas-cinating tour of Southland Spirits and Wine, courtesy of owner Jim Maples. I had no idea such a multitude of products even existed.

Maples grew up in South Knoxville and graduated from Doyle High School. His family owns 640 Liquor on Western Avenue, and Maples has been in the in-dustry for 22 years. When he decided to make the leap to buy his own busi-ness, Southland Spirits and Wine’s previous owner was ready to retire, so the tim-ing was perfect.

Recently remodeled, Southland has been at 211 W. Young High Pike for 32 years. Maples will cel-ebrate his 10th anniversary as a business owner in May 2015.

During our conversa-tion, I was impressed with

Bob Sexton

A hopeful beginning for 2015News From The Register Of Deeds

By Sherry WittThe local real estate

and lend-ing mar-kets began 2015 with e n c o u r a g-ing news as n u m b e r s o u t p e r -formed Jan-uary 2014 in virtually

every category. On the heels of a strong December, prop-erty sales experienced their usual decline in January; however, the total number of transfers recorded bested last January’s number by 39.

For the month that ended on Friday, Jan. 30, there were 583 property sales in

Knox County, compared to 544 during the fi rst month of 2014.

The aggregate value of property transferred also came in some $4 million ahead of last January’s pace. About $146 million worth of real estate was bought and sold in Knox County. Mortgage lend-ing refl ected a similar im-provement over last year’s fi gures, as approximately $227 million was loaned against property. That was a modest increase from January 2014, when just under $203 million was loaned in mortgages and refi nancing.

The most notable prop-erty sale of the month was the Brakebill Nursing Home

facility at 5837 Lyons View Pike, which was purchased for $10.75 million. On the lending side, the largest mortgage recorded during January was a construction Deed of Trust in the amount of $14.4 million secured by a 20-acre tract on Chero-kee Trail. Close behind was a loan for $13.9 million fi -nancing property known as Parkside Plaza at 11400 Parkside Drive.

While it may not yet be said that real estate mar-kets have made a full re-covery, it is significant to note that last month pro-duced the largest January totals for property sales in Knox County since 2007. That is hopeful news in-deed.

Sherry Witt

Sexton touts

CP Center

Nancy Whittaker

Manager Gabe Myers and owner Jim Maples of Southland Spir-

its and Wine in South Knoxville Photo by Nancy Whittaker

Wine 101 + great customer service

the number of times Maples mentioned customer ser-vice. He and his manager, Gabe Myers, are both dedi-cated to helping their cus-tomers. In addition to South Knoxville locals, Maples says they do a big business with downtown residents.

“Wine in grocery stores is a concern, but we have always offered customer ser-vice the grocery stores won’t offer,” says Maples. South-land stocks a huge array of wines the grocery stores won’t carry. Recently, a cus-tomer who had just moved to

the area came in and asked for a specifi c wine. Maples says special orders like this are common, and he can usually have them at the store in less than 10 days.

Both Maples and My-ers are eager to help their customers choose the right

■ Mark Field shares ideas at ETBAMark Field was the guest

speaker at the Feb. 4 meet-ing of the East Towne Busi-ness Alliance (ETBA). Field is senior vice president of membership for the Knox-ville Chamber.

Field encouraged mem-bers of the ETBA to become involved with networking opportunities. Several were discussed, including the Chamber’s Schmoozapaloo-za which will be in March at the Knoxville Expo Center. Members were also encour-aged to meet with Field or other members of the Knox-ville Chamber to discuss

Mark Field of the Knoxville Chamber and Justin Sterling, presi-

dent of ETBA Photo by Nancy Whittaker

wine to complement a din-ner party or other special occasion, and their knowl-edge is impressive. “Wine Wednesday” features a 10 percent discount on all wines, and cases of wine are always discounted, as is wine for weddings and large parties – a Maples specialty.

The men can help or-der the right products and quantities for receptions and parties. As with any party planning, it is recommended to call and set up a time to come in and discuss options.

Specialty and hard-to-get bourbons are also available. They offer Pappy Van Win-kle twice a year in limited supply. New fl avored prod-ucts are popular; Maples says the hottest item right now is Fireball. He also of-fers Kenny Chesney’s line of rum, Blue Chair Bay, sold in four fl avors.

Check out Southland Spirits and Wine on Face-book for specials and new product info – and for their sense of humor: They adver-tised “defl ated” prices for Super Bowl weekend. Info: 573-1320.

SKA to meet MondayThe South Knoxville Alli-

ance is scheduled to meet at

6:15 p.m. Monday, Feb. 16, at the Labor Exchange offi ce, 2623 Chapman Highway. All members and prospec-tive members are invited to attend. The South Knox-ville Alliance is composed of businesses and organiza-tions within the 37920 zip code.

A cleanup of Fort Dicker-son is scheduled for 11 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 28. Meet at the Augusta Road entrance.

any ideas and concerns.“Knoxville is the regional

fi nancial hub of this entire area,” says Field. Economic development of the East Towne area and improve-ment of business opportu-nities were discussed.

Nick Della Volpe present-ed an update on signs along I-640. The ETBA has active-ly pursued the addition of signs which are scheduled to be installed sometime af-ter July 1.

Jerry Dalton, owner of Dalton Collision, was the breakfast sponsor and gave a brief description of ser-vices his company offers. Located in Blaine, they are certifi ed to repair collisions and handle mostly insur-ance claims.

Justin Sterling, ETBA president, said he is excited about the future of Knox-ville Center mall. Sterling is actively pursuing new busi-nesses and is encouraged about prospective tenants.

The next meeting will be 8 a.m. Wednesday, March 4, at New Harvest Park Community Center. Come a few minutes early to net-work and join the group for breakfast.

10 • FEBRUARY 11, 2015 • Shopper news

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February 28

3913 Chapman Hwy337-5958 • M-S 10-6

Now accepting formals & prom dresses on consignment.

Huge assortment of formals, shoes & clutches!

Many winter items on sale50% - 70% OFF

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6202 Chapman Highway577-9616

Mon - Fri 9-5 • Sat 8-2

Happy Valentine’s Day!Happy Valentine’s Day!All you need is Love & Cake

♥ 4” Heart Shaped Cakes starting at $4.50

♥ 9” Heart Shaped Cakes starting at $14.00

♥ Chocolate & White Chocolate Dipped Strawberries $14.00 lb.♥ Thumbprints $4.00 dozen♥ Petit Fours $16 dozen♥ Heart Shaped Cookies with Sugar topping $5.50 per dozen

221 W. Young High Pike • Knoxville

Patrick Michael 607-9548 • 577-7575 www.woodrealtors.com

Rocky Hill 4BR/2BAupdated kit, move-in ready. Call Caroline McDonald 577-7575. $149,900

NorthWest Knox4/5BR/2.5BA,bonus rm & pool,built ’06. $179,900

Island Home/Gilbert3BR/1.5BA, family room andpool. $109,900

Immaculate!3/2 updated kit,new carpet & paint,South/UT. $119,900