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presstalk 671-TALK
- Thu, Apr, 20, 2006
• It looks like Steve Hall’s continuous [campaign] yard signs in medians and right-of-ways is again destroying the beauty of Easter weekend in Farragut. Now, all the other candidates are putting their signs in the medians and right-of-ways too. A sign in a home means support for a candidate. A sign in a ditch or a median means a candidate cannot find a home to support him.
• I’m calling in regards to the Farragut kennel that used to be across from the Little Bangkok on Grigsby Chapel. It seems that you have left — I think it’s your all’s — a beautiful peacock that I still see wondering around. If that’s yours, you really need to go get it. That’s really shameful.
• In regards to the lady and her two children, which were hurt in the [Cherokee National Forest in Polk County near Benton] by the bear, it’s a terrible tragedy that her child lost its life and that they were hurt. But, the mother was letting the two children play by a pond. Who lets two children, a 6-year-old and 2-year-old, play by water without supervision? When the mother heard the commotion, she ran to the children’s aid. I believe that the bears belong in the woods, and the people belong around the towns, we have walking trails in the city. If you’re going to be in the woods with bears, carry bells with you, strap them onto your belt to let the bears know you’re in their territory. Two little children by a pond are not a threat to a bear. If the mother had been with them, the bear never would have attacked, never would have gotten near them. The bears are afraid of the adults.
• I just wanted to call in and state that as a parent of a child in Farragut schools, and attending the last school board meeting, I noticed that the only person in attendance who is running for our new school board open seat was Thomas Deakins. None [sic] of the other two candidates were there, and I happen to say I wonder why? Is it because neither of them have any children in the Farragut schools? For all of your going out to vote, please take note: the only person there that is running for school board was Thomas Deakins. The others weren’t there.
• I’d like to warn the people in Farragut to not leave their garden tools out in their yard while they go in to dinner. [Recently] our wheelbarrow, a bucket of all my hand tools were stolen right out of my front yard. So, just a warning when you’re doing your spring work: take your stuff inside when you get finished. I can’t believe this happened here.
• I’m calling in response to the people who have [called] in and said we absolutely have to have our children ride the bus. I know this is a very hot topic right now. But, I feel fortunate that my husband has a good enough job that I’m able to stay at home with my children. And I do feel that it is my responsibility to educate them spiritually, emotionally, physically, and therefore all the way around. My child will be starting kindergarten next year. I do not feel that it is appropriate for him to be riding the bus with fifth-graders, with their differences in age and development and that sort of thing. Also, in light of what happened last week with the intoxicated bus driver, that even furthers my stance that I will be driving my kids to school, and if I have to wait in traffic, that’s fine, it doesn’t bother me at all. I do believe that it is a choice we have to drive our children to school, and that no one should mandate whether they have to ride the bus or not.
• This picture of the concrete item at the corner of Concord Road and Northshore near the railroad tracks [Through the Lens, April 13 issue], as I understand it, it was a marble finishing place near the tracks where you load the marble onto the railroad cars back when Concord Park was full of marble quarries; as I understand from the old-timers, that this is what this monster was. I haven’t been proved wrong yet.
• Farragut is fantastic, but there are some changes that need to be made. First of all, people need to stop racing their motorcycles and cars in the Kingsgate area. There needs to be something done about the lack of protection for bicyclers and joggers, something like sidewalks. And there needs to be consideration of the ongoing drought and the destruction of our beautiful environment by the developers building these mansions. Who can afford them, and who can afford to lose all the peaceful countryside and farms to these cookie-cutter developments? It’s time to get smart and build intelligently, and protect our children, our air, our water.
• I’d like to make a comment about how fast people drive on Northshore Drive. As a resident who has to drive on that road all the time, I find that more people creep down the road than speed. And many times I’m stuck in a line of six to eight cars that are trapped behind somebody doing below the speed limit, about 35 mph.
• This is in reply to the man who said he enjoys going out to dinner and having a cigarette and a drink. I am one of those people that don’t go to restaurants any more than I have to because of the cigarette smoke. However, when we travel, we have to frequent a restaurant. I sit in a non-smoking section, but usually the smoke does [drift] over to where I am sitting and my sinuses will swell up and I’ll be that way all night. I really won’t be able to breathe freely until the next day. I just want him to know that while he’s enjoying smoking his cigarette, I am not enjoying sitting there eating my meal, and I am not having a good night’s sleep. And it takes me a while to get over the headache the next day. Why they just can’t have a drink and then go outside and have a cigarette to benefit the other people around them, I don’t understand? I want them to enjoy their life and do what they want, but in a public place the people who are allergic to smoke should be able to have a good dinner and not have to suffer for it.
• This is in reply to the person who said we have not had a tax increase on property in Knox County in seven years. This may be true, but every year they raise our property value, thus increasing our property tax. It’s simply a play on words. Our taxes have gone up every year. I don’t care if you call it a raise in assessing our property value or a raise in taxes, we’re still paying more taxes. And those are the facts.
Editor’s Note: According to county tax assessor officials, property is assessed every four years. If your tax keeps going up, you should talk to one of their representatives at 865-215-2360.
• The town of Farragut needs to do something about the improper timing of the new traffic light at the intersection of Concord Road and the Campbell Station Road extension. The traffic backs up, blocking the entrance to the Concord Hills subdivision. We thought that the new traffic light would make the traffic flow better for the subdivision. It’s made it worse.
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