News

Era ends for ‘excellent coach, better man’

44 years at FHS, 28 as Admirals skipper, Courtney retires

With Farragut High School brass calling a press conference in the FHS football program’s meeting room Wednesday afternoon, March 6, longtime Admirals varsity football head coach Eddie Courtney announced his retirement from coaching. In 44 seasons as a football coach at the school, which dates back to 1978, and serving as Admirals skipper for the past 28 years, Courtney led his 2016 team to the TSSAA Division I-5A state title while being named to the Tennessee Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2021. He also earned Region Coach of the Year honors four times while compiling 204 career wins, fifth most among active head coaches in 2023.

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BOMA to vote on Knox Growth Plan after criticism told

Farragut Board must approve, at its March 28 meeting, for plan to be implemented in Knox

Amendments to Advance Knox’s Knoxville-Farragut-Knox County Growth Policy Plan, heavily criticized by Town of Farragut’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen recently, are expected to come before BOMA during its Thursday, March 28, meeting.

While City of Knoxville and Knox County Commission have given the plan a thumbs up — with one contingency — Farragut’s elected leaders must also approve the plan, needing approval from all three Knox governing bodies to be implemented.

The Board will reconsider the plan and are expected to make a final vote Thursday, March 28, after Knox County Commission unanimously approved the plan during its Monday, Feb. 26, meeting — subject to also approving a Future Land Use Plan with more development specifics, which is expected to come before the Commission during its Monday, March 25, meeting.

Knoxville City Council also voted to accept the plan, by a 7-2 vote, during its Tuesday, March 5, meeting.

The plan attempts to pinpoint sectors of the county where commercial development would be sought, versus other sectors recommended to remain rural. These smaller geographic areas — based on census tract boundaries — are in the East, North, Northeast, Northwest, South and Southwestern parts of the county.

After County engineer Jim Snowden and Advance Knox representatives described recent Growth Plan changes to BOMA, some Board members were scratching their heads during a Feb. 22 meeting.

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FHS off-campus Bible elective class gets Board-Ed nod

KNOXVILLE — Without any opposition based on its vote Thursday evening, March 7, Knox County Board of Education approved a Bible study class, which allows Farragut High School students to take the off-campus course — for one full elective credit — during school hours in accordance with state law.

Anchor Learning Center has the green light to provide the class — to be held in at Faith Promise Church, 144 West End Ave. in Farragut — for five years beginning July 1. The class would be offered during a designated class period set by FHS.

“I mean, this is more of a parental rights issue, honestly, because it’s allowed by state law that students can take advantage of this,” said Susan Horn, District 5 representative (which includes Farragut public schools) during a Board workshop Monday evening, March 4, that included discussion about the class’s course requirements. “And so I think we have to be really careful of trying to dictate or get too deep into what the content is as far as the specifics because that’s really protected under the state law, the way I read it, and I think we have to be sure that we’re evaluating it as we would any other course.”

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To replace old Belleaire Drive, FBC site plan studied by BOMA

First Baptist Concord church’s site plan to replace the old Belleaire Drive access into FBC from Kingston Pike came under review during a Town Staff/Developer meeting Tuesday morning, March 5.

“It’s got a long history to it,” Community Development director Mark Shipley said. “Basically, the old Belleaire Drive is currently a driveway access into part of First Baptist Concord property. There’s going to be part of one building that’s going to be taken out in the playground area and the old road.”

The proposed access replacing old Belleaire Drive “kind of curves from the existing driveway and goes back to the school and it comes out and lines up with Village Green’s (Russgate) access there on the north side of Kingston Pike,” Shipley said. “This access here would be over 400 feet at either access point, east or west. It does line up with Russgate.

“That’s an ideal situation,” he added. “A better access than what they have right now, which is basically a pretty short distance between the old Belleaire Road and the Belleaire that was relocated and reconstructed a few years ago.

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Town calendar

The window for applying to serve on a Town of Farragut volunteer committee is now open. Adults are welcome to apply, and civic-minded high school juniors and seniors can apply to serve as a youth representative.

Serving on a volunteer advisory committee, council or board is a great way to share your time, talents and enthusiasm with the Farragut community. These are working committees, and applicants should be willing to give time to monthly meetings and committee projects and/or events. Some committees require a background in a professional area.

There are openings on the following boards and committees: Arts & Beautification Committee, Farragut

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Budget plan coupled with promising local tax revenue: Smoak

Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen started its 2024 budget process with a workshop Thursday, Feb. 22, featuring some good tax revenue news.

Overall, “the revenues in the start of our planning process look strong,” Town administrator David Smoak said. “We have been in a strong position in the last couple of years, and we think it’s going to continue into the future.

“Next year, at this point, we’re projecting around $16.8 million in overall revenue to the Town of Farragut,” he said. “The biggest portion of that revenue comes from our local sales tax.

“Local sales tax in the first six months of the fiscal year was up about 9 percent over last year,” Smoak said.

As of this meeting, “What we don’t have yet is the December sales tax numbers in, which is certainly our biggest sales tax revenue producing month of the entire year,” the administrator added.

Still, “we’ll continue to monitor the sales tax to make sure we’re continuing the trend upward, but it’s going in the right direction so far,” he said.

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Gift prompts St. John Neumann Middle School expansion plans

St. John Neumann Catholic Church and School recently received a gift to build a middle school expansion.

This expansion will include state-of-the-art educational spaces and resources for current students and will accommodate the school’s growing student population, according to an SJN press release.

Additionally, the new expansion will provide space for parish youth and adult ministries to use.

“The donor, Lydia Melli, has always been passionate about the lasting impact education can make on one’s life, as it did for her,” the press release stated. “In 2022, Lydia initiated a conversation with St. John Neumann Catholic School leadership staff about how she could support students and teachers.

“This led to an endowment she established to provide student tuition assistance, as well as resources for teachers’ salaries and professional development,” the release further stated. “In recognition of this endowment, the school leadership suite was named in honor of Lydia’s husband, Claude, who passed away in 2021.”

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KCSO reports

Though farragutpress requested reports from Knox County Sheriff’s Office Monday morning, March 11, none were received as of deadline at 10 a.m., Tuesday, March 12.