Can Farragut Change?

A 17-year-old teenager in Highlands Ranch, Colorado allegedly lost control of his car while text messaging on his cell phone and hit a bicyclist, Jim R. Price, who died two days later. Bicyclists have the same rights as the drivers of cars and trucks but because of their small size and reduced visibility they must rely on the thoughtfulness of other drivers to watch for them. The time has come to deal with this issue.

"We do not believe it was an intentional act, but it was inattentiveness to the roadway," said Lt. Alan Stanton, spokesman for Douglas County Sheriff's Office. "The investigation showed that he was text-messaging on his cell phone" at the time of the accident, said Stanton.

I have written about this here and here. Too many young people are driving without paying attention to the highway. You may recall when I wrote about my nephew. He had had his second wreck from not paying attention while driving. Sadly, in his third wreck last week he totaled the family car and risked the safety of three teenage passengers when he hit a concrete structure on the Interstate. Fortunately no one was hurt. The cause was his inattention to the highway. The excuse was another car cut in front of him. Both of his parents drive over the speed limit and tailgate. Is it any wonder he drives the same way?

His parents do not understand their behavior is part of the problem. What did my nephew say after the accident? He wanted a safer vehicle so he has asked his parents for a large pickup truck. Does it occur to him to modify his driving behavior? No, his thoughts are just get me a heavier vehicle so I can be safer.

How many people must die before we as a society have enough courage to act?

The penalty for causing the death of Jim R. Price will be a misdemeanor charge. Does that seem fair to you?

A new addition to the Can Farragut Change blog is the "Special Feature Websites" section. You can find the latest restaurant menus in the Knoxville area and also check the TDOT Interstate cameras to see if you need an alternate route on your way to dinner. Using the Knoxville Gas Prices you can also fill up your tank with the best gas value.

Farragut Your Hub is a feature from the Knoxville News Sentinel that is a community based Internet forum where you can be the writer, photographer, and editor of your own virtual newspaper.

Watch this section of the blog for new entries that can save you time and help you reach out to your community.

A brief review of posts that readers here cared about.

Is it time to ban cell phones in cars and trucks in motion in Knox county?

Civil disobedience; drive the speed limit

Should you buy your teenager a SUV for High School Graduation?

Drive Now Talk Later

Is it true?

This may be the single most stupid thing I have ever heard

Let's have a debate on the proposed roundabout

It is time to address the safety issues at Kingston Pike and Lovell Road?

From our school board correspondent Karen Carson

Michael Silence has found the best description of what anonymous blogs are, they are modern day pamphleteers. Say Uncle and Joe Powell have more detailed examination of this topic. This all started when a letter from Kim Stout was printed in the Tennessean which claimed there was no difference between anonymous bloggers and terrorists. Say Uncle has more here and here.

Isn't what is written more important than who writes it? Not everyone seems to understand that. Being compared to a terrorist makes me long for the good old days when commenters that disagreed with me just called me a coward. At Say Uncle commenter Ravenwood said it best, "It’s simple really. They hate your anonymity because it makes it that much harder to silence you. "

Joe Powell writes, "Speech must be controlled, seems to be the opinion. That, as I said, it is an idea that ignores history, limits personal freedom and the First Amendment, and marginalizes the fact that citizens rights are vital to our nation."

From Say Uncles blog, "Keep it up pesky anonymous bloggers. We are the new press. Somebody had to step up because the politicians took over the old press. Remember the lesson learned by South Knox Bubba, the politicos will lean on you if they can."

Michael Silence writes, "I’m missing something in all this. When did personalities trump policies and ideas? (Did cable TV do that?) What is there to fear from anonymous blogging? One can read those blogs and weigh them on their content. I’ve read SayUncle for more than three years and find it to be one of the best in the area. I don’t need to know him, although I do, to know where he’s coming from. Agree or disagree, his arguments are clear and concise."

Silence ends with, "Anonymous or not, I think Thomas Paine would be proud of these modern-day pamphleteers."

I may have opened a can of worms when I posted, "The new High School must be built for 2000 students". Since then all kind of politics have been whipped up concerning the new West Knox County High School. I did not know this until I read Michael Silence's blog No Silence Here and found out that every time I made a post on the new West Knox County High School so did Brian Hornback the Chairman of the Knox County GOP. I had not seen Mr. Hornback's blog before this so I starting reading it.

I was surprised when I saw the letter from District Five Knox County Commissioner Mike Hammond to Chairman Dan Murphy of Knox County Schools on Mr. Hornback's blog. I thought the District Five commissioners were attending School Board meetings and were also getting emails from School Board members. So what is this letter to the School Board all about? It looks like politics and I don't see what it accomplishes.

Recently Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale was granted authority over Knox County Libraries by the County Commission. Like many people I thought that was over reaching. The sudden micro-management of the School Board by Knox County Commission is also over reaching. County Commission and the School Board need to sit down in one room and work this out.

Yes, the school will cost more than the 40 million dollars budgeted. The school in Oak Ridge has the same problems. The families that need this school need to see a unified County Commission and School Board working together instead of pointing fingers. We do not need excuses. We need a quality high school and we need it to serve the needs of 2000 students.

You only get one chance when you build a high school. It has to be done right the first time. It cost what it costs. No one knew that two monster hurricanes would drive up building prices. But things like that happen. Many opportunities have been missed to build this school sooner. Now is not the time for hindsight. It doesn't matter what happened in the past. We all share the responsibility for the current state of affairs. So stop the political spin and work together. Get this done.

The folks at CCRGD warn people about a blind entrance to a new subdivision under construction on West Turkey Creek Road.

Keep your eyes open as you round the last S-turn going towards the bridge at Turkey Creek Road and Virtue Road. Heavy equipment and road construction equipment will be using Turkey Creek Road.

The Town of Farragut has money in place for three new traffic lights for Virtue Road, Old Stage Road, and Everett Road. All that is needed now is TDOT approval. Stay tuned for more developments.

The new high school in Oak Ridge is 10 million dollars over budget. Very close to the cost overruns experienced in Knox County. I point this out because some people are taking pleasure in the difficulty of making the hard decisions faced by both Knox County Schools and Knox County Commission.

Like most people in West Knoxville I don't find any humor in jokes about Polo Fields for the new West Knox high school. The people here want to be treated fairly and expect the same type of high school as the people in Karns, Bearden, and Farragut. It is distressing to families that have fought for years to have a high school where their children do not have to eat lunch in the hallways to have to tolerate the never-ending jokes and taunts about this new high school.

One thing that is happening in Oak Ridge that is not happening in Knoxville is a greater community involvement. From the Knoxville News Sentinel, "The importance of this new school to growing future scientific and technical talent in our own back yard far outweighs the short-term cost increases that the project faces," Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Jeff Wadsworth said. UT-Battelle, the Department of Energy contractor that operates ORNL, launched the lobbying effort for the new high school by announcing in September 2003 that it would bankroll a study of the proposed project. The contractor has also pledged $2 million toward the redo. With donations from other DOE contractors and local businesses and families, the foundation has raised more than $7 million."

How can our community help bridge the gap? Should a fund raising campaign be started just like those for the Knoxville Symphony and the Knoxville Museum of Art?

Rumblings about cost overruns from the twin hurricanes have caused concern over the enrollment of the new West Knox County High School. It is imperative that this new school stay on track for an enrollment of 2000 students. If this new school must cost more than originally planned it is a serious issue that must be dealt with. This is why the wheel tax was past. It costs what it costs. It must be of the same quality and have the same features as other high schools.

School board representatives are now discussing whether to lower the enrollment to 1300 students or to sacrifice athletics. The answer to both of these issues is no. This school could have been built a long time ago and it will not be a red headed stepchild. The people were given the Hobson’s choice of a wheel tax or a property tax and this school will be built as planned or there will be new representation in both the School Board and the Knox County Commission.

Alan Childers asked some interesting questions before the FBMA at the regularly scheduled meeting Oct. 27, at Town Hall. Childers represented Cannon & Cannon the civil engineering firm that did the design for the proposed roundabout at Northshore Drive and Concord Road. Childers ask the Mayor and Alderman, "It is very true that people will drive how they feel comfortable”, Childers said. “But there are a few questions we need to ask ourselves: why do people feel comfortable driving on residential streets as fast as they do, is it possible the fundamental problem is really engineering which has resulted in an enforcement problem? Have we mistakenly been designing miniature highways when the context within which residential streets exist justify a different approach?"

Is Childers criticizing the design or the behavior of the drivers? Or more importantly is the problem that the design was wrong to begin with and that altered the behavior of the drivers?

So why is Childers talking about residential streets when Northshore Drive and Concord Road are state roads? Why is the roundabout now being touted as a traffic-calming device? Who puts a traffic-calming device in the middle of a state road?

As the explanations for this become more tortured the simple question remains, why not install a traffic signal, which is what is desired by 98 percent of the residents?