Can Farragut Change?

For a long time I have written about the importance of being a good neighbor and understanding that how you drive in your neighborhood has a huge contribution to the safety of your neighborhood and the quality of life.

A Fox Den resident expresses this better than I can. I hope you will think about how good a neighbor you are when you drive through your neighborhood.

From the Farragut Press:

letter to the editor
- Thu, Mar, 30, 2006


Picture this – it’s a sunny day and you take your dogs out for a walk in your neighborhood. Most cars when they see you, slow down, move away from you and wave as they go by. Not today however. A van is coming in front of you – they don’t appear to be slowing down or making a move away from you. You get scared, grab the dog leashes and move as close to the curb as possible. Scared, you yell out “slow down!” The van just keeps going and you continue your walk.

A few minutes later, a van slows down and stops. The woman driving the van yells out: “I was going the speed limit.” You are amazed that someone would actually drive back through the neighborhood and confront someone for yelling slow down.

Now, picture this — you are in a wheelchair. Yes, that’s right. I suffer from multiple sclerosis and take my dogs out using a jogging leash. I have never, never had someone be so “rude” and inconsiderate as this woman was. I can only hope and pray that she never has to use a wheelchair to get around.

In closing, even if you are driving the speed limit, when you see someone walking with children or dogs, slow down so that neither the dogs or the children get scared. Try to visualize how a van looks to a little child or to a dog.

Remember, driving the speed limit is one thing everyone should do. But use common sense when you are in a neighborhood. Going 25 mph does not actually give you enough time to react to a child or a family pet from darting out into the street. Better to drive slowly in a neighborhood and keep everyone safe.

Thank you,


Barbara Wyman

Fox Den

In future posts I will give my recommendations and my analysis of the best candidates for local public office. For now I want to give you as much information as I can so you can learn about the candidates for public office.

Candidate website has been added for Thomas Deakins. Radio interviews have been added for Craig Leuthold and Kyle Phillips. Knoxville News Sentinel Blogs added for Randy Sadler and Kyle Phillips. Podcast added for Lee Martin. John Griess will be removed from the ballot due to term limits.

Any candidate may email me at Farragut_Republican@yahoo.com and enclose a bio and platform, limit is 500 words. I will post these in separate posts here on Can Farragut Change. If you know of a candidate website that is not listed please email me or leave it in the comments section.

District Five County Commission Candidates:

County Commission Seat 5-A

Mike Hammond incumbent

Randy Sadler challenger
Randy Sadler Knoxville News Sentinel Blog

County Commission Seat 5-B

Craig Leuthold incumbent
Farragut Press article
Craig Leuthold Radio interview with Lloyd Daugherty

Kyle Phillips challenger
Kyle Phillips website
Kyle Phillips Knoxville News Sentinel Blog
Farragut Press article
Kyle Phillips Radio interview with Lloyd Daugherty

County Commission Seat 5-C

John Griess incumbent no challenger (Removed from ballot due to term limits)

School Board race Farragut Schools

School Board District 6

No incumbent, current School Board member Chuck James has left the School Board to run for County Commission.

Thomas A. Deakins
Thomas Deakins website
Farragut Press article

Fred Dillon
Farragut Press article

H. Lee Martin
H. Lee Martin website
Lee Martin podcast
Farragut Press article

From time to time I show the most popular posts. Since this is campaign time for candidates I hope both they and the voters will consider how important public safety is to our community.


Let's have a debate on the proposed roundabout

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

Civil disobedience; drive the speed limit

Is it true?

Knox County District 5 B Commissioner Craig Leuthold was quoted in the Farragut Press giving his excuse that the roundabout was the only solution for the intersection of Northshore Drive and Concord Road.

What Mr. Leuthold did not say was that the community had no chance to give input for this County Commission vote. The Knox County Commission website did not post the agenda and none of the local newspapers printed any information about this vote until the vote was held in County Commission.

Voters will decide if this omission of a major public safety issue is grounds to seek a new commissioner.

From the Farragut Press:

Leuthold was also a driving force behind the creation of a roundabout at the intersection of Northshore Drive and Concord Road.

Leuthold said he tried to get a stoplight at that intersection, but Northshore Drive is considered a state highway by the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

“That’s a case where Knox County can’t tell the state what to do,” he said.

The TDOT officials said a light wasn’t an option because of the lack of land required to install turn lanes. Leuthold said the roundabout was the only option.

Leuthold said he supported the creation of a wheel tax for Knox County. In fact, he had proposed making the wheel tax $41 instead of the current $36, with the extra $5 being designated for school construction funding. An increase in the wheel tax in the future, he said, isn’t something that’s on the table.

read more

Good Afternoon All,

Last year the Tennessee legislators were charged with the task of creating a uniform grading scale in answer to questions about achieving a 3.0 for purposes of distributing lottery funds. As a result of this the Tennessee grading scale was established. This stipulates that an A is 93-100, B is 85-92, etc. The other thing that was changed is that AP and Honors courses were no longer considered on a 5.0 scale.

In Knox County we have acknowledged the increased difficulty of the AP and Honors courses and students were given an additional 1.0 for each AP course and 0.5 for each honors course. The state last year changed this to offering an additional 5 POINTS to the Letter Grade for AP Courses and 3 points to the letter grade for honors. For example, if a student received an 87 in an AP Biology course, his grade would be adjusted to a 92 (5 points). The impact of this is to move the student from a grade of B to a grade of B! Not really an incentive.

All of this has been the long way of letting you know that there are two Bills being considered this year that would allow us to go back to the 0.5 and 1.0 additions for these classes. I ask that you consider contacting our state representatives and letting them know you support this change. I am attaching 3 documents. The first one is a copy of the proposed Bill. The second is a copy of the letter the Board of Education is sending our state representatives. The third is a list of our representatives and their contact numbers


Please consider supporting this change. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Also, please feel free to forward this to neighbors/friends.

Thank you,

Karen Carson

From WATE television news:

March 8, 2006

KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- An overnight car crash in Farragut knocked out power for 1,000 LCUB customers Wednesday.

A man lost control of his car on Grigsby Chapel Road near Smith Road around 4:00 a.m. The collision totalled the car, but the driver has only minor injuries.

The car hit a 50-foot power pole which knocked out power. It took more than three hours to restore electricity to the homes.

From WBIR television news:

Recent accidents have taken the lives of five young people over the past two weeks. Tragedies that are familiar to one community. But, a program in place is encouraging drivers to be careful and it seems to be working.

Matthew Derrick doesn't remember much about his accident, but it has had lasting effects.

"I may have dozed off for just a quick second, but that's all it takes," Matthew says. He lost most of his arm in that accident two years ago.

"It's been a roller coaster ride. Up and down, up and down, up and down. I get better one week and the next week I get knocked right back down," he says.

A trying experience that he and his doctor, Diane Rourke, now use to teach others. A type of presentation that fit perfectly into Powell High School's new driving awareness program.

"Being able to present Matt at the end of the presentation, have them see him not just as a picture on the slide, but the real thing, I think brought the message home to them," Dr. Rourke says.

An important message that strikes a chord with Powell students. Starting in 1999, a series of wrecks left more than a dozen Powell students dead.


read more

From WBIR television news:

Family and friends remember two teenagers killed in weekend accident

A car accident Friday night took the lives of two Lenoir City teenagers.

When 18-year-old Zachary Robinson merged on to Pellissippi Parkway from Lovell Road his Honda Prelude slid under a semi-truck. Lynsey Ford, who was 16-years-old, was a passenger in Robinson's car.

Knox County Sheriff's deputies say Robinson was speeding and alcohol was in the vehicle, but none of the containers were open.

Friends and family who knew them best say Zach and Lynsey were special people.

A friend of the two, Wende Moore, says, "They were dating, but I mean they were best friends. They just loved each other's company and just to hang out and have fun together."

read more

From the Knoxville News Sentinel:


Search committee took less than 10 minutes to narrow list of candidates

By ERICKA MELLON, mellone@knews.com

March 5, 2006


CHATTANOOGA - Knox County Schools Superintendent Charles Lindsey lost his bid Saturday to become the superintendent of Hamilton County Schools.
It took the county's Superintendent Search Advisory Committee less than 10 minutes Saturday afternoon to eliminate Lindsey and two other candidates.

The reasons the candidates were eliminated is unclear. The committee members did not make any comments about the rejected candidates during a public meeting Saturday afternoon.

The committee members simply circled the names of their three favorite candidates and handed the sheets of paper to Bill Attea, a partner with Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, the Illinois-based firm hired to oversee the nationwide search.

read more

More from WATE television news

Good afternoon everyone,

Just wanted to update you on the results of the school Board
meeting on Wed. March 1st. As you are probably aware, the Board of
Ed. did approve the capital plan (it wasn't pretty!) Now this
proposed plan will be presented to the County Commission for
approval. If approved, we will then need to find land and begin
construction on a new West Knox Elementary school next year. As you
all know, that is never a quick process!

The Board also approved the first draft of the general operating
budget. We will be asking for an increase in funding to support two
new, and I think vital, programs. One will be foreign languages at
the elementary level. We are asking for 18 positions to begin this
process. If anyone has any knowledge of any innovative ways to
introduce foreign language at the elementary level utilizing today's
technology, please pass it on to me. The second new program will be
the introduction of a technology position at each of the 12 high
schools. Currently Knox County spends about 1% of its operating
budget on technology , well below state and national averages. Our
plan will be to expand this program to all schools over the next few
years.

On a separate note, I will let you all know -as soon as I
become aware of what will happen with Dr. Lindsey and the position in
Chattanooga. (though I am sure you'll hear it on the news first!)

Too many teenage traffic accidents and deaths have moved the State of Tennessee to change the state’s graduated license program. Associated with this will be changes in insurance rates for those teenagers who have traffic accidents.

What can you as a parent do? First, require your child to turn off the cell phone and prohibit its use when the car is in motion.

Second, require that your child not have passengers unless they have your specific approval.

Third, let your child drive the family car or purchase them a family sedan. Save the sports car purchase for when they graduate from college.

Fourth, get involved and teach your child that tailgating and speeding reduce reaction time and cause accidents.

Fifth, make sure your child has the best driver training you can afford.


From the Knoxville News Sentinel:

By BETH RUCKER, Associated Press
March 1, 2006


NASHVILLE — Teenagers convicted of even a small number of traffic violations could face losing their driving privileges under changes to the state’s graduated license program that took effect Wednesday.

Drivers younger than 18 who accumulate three points on their driving records within a year will be required to attend a hearing with a parent or legal guardian to discuss the traffic violations. They also must take an eight-hour defensive driving course.

If the violation is severe, the license could be suspended.

Previously, a teen did not face punishment until he or she had accumulated 12 points.

"Teenage drivers must realize that driving a car is serious business," said Lt. Phil Hardin, director of the Department of Safety’s Driver Improvement Program.

The changes to the graduated program, known as Hayden’s Rule, were initiated by a Knoxville family who were victims of a February 2003 vehicle crash involving a teen driver.

Hayden Maple was born premature by emergency C-section after the teen driver crossed a double yellow line to pass another vehicle and hit Hayden’s mom, Robin Maple. Hayden, who doctors said before the crash would be a healthy baby, now suffers from daily seizures and must take more than 10 medications per day.

I received a phone call last night about some high drama on Turkey Creek Road on Tuesday. Around 3:15 PM my friend was traveling west on Turkey Creek Road approaching the sharp turn at the end of Turkey Creek. He could see two Sheriff’s cars over at the railroad bridge where people park to go fishing. There was a white van with a ladder on top of it. The Sheriff’s helicopter was overhead circling.

In the rearview mirror three Sheriff’s cars with lights were approaching. My friend pulled over. Four more Sheriff’s cars came by. My friend backed up as the road was completely sealed now. A white man was being led up from the lake in handcuffs. Many more Sheriff’s cars and motorcycles came. My friend spoke of the precision with which this happened. At the time my friend had not heard the news so he turned on the radio and heard the story. It wasn’t until later in the evening that he learned that the van and occupants were still at large.

This is a good time to remind people how important it is to pull over and allow emergency vehicles to pass. Keep in mind that if you see one Sheriff’s patrol car or fire engine there may be more on the way. Pull over and stop.

Our community extends our thanks to the Sheriff’s department for all that was done yesterday. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Knox County Sheriff's Office Patrol Officer Cory Johnson. Your service is greatly appreciated.