ear (2005-47)

Icing the Square

Two Hung Up

Torso Case Exhumed

O’Goodness

Tax Man Cometh

All the Sad New Carpet

Baker on Cumberland

Bug in Our Ear

Icing the Square

The result of technical and fundraising efforts by Larsen Jay , of DoubleJay Creative, and Scott Schimmel , co-owner of the two Bliss stores on the square, the skating rink cost about $130,000, paid for with some city seed money as well as grants from private sources, including the Central Business Improvement District, Jewelry TV, and Pilot Corp.

Newcomers have a hard time believing this, and some of us have a hard time remembering it, but the idea was tried for a few seasons before, in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s—we recall it being on a somewhat smaller scale—in the days when there was little open on the square after dark. Its cooling elements labored under some unseasonably warm weather, which is not ideal for keeping ice icy. The current merchants think with more feet on the square, and better technology, the idea may make a go of it this time.

Two Hung Up

Scott Niswonger evidently withdrew his name during the vetting process. Niswonger, the CEO of LandAir, in Greeneville, has been a prominent figure in the state’s business community and was considered a shoo-in for the board. During the Sundquist administration he often lent his plane to fly the governor and cabinet officers around the country on industrial recruitment trips. But he withdrew.

There was also a candidate named DePriest who was not announced; background investigators reportedly didn’t have time to get all questions answered before the announcement.

The names announced thus far are Bill Sansom and Susan Richardson Williams , from Knoxville, Howard Thrailkill from Alabama, Mike Duncan from Kentucky and Dennis Bottorff of Nashville. (Our earlier report, from notes taken crouched behind the copy machine, had Bottorff’s name spelled as Bratliff. Sorry about that.)

Torso Case Exhumed

O’Goodness

Bayless says each employee was offered a position in another area restaurant or given severance pay, and that the announcement was made prior to Thanksgiving so that the crew could make alternate arrangements.

At 1 a.m. on Monday, Tall Paul, Ben Altom and Ben Ellis —weekly performers at the restaurant—received calls notifying them that they too would be laid off indefinitely. The ever resilient Altom says, “I am already meeting with some people [Monday] about getting some financial backers and opening up a music venue there.”

The Jury is Out

Former Councilwoman Carlene Malone , a leader of the Lift the Bar movement to open the garage, says people called for jury duty are instructed to park in the Coliseum Parking Garage and report to the Civic Coliseum for the selection process. The empanelling of juries requires accumulating scores of people for ultimate selection to serve on a jury. The parking situation at the City County building makes it inconvenient for the public to report for jury duty, which is not high on the list of most people’s favorite things to do anyway.

Malone says it’s just another example of the public being inconvenienced by the parking ban and court officials having to make special arrangements out of the building to do business.

Tax Man Cometh

Seems a good old boy built a house up in the woods, without a building permit, put a gate across the driveway and a no-trespassing sign that included “federal officers of the IRS, HEW, HUD, environmental, health, and other unconstitutional agencies” as well as “all local members of the planning & zoning boards.” The house could not be seen from the road due to a long driveway “through swampy and thick terrain, pine trees and a rye field.”

The local tax assessor and a zoning official went onto the property to inspect the home three times, to confirm the zoning violation, to post a civil infraction on the door and to conduct a tax assessment.

Senior U.S. District Judge Gil Merritt , of Nashville, ruled that the Michigan inspectors went onto the property, but merely to eyeball the house, without entering it. A three-judge panel ruled that going into the yard without “touching, entering or looking into the house” was not a violation of the Fourth Amendment and did not violate “an expectation of privacy.”

All the Sad New Carpet

Baker on Cumberland

The center, which will feature a museum and will host public events, will be on highly visible Cumberland Ave. at Melrose Place. The construction plan required tearing down the Keller Home, one of the last residences on Cumberland Ave., a structure on the Knox Heritage “Fragile 15” list. An attempt to move the structure to a spot readied for it on Clinch Avenue failed, because it was determined to be too wide to navigate the streets.

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