December 10, 2012 www.knoxfocus.com PAGE A1 INSIDE B Business C Sports D Health & Home MONDAY December 10, 2012 FREE- Take One! Judge Tim Irwin Wants Your Stuffed Animals FOCUS By Focus Staff Weekly Poll* law practice when he announced he would be When first seeing Tim Irwin, Judge of Knox a candidate for Judge of the Juvenile Court In your opinion, County’s Juvenile Court, one likely doesn’t to succeed the retiring Carey Garrett. Irwin should the think about stuffed animals. 6’7 feet tall and proved to be so formidable a candidate, he Superintendent of weighing in at almost 300 pounds, Irwin looks encountered no opposition in either the pri- Schools in Knox more like the professional football player he mary or general elections. once was than a judge. Irwin doesn’t have A year ago, Judge Irwin came up with the County be elected the hail-well-fellow-met bonhomie of the typ- idea of acquiring stuff animals for the chil- by the people or ical politician; instead he has a rather gruff dren coming to the Juvenile Court. Knoxvil- appointed by the exterior, albeit a gruff exterior that masks a lians responded generously and beyond what School Board? warm concern for children and a profound even Irwin thought possible. ELECTED 69.16% sense of compassion. More than 30,000 cases are heard yearly Tim Irwin was a star on the football field at the Juvenile Court and Irwin presides over APPOINTED 30.84% while attending the University of Tennessee an impressive operation that seems to func- Survey conducted and parlayed his success there into a pro- tion both smoothly and effectively. With so December 6, 2012. fessional career with the Minnesota Vikings. many cases, perhaps it is not surprising the Unlike many professional athletes, Irwin also supply of stuffed animals is beginning to run * Focus Weekly Polls are conducted Tim Irwin, by an independent, professional worked hard to further his education and low. polling company. earned a law degree. Irwin had a successful Continue on page 2 Judge of Knox County’s Juvenile Court Making By Ralphine Major Holidays [email protected] He looked right at home on the tall John Deere tractor coming brighter down Tazewell Pike. He should. The Knox County Commissioner for the Eighth District has had plenty of experience with tractors through the on his parents’ farm in the Gibbs Community. In a scene lifted VMC Holiday right out of rural America, Dave Wright was driving Grady Lett’s 1954 Model 60 Series John Deere with an American flag flying in Store the breeze. “My Dad had a John Deere just like it, and I spent a By Tasha Mahurin lot of hours on the tractor as a teenager.” Dave told me. “In the [email protected] dairy business, we needed a high-powered tractor to pull silage and move hay,” he added. There were lots of those green and While cash registers yellow tractors pulling floats and wagons in the Third Annual Gibbs ring at malls and shop- Christmas Parade on Sunday afternoon, December 2. ping centers this time There was a time when members of small, rural communities of year, another type had to drive to downtown Knoxville to enjoy a Christmas parade. of exchange is taking Times have changed. The Gibbs Ruritan Club sponsored and place at Volunteer Min- organized the Christmas parade which ran from Gibbs High istry Center in North School through Harbison’s Crossroads down to the IGA Grocery Knoxville. VCM opened Store. In partnership with Clear Springs Baptist Church (CSBC), its annual Holiday Store the parade was routed up the beautiful hillside of the future home just last week. The Holi- of the church and ended on Emory Road. day Store is a unique pro- The big, yellow Rural Metro truck led the parade and was fol- gram for the recipients lowed by the Jr. ROTC in uniform and bearing flags. The Gibbs of VMC services to earn High School Marching Band, Majorettes, and Color Guard fol- gift items for their loved lowed with their festive Santa hats. There is nothing quite like a ones with points accrued band in a parade adding that wonderful mix of bass drums, brass, through community ser- and woodwinds to the Christmas carols. A float filled with cham- vice. Individuals are pions waved to the crowd as the Gibbs High School Girls’ Softball then able to redeem the Team—the 2012 State Champions--made their way through the points to “purchase” the parade. To the delight of happy children along the route, several items they have selected of those on floats tossed out candy canes. Many floats were dec- from the Holiday Store. orated with angels and scripture by area churches and reminded “Our volunteers earn us of the true meaning of Christmas. Tractors carrying American their points through a flags, antique cars decorated in glistening garland, and tractor wide array of commu- Knox County Commissioner Dave Wright drives a John Deere tractor in trailer trucks honked and rolled in procession. nity service projects,” the Gibbs Ruritan Christmas Parade. Photo by Ralphine Major. Continue on page 2 VCM CEO, Ginny Weath- erstone told The Focus. Participants volun- teer at VCM, Minvil- la Manor, the Old Grey Cemetery, and a Helen Ross McNabb Center The Great Divide among others. Accord- ing to Weatherstone the program is popular with men who contrib- JWPE opinions aired at public hearing ute skilled labor to vari- By Tasha Mahurin ous projects. [email protected] TDOT revealed plans for changed to a parkway. to TDOT, this is two times Rogero. “I’ve lived in South “We normally rake a freeway design of the TDOT officials also pre- greater than other similar Knoxville for 11 years, the Old Grey Cemetery Tensions were high last extension rather than a sented an overview of the roads in Tennessee. Addi- and I live a half mile from each December through week when an estimated parkway design. A freeway project, which included tionally, TDOT claimed that where the current parkway our program,” Weath- 600 of South Knox resi- requires a wider right-of- new crash data specifical- the extension would further ends. South Knoxville has erstone added. “It pro- dents, concerned citizens, way, but has been deter- ly for the stretch of Chap- serve to improve traffic changed. It’s not a bridge vides a source of pride and elected officials made mined to be the most effi- man Highway from the flow and safety on Martin to nowhere anymore.” and accomplishment for their way into the auditori- cient road system to move Henley Street Bridge to Mill Pike, Neubert Springs Vice Mayor Nick Pavlis, all involved.” um at South Doyle Middle traffic. According to traf- Fronda Road. From 2007 Road, and Sevierville Pike. who represents South Over the past fifteen School for TDOT’s public fic studies completed by to 2012, there were 1,235 Mayor Madeline Rogero, Knoxville on city council, years, the Holiday Store hearing on the James TDOT, ¾ of all traffic on this crashes on this section of who is a South Knox resi- also spoke to the no-build has been extremely White Parkway Extension stretch of Chapman High- Chapman Highway, seven dent, addressed TDOT and alternative, but addressed successful in providing Draft Environmental Impact way is “thru traffic”. How- fatalities, and 39 incapac- the crowd, “I support the Continued on page 4 Continue on page 3 Statement (DEIS). ever, the design could be itating injuries. According no-build alternative,” said PAGE A2 The Knoxville FOCUS December 10, 2012 Judge Tim Irwin Wants Your Stuffed Animals Continued from page 1 FOCUS handed a stuffed animal are indel- nonsense, yet remains willing to give Judge Irwin, just after a stint play- ibly imprinted upon the minds of any a child another chance. ing Santa Claus, has again called for person who has witnessed it at the Irwin, a big and bluff man, has Weekly Poll Knoxvillians and Knox Countians to Juvenile Court. proven to be a remarkably good judge open their hearts to those children “You just can’t get it out of your of a court that has more than its share In your opinion, should who are all too often neglected and head,” one long-time employee said. of heartbreaking stories. Judge Irwin abused. Irwin explained that many “Once you see that angelic smile has also initiated a very simple pro- the Superintendent of of the children appearing at the Juve- break out across the face of a child gram that really does make a differ- nile Court are not there because of that had been scared out of his wits, ence, distributing not only stuffed Schools in Knox County be having committed a crime or an well, it’s just amazing.” animals, but a little bit of love at the offense, but due to issues of abuse Judge Irwin, a father of three, same time. elected by the people or and neglect from their own parents seems to possess some innate abil- For information on how to donate, appointed by the or guardians. ity to determine the inner being of contact the Knox County Juvenile The expressions on the faces of a young person. He has an uncom- Court at (865) 215-6400. School Board? frightened and abused children being mon knack for putting up with no Elected 69.16% Gibbs Christmas Parade Appointed 30.84% Continued from page 1 Gibbs Ruritan Club. I am sure those who lined the parade By Age Elected Appointed Total route, often six people deep, appreciate the efforts of 18-29 33.33% 66.67% 3 A long line of beautiful horses and a team of mules pull- everyone who made the parade possible.