PAGE APB The Knoxville Focus March 8, 2021 March 8, 2021 www.knoxfocus.com ONLINE AUCTIONPAGE A1 March 12, 2021 The Knoxville See photos at The Knoxville fountaincityauction.com Fountain City Auction (865)474-9931 OCUS FREETake One! www.knoxfocus.com F March 8, 2021 Phone: 865-686-9970 | PO Box 18377, Knoxville, TN 37928 | Located at 4109 Central Avenue Pike, Knoxville, Tennessee 37912 BE SAFE . WASH YOUR HANDS . WEAR A MASK . SOCIALLY DISTANCE COVID-19 2019 Knox County Total Confirmed % COVID-19 Cases/ Total COVID-19 % COVID-19 Deaths/ Weekly Total Population1 COVID-19 Cases2 Total Population Deaths2 Total Population 470,313 40,222 8.6% 543 .12% Focus SOURCES 1. U.S. Census Bureau 2. Knox County Health Department data from 3/6/2021. Can the KCSO Merit System Council rule on a sheriff’s transfer of an employee? By Mike Steely department-assigned car. for more than 20 years. Her the use of the vehicle and for the position and Dooley no authority to have a hear- Senior Writer 470,313 40,222 8.6% 543 0.12% [email protected] Sheriff Tom Spangler complaint says her transfer gas card was part of her has been left out of all deci- ing over the matter or grant replaced Martha Dooley, was political and wants a hiring agreement and is sions regarding media rela- Ms. Dooley the relief she The push and pull con- the former director of vehicle assigned to her and part of her salary, accord- tions and given little work seeks.” test between the Knox media relations, when he the return of her gas card. ing to a complaint filed by to do. Lawyer Gary Prince County Sheriff’s Office and was elected in 2018 and She says the vehicle her attorney, John P. Val- The outside firm of also noted in his letter to its Merit System Coun- Dooley became Deputy privileges came when liant Jr. The complaint O’Neil, Parker and William- the Merit System Council cil continues with a new Director. She is alleging she began serving under asserts that current Media son was hired by KCSO to that Dooley’s remedy is dispute involving a com- that Spangler is trying to former Sheriff Tim Hutchin- Director Kimberly Glenn, investigate the complaint “unavailable to her by law” plaint from a current KCSO force her to quit or retire son and continued under who was named by the and notified the Merit and the sheriff’s depart- employee to the coun- and has taken away a vehi- Sheriff J. J. Jones. sheriff, , has no education- System Council on Febru- ment is asking the case be cil about her use of a cle and gas card she had Dooley is claiming that al background to qualify ary 17 that the council “has Continue on page 6 Fulton Falls, Bearden Barks in Region Play Superintendent proposes one- time payments for district employees By Ken Lay As the Knox County Schools System continues to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, Superinten- dent Bob Thomas continues to laud school district employees for going above and beyond in helping to keep campuses open. On Wednesday, however, Thomas said that he wants to reward all of the district’s employees with a one-time bonus at the Knox County Board of Education’s work session meeting at the Andrew Johnson Building. The superintendent proposed to pay certified teachers an addition- al $1,000 and he proposed paying classified employees an additional $500. The board will vote on the mea- sure at this week’s regular session meeting on Wednesday. Part of the funding for the pro- Left, Fulton senior Tommy Sweat led the Falcons in scoring, but the Kingston Yellow Jackets wouldn’t be denied their first region ti- posed payments for district employ- tle since 1979. Photo by Cassie Vaughn. Right, Bearden High’s A.J. Pruitt slashes past multiple defenders in Thursday night’s Region ees would come from the $2.5 mil- 2-AAA Championship Game in Oak Ridge. Pruitt scored 10 points in the Bulldogs’ 55-52 victory over the Wildcats. Photo by Luther lion allocated by the state. Those Simmons. For coverage of these games plus the Bearden Lady Bulldogs’ region victory, please see this week’s sports in section B. funds were earmarked to assist with the pandemic in January. “In recognition of (district employ- ees’) achievements, I am recom- mending that we use the state fund- City to ask state to keep tax revenue from stadium ing and supplement it with local By Mike Steely governments to keep state and An agreement with Design and Project upping the amount by funding,” Thomas said. Senior Writer [email protected] local sales tax revenue from Construction Services for the $38,600, bringing the agree- The superintendent noted that it businesses within a quarter- construction of the Waterfront ment to $68,200. was a team effort by teachers, coun- The City of Knoxville is asking mile radius of the facility to Drive Roadway Improvement The Community Action Com- selors, administrators and classified the state legislature to allow cover a portion of its costs. Project for $733,262 is on the mittee may get additional fund- employees to keep schools open this local state and local tax reve- Some citizens are opposed agenda. ing of $123,028 from COVID-19 year. nue generated at the proposed to the city and county helping A resolution for a lease agree- funding for housing assistance. “We’ve had our teachers teach- baseball stadium be kept for fund the stadium’s construc- ment with Legacy Parks Foun- An agreement for a five-year, ing virtually and we’ve had teach- city use. The resolution is on tion with taxpayer money and dation is before the council for $3.4M contract with CMV Syn- ers teaching in-person and we’ve the agenda for Tuesday’s Knox- then handing over management water access at Bicentennial cromatics for Advanced Trans- had teachers teaching both virtually ville City Council meeting. of the stadium to the privately- Park for a non-motorized boat portation Technology for use in and in-person concurrently,” Thomas At the same time the council owned Knoxville Smokies com- launch. the city’s transit system is being said. “We’ve had teachers do tem- will be asked to oppose the two pany which would be the sole The council will also consider requested by the Knoxville Area perature checks and enforce safety Tennessee House and Senate renter of the facility. allotting $100,000 to the Appa- Transit. protocol. bills that would do so in a res- lachian Mountain Bike Club to The council may also “Our custodians have done extra olution sponsored by Council- IN OTHER BUSINESS the city purchase 28 acres to extend approved in lieu of tax pay- work and our food service workers woman Amelia Parker. council has several “water– the William Hastie Natural Area ments for the Knoxville Utility have come up with creative ways to State Senate Bill 783 from related” agenda items includ- in the Urban Wilderness. Board for the next fiscal year. feed both virtual students and in- Senator Becky Massey and its ing an agreement with Buffa- The contract with Hedstrom Several bonds are on the person students. We’ve had 106 counterpart in the house, HB lo Automation for a demonstra- Landscape Architecture may agenda for electric, gas, water days out of a possible 115 days of 1204 introduced by Rep. Jason tion of an autonomous boat ser- be amended for design servic- and wastewater funding. in-person learning. For a district our Zachary, seek to allow local vice on the Tennessee River. es at the Fort Kid Playground size, that is phenomenal.” 2020 FORD F250 SUPERCAB 120 B Lynnwood Dr. Knoxville, Tn. 37918 Thinking of Buying or Selling? Stk# B3210 Contact 2026 N Charles G Seviers Blvd . Clinton, TN Deborah Hill-Hobby, Affiliate Broker 865/207-5587 Mobile 865.457.0704 865/770-4030 Office www.rayvarnerford.com PAGE A2 The Knoxville Focus March 8, 2021 Keeping schools closed has hurt our children been done to millions of In my Focus column of problems. that said coronavirus num- public schools. My grand- From a distance children by keeping our Dec. 7, entitled “Our chil- The grim milestone of bers had been inflated by mother taught for 40 years schools closed. dren are at risk,” I quoted 500,000 deaths amounts 1600%. in Scott county and my Kristof is certainly very experts from both the to less than two-tenths of The survival rate of the sister Beverly for 30 years liberal on almost everything, St. Paul (MN) and Fairfax one percent of the U.S. pop- very few who catch this in Knox county. My four chil- so I wonder if the editor in county (VA) school systems ulation. And the CDC said a virus under the age of 21 is dren did either all or most charge of his column actual- stating that all children, but few months ago that 94% of 99.97% and around 99% for of their education in public ly read all of it before it was especially disadvantaged so-called covid deaths have those under 60, which is the schools. published. and disabled students were been with co-morbidities. great majority of teachers. But the teacher’s union It certainly didn’t follow being harmed by those clo- In other words, these Nicholas Kristof wrote: have done a real disser- By John J. Duncan Jr. the standard left-wing line. sures. deaths were just as likely, “Millions of American vice to the teaching profes- [email protected] Kristof wrote that “the I pointed out that children or possibly even more so, to schoolchildren will soon sion by becoming an arm of educational losses are dis- were in far more danger have been caused by heart have missed a year of in- the Democratic party and I very seldom read the proportionally the fault of riding in cars than they were failure, pneumonia, diabe- person instruction, and we by making it appear that a New York Times, because Democratic governors and sitting in classrooms.