June 22, 2015 www.knoxfocus.com NeedPAGE A1 Cash? Turn unwanted household items into money! Call Fountain City Auction at (865)604-3468 for all of your auction needs. FREETake One! June 22, 2015 Tate’s new Middle School to include Aeroponic Gardening By Sally Absher Plus+, coupled with a rigorous curric- by comparing the two growing meth- [email protected] ulum unveiled last week by the Buck ods using scientific methods of inqui- While many of Knoxville’s schools Institute, a national leader in Project ry and data collection. They will take incorporate gardens into their learn- Based Learning, students will be chal- specific and accurate measurements, ing environment, Tate’s new Middle lenged to apply Next Generation Sci- manage variables, make detailed School is taking that to a whole new ence Standards to a real world issue observations, maintain a lab journal, Aeroponic level. Tate’s School announced last – the shortage of resources for grow- visually represent their findings, draw Tower week that they will be the first Middle ing food. conclusions, and consider aeroponic with plants School in East Tennessee to intro- In the Tower Garden Challenge, stu- gardening’s future implications and including duce 6th grade students to the sci- dents will design and conduct a scien- real-world applications. Basil, Butter ence behind aeroponics, the process tific experiment to test claims made “We want our students to under- Crunch of growing plants in an air mist envi- by NASA and the University of Missis- stand the global challenges facing Lettuce, ronment without the use of soil. sippi that aeroponic growing meth- nations with growing populations,” Swiss Using a vertical growing system ods can produce more food, faster said Kaye Gardner Simmons, Princi- Chard, called the Tower Garden®, devel- and with less land and water than pal at Tate’s School. “This technol- Red-veined oped by Tim Blank (formerly with Walt traditional soil based growing meth- ogy will be highlighted as a part of sorrel and Disney World) and distributed by Juice ods. Students will test these claims Continue on page 3 Komatsuna A SALUTE TO EXCELLENCE County Commission The difference a month makes By Focus Staff On Monday, June 15, the Knox County Commission met in special session. In politics a month is a lifetime, and for some Knox County Commissioners it seemed as such. When the budget was presented to commission on May 11, the lobbying began, with the June 15th special session as the target date. That was the date that would possibly expose some commissioners to a yea or nay vote for a property tax increase to fund schools in Hardin Valley and Gibbs. The lobbying was furious, especially from the Gibbs communi- ty. As well, lobbying was furious from the commissioners to the county mayor, but there was no yield in him. n continuing its series on local However, by the time the public was allowed to weigh high school Student-Athletes of in on June 8, and give their opinions, out of no where a the Year, The Knoxville Focus “grand bargain” had been struck, and Knox County Mayor Ithis week features the Bretscher Burchett and Superintendent of Schools McIntyre were siblings of the L&N STEM Academy treated as heroes. Burchett even received applause from in Section C. the commissioners and from some of the public. James Bretscher, in his senior The Intergovernmental Memorandum of Understand- year, came on strong to win two ing (IMOU) had been revealed and the commission was state championships in swimming off the hook. and will begin competing at North As always “the devil is in the details,” but nobody was Carolina State University in 2015- interested in details, at least not from the majority of 16. commissioners. Except for Commissioners McKenzie James’ sister, Emily, was the top and Broyles, all others enthusiastically voted aye to female diver in February’s state amend the budget to include the IMOU. meet at UT and will be heading As it turned out, June 15 was a day of celebration. into her junior year at L&N STEM It was less than two weeks after the agreement of the Academy this fall. heads of county government and Knox County Schools. James and Emily also were It was an interesting turn of events. The county law honor students at L&N and Emily director had already been quoted in the local daily news- served as president of her sopho- paper stating, the budget agreement between Knox more class, too. County mayor and director of schools “has no legal teeth.” This meant nothing to the commission and the budget was approved by a vote of 9-2. This vote came after a procedural move by Commissioner Sam McKenzie with a substitute motion to delay the vote for 90 days. That attempt failed with only Broyles supporting McKenzie PHOTO BY MICHAEL WRIGHT to postpone. Emily Bretscher, L&N STEM Academy’s female Student-Athlete of the Year, was the top female diver in the state Other matters voted upon were to establish a General meet as a sophomore. Continue on page 4 Healthy fun at Max Air Trampoline Park By Mike Steely [email protected] jumping space. in-the-air dodge ball, six team-building meetings. the interior walls and party the couple discussed the Max Air Trampoline Park basketball goals where a The facility is large rooms with her fun and orig- idea, found their current When Amber Martin talks is located at 229 East good bouncer can slam enough to hold the cur- inal hand-painted designs. location, and found like- about the Max, she does so Emory Road, Knoxville, just dunk, and an inflatable air rent trampoline park as “We have always loved minded investors to bring with a passion. Amber and off the Emory Road/Powell bag where jumpers can well as room to expand. our community and there a fun place to the North her husband, Jason, along Exit on Interstate 75 across jump from the trampolines Other fun-loving possibili- were not a lot of fun family Knoxville area. with a group of local inves- from the old airport strip. and flip into the bag! It’s a ties are being considered things to do in North Knox- Amber added that as a tors, have created a unique Max Air has something perfect venue for hosting for the park, such as laser ville,” Amber told The therapist she works with indoor center that has over for every family member. birthday parties, sports tag or putt putt. Local artist Focus. After visiting a tram- 20,000 feet of trampoline It features open air jump, team events, and business Gale Hinton has enhanced poline venue in Nashville Cont. on page 2 2012 HONDA ACCORD From $13,890 Several to Choose From * Auto * All Pwr * Cruise * CD RUSTY WALLACE HONDA 8886971272 I75CALLAHAN, N.KNOX www.rustywallacehonda.com PAGE A2 The Knoxville Focus June 22, 2015 Focus on the Law Tennessee Business Court Our Tennessee Business Court 3) constitute a sharehold- on a defendant, any party Supreme Court for the state. er derivative or commer- may file a Request for Des- is charged with Chancellor Ellen cial class action; 4)involve ignation with the Business providing for the Hobbs Lyle will commercial real property Court. If the Business “orderly adminis- preside over the disputes other than resi- Court Judge recommends tration of justice” Business Court dential landlord-tenant accepting the case and Take to the air at Max Air Trampoline Park in North and, as such, it in addition to disputes and oreclosures; the case meets the eligi- Knoxville, where you’ll find 2,000 square feet of trampo- has decided to her regular 5)involve business claims bility criteria, the Chief Jus- By Sharon line jumping including basketball goals and a much more. dedicate a court Frankenberg, Davidson County between or among two or tice may transfer the case (Photo courtesy of Max Air) to the meet the Attorney at Law Chancery Court more business entities or to the Business Court. All specialized needs docket. She will individuals as their busi- objections to the assign- of business litigants. The be responsible for gather- ness or investment activi- ment of the case to the Healthy fun at Max Air Davidson County Busi- ing data and information ties relating to contracts, Business Court must be ness Court Pilot Project, and identifying best prac- transactions, or relation- filed with the Chief Jus- Trampoline Park commonly referred to as tices for the development ships between or tice within 30 days of the the “Business Court,” was of potential future Tennes- among them; 6) arise order of transfer. If the Continued from page 1 created by order of the see Business Courts in var- from technology licens- original case is filed out- challenged children and is currently working on an oppor- court on March 16, 2015. ious jurisdictions across ing agreements, including side of Davidson County tunity to add special times for families with disabilities. According to Supreme the state. software and biotechnolo- on or after May 1, 2015, it She hopes to find trampoline accessories that will afford Court Order No. ADM2015- What cases may be gy licensing agreements, may be transferred to the special needs children the opportunities to have some 00467, twenty-six other heard by the Business or any agreement involving Business Court at the dis- healthy fun. states have created spe- Court? Civil cases filed on the licensing of any intellec- cretion of the Chief Justice While Fridays and Saturdays are their busiest days Max cialized business courts or after May 1, 2015 which tual property right, includ- if all parties file a motion Air offers birthday packages, group discounts, and spe- with the goal of “business allege at least $50,000 ing patent rights; 7) consti- to transfer the case and a cial pricing from 10 a.m.