June 24, 2013 www.knoxfocus.com PAGE A1 Visit www.knoxfocus.com to access Your source for local breaking news June 24, 2013 FREE- Take One! Two will FOCUS challenge Heroics on a budget Weekly Poll* Council Do you believe incumbents public school Only two of five Knox- ville City Council seats teachers will be contested in this should receive year’s primary after last week’s qualify- an automatic ing petition deadline. Incumbent Nick Della pay raise Volpe, who represents the every year 4th District, will square off against Rick Staples, regardless of a deputy in the Knox County Sheriff’s Office. PHOTOS BY DAN ANDREWS. job Likewise, former Left: Volunteer Rescue state representative performance? Squad Assistant Chief Jef- Charles “Pete” Drew fery Petress Jr. checks his YES 24.71% filed to unseat former equipment before leaving interim mayor Daniel for a call. NO 75.29% Brown, who repre- Above: The jaws of life. Survey conducted sents the 6th District. June 20, 2013. Assuming no write-in candidates file, incum- Rescue Squad keeps City, County safe actions are volunteers who receive no pay, and the orga- * Focus Weekly Polls are conducted by an independent, bent council members nization operates on a shoe string budget. Yet with all By Dan Andrews professional polling company. Nick Pavlis (1st Dis- [email protected] these obstacles, this organization of dedicated citizens trict), Duane Grieve (2nd somehow finds a way to make it all work. District) and Brenda From performing harrowing water rescues under the I spent the day with Assistant Chief Jeffery Petress PART-TIME Palmer (3rd District) Gay Street Bridge to using the Jaws of Life to free a car- Jr. last week, having met him at a Knox County Com- SALES POSITION will run unopposed. trapped victim in Farragut, the Knoxville Volunteer Emer- mission meeting a month ago. During this particu- Voter registration ends gency Rescue Squad responds to a variety of lifesav- lar meeting, his department pleaded with the County AVAILABLE. on Aug. 24. Early voting ing situations that both the Knoxville Fire Department Commission for $100,000.00 to buy a new rescue FLEXIBLE begins Sept. 4. Early and Rura/Metro do not. The rescue squad responds to truck. Currently many of the rescue trucks have well voting ends Sept. 19. water rescue, vehicle entrapment, and confined space over 100,000 miles. (Chief Petress’s vehicle has over HOURS. GREAT Election day is Sept. 24. rescue, among others. The heroes who perform these Continue on page 4 OPPORTUNITY. 686-9970 Councilman Nick Della Volpe pushes for improvements at mall exit By Tasha Mahurin one of the primary issues [email protected] is visibility. TDOT built ele- While commercial devel- vated roads on either side opment within the city of of I-640 when they built Knoxville continues to the bypass in the 1970s. expand both downtown 40 years of brush and tree and westward, Knoxville growth along the border- City Councilman Nick Della ing grassy hillsides have Volpe, is concerned about obscured businesses existing development- in along either side of exit 8 particular the area that from view. PHOTO BY DAN ANDREWS. includes and is adjacent “With the overgrowth, Present at the Volunteer Recognition Banquet are City Councilman Daniel Brown, CAC Board Chair Virginia to Knoxville Center Mall in some 75,000+ travelers Anagnost, former County Commissioner John Mills, Charlotte Mills, former County Commissioner Tank East Knoxville. per day on I-640 can’t see Strickland, and CAC Director Barbara Kelly. Knoxville Center Mall, and don’t know they are located off exit 8 on I-640, driving by a major shop- has approximately 60 ten- ping area,” Della Volpe Senior Companion Program Celebrates ants. Additionally, the exit explained. is home to Home Depot, Della Volpe also suggests Lowes, O’Charley’s, Cracker that a lack of signage has 25 years of service with a special Barrel, and a McDonald’s, compounded the issue. among others. Economic “There is no logo sign downturn and increased on the interstate in either Volunteer Recognition Luncheon commercial development direction that indicates On Friday, June 21st, with lively music and an after- These Senior Companions help homebound adults in other areas of Knoxville ‘Food, Gas, Lodging, and noon of elegance, more than 80 senior volunteers with many tasks including meal preparation, house- have caused a significant Retail Stores this exit’,” he were honored at a recognition luncheon hosted by hold management, shopping, personal care, light struggle amidst business- added the Office on Aging’s Senior Companion Program. The housekeeping, and respite care that allow seniors to es in this community. TDOT currently has a program started in 1988 with 20 volunteers and now remain independent and at home. However, despite the regulation that allows for a coordinates more than 100 volunteers each year. Senior Companions work with adults recovering from issues at hand, this group blue logo sign on only the The Senior Companion Program serves close to 200 of merchants pays over first interstate exit as you illness, seniors recovering from major surgery, hospice adults each month and is a unique program that: $2.6 million per year in city enter a municipality with a patients, individuals that feel alone and isolated, and • provides low-income adults over the age of 55 and county property taxes, population over 100,000. with an opportunity for meaningful volunteer seniors with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. in addition to $1.5- $2 mil- After meeting with sev- experiences that allow them to provide compan- People interested in securing the assistance of a lion in city sales tax, and eral of the area merchants ionship and support to many homebound adults Senior Companion or in volunteering with the Knox- over $10 million in state such as Justin Sterling, who in our community, and ville-Knox County CAC Senior Companion Program can sales tax. They also provide is charged by Simon with • provides services at no cost to the seniors call 524-2786 for more information. some 2,000 jobs. leasing space in Knoxville receiving care. According to Della Volpe, Continue on page 2 We fix, buy, and sell old or antique clocks! PAGE A2 The Knoxville Focus June 24, 2013 Focus on the Law FOCUS Supremacy Clause Weekly Poll Last week I heard that all laws of all states and do so. The only issue for courts to Do you believe public school teachers someone complain that our the Federal Government decide in these situations is whether state legislators just don’t are subordinate to the the challenged state law is the one should receive an automatic pay raise understand the Supremacy Constitution. that the federal law was intended to every year regardless of job Clause. If that statement is One of the earliest preempt. true, I am sure they are not examples of the use of Implied preemption may occur performance? the only ones so I thought the Supremacy Clause despite no express preemption in a it might be worth briefly is the case of McCulloch federal statute. In cases involving By Sharon discussing the Supremacy Frankenberg, v. Maryland. Maryland implied preemption, the courts look Clause in this column. Attorney at Law passed a law taxing all to see if Congress has “occupied the The Supremacy Clause is banks located in the state field” in which the state is attempting Yes 24.71% found in Article VI, Section 2 that were not chartered by to regulate. Congress has occupied of the United States Constitution. It the state legislature. The Second the field when there is no room left No 75.29% reads as follows: Bank of the United States had opened for state regulation , when a state law This Constitution, and the Laws a branch in Baltimore and Maryland directly conflicts with federal law, or By Age Yes No Total of the United States which shall be levied a tax on it. The United States when the enforcement of the state 30-49 20.41% 79.59% 49 made in Pursuance thereof; and all Supreme Court ruled that the State law might frustrate federal purposes. Treaties made, under the Authority of Maryland had no legal right to tax Courts will not let the challenged 50-65 26.32% 73.68% 133 of the United States, shall be the the Second Bank of the United States state law stand if, after reviewing the 65+ 24.71% 75.29% 255 supreme Law of the Land; and the since it was a federal entity. pervasiveness of the federal scheme Total 24.71% (108) 75.29% (329) 437 Judges in every State shall be bound Another concept derived from the of regulation, the federal interest at thereby, any Thing in the Constitution Supremacy Clause is the preemption stake and the danger of frustration of or Laws of any State to the Contrary doctrine. Preemption can be either federal goals, it finds that the federal By District notwithstanding. express or implied. When Congress law must preempt it. 1 44.83% 55.17% 29 This means that any federal law expressly preempts state law, it trumps any conflicting state law and clearly states its specific intent to 2 27.59% 72.41% 58 3 20.51% 79.49% 39 4 22.06% 77.94% 68 5 14.29% 85.71% 49 Something Above and Outside Ourselves 6 25.00% 75.00% 56 I’ve tried people don’t like No, God won’t necessarily existences are filled with 7 23.53% 76.47% 51 to write this giving up sleeping interfere with or “fix” the many “giant” events that 8 27.27% 72.73% 44 piece a couple late on Sunday events of life, but He will are far above our abilities 9 25.58% 74.42% 43 of times but mornings.