Mike Nifong has been disbarred. A fit ending for a man who pandered to the worst of racial politics when he buried evidence of non-guilt in his quest to hang three white college boys in a town where there’s some feeling of resentment on the part of the minority townspeople toward the more affluent student population.
It was political pandering at its worst.
I’m glad he can’t do the same to anyone else.
Trying to keep track of the best gas prices — within my normal driving range — has become challenging, but I found a neat tool to help in that quest: GasBuddy. There’s not a lot of monitoring in Oak Ridge yet, but two of the four stations that usually have the lowest price are on there. When I go out next, I’ll add Eddie Hair Firestone and the BP across from First Methodist.
What Gas Stations Won’t Tell You (smartmoney.com) was an interesting read, too. I’d always wondered why two stations of the same brand within just a few miles of each other could have dramatically different pricing — the best example being the Weigel’s on the west end of the turnpike, and the Weigels on Hwy. 58 near the I-40 on-ramp: gas is nearly always 7-10 cents cheaper out by the interstate. Yet, the one in west Oak Ridge is said to be the highest-grossing Weigel’s in the Knoxville area.
Lastly, there is no hard-and-fast rule about grade of gasoline and miles per gallon. On my old Mazda (the one that Alpha fatally overheated last summer), I got enough improvement in gas mileage with premium to save money any time regular gas was above $1.65/gallon (been a few years since I ran that test, obviously). In the Mustang though, there’s no appreciable difference in mileage between grades, and the owner’s manual says to use regular. So, know your vehicle, and save by using what works best for it.
I got tagged yesterday in the "where to eat" thing, so in the interest of keeping harmony with the neighbors and all, here goes.
1. Add a direct link to your post below the name of the person who tagged you. Include the city/state and country you’re in.
Nicole (Sydney, Australia)
velverse (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
LB (San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy)
Selba (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Olivia (London, England)
ML (Utah, USA)
Lotus (Toronto, Canada)
tanabata (Saitama, Japan)
Andi (Dallas [ish], Texas, United States)
Todd (Louisville, Kentucky, United States)
miss kendra (los angeles, california, u.s.a)
Jiggs Casey (Berkeley, CA, USA! USA! USA!)
Tits McGee (New England, USA)
Joe (NE Tennessee, USA)
10K Monkeys (Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA)
Big Stupid Tommy (Athens, Tennessee, USA)
Newscoma (Weakley County, Tennessee, USA)
Russ McBee (Knoxville, Tennessee, USA)
Atomictumor (Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA)
CitizenNetmom (Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA)
2. List out your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location.
Razzleberry Ice Cream (yeah, ice cream counts as a meal at this place)
The Flatwater Grill
Riverview Grill
Cap’n Tom’s BBQ
China Wok
Mrs. Eaves already listed two of my five favorites in her post, so I guess it’d be cheating to include Big Ed’s and Magic Wok (a.k.a. Miss Betty’s). But for the record, they are among my favorites.
Razzleberry Ice Cream Lab in Jackson Square should have been at the top of the list — every batch is made from scratch, and there’s no standard menu. It’s absolutely wonderful… and I’m not really a sweets person. Flatwater feels like fine dining, except there’s no sticker shock. The Riverview has a homey feel, but ribs and beer that make Friday worth living for. Cap’n Tom’s is some of the best BBQ to be found, and their homemade banana pudding is to die for! China Wok is an old favorite; reasonably priced, with food that will make me get up from the comfort of home and make a special trip when the craving calls.
3. Tag five others.
AC Kleinheider, Blue Collar Republican, Aunt B.,Katie Allison Granju, Anotherthing2
Don’t get me wrong… the weather is lovely. I like having really low utility bills; I enjoy the low incidence of mosquitoes.
It’s the breakneck schedule, the cramming of a year’s worth of activities into one month that I despise.
I’m sure it’s better for folks without a flock of children at home, but for parents, it’s madness. Every major project, final exam, and most field trips are scheduled in the month of May, meaning that my calendar is illegible at this point and after a long day of productive adult things, I have to oversee the completion of a 9-weeks social studies project (which, of course, requires cooking a medieval dish), followed by the teen living project (requiring that I print a bunch of family pictures, followed by cooking Delta’s favorite food — chicken and dumplings — for the whole class).
Why do all the end of the year projects involve cooking and hauling it to school?
Beta’s vehicle allegedly needs $1,300+ in repairs, but they’re all things that He Who Tames Flying Monkeys can do for far less (a new head gasket, new plugs and wires, and flush the radiator)… so his weekend’s booked. I don’t claim to be able to replace a head gasket without supervision, but I expect to have to help.
Alpha’s coming home tomorrow, so Netmom’s Moving Service is called back into action. Remember how much stuff she took to UT back in August? Well, now she’s had nine months to accumulate all the trappings of college, and it all has to come home.
There are a few little budget meetings I have to show up for, and a little campaigning here and there if I want to keep doing the work I love.
And, my best client is opening a new office on June 1. She hasn’t been at all demanding, but I still wake up feeling guilty, thinking up ad strategies, and all that stuff.
June is going to be sweet.
As the parent of every Junior and Senior in Oak Ridge knows, this was prom weekend. Beta let me off the seamstress hook this year, and looked very ladylike with her hair and nails done. Hard to believe she’s a rugby player in real life (thus, the long dress that covers all her bruises from Friday’s game).
He Who Tames Flying Monkeys had the assignment honor of going prom dress shopping this year, as I was in San Francisco attending a meeting on the only weekend when she had time to shop. He deserves some kind of really special award for that…
From April until June is a season of madness for parents: once the TCAPs are dispensed with, all of the big field trips, social events, and projects quickly fill the calendar. And, it’s election time, so we have to squeak in a little off that wherever we can.
If I post a little less frequently, forgive me. I’ll be back as soon as I can.
Yesterday, Judge Blackwood’s decision to throw out David Stuart’s lawsuit regarding the arguably flawed election last August was vacated by the Court of Appeals.
I’ve got the goods.
The studious folks at Future of Oak Ridge have recently updated the information page on their website; if you have questions about this project and need to learn more before the June 5 election (early voting May 16-31), go now and read until you’re satisfied.
Once your questions are answered, if you think you’d like to help encourage others, sign up on the volunteer page — a little time and a little money from a lot of people goes a long way. The passage or failure of this referendum stands to make a significant difference in Oak Ridge — for better or worse. And, if you like this proposal and want to help, you should also come to a little gathering on Thursday. It’ll be fun.
One part that I think many people don’t fully understand is the impact that sales taxes have on education. The way that Tennessee’s tax system is structured, half of all local-option sales taxes go directly to education. Do not pass City Council, do not collect County Commissioners. It’s divvied up between all the school systems in the county where the revenue is collected, according to student enrollment. So, if Crestpointe is built, Anderson County Schools will get about twice as much money as Oak Ridge Schools, because they have about twice as many students.
The flip side of that is, when the new Wal-Mart opens in Clinton at I-75, Oak Ridge Schools will get our share of sales taxes collected there. And, since it’s right on the interstate, we’ll be collecting from a lot of folks besides just those who live here — a lot of new dollars there, too!
I’m looking forward to today’s edition of the Observer. Last week, they had great coverage of the School Board candidates; this week, I think it will be City Council. Since there are about seven running, I’ll be interested to see what the candidates have to say for themselves, along with where they stand on things like school funding, growth and development. I sure don’t want to lose what Oak Ridge has historically been — with ample parks, greenbelts, large yards and lots of trees — but nor do I want us to be closed to growth.
We need new residents (their homes are being built now); we need new businesses — particularly retail — to improve the health and stability of our tax base. We don’t need a whole lot of new jobs for the sake of numbers, but the right kind of jobs should certainly be courted and welcomed. We need a City Council that supports our priorities, not a roadblock to any new development that might cut down a dandelion, nor requirements to count trees or for all new homes to be on postage-stamp lots.
Reader survey:
Would you expect a higher turnout for this year’s municipal election? Remember, in 2005, there were more Council and School Board seats on the ballot, with both contested.
In his second letter-to-the-editor on the subject, Wal-Mart employee Alan Harris makes some interesting points worth exploring.
• Fact 1: Target and any other yet-to-be-named retailers that would set up shop on the ridge would garner 30 to 40 percent of their sales from existing retailers already collecting sales tax revenues for the city and county coffers at this time. Therefore, this would not increase sales tax revenues. If they were to then double their sales over and above this volume, the sales tax generated would be half of the proposed new sales tax revenues. I would not consider this a significant new sales tax revenue.
If new retailers would garner 30%-40% of their sales from existing retailers in Oak Ridge, then 60%-70% of the sales would be NEW dollars! Those opposed to the project keep asking where the "new" revenue would come from — it’s not that Oak Ridgers would suddenly buy a lot more, but that we — as well as our neighbors who travel through Oak Ridge to shop Knoxville — would spend those dollars here instead of elsewhere.
• Fact 2: These other yet-to-be-named retailers may include former stores in the now basically defunct Oak Ridge Mall. Some of these retailers have moved to other locations, such as Manhattan Place and Jackson Square. Some of these no longer exist in those locations, either. Their demise can not be blamed on exorbitant rent charged by the former Mall owners. The logical deduction then is that they could not survive on the volume of sales that they were producing. Therefore, I submit that the shoppers from Oak Ridge and the surrounding area did not shop there frequently enough for them to survive. Perhaps these stores would still be reluctant to reopen upon this proposed ridge and that’s why they remain unnamed. The developers cannot reveal their identities because they have no serious commitments other than Target. I believe this same problem exists for the current mall developers. No commitments. I personally know of one current retailer in Oak Ridge that sought to relocate in the mall and was told that they were not currently seeking any new tenants. It makes one wonder what the mall owners and developers are really planning.
The City’s list of terms and conditions (which must be met for any financial participation by the City) include a statement that 350,000 of the 400,000 square feet of new retail space must be businesses that are not currently located anywhere in Oak Ridge or Anderson County. That’s 87.5% new retailers that we don’t have anywhere in the county.
• Fact 3: If Target truly wants to come to Oak Ridge, they can afford it on their own and do not need developers or city funds to do so. If available dead stores are not suitable or other available property is not available, they again have the money to buy out people in these suitable locations, and will if they want to be in Oak Ridge badly enough.
"IF they want to be in Oak Ridge badly enough." I suppose that could be so… but it’s in our own best interest to give some consideration to our own needs and wants as well — like the need to increase retail sales so that our property taxes don’t skyrocket.
• Fact 4: The restrictive covenant that prevents Target from building on current mall property is standard business procedure and has been for many years. Long-time Oak Ridgers will remember when Treasury Drugs was located in the old Food City strip center on Illinois Avenue and that the White Store located in the old Food City building did not have a pharmacy. As long as Treasury Drugs was located in that strip center there was a covenant that prevented the shopping center owners from leasing to anyone that would consider opening a pharmacy in their store. I am sure that many of you have gone in a store somewhere and wondered why there was no pharmacy, yet all their other stores had a pharmacy. If you had paid attention, there was a Revco or other drug store in that strip center and there was a covenant in their lease that prevented any other pharmacies from being opened in that center.
Just because something is standard practice doesn’t make it beneficial to the City or its residents. It now seems to be standard practice that you have to have a customer loyalty card to get the better price on groceries everywhere except Wal-Mart; that’s clearly advantageous to the merchants, but a pain in the keychain to everyone else.
• Fact 5: The traffic generated on this ridge would be unbearable for those that needed to go to Knoxville for a reason other than shopping. Perhaps they have a doctor’s appointment or a family member that has been taken to an emergency room in a Knoxville hospital and would like to get there as soon as possible. Have you ever been late because of traffic?
Perhaps the gentleman needs a map; there are multiple ways to Knoxville besides going over the hill at Boeing. From Illinois Avenue, I often take Scarboro Road (to Union Valley or Edgemoor Road) if traffic appears to be a problem going over the hill; many folks on the east end just run along the river to Edgemoor to hit either Clinton Highway or Pellissippi Parkway. If you want to cite traffic snarls, take a long, hard look at the extra red light in front of Manhattan Place — the only place I’ve ever seen traffic gridlock in Oak Ridge. And it does gridlock, almost daily.
Look, I understand why Wal-Mart might be worried. Competition makes one try harder, just as the advent of the Oak Ridge Observer made the Oak Ridger a better newspaper. While it might be some extra work for Oak Ridge’s long-running daily, there’s no question that competition fostered improvement, which benefited all of us who read the papers.
It is critical to the economic health of this city to expand our retail base, and this plan is workable. Join the effort today, and let’s make something good happen on June 5!
3,600 people is a lot of people. Has anyone else wondered who signed that petition, and why? More than one source has told me that I’d be shocked at some of the names.
Now, we can all know. As of 5 p.m. today, there is a copy available at the Oak Ridge Public Library.
I would agree that it’s likely I’ll be surprised at some of the names. I would also agree that it’s likely that some of those very same folks will vote YES in the referendum. Especially if someone sends them the same information that convinced me and others to support the proposal.
* * *
A funny thing happened at the grocery store…
A busy Oak Ridge mother shopping with her young son at the grocery-store-which-must-not-be-named (hint: parking lot designed by a drunk monkey) had a bit of a meltdown in the long line, with a paltry three items in her cart, when an old battle-axe with a full buggy jumped ahead of her in line.
Young Mom yelled out, “THIS CITY NEEDS A TARGET!” in sheer frustration. The seniors glared at her, but when she reached the checkout, the cashier looked her in the eye and said, “you’re right about Target.”
Hopefully, Target will have a self-checkout so that those of us who don’t shop for the sole purpose of making long-winded conversation with the cashier, examining coupons one by one, and so forth can get what we need and get out. BTW, it’s wasn’t me who had the meltdown… not today, anyway.
But, I did take Gamma to JCPenney’s looking for shoes to wear with her orchestra dress, and came away empty-handed. Again. So, she’ll again wear Alpha’s narrow hand-me-downs, which hurt her wide feet. Fortunately, she doesn’t have to wear them for too long.