Community Council Appoints New Members, Considers Constitution Change

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the March 28 meeting, the Sewanee Community Council appointed two new council members, discussed changes to the constitution, and heard updates on the constructed wetlands project and Greenhaw quarry. The council also reviewed recommendations for allocating $11,000 in funds for Community Enhancement projects. [See related story below.]

The council approved the nominations of Kate Reed to serve as District One representative and Louise Irwin to serve as District Two representative through December 2016.

Irwin replaces Michael Hurst, who died recently. Vice-Chancellor John McCardell said of Hurst, “Michael was a highly valued council member whose presence will be missed.” Among his other charges, Hurst served on the Community Relations Committee. Council representative Phil White will assume his duties in that role.

Revisiting a discussion that began two years ago, the council reviewed a change to the constitution that would reallocate council seats. At present, there are three council representatives from each of the four districts, 12 seats total. The reallocation of seats calls for four at-large seats and two seats from each district, maintaining a total of 12 seats.

Council members presently serve four-year terms. When the council decided to consider reallocation of seats in 2014, term lengths were adjusted so that all members’ terms would end in December 2016 to allow for recalibrating district representation. Council member David Coe stressed that the purpose of the change was to increase involvement in the council. The council will vote on the proposal in May.

Sewanee biology professor Deborah McGrath updated the council on the constructed wetland project at the Sewanee Utility District (SUD) wastewater treatment plant, a research project undertaken jointly by the University of the South and the University of Georgia. Funded by a $590,000 water stewardship grant from Coca Cola, the project’s goals are to study the effectiveness of wetlands in getting wastewater cleaner and to involve the community in wastewater issues.

With a view to community involvement, there will be a workshop to construct rain barrels at 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., on Friday, April 22, in Spencer Hall. A donation from the Coca-Cola Sustainability Fund provided financial support for the workshops, McGrath said. For more information email
McGrath at <dmcgrath@sewanee.edu>. The researchers are also considering inviting the community to help with planting at the wetlands, scheduled to begin on May 1. 

Updating the council on Tinsley Asphalt’s proposal for a quarry in the Greenhaw community, council member Annie Armour said the Tennessee legislature passed an act allowing the proposed site to be annexed by Decherd so the project could move forward. Since then, opponents sought and received a court-ordered injunction, putting a temporary halt to the project.

Council representative Theresa Shackelford asked if the University could boycott Tinsley as a show of support for the opposition.

“The consequences of such an action would need to be considered carefully,” said McCardell. He advised against a boycott at the present, since the project was stalled. University Director of Physical Plant Services Michael Gardner said Tinsley Asphalt was “a prominent asphalt and pavement supplier for the University and the county.”

Commenting on proposed changes to downtown Sewanee depicted on a map in a recent issue of the Messenger, Irwin said community residents had expressed concern “Sewanee would lose its uniqueness.” Gardner stressed the renovation was still in the planning stages. 

Council member Barbara Schlicting reminded community residents to notify their council representative if they have issues they want brought to the table at the April 21 meeting between the Trustees and the Community Relations Committee.

During the announcement, White put out a call for someone to mow the dog park. He estimated the job would take about 30 minutes with a large mower. Contact White by email to <pwhite@sewanee.edu>.

The council next meets on May 23.

Exploring Easter Traditions Through Art

On the Saturday before Easter, college students, professors and community members joined together for a creative learning experience provided by the Mellon Globalization Forum and Otey Memorial Parish. Sewanee Dining generously provided 360 eggs for the event. Chef Rick Wright and his team steamed the eggs, and boiled several dozen in onion skins for Polish drapanki, an elaborate method of decoration that involves delicately scratching off the dye with a needle to reveal the white of the egg.

The Holy Saturday egg-decorating event was led by Jeannie Babb and Justyna Beinek. Babb works with children in the Godly Play program at Otey Parish, and Beinek serves at the University as the Mellon Globalization Forum director and visiting associate professor of international and global studies and Russian. 

Babb, who studied church history at the School of Theology, wanted to help parish and community members reconnect the annual egg hunt to Christian tradition and theology. She and Beinek envisioned the event as a way for people with different cultural backgrounds to explore one another’s Easter traditions while experiencing artistic expressions surrounding the egg. 

Babb prepared a slide presentation outlining the history of Easter eggs, and planned activities for all ages, including standard American dip-dying, egg painting with local artist Carol Sampson and a tie-dye table employing whipped topping. 

Beinek, who is originally from Wroclaw, Poland, brought her mother, Eulalia, and her young daughter, Karolinka, to help with traditional pysanka decorating, which was displayed and practiced in many styles at the event. Beinek enlisted the help of Yuliya Ladygina, a colleague from the Russian department at the University. 

Ladygina, who is from Kyiv, Ukraine, provided instruction in the intricate wax-resist method known as batik. This method involves several repetitions of drawing designs with melted wax using a special stylus, then dipping the egg in a successively richer dye. The wax designs eventually melt away from the egg to reveal the colors beneath the wax.

“Decorating the eggs was a fun and meditative way to spend my Holy Saturday,” said Taylor Yost, a Sewanee senior majoring in Russian, International and Global Studies,  and politics, who spent time at all the tables. “The event fostered an environment where many community members could come together and learn from each other. I had a fun conversation with an international student about Easter egg hunts, which were new to her. She told me about Easter practices in her culture. It also brought a lot of different people across campus together. I saw at least three of my professors with their children and many other families, too.”

At the batik table, participants worked on the same egg for an hour or longer, instructing newcomers how to scoop black beeswax into the special stylus. Even as parish members broke down the other tables and prepared for the upcoming Easter reception, artists at the batik table were still wiping the melted wax from their final creations and making plans for another event. 

“We can continue this,” Ladygina offered. “We have the kits now. We can make more eggs.” 

In Orthodox tradition, there are still five weeks until Easter.

—Reported by Jeannie Babb

Trails & Trilliums at MSSA on April 15–17

The 13th annual Trails and Trilliums Festival will be April 15–17 at the Monteagle Sunday School Assembly. This event is sponsored by the Friends of South Cumberland State Park.

The weekend opens on Friday afternoon, April 15, with hikes to Shakerag Hollow and Lost Cove. Later in the day, there will be the Trails and Trilliums Children’s Choir Concert, as well as the Student Art Exhibition in the assembly auditorium. A casual reception, Wine and Wildflowers, will be held next door at Harton Hall with the opportunity to view the works of guest artists participating in ART for the PARK.

On Saturday, April 16, both casual and dedicated hikers can explore the natural wonder of the South Cumberland Plateau by signing up for any of 11 guided hikes. Vans will carry participants to Lost Cove, Fiery Gizzard, Foster Falls, Grundy Lakes and Hawkins Cove. At the Assembly, outdoor lovers of all ages can enjoy programs that include “Wings to Soar, Butterfly Gardens,” and last year’s favorite, “Tales from the Trail.”

ART for the PARK, an art and vendor sale, continues through the weekend, with many nature-themed works that showcase the integration of forest beauty into our lives. 

Overhill Gardens will have a broad variety of native plants for gardeners wishing to recreate forest enchantment at their homes. The ART for the PARK gala will be on Saturday evening with dinner, art, and music benefiting Friends of the South Cumberland.

On Sunday hikes continue and there will be an opportunity to learn about and build Fairy Houses. Artists, vendors, food and music will be available throughout the day.

The final event of the weekend is the Cumberland Wild Hike into History program. An all-star panel of historians, naturalists and local experts, including State Naturalist Emeritus Mack Prichard and original Savage Gulf Preservation League President Wally Bigbee, will discuss the amazing history of the South Cumberland, including Native Americans, pioneers, sawmills, coal mines and old growth forests. For more information or registration go to <www.trailsandtrilliums.org>. 

Woman’s Club Lunch Deadline

The Sewanee Woman’s Club will meet at noon on Monday, April 11, at the DuBose Conference Center in Monteagle. The deadline for lunch reservations is Saturday, April 2.

Emily Partin and Katie Goforth will present the program, “Grundy County: Then and Now.” Partin is the executive director of Discover Together, and Goforth is the network director of the South Cumberland Plateau Health Network.

There is an optional social hour at 11:30 a.m. Lunch is served at noon. Programs begin at 12:30 p.m., with club business following around 1 p.m. 

The lunch ($13.25) will be stuffed pasta shells with marinara sauce, garlic bread, tossed salad, strawberry and apple salad, and cupcakes for dessert. Vegetarian meals and child care are available; please request these when making a reservation.

Reservations can be made by calling Pixie Dozier at 598- 5869 or email Marianna Handler at <mariannah@earthlink.net>.

The annual dues of the Woman’s Club are $5. These dues and the proceeds of the club’s fund-raising events support Thurmond Library and community projects.

Council Reviews Projects Totaling $11,000

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the March 28 meeting, the Sewanee Community Council reviewed recommendations for allocating $11,000 in funds for Community Enhancement projects.

A committee led by Sarah Marhevsky considered 12 project proposals submitted by the community and narrowed down the list to seven, recommending the following Community Enhancement projects receive funding: $3,179 for sand and refurbishing the restrooms at the youth soccer field on Ball Park Road; $2,049 for mulch at the Elliott Park playground; $1,800 for a picnic table at the Elliott Park playground; $2,200 for electrical repairs at the American Legion Hall; $1,322 for lighting at Angel Park; $300 for soil and bulbs for planting by children in the Plateau Playground group; and $150 to help offset operating expenses for Community Poetry Night.

The Council will vote on the recommendations at the May meeting.

Commenting on the choices, Marhevsky said the committee wanted to continue to support Elliott Park, which received funding last year, and similarly, the soccer field was a community undertaking deserving of ongoing support.

All the projects submitted had substantial merit, Marhevsky said. The committee also received a number of suggestions not formally drafted as proposals. Marhevsky thanked committee members Pixie Dozier, Theresa Shackelford, and Megan Taylor for their commitment to making fair and carefully thought- out recommendations that would benefit a broad segment of the community.

The Community Enhancement program is in the second year of a two-year trial. In the summer of 2014, the Council approved increasing the municipal service fee paid by all leaseholders to generate $10,000 to be used for physical improvements and amenities on the Domain. Of the seven Community Enhancement projects funded in 2015, all are at or near completion. The total award for 2016 was increased because the dog park proposal funded in 2015 had $1,000 left after purchasing a fence, and the unspent amount was added to the 2016 fund basis.

Two proposals calling for construction of sidewalks on Brakefield Road and Tennessee Avenue were not recommended for funding, Marhevsky said, because they would have cost $10,000 or more each, using up the full amount of resources available in 2016.

Council member Phil White supported the need for sidewalks and asked the council to discuss this in May.

A visitor asked if the amount of funding could be increased, since there were many worthy projects. Provost John Swallow said increasing funding would require increasing the municipal service fee. The council will consider putting the question before the community in the November elections.

SUD Considers Midway Solutions, Cooley’s Rift Growth

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

“Replacing the altitude valve in the water tank at St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School could increase water pressure in the Midway community by six to eight psi,” said SUD Manager Ben Beavers at the March 22 meeting of the Board of Commissioners of the Sewanee Utility District of Franklin and Marion Counties. 

SUD has budgeted for a pressure-boosting station to address low water pressure in Midway since 2011. Easement difficulties stalled the project. Replacing the altitude valve in the SAS tank could be a far-less-costly and far-easier-to-maintain solution, Beavers said. “There would be no mechanical upkeep.”

The system functioned without an altitude valve before the water line from the SAS tank to Sewanee was increased from six inches to 10 inches. The larger line caused a drop in water pressure, making the valve necessary in order for the SAS water tank to fill properly.

In a January inspection of the SAS water tank, SUD learned the altitude valve was faulty. The tank no longer filled to capacity, causing a reduction in water pressure for customers in Midway.

The altitude valve will cost approximately $10,000, compared to $40,000 for the Midway pressure-boosting station, Beavers said. In the event the altitude valve does not remedy the problem of low water pressure in Midway, SUD will continue with the plan to install a pressure-boosting station. Beavers received approval from the state to extend the date of completion called for in the design plan, to avoid further delays if the pressure-boosting station project goes forward.

Looking at finances, Beavers said water sales in February were significantly lower than the same month in 2015, resulting in SUD receiving less revenue than anticipated. Beavers in part attributes the lower water sales to a decrease in water loss from residential leaks. The new automated meter reading technology installed by SUD expedites detection of in-home leaks. Beavers explained, “It’s good for customers and for us.”

Beavers pointed to a possible source of new revenue from expansion in the Cooley’s Rift subdivision. Developer Brian Youngblood recently contacted SUD about plans to install infrastructure in 40 lots in the Franklin County section of Cooley’s Rift. Many of the lots in Cooley’s Rift receive water from Monteagle. A 1990s lawsuit ruled the lots in Franklin County fell within SUD’s service area, regardless of whether or not the lots were within the Monteagle city limits.

The board agreed with Beavers that it was prudent for SUD to serve the new customers created by the expanded development rather than relinquish water service privileges to Monteagle. Beavers will contact Youngblood and invite him to submit a request for water service application.

The SUD board meets next on April 26.

Alvarez Lectures at SAS

Photojournalist Stephen Alvarez of Sewanee will be the 2016 Bishop Reynolds Forum speaker at St. Andrew’s-Sewanee. His talk, which is open to the public, will be at 8 a.m., Wednesday, March 30, in McCrory Hall for the Performing Arts. 

A 1983 graduate of the school and a current parent, Alvarez spent his life exploring and photographing the world. He is an award-winning National Geographic photographer and filmmaker who produces global stories about exploration, culture, religion, archeology and the aftermath of conflict. He has published more than a dozen feature stories in National Geographic.

Alvarez has produced stories with National Public Radio, including a story on underground Paris that won a 2012 White House News Photographers Association award.

The Bishop Reynolds Forum brings a prominent speaker to campus each year to engage students and the community in a topic of current interest. The Bishop Reynolds Forum was established through an endowment in memory of The Rt. Rev. George Reynolds, the late Bishop of Tennessee and a former SAS trustee and parent. His daughter, Katherine, was a member of the Class of 1988. 

Franklin Co. Pre-K and Kindergarten Registration

Registration for kindergarten and pre-kindergarten in Franklin County will be on Thursday, April 7, at the school the child will attend. Pre-K registration is 7:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Kindergarten registration is 1–5 p.m.

For the 2016–17 school year, Tennessee students entering kindergarten must be 5 years old by Aug. 15. To enroll in the pre-K program, a child must be 4 years old by Aug. 15.

The following documents are required to register a child for public school: the child’s certified birth certificate, the child’s Social Security card, the child’s immunization record and a completed physician’s physical report. 

In addition, for registration in the pre-K program, proof of income is required. For more information contact Patti Limbaugh at 967-0626.

Medieval Colloquium Gather April 1–2

The 42nd annual Sewanee Medieval Colloquium will meet Friday and Saturday, April 1–2, at the University of the South. The theme of this year’s colloquium is “Medieval Natures,” and the meeting will include more than 80 papers discussing medieval science, literature, music, art, history, philosophy and religion. 

Caroline Walker Bynum (emerita, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and Columbia University), will give the Brinley Rhys Memorial Lecture at 5:30 p.m., Saturday, April 2, in Gailor Auditorium. Her topic will be “Nature, Matter and Miracles: Medieval Evidence for the Life of Things.” A major figure in medieval history for three decades, Bynum has pioneered the study of gender in medieval history, especially with her books, “Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages” (1984) and “Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women” (1988). 

Carolyn Dinshaw (New York University) will deliver the Edward King plenary lecture at 5:30 p.m., Friday, April 1, in Gailor Auditorium. She will talk about “Black Skin, Green Masks: Medieval Foliate Heads, Racial Trauma and Queer Worldmaking.” Dinshaw holds the Julius Silver, Roslyn S. Silver and Enid Silver Winslow Professorship of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University, and has made a significant contribution to a variety of fields, including medieval Western European culture and literature, feminist studies, sexuality and LGBTQ studies, ecology and ecocriticism, history of cartography, and theories of temporality. Her work, especially “Chaucer’s Sexual Poetics” (University of Wisconsin Press, 1990) and “Getting Medieval: Sexualities and Communities, Pre- and Post-modern” (Duke University Press, 1999), made her a powerful voice in Queer Theory, and were instrumental in introducing Queer Theory into Medieval Studies. 

Kellie Robertson (University of Maryland) will lead a seminar on “Defining Nature,” at 1:30 p.m., Friday, April 1, in University Archives. It will feature papers investigating the boundaries of nature by scholars of various fields. Robertson specializes in the interactions of literature and science in the medieval and the Renaissance; her current book, “Nature Speaks: Medieval Literature and Aristotelian Natural Philosophy” (forthcoming from University of Pennsylvania Press), explores the relationship of late medieval poetry to physics, and the ideations of nature that both produced under the influence of Aristotelian science. She has previously published extensively on medieval work and labor, including “The Laborer’s Two Bodies: Labor and the ‘Work’ of the Text in Medieval Britain, 1350-1500” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006). 

All events, except meals, are free and open to the Sewanee community. More information, including the complete schedule, is available at <http://medievalcolloquium.sewanee.edu>.

School Board Revisits Policy & Criteria for Non-Curricular Clubs

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

Anticipating another large crowd, the Franklin County Board of Education met on March 14 at the Franklin County High School. Contrary to what many expected, there was no motion on the issue of school clubs, and therefore no vote on the hotly contested topic. The board had spent a significant portion of its March 7 working session discussing a “closed-forum” policy that would ban all non-curricular school clubs at the secondary level. 

“I do not believe the majority of the board supports such a drastic measure,” said school board member Adam Tucker, who represents Sewanee, Sherwood and Keith Springs Mountain.

At the March 7 working session, board member Sarah Liechty pointed to dire consequences if the Franklin County schools banned non-curricular clubs: “Over 1,100 students would be impacted, as well as over 80 organizations which use school facilities.”

The federal Equal Access Act of 1985 prohibits discrimination when schools allow non-curricular clubs. To avoid losing federal funding, a school system must allow all non-curricular clubs or it must prohibit all non-curricular clubs. Outside FCHS prior to the March 14 board meeting, students and community members displayed signs and banners asking the school system to keep an open-forum policy on clubs.

Inside at the meeting, the board did not revisit the closed-forum concept and instead focused on less radical policy revisions and administrative procedures pertaining to clubs.

Board Chair Kevin Caroland suggested that the school clubs policy could require parental permission for a student to join a club. Board members Cleijo Walker and Chris Guess agreed.

Tucker said the current “opt-out” policy already allowed parents to prohibit their children’s participation in a club. He argued an “opt-in” policy could create difficulty for students when divorced parents disagreed and in any circumstance where parents are not active participants in their child’s life. “We need to be expanding extracurricular opportunities, not creating obstacles that discourage participation,” Tucker said. 

Weighing in on the discussion, school system attorney Chuck Cagle said a law now under consideration by the Tennessee legislature would require parental permission for student participation in a club. Caroland also suggested revising the policy to require the director of schools join with school principals in approving formation of a club, a decision which at present falls to school principals alone. Cagle pointed out that the director of schools was already involved in the decision-making process as the supervisor of school principals.

The board also reviewed a newly created administrative procedures document that details the criteria for school clubs.

“The purpose of administrative procedures is to implement policy,” Tucker explained. “[Director of Schools Amie] Lonas is seeking the board’s input. The board will not vote on the [administrative procedures] document.”

Tucker suggested several revisions to the criteria, including more lenient standards in how students can publicize clubs, allowing students time to find a new faculty advisor if the current advisor resigned and allowing students to appeal to the director of schools if their application to form a club is denied.

Tucker also took issue with “the undue administrative burden on faculty advisors in terms of documenting club activities.” Prior to the board meeting, the advisors for the National Honor Society and Beta Club sent board members an email saying they would not serve as a club sponsor next year if the onerous documentation procedures proposed were adopted. 

Caroland recommended adding the stipulation that a club could be disbanded for failing to adhere to the criteria outlined in the administrative procedures. Cagle advised including in the policy a provision for disbanding clubs, as well as an appeals process in the event a club is disbanded.

In discussion about the requirement that 10 students were needed to form a club, Tucker noted that some clubs now in existence have as few as six members. Board member Gary Hanger recommended a club with five or fewer members be disbanded.

Turning to the application to form a club, which is also an administrative procedures document, Caroland asked Lonas to include a parental permission requirement. 

The board will likely continue its considerations of extracurricular clubs at its April 4 working session and April 7 board meeting. 

In other business, Lonas said the first round of student achievement testing “went better than expected.” She will consult with school principals on possible changes to procedures to facilitate the next round of testing scheduled for the first week in May.

Lonas expressed concern because the school system expected to receive $1.2 million from the state for teacher salary increases, but the amount was reduced by $926,000, the amount of stability funding the school received last year. (Stability funding is the monies received by a school system when its enrollment falls below the anticipated level.) Lonas hopes the school system will receive stability funding again this year, but cautioned the additional support will eventually be withdrawn if enrollment continues to decline.

Village Implementation Plan Moves Forward

In August of 2016, Town Planning and Urban Design Collaborative (TPUDC) and the University of the South conducted a public planning workshop to finalize a master plan for downtown Sewanee. The Village Implementation Plan focuses on creating a lively and economically thriving downtown area, with new businesses and civic spaces linked to the University and surrounding neighborhoods with a network of pedestrian paths, trails and bicycle facilities.

Sewanee’s village core will be the focus of the implementation, which will create a mixed-use environment integrating new retail, office and residential uses into the existing fabric of downtown—without compromising the character that makes Sewanee special. The plan also incorporates a Village Green and new housing options for a range of income levels, including cottage courts, apartments in mixed-use buildings and affordable single-family houses. In addition, the redesign of the University Avenue-Highway 41A intersection will create more of a “main street” character. Work continues with the Tennessee Department of Transportation on this plan.

There are two critical next steps in executing the Implementation Plan. First, to ensure that the zoning of areas within the village boundary will allow the community’s vision to become a reality. And, second, to finalize the surveying and civil engineering for new sites.

It is expected that these new sites will be available later this year. Over the next few years, the University will prioritize development of the village core through a phased leasehold release process. TPUDC and the University will also release a Request for Qualifications for developers, builders and architects interested in being a part of Sewanee’s future. For more information contact Frank Gladu, the University’s vice president for administrative services, by email, <fxgladu@sewanee.edu>, or go online to <www.sewanee.edu/village/>.

New Mile of Additional Fiery Gizzard Trail Needed

As South Cumberland park rangers and friends celebrated the early completion of a major bridge on the Fiery Gizzard Trail reroute, Park Interim Manager George Shinn disclosed that a second private landowner has requested that the park trail be removed from his land by Dec. 1, necessitating an additional mile of new trail.

“We are proud to partner with the park in this effort, and we know our volunteers will rally to build the additional mile of trail,” said Latham Davis, president of the Friends of South Cumberland (FSC). Rangers report that more than 3,000 volunteer hours have been logged on the Fiery Gizzard project since August. The FSC received grant money from the Lyndhurst Foundation and Tennessee Trails Association, providing materials and tools so that the reroute moved forward swiftly.

Shinn announced that a 28-foot pole bridge—one of the most challenging portions of the reroute—has been completed, months ahead of schedule. When it was announced in late summer that the trail would have to be rerouted to skirt private land, plans called for the bridge spanning McAlloyd Branch to be constructed after the spring rains subsided. Thanks to incredible community support, the timeline was moved up by months,assuring that the trail will remain open this spring, even during high water. Additional improvements to this section of trail continue, including building a challenging 30-step rock staircase.

Shinn said that a second private landowner, whose property adjoins the old Baggenstoss Farm, decided to follow the lead of his neighbor and requested that the trail be removed from his land by December 1, 2016. 

“We plan to have it completed way before that deadline,” said Shinn. “Our goal is to finish by Labor Day. We need as many volunteers as possible to make this a reality.” Rangers are currently leading volunteer groups every Saturday, and from Memorial Day to Labor Day the work will continue every day.

He noted that the funds from Lyndhurst paid for materials to create the bridge, rocks for trails and for the to-be-built rock staircase. Telephone poles donated by Sequachee Valley Electric serve as the bridge foundation. Tennessee Trails Alliance provided funds for a hoist system that was used to move the heavy rock and lumber down into the gorge. 

For volunteer information, email <Jason.Reynolds@tn.gov>, or join the FSC Meet-Up website at <www.meetup.com/Friends-of-South-Cumberland-State-Park>. 

A video of the trail progress can be seen on the FSC Facebook page.

Chesler to Present the Goodstein Lecture

Ellen Chesler, senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, will present the 17th annual Anita S. Goodstein Lecture in Women’s History at 7 p.m., Wednesday, March 23, in Gailor Auditorium. Her talk, “Margaret Sanger, the Woman Rebel at 100,” will be followed by a reception. The public is invited.

Chesler joined the Roosevelt Institute as a senior fellow in 2010, following more than 30 years of experience in government, philanthropy and academia. Earlier this year, she and Columbia University professor Terry McGovern published “Women and Girls Rising: Progress and Resistance Around the World.” The book details the stories of people fighting for women’s rights around the world, including the history of the “Women’s Rights as Human Rights” movement. 

The Anita S. Goodstein Lectureship in Women’s History was created in 1998 in recognition of Goodstein’s significant contributions as a professor, colleague and friend. Goodstein began teaching history in the College in the mid-1960s and continued until her retirement in 1992, introducing courses such as American Intellectual and Social History, and Women in American History. She made substantial contributions in documenting women’s history in Tennessee and was a leading organizer of Tennessee’s 75th celebration of women’s suffrage. 

Chesler was distinguished lecturer at Roosevelt House 2007–10, the public policy institute of Hunter College of the City University of New York. For the decade prior, she served as a senior fellow and program director at the Open Society Institute, where she developed the foundation’s global investments in reproductive health and women’s rights, and advised on a range of other program initiatives.

She is the author of “Woman of Valor: Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement in America,” which was a finalist for PEN’s 1993 Martha Albrand award in nonfiction. She is also co-editor of “Where Human Rights Begin: Health, Sexuality and Women in the New Millennium” and has written numerous essays and articles for academic anthologies and for newspapers, journals and periodicals. She is a member and former chair of the Advisory Committee of the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, and formerly chaired the board of the International Women’s Health Coalition. An honors graduate of Vassar College, Chesler earned master’s and doctoral degrees in history at Columbia University.

Bluebell Island Tour

The annual tour of Bluebell Island will be 10 a.m., Saturday, March 26. This event is sponsored by South Cumberland Regional Land Trust (SCRLT). 

Located on the Elk River, the island is regionally famous for its plethora of wildflowers, especially Virginia Bluebells. Meet at 10 a.m. at the gated entrance to the Tyson Foods parking lot on TN-50/US 64 W, just south of exit 127 off I-24 near the bridge over the Elk River, about 2 miles west of I-24. Instructions and a map are available at <scrlt.org>. 

Rain may cancel this event if the river is too high to cross over.

The Land Trust has a new Facebook page with more information at <https://www.facebook.com/SouthCumberlandRegionalLandTrust/>.

Beavers Announced as Editor & Publisher of the Mountain Messenger

Longtime Sewanee community member Kiki Beavers will take over as editor and publisher of the Sewanee Mountain Messenger, effective June 1. Co-publishers Janet Graham and Laura Willis are both leaving the paper.

“We wanted to ensure that the Messenger stayed in the hands of someone who loves it as much as we do,” Graham said. “Laura and I have great confidence that Kiki will be a wonderful editor and publisher.”

Graham is retiring after 20 years at the Messenger. She was hired by Geraldine Hewitt in 1996 to sell display ads. 

The last issue with Graham and Willis as publishers will be May 20. Willis is stepping down as editor on April 8, when she begins her full-time position with the South Cumberland Community Fund. Beavers will begin editing the paper on April 12. She will take ownership of the paper and publish her first issue on Friday, June 3.

“You won’t see many changes,” Beavers said. “There will just be one person instead of two publishing the Messenger.”

Beavers has been active in the community in a variety of roles. She is president of the Sewanee Civic Association. She has co-chaired the Sewanee Community Chest and has also served as its administrator for four years. In the past four years, the Civic Association has raised $460,000 for local organizations and programs. 

For 10 years, she coached basketball at the elementary, middle school and varsity levels. She was the treasurer and secretary for the Sewanee Elementary Parent-Teacher Organization. She was treasurer of the Sewanee Youth Soccer program for six years, affiliated with the national American Youth Soccer Organization. For three years she was the auction chair for the St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School Parents’ Council.

“I believe in our community,” Beavers said. “It is a great place to live and work, and I look forward to bringing my skills to the Messenger.”

Her past work experience includes advertising specialist, event chairman and technical writer for Computational Systems Incorporated in Knoxville. She was a self-employed graphic designer, most notably for Industrial Communications, Inc., in Knoxville, publishers of Reliability®Magazine. 

For 15 years, she was the owner and operator of Shenanigans Restaurant. 

Beavers has been a staff writer and sports editor for the Sewanee Mountain Messenger, and currently designs one of its websites, <www.themountainnow.com>. 

She and her husband, Ben, live in Sewanee with their children, Sarah, a sophomore at George Mason University, and John, a freshman at St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School. She is currently employed by St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School in the communications and marketing office, responsible for maintaining the website <www.sasweb.org>, advertising layout and purchases, graphic design and writing of press releases. She is also the editorial assistant for the alumni magazine. 

Beavers has a degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee.

Rotary Hosts Cajun Supper

The Monteagle Sewanee Rotary Club will host its annual Cajun Supper, 4–6 p.m., Saturday, March 5, in Claiborne Hall at Otey Parish. Live music by the Bazzania band will provide a festive atmosphere, while diners or take-out patrons can enjoy Cajun crawfish etoufee or vegetarian red beans and rice.

The Cajun Supper is an ongoing service project to raise support for the Monteagle Sewanee Rotary International Outreach Haiti project.

Tickets are $20 per person and can be purchased from any Monteagle Sewanee Rotarian, online at <www.mon​teaglerotary.org>, from Barry Rollins at Tower Community Bank (formerly Citizens State Bank) in Monteagle by calling (615) 504-3132, or at the door.

Civic Assn. Seeks Nominees

The Sewanee Civic Association (SCA) invites nominations for the 33th annual Community Service Award. The award recognizes the person or organization that has made outstanding contributions to the community. The kind of contribution varies widely, but the recipient is one who has helped make Sewanee a better place and improved the quality of life for everyone in the area.

Nominations are due by Monday, March 21. Past recipients are not eligible to receive the award again. Send the name of your nominee, along with the reasons you are nominating this person and/or group, to <se​waneecommuni​tychest@gmail.com>. The award will be presented at the SCA meeting on Wednesday, April 20. Nominations can be mailed to the Sewanee Civic Association, P.O. Box 222, Sewanee, TN 37375.

Past recipients include Pixie Dozier; Barbara Schlichting; Helen Bailey; Sewanee Youth Soccer; Dr. Matt Petrilla; Harry and Jean Yeatman; Marshall Hawkins; Karen Keele; Tom Watson; Susan Binkley and the Blue Monarch; the Sewanee Senior Center Food Pantry (Lena McBee, Sue Hawkins, Charlsie Green); George and Ruth Ramseur; John Gessel; Dora Turner; the Community Action Committee; Geraldine Hewitt Piccard and the Messenger; Myrtis Keppler; Connie Warner; Ina May Myers; Pete Green; Duval and Boo Cravens; Housing Sewanee; the Sisters of St. Mary’s; Martha Dugan; Emerald-Hodgson Hospital Auxiliary; David Green; Joe David McBee; Robert Lancaster; Marcia Webb; Doug Cameron; Phoebe Bates; and Louise Irwin. 

Mountain Goat Trail Plans Third Annual Run & Walk

The third annual Mountain Goat Trail Run and Walk, co-sponsored by Mountain Outfitters and the Mountain Goat Trail Alliance (MGTA), will be on Saturday, April 2.

“Thanks to the collaboration between the Town of Monteagle and the MGTA, we opened the Monteagle-Sewanee section of the trail in time for last year’s event,” said Patrick Dean, executive director of MGTA. “We are excited to partner with Mountain Outfitters again to promote the trail and to get people walking and running for a good cause.” 

The five-mile run will begin at 10 a.m. in downtown Sewanee; a two-mile walk will begin at 10 a.m. at Pearl’s Foggy Mountain Café. Both will finish at Mountain Outfitters in Monteagle. Additional sponsors include Road ID, Mountain Medical Clinic, North Face, Salewa, CamelBak, Swiftwick Socks and Kavu.

Prizes will be awarded for the fastest men’s and women’s finisher, and for best runner or walker costume. There will also be drawings for outdoor gear after the race. 

Registration is $15 for students. For non-students, the fee is $25 for early registration; $30 the day of the race. Registration forms are available at Mountain Outfitters, Woody’s Bicycles and online at <www.mountaingoattrail.org>.

Refreshments will be available at the finish.

For more information, call Mountain Outfitters at 931-924-4100 or email outfitters@gmail.com or info@mountaingoattrail.org.

Local Results for March 1 Primaries

Tennesseans went to the polls on March 1 to cast their ballot in the presidential primary election.

In the Democratic Party primary, Hillary Clinton won the state, 66 percent to Bernie Sanders’ 32 percent. Votes for Martin J. O’Malley and uncommitted made up 1.5 percent.

In Franklin County, the breakdown was virtually the same as the state: 65 percent for Clinton, 33 percent for Sanders.

In the Sewanee precinct, 538 people voted in the Democratic primary: 56 percent for Clinton and 44 percent for Sanders.

In the Republican Party primary, Donald Trump won the state with 39  percent of the vote; Ted Cruz came in second place with 25 percent, and Marco Rubio got 21 percent of the vote.

In Franklin County, the breakdown was: 48 percent for Trump, 23 percent for Cruz and 15 percent for Rubio.

In Sewanee, 244 people voted in the Republican primary: 31 percent for Rubio, 29 percent for Trump and 18 percent for Cruz.

In Sewanee, 782 voters cast ballots (42 percent turnout). 682 people voted on election day, and 100 absentee and early ballots were cast. 

Statewide election results can be found online at <http://elections.tn.gov/results.php>. For local information go to < http://www.franklincotn.us/departments/election_commis​sion/>.

Mobile Rabies Clinic in Area on March 19

Tennessee state law requires that dogs and cats be vaccinated for rabies as early as 3 months of age and must be vaccinated by 6 months of age to be compliant with the law. 

Three local veterinary offices—Town & Country, Animal Care Center and Midtown Veterinary—will be conducting rabies clinics at numerous locations during March. They will also give rabies vaccinations to any healthy dog or cat during their regular office hours at a discounted price of $11 for each dog and cat, which is the same price as during the rabies clinic.

The clinics in the Sewanee area will be on Saturday, March 19:

8:30–9:30 a.m., Cowan, at the Cowan Police Department (Old City Hall); 9:45–10:45 a.m., Midway, at St. James Episcopal Church; 11:15–11:45 a.m., Sherwood, at the Community Center; 1–2 p.m., Sewanee, at Sewanee Elementary School; 2:30–3 p.m., Oak Grove, at the Oak Grove Community Center; 3:30–4 p.m., Decherd, at the new City Hall.

Rabies clinics for Grundy County are usually in April. Dates and locations will be announced as they become available.