SUD Prioritizes Alto Road Station Repair

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the Jan. 26 meeting of the Board of Commissioners of the Sewanee Utility District of Franklin and Marion Counties, SUD Manager Ben Beavers said SUD has declared a temporary moratorium on adding sewer customers to the area served by the Alto Road pumping station on Roarks Cove Road.

In an inspection by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, the Alto Road station was flagged for exceeding the allowed number of overflows. The facility was already scheduled for repairs, Beavers said. Since the inspection, SUD has replaced two of the pumps and more than half of the pipe. SUD plans to replace additional sections of broken clay pipe identified in a video camera inspection last year.

Commissioner Ken Smith asked if there were any lead pipes in SUD’s service lines. Lead residue in drinking water can result in serious health issues. 

Beavers said there were no lead pipes in SUD’s water mains, but some of the cast iron pipe laid in the 1920s had lead fittings. SUD tests for lead residue every three years, and test results have been well within acceptable limits.

A visitor asked if SUD had a policy providing for customers to make interest-free payments in the event the customer received a high water bill. In December, many customers received unusually high bills due to a longer than customary billing cycle. Beavers said in cases of hardship SUD has given customers up to 18 months interest-free to pay their bill.

The visitor recommended SUD notify customers by email in the event of billing anomalies in the future. SUD plans to update its email database to facilitate communication.

Continuing a discussion about leak insurance, Beavers estimated the cost to the customer at $1.55 per month. If SUD chooses to implement the program, all customers will be automatically enrolled. Customers will have the option to opt out by contacting the insurance company. Under the plan, the customer will not be required to pay for leaked water if the leak occurs on the line between the house foundation and meter, and if the customer can verify repairing the line. The cost of repairing the line and leaks inside the house will not be covered.

Under SUD’s present adjustment policy, SUD forgives half the cost of leaked water when the leak is between the foundation and meter. If SUD implements an insurance program, SUD will no longer offer adjustments. Customers who opt out will be responsible for the full cost of leaked water.

Tracy City and South Pittsburg water utilities plan to adopt a leak insurance program. Customers with questions should contact the SUD office or attend the next board meeting.

The board approved purchase of a new truck for the manager, cost not to exceed the budgeted amount of $26,000. Beavers said the truck he was driving, a 2006 Chevy Silverado, is no longer serviceable. The board declared the Silverado salvage. It will be offered for sale with the stipulation it must be towed from the premises due to faulty brakes and transmission problems.

Incumbent Art Hanson was declared winner of the commissioner election. Hanson will be sworn in at the next commissioner meeting on Feb. 23.

Voter Registration Deadline on Feb. 1

Tennesseans who want to vote in the March 1 presidential preference primary or “SEC Primary” must register to vote by Monday, Feb. 1. This election cycle, the Volunteer State will join six other southern states on March 1 to help decide who could be the next president of the United States.

“It’s important to ensure you are properly registered now so there won’t be any surprises during early voting or on Election Day,” Secretary of State Tre Hargett said.

Early voting begins Wednesday, Feb. 10, and runs Mondays through Saturdays until Tuesday, Feb. 23. Election Day is Tuesday, March 1. Please note that some counties will be closed on Monday, Feb. 15, for Presidents Day.

Hargett urges voters to take advantage of early voting if possible because of unpredictable winter weather and an incredibly long ballot.

“When you consider the number of presidential candidates, as well as the number of delegates, some voters across the state will have many choices,” Hargett said.

Early voting takes place at local election commission offices or at another location designated by the election commission. Some counties also offer early voting at satellite locations. 

For early voting locations, hours and sample ballots, contact your local election office. Contact information for election offices can be found at <http://tnsos.org/elections/elec​tion_commissions.php>.

Tennesseans voting early or on Election Day should remember to bring valid state or federal photo identification with them to the polls. For information about what types of ID are acceptable, visit <GoVoteTN.com> or call (877) 850-4959.

Voters can also download the GoVoteTN app, available in the App Store or Google Play. Voters can find early voting and Election Day polling locations, view sample ballots, see names of elected officials and districts, as well as access online election results through the application.

Holiday Island-Hopping in a Flying Boat

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer 

Like many folks, Sewanee Spanish professor Angela Alvarez Jordan and her husband, Paul, traveled to visit relatives over the holidays, but the Jordans did things a little differently: they traveled to Columbia, South America, island-hopping in a four-passenger flying boat known as a lake amphibian.

It’s long been the couple’s tradition to visit Angela’s mother and other relatives in Columbia at Christmas time. And several years ago “this daunting idea” occurred to Paul. Rather than flying in a commercial plane, they could fly to Columbia, South America, in the flying boat they kept docked in a hangar at their home on Tims Ford Lake.

But when Paul mapped a route through the Caribbean, he discovered the amphibian’s 40-gallon fuel capacity was inadequate. Four hundred miles was the most they could travel on a single fill-up. With strong headwinds, they could run out of fuel on the 363-mile jaunt from La Romana to Aruba. After searching more than a year for auxiliary tanks, Paul settled for all he could find: two under-wing tanks salvaged from a wrecked plane.

The next hurdle came when the insurance company refused to insure the plane unless Paul acquired his instrument rating and upgraded the amphibian with GPS instrument navigation equipment. Paul turned 70 last year and with the instrument rating challenge behind him, he decided to put the amphibian Christmas trip at the top of what Angela calls his “bucket list.” 

Months of careful planning followed, but there were still risks. Their fuel capacity was sufficient, but didn’t provide much wiggle room if bad weather dictated a route change. And while the amphibian was equipped for landing on calm inland water like a lake, the small craft could easily be capsized by seven-foot ocean waves. Angela’s mother, Elena Gomez, advised her daughter, “Don’t do it!” Paul suggested that Angela could fly in a commercial jet and meet him there. Undaunted, Angela insisted on flying with him.

The Jordans count Dec. 18 as the day their journey officially began, flying from Ft. Lauderdale to the Bahamas. On day two they traveled to Turks and Caicos. Day three they planned to land at La Romana in the Dominican Republic, but “things didn’t work out,” Paul said.

Anticipating fair weather, Paul didn’t file an instrument plan. When cloud cover forced them to fly below the clouds, head winds gobbled up their precious fuel. Using the GPS, they found a nearby airport of entry and received permission to land. They spent the next two days in El Catey waiting for the weather to clear. On Dec. 22 they set out for La Romana a second time. When cloud cover moved in again, they veered off course and followed the coast rather than risk flying below the clouds at a mere 500 feet above the mountaintops. They arrived in La Romana without incident. 

On Dec. 23, they completed the longest leg of the trip from La Romana to Aruba, and they were back in the air again early on the morning of Dec. 24. “There it is,” Paul announced triumphantly, just 45 minutes after they’d taken off. “You can see Columbia!,” Angela recalled, the memory of the excitement bright in her voice. A little over two hours later they landed in Barranquilla, Angela’s place of birth. When they touched down, they were both yelling, “We made it!”

Angela kept her family informed of their progress via group messaging. She said her mother “stayed close to the computer,” anxious about their safety. “You should never get it in your mind that you need to get to a place by a certain day,” Paul insisted. Safety trumps timeliness.

An electrical engineer specializing in cable car inspection and repair, Paul has frequent business in Puerto Rico, and the Jordans stopped there to visit friends on the return trip. The detour added a 400-mile leg to their journey. “We used 42 gallons of fuel,” Paul said, more gas than the amphibian held before he modified the craft adding two extra tanks.

In mid-January the Jordans celebrated Paul’s 71st birthday and their 35th wedding anniversary. It was an especially joyous occasion for the couple. 

“The trip brought us closer,” Angela said. “Getting to each country was an accomplishment we shared.”

Community Funding Project Invites Proposals

The Sewanee Community Funding Project Committee invites individuals and groups to submit proposals for projects that enhance the community and improve the quality of life for area residents. 

Application forms are available at the Sewanee post office or by sending an email to <SewaneeFundingPro​ject@gmail.com>. The deadline for submissions is March 1.

In the summer of 2014, the Sewanee Community Council approved increasing the municipal service fee paid by all leaseholders to generate funds to be used by the Community Council for physical improvements and amenities on the Domain. Charged with the task of deciding how those funds will be used, the new committee will receive and evaluate proposals. The Council makes the final approval of the committee’s recommendations.

The $10,000 in funds can be used for “practical, functional or educational purposes or somewhere in between,” said Sarah Marhevsky, chair of the committee. “Do you want the sidewalk that goes almost to Wiggins to go all the way? Do you want to see a bike repair kiosk downtown or some more flowers somewhere? What else is on your wish list?”

Applicants submitting proposals can identify new projects, as well as projects that are part of an already existing initiative undertaken by a group or organization.

Seven projects were approved last year, the first year of the program. $10,000 was awarded in 2015.

Four of last year’s projects have been completed: creation of the Robin Room at the Sewanee Community Center for free activities; installation of a special-needs swing at the Woodlands Park; assistance with improvements at Thurmond Library in Otey Parish House; and support for the new playground in Elliott Park. 

Projects yet to be completed include a Girl Scout Silver Award project to update kiosks at three Perimeter Trail locations; a Little Free Library and butterfly garden planned for Sewanee Elementary School; and improvements at the Sewanee pound.

The application form asks how the project will benefit Sewanee and its residents, the estimated cost and budget, who will be doing the work and who will be accountable for completion. For more information email <se​waneepro​jectfunding@gmail.com>.

“Encounters” Opens at University Gallery

The University Art Gallery presents “Encounters,” an exhibition of recent figurative paintings by Christina Renfer Vogel. In this body of work Vogel concentrates on chance meetings, observing quiet moments within larger, more complex situations. Dense fields of color press against placeless figures, threatening to swallow them. With her depictions of ordinary encounters, Vogel both revels in her medium and investigates physical and psychological connections between viewers and subjects. 

The exhibition will be on view in the University Art Gallery from Feb. 5 through April 10. The artist will discuss her work at 4:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 5, in Convocation Hall, with a reception to follow. On Saturday, Feb. 27, Vogel will lead a figure-drawing workshop in the gallery. Space is limited; to reserve a place email <sjmaclar@sewanee.edu>. 

Christina Renfer Vogel lives and works in Chattanooga. She joined the faculty at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2013, after teaching at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and working in development at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. She has exhibited nationally in solo and group shows, and has been an artist-in-residence at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Vermont Studio Center and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. 

Vogel is a recipient of awards including a 2015 Professional Development Support Grant from the Tennessee Arts Council, a 2014–15 UTC Research and Creativity Activity Grant, a Nebraska Arts Council Independent Artist Fellowship and a grant from the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation. She earned a BFA in painting from the Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, and an MFA in painting from the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston.

Sewanee’s University Art Gallery is located on Georgia Avenue; the gallery is free, accessible and open to the public. Hours are 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, and noon–4 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. Please call 598-1223 for more information or go online to <www.sewanee.edu/gallery>. 

STEM Names Lamborn as New Vicar

The Southeast Tennessee Episcopal Ministry (STEM) recently announced that the Rev. Amy Bentley Lamborn has accepted the call to be vicar of STEM. She began her work on Jan. 1. STEM was founded in 2002 and now includes Epiphany, Sherwood; Christ Church, Alto; Holy Comforter, Monteagle; Christ Church, Tracy City; and Trinity, Winchester. 

Lamborn was ordained in 1996 and has served the Episcopal church in a variety of ways: as a deacon in a small college town, on a diocesan staff, as a curate in a large urban cathedral and as a rector of a suburban parish. She served as a hospital chaplain and a supply priest in the Diocese of New York. She served on the faculty of the General Theological Seminary, 2011–15, as professor of pastoral theology. She has also done clinical training in psychotherapy at the National Institute for the Psychotherapies and the Jungian Psychoanalytic Association and spiritual direction training at the Haden Institute.

A 1996 graduate of the School of Theology at Sewanee, Lamborn returned to Sewanee when her husband, Rob, accepted the call to be rector at Otey Parish. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English literature from Union University; she earned her Ph.D. in psychiatry and religion at the Union Theological Seminary in 2009. The Lamborns have a 12 year-old daughter, Caroline, who is a seventh-grader at St. Andrew’s-Sewanee. 

“I am so excited about serving as vicar of STEM,” Lamborn said. “The people in each of the individual churches are committed to their communities of faith. They are resilient folks, and so many of them are eager to deepen the life of faith and spiritual practice. 

“Together, the STEM churches are poised to work collaboratively and to join in creative ways with other Episcopal institutions and ministries around the Cumberland Plateau. I look forward to discerning with them the ways we are called to be God’s people in this place and time.” For more information or to contact Lamborn, email < stemvicar@gmail.com>.

Free Tax Assistance for Elderly & Low-Income

Area residents who make less than $54,000 or who are disabled or elderly will have the opportunity to get free Internal Revenue Service-approved assistance with preparing and filing their federal income tax returns this year, thanks to a program sponsored by the Babson Center for Global Commerce at the University of the South. Residents of Franklin, Grundy and Marion counties are all eligible for the free service.

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program will be available on a first-come, first-served basis at Holy Comforter Episcopal Church in Monteagle and Otey Parish Church in Sewanee. 

VITA will be available 4–7 p.m., Monday, Jan. 25, at the Community Action Committee at Otey Parish in Sewanee. Additional hours in Sewanee will be announced at a later date.

Regular hours at Holy Comforter begin Jan. 31 and will be noon–5 p.m. on Sundays, and 5–7 p.m. on Tuesdays.

The VITA program will not operate on March 13, 15 or 20. The deadline for filing income tax returns is April 15.

The VITA volunteers, who include University students and community members, have received IRS-approved training and will help taxpayers fill out their returns via computer and file them electronically with the IRS. With electronic filing, tax refunds can be processed more rapidly, and refunds can be deposited electronically into taxpayers’ bank accounts.

The IRS anticipates that about 70 percent of taxpayers will be eligible for tax refunds this year. In 2015, the national average refund was $2,797. Last year, more than 85 people took advantage of the VITA service locally, and they collected refunds of more than $20,000. The volunteers are trained to ensure that filers get benefits to which they are entitled, including Earned Income Tax Credits.

People wanting to take advantage of this free service should bring with them the following items:

• Proof of identification (photo ID) for each filer.

• Social Security Cards (if return is filed jointly, all cards must be available, and both individuals must be present to sign the return).

• Filers without Social Security cards must bring an IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN ) assignment letter.

• Wage and earning statements (W-2, 1099, etc.).

• Dividend and interest statements.

• Birth dates of the filer(s), spouse and dependents.

• Banking account and routing numbers for direct deposit, which can be found on a blank check.

This service is completely free of any expense to the taxpayer. In 2015, the local VITA program was selected for a random site audit, and the program received a perfect score from the IRS. For more information about the schedule or other questions, contact the program director, Ben Carstarphen, via email, <carstjb0@sewanee.edu>, or by phone, (704) 675-1025. 

Funding for the VITA program is provided by the University’s Canale Endowment.