Money for parks, Green Energy and an award

Money for parks, Green Energy and an award

A look at recent events in the news that pleased us ...

WE'RE PLEASED to see that three Tennessee members of Congress are urging senior members of the appropriations committees to provide a $240 million increase to help the national parks with next year's cost of operations. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of a number of national parks expected to face problems ranging from inadequate funds to fill seasonal employee jobs or all ranger posts to maintenance needs for buildings, roads, campgrounds and trails. U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander and U.S. Reps. Bill Jenkins, a Rogersville Republican, and Harold Ford Jr., a Memphis Democrat, signed the letter to their appropriations committees. They were among 22 senators and 84 House members who were part of the request for funding.

HOORAY for University of Tennessee students who approved an initiative that would pay for the costs of implementing Green Energy with an increase of $8 in fees per semester. It's the first step toward making UT one of the largest users of clean energy in the Southeast. The initiative, spearheaded by a student environmental group, passed 4,117-3,022. The measure will now go to the UT Board of Trustees and ultimately before the state Legislature before it can be formally enacted. Clean energy is produced from renewable sources, such as solar, wind or even landfill gas. The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy assisted in the campaign. The alliance is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works for clean air and water and healthy communities in the Southeast.

HATS OFF to Mark Isom, president and CEO of Premiere Building Maintenance Corp. who has been named the 2004 Tennessee SBA Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Isom also is eligible to win the National SBA Small Business Person of the Year Award. Premiere Building provides janitorial service, and Isom, a former All-American football player at Carson-Newman College, worked for a similar company during the summers when he was in college. Isom started Premiere Building in 1996, achieving his long-held goal of owning his own business.

... and some that did not

A CHEMICAL FIRE Saturday, May 8, prompted a large-scale emergency response in Oak Ridge, including the evacuation of workers and nearby residents. The site is adjacent to the Clinch River on federal property west of the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 uranium-enrichment plant. Workers at Commodore Advance Sciences Inc. were heating a large container of sodium metal when the incident occurred. Some of the liquid escaped from the container and reacted with air, releasing white smoke. Commodore was conducting a pilot project as a subcontractor to Toxco Inc., which leases the space on federal property. The U.S. Department of Energy sponsored the sodium project.

ACCCKKKK!!! Cell phone towers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park? Please, spare us — and that's not just an idiom. The superintendent of the park is charged with making the decision. Cingular Wireless wants to improve cell phone coverage on U.S. 441, the main road through the park. And federal law requires park authorities to consider the request. But park officials aren't required to approve it. "We can turn it down, but we have to have a reason," said Bob Miller, a spokesman for the park. The three possible sites for the towers are Newfound Gap on the North Carolina-Tennessee line, the Collins Creek picnic area on U.S. 441 in North Carolina, and south of Smokemont, also in North Carolina. We agree with the response of hiker Larry Jelley of Franklin, N.C., quoted in a recent story: "No. No. No. Three towers, three nos."

WE'RE SORRY to see that W.J. Savage, one of the oldest companies in Knoxville, is closing at the end of this month. Operations will be shifted to the firm's sister company in New Jersey. The company makes industrial saws for the steel industry. It was founded by William J. Savage in 1885 to make wooden waterwheels and parts for feed mills. W.J. Savage is owned by Inductotherm Industries Inc. of Rancocas, N.J. The company employed more than 90 in the late 1970s, but recently the workforce was 26, and now there are 17 employees.