The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 77

NAM. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2002 II TO SUBSCRIBE: 242-NEWB Got a news tip? Call 771-5411 or fax 771-5488 WILLIAMSO lentage shopping center plan is back ft Opinion Mark Cook I 1 i 1 Thompson's I Publix may have replaced Albertsons as anchor to development near schools eo. station Several other parts of this development have changed the second time around. The new plaas call for 16 acres of the site to be reserved for a recirculating sand filter system with drip field irrigation for sewage disposal. Since the proposed development Isn't within the city limits of Spring Hill, it hasn't been able to secure access to Please see HERITAGE, 19W -7 llisi Proposed Spring Heritage Hil Llg Commons 1 8 area if foot drugstore at the corner of Buckner Lane and Columbia Pike, with a total of 13 development parcels and 334,973 square feet on 55 acres.

Thompson's Station Mayor Cherry Jackson said Wilson also has agreed to donate three acres of his site toward the development of a Williamson County library branch. partially due to both sewer issues and the loss of Albert-sons as an anchor when the grocer abandoned Tennessee. But developer Glenn Wilson of SouthStar has revived the project and is bringing it before the Williamson County Planning Commission tonight. Although the plans call for a grocery store and the name Publix has been heard by several parties as the center's anchor no tenants have been made official as of yet. Additional elements to the project slated to go just south of Heritage Middle and Elementary schools campus on Columbia Pike, include a By MELONEE McKINNEY Stuff Writer THOMPSON'S STATION The Heritage Commons shopping center originally set to open here with Albertsons grocery store as an anchor is experiencing life after death.

The project never happened last year as planned, Schools assess special ed gaps A a 1 When they learn, you learn If you believe that 2-year-olds in diapers are helpless, you don't have one. But if you do have one and think that their capacity for mischief is the extent of their talent, you may be selling them short. Most children have a tremendous capacity to leam and seem to be able to sense your confidence in them and your expectations. This was most recently reinforced for me during that post-Thanksgiving feast lethargy. The worst of the dishes had been de-greased, and we were resting in our fullness when we heard a rattling doorknob and a muffled "ni hao" in a small voice.

When Christopher, my grandsoa first started saying "ni hao" we figured maybe they had been teaching him Chinese phrases at day care. Soon we figured out that it means "need help." This time he "ni hao" getting out of our bedroom, where he had somehow twisted the lock button on a key-lock dxir. Within minutes his mother, his grandmother, and two aunts were at the door rattling the doorknob and saying "rum the buttoa Christopher." He rattled back, whimpered a little, then stuck little fingers under the door saying agaia "ni hao." I stood in the background trying to remember whether that upgrade doorknob had set me back $18 or $28 last time we drilled into the lock and peeled it apart following a similar incident that didn't involve entrapment. 1 The grand finale of the PlanetChristmas show at the Smith home in Franklin. 4p igife pmi fl HOT ITU merry and bright.

Smith's skating penguins, illuminated reindeer and Santas mobile through animatronics By KNIGHT STl VENDER Stuff Writer FRANKLIN Special education students in the county district have scored significantly lower on state tests oftentimes modified according to their disabilities than their typical peers. The latest data released by the state shows that while typical Williamson County third- through eighth-graders score in the high 60s to high 80s across subject areas, special ed kids score in the high 20s to mid 50s. "They should be closing the gap, just like they should be closing the gap between those differences in race and gender," said Mary Roush, whose autistic son is a seventh-grader at Woodland Middle School. Special Education Director Michael Remus points out that of the special ed students in the county district, all but about 30 took some form of the state standardized tests. "I think we're probably including more kids than most places, but I don't know that for sure," Remus said But, like Roush, Remus said he's more interested in how well special ed students do from year to year compared against themselves than how they stack up against typical students.

"I already know they're not going to stack up to the other kids because of their disability I had two sons with mental retardation," he said. Like other district administrators, Remus points to the Individualized Assessment Index as a more accurate measurement of student progress. The IAI is a county initiative aimed to measure individual students' progress each school year rather than compare them to other students on a national norm. "I don't kxk at them as being twice as low or whatever. I look at it like we take them at their level, and next year we Uxk at it and see if they've improved," he said.

Roush agrees, but she's skeptical the IAI or any other assessment will easure that without adequate support of inclusion practices, in which children with special needs are in regular classrooms as much as possible. A close-up of the control panel for PlanetChristmas is on the air, on the Web and all over Chuck Smith's house IjH Uf Silling Sunt 111 vim iv.i. 1 r-t Mlllf Slriith Hrmilrrr ri ft v'hrrii hi n. i tiIiii-'mi Tomorrow Take a ride to see some of the top displays in Williamson AM. Real Estate.

will be featured on NBC's America's Greatest Christmas Decorations during the Wired Wonderland segment beginning at 6 p.m. Sunday. Not to be out By BONNIE BURCH Staff riler FRANKLIN Some call him the Santa Claus of Franklia Like the jolly ole elf himself, Chuck Smith spreads bright Christmas vibes worldwide. But he doesn't use a sleigh. I le's using the airwaves.

The long-time organizer of PlanetChristmas, the display, uses techn ology to make Christmas My sister-in-law started working credit cards and drivers licenses into the crack of the door. Somebody even passed a card under the door to Christopher. That's when it hit me. jimmying a lock with a credit card Is probably a bit complicated But he turned the button to lock himself ia We've just got to communicate that concept to get him out I grabbed a screwdriver and removed a knob from the door to the garage. A delegation went outside with flashlights and started knocking on the window and shouting, "Christopher!" We could see through a slat in the blinds as he fled from behind the door and hid beside the bed, no doubt reacting to the spooky flashlights and knocking at the window.

We knocked more gently and his little head appeared behind the bed. He came haltingly to the window and lifted the corner of the blinds. We shined the flashlight on the detached doorknob and repeated "turn the buttoa Christopher" and demonstrated. Then we went back into the house, rattled the door, and told him again to "turn the buttoa" Christopher freed himself about two minutes later. What he learned that night, no doubt will be put to mischievous deeds.

But learning how our children learn is an important lesson for us. Mart Cook, community news editor, can be reached at 771 -541 1 or mcookiMennessean.com. done. Cable's Home Garden Television will showcase PlanetChristmas at 6 p.m. Christmas Eve during the Extreme Christmas program.

The show ruas again at 1 am. Christmas Day. Please see LIGHTS, 3W PHOTOS BY JEANNE REISEL STAFF Brockman will offer Ernie Williams as late wife's replacement Some county commissioners say they want to hear more names Moon, another relative newcomer to the commission. "I coasider it an honor to be nominated to serve in Nancy's seat," Ernie Williams said, adding that he doesn't know yet if he'd want to run for re-election. He does want the job now, though.

His wife had crusaded hard before her death to bring to light what she saw as problems in the county highway department and had ruffled plenty of feathers along the way. "We were our own individuals. We ran in different circles," he said. "We were close. I loved her dearly." Brockman said Ernie Please see COUNTY, 19W By NELLANN MOTH Staff Hnter FRANKLIN Franklin attorney Ernie Williams, the husband of late county commissioner Nancy Williams will be nominated to fill her seat next month.

Ninth District Commis sioner Mary Brockman said yesterday she'd nominate Williams, but other commissioners say they may not adhere to a gentleman's agreement the commission has traditionally stuck to when filling vacant seats: the commissioner in that district nominates someone and the rest of the body approves it. Word of Williams' candidacy was confirmed just as the county learned of the death of another commissioner, longtime circuit court clerk Joe Herbert, whose colleague in the district is Tom iUlllHi'J EH in 1 mm Online today Emily Kink 5th grade, Freedom Intermediate Laura Hill: Oh no. it's the word again. Click on Low water Waste water treatment plant bids are tower than Franklin expected, freeing more money for sewer projects. On 10W.

Complex crackdown Brentwood city officials are looking to enforce the rules on traveling soccer teams playing at Crockett Park. On 17W. Little angels Two Williamson County teens go on a quest to find gifts for children on the Angel Tree. On18W. Letters to the Editor Williamson AM.

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