The Knoxville News-Sentinel from Knoxville, Tennessee • 17

I 'i i talk Straight Kids on the verge get view of jail partment of Correction a program called Straight Talk has been going on for a number of months at the Morgan prison On a volunteer basis inmates tell it like it is to youths who are following all the scripts on to get tojafl" For teenage offenders on a collision course with the law it's a chance to watch the previews and see where they are headed For the inmates who confront them it's an ironic twist of deja vu "I look at you punks sitting there rolling your eyes back in your head and thinking how tough you are and you know what I see? I see myself 30 40 years ago" BJ Lithicum lodes like grandfather but he even talk to the parole officers until 2001 spent an of his adult Ufa in and out of prison The last time he got out alter serving five years and 10 months he killed the guy "who put him there" "Let me ten you about tough" Lithicum says bashing heads in a bar or cutting a heart out cause he made you mad It ain't being cute to teachers trying to help or sasaing By INA HUGHS KVl unnli The sound is like the end of time Or its beginning A groan a steely silence Then' a nerve-shattering slam like one chug on a train going nowhere It bangs along pale halls knocks against cell block doors and echoes back again The Morgan County Regional Correctional Facility sits in the curve of a mountain meadow Outside the sound of guard dogs in the kennels mixes with the chatter of larks and wrens gossipping along the razor-wire fences Inside ears pick up the clang of metal on metaL "Til never forget that sound" says Vickie Bennett hope my boys wont either I hope they never hear it again" Bennett is program director of the Blount County Club Along with Peg Hightower a guidance counselor at Knoxville's West High School she is bringing six troubled kids to visit the Mor-County prison near Wart- It is neither the first nor will it be the last time that some of these kids hear the sounds of prism Hopefully for most this practice run will be enough It is not Bennett's first trip She has brought other boys hoping the visit will make an impression Under the direction of John Roth principal of Flat Fork School and the Tennessee De I Mike Hutson of TVA's Kingston Steam Plant swings a sledgehammer to drive a post held by Bill plant The two men along with Doug Coleman center of the Bull Run Steam Plant were among TVA who helped Saturday to buUd recreation facilities at Knoxville College Four from Scotland in program at ETSU TVA volunteers fix up campus and previously was employed at the Kennedy Space Center announced by Knoxville College president Dr John Turner earlier this month With the assistance of local Foster also of the Kingston a dozen volunteers from courts members Bill Willis and Bill Pearson wen key figures in the recreation revival project Willis chief operating officer initiated the project while Pearson a manager at Vulcan Materials Co offered to supply asphalt for the courts TVA provided manpower engineering and equipment always good to to (Todd said while repairing a corner of the tennis courts Todd is a sheetmetal welder at Watts Bar "If I were home Td be working anyway" he said with a laugh By TIMOTHY COX Naw-SanlN MSf wriW Thanks to the efforts of TVA volunteers by next weekend students at Knoxville College will have new basketball volleyball and tennis courts at their disposal On Saturday workers -started digging flattening and grading an area near existing tennis courts When students return to campua later this summer the asphalt courts will offer recreation options absent from the 50-acre campus in recent years This weekends efforts are part of a "Wish List" program conorate leaders and members of Turner's Roundtable sfy Commission the school's top" sdfon administrator has targeted i renovation of campus structures including upgrading ries laundry of dormitories 1 facilities recreation areas and other capital improvements at the 115-year-ola institution Ken Leggett a labor relations authority at TVA reclaimed his engineering talents while coordinating Saturday project He has worked with TVA since 1979 said the 12 volunteers hailed from Bun Run Kingston and Watts Bar plants "We didn't take is coat estimate but the equipment alone worth about he said A bulldozer backhoe and tractor were used When the dust dears two biacktopped basketball courts a volleyball court and a tennis area with capabilities for two courts win be completed The college will fomish poles and rims Leggett said Roundtable February Geisel lobbyist two children Lail as metro Honors group set lor summer studies By FRED BROWN NMONMnwiii ran wnrar Four honors students from Scotland win participate in East Tennessee Skate University's highly rated Appalachian-Scottkh studies program this summer The tour students Janice Wa-son Fiona Saunders Andrew Morrison and Jim Warden are on scholarships sponsored in part by the St Society of Knoxville AU are honors students at the School of Scottish Studies at the Univeristy of Edinburgh ETSlTs program under the direction of the Center for Excel- lence in Appalachian Studies and Services is an intensive cultural study of the effect of Scottish im- migrants in the Southern Appalachians and the influence of the American South on Scotland The program focuses on the redprocal influences of Appalachian and Scottish cultures including social and intellectual history creative arts language folklore religion and literature The students will take part in the five-week course on the' ETSU campus Courses which are open to undergraduate and graduate students begin July 10 and end Aug 13 The lectures and speakers Include scholars from the Universities of Edinburgh mid Ulster as well as from North American institutions In addition to the course work a special feature of this program includes lectures and 2 staff members promoted by News-Sentinel sty problems Legislation wi of the problen motad at Tha News-Sentinel Editor Moskos announced today truck safety problems plaguing Tennessee highways Legislation was later passed to correct some of the problems 28 is married to Bill Nolan a legislative The couple lives in Norris with became an assistant metro editor in Geisel is the new state editor and LaU is the new metro editor They work with Frank Cagle assistant managing editornews in planning news coverage in the East Tennes- parents who love you Tough is facing up to your problems keep on doing what irte doing and youU come in with aU your little tough toys and you know what? a nobody You either get beat up or see TALK page B4 performances in association with the Eighth Ulster-American Heritage Symposium Aug 1-4 Participants win be from Ireland Scotland Canada and the United States Since 1978 the heritage sym- poaium has met every two years alternating between the Universi ty of Ulster and an American uni versity This symposium to the first time being sponsored for I in Tennessee by ETSlTs Center for Appalachian Studies The purpose is to and encourage scholarly study and public awareness of the Scotch-Irish heritage in Noth America heritage in Noth America particularly the Southern Appalachian region Sessions will indude lectures on history folklore religion music language and literature of the Scots and Irish The symposium of North also looks at the effects i America on the Scotch-Irish aa they migrated to the United States and the South The St Society of Knoxville is 17 years old and meets about four tunes a year Including Jan 25 the birth of national poet Robert Burns and Nov 30 SL Knoxville Oak Ridge Chattanooga Kingsport Johnson City and Jefferson City is to encourage and to perpetuate the understanding and appreciation of Scottish traditions and culture The society contributed $500 toward transportation costs for the four honors students The remainder of their travel expenses is being picked up by ETSU and other organizations ceased when he was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously by Congress The Ur United Veterans of Mid East Tennessee will have charge of the program Monday at 11 when interstate 40 from the Lou dim County line to the North Carolina line will be named A McGill Memorial Interstate highway" The ceremony will be at the Watt Road exit in front of the Patio truck stop Speeches are planned by local officials and by State Adjutant Gen Cart Wallace The US Marine Corps will present the colors and Verlin Rye wiT will sing tha National Anthem The Air National Guard wiU execute a fly-by and Ron Rogers win play tape 01 play tape Thehighwa a result of a bill introduced by state Sea Carl KoeUa and passed by the Legislature 1989 before being named recently seedCagle Lail coordi- editor to succeed I nates coverage in Knox County He previously was News-Sentinel business editor Lail 34 Joined The News-Sentinel as a general assignment reporter in January 1984 He also has covered the Tennessee Valley Authority and has been a business writer He previously worked on newspapers in North Carolina He was graduated from East Carolina University in Greenville NC in 1977 with a degree in English and a minor in Journalism His wife Amy McRary is a Living section staff writer for The News-SentineL Eric is 5 Taml these two News-Sentinel staff members They have done outstanding work in their previous Moskos said Geisel moat recently was on the paper's business staff! As state editor she will coordinate coverage from The bureaus in Blount County Sevier County Oak Ridge Lenoir City and Nashville She succeeds Clara Whatley who has become assistant metro editor at the Cleveland Plain Dealer hi Ohia Geisel Joined the paper in June 1985 after receiving a bachelor's degree in Journalism from Ohio University in Athens She has won regional state and national awards with other reporters in covering tha misuse of the dtys travel budget under former Mayor Kyle Tes-terman and for the series "Truck Safety Tempest in Tennessee" an investigation into Portion of highway to honor war hero McGill Activities begin early to celebrate the 4th nese troops After six of his men had been put out of action he ordered the remaining soldier in his squad to a bunker in the rear McGill held the position alone firing his rifle until it foiled to function and then using it as a club to fight the enemy hand-to-hand until he was killed action was a decisive factor in turning back the Japanese attack which threatened the important Momote airstrip on Los Negros When the fighting subsided 105 dead Japanese were found around the position which McGill had defended The drunken condition of the Japanese was substantiated by the fact that dead bodies reeked of alcohol and by the huge stores of beer and said that were captured McGill was bom in Knoxville and his family were native Sevier Countiana He was the son of James Houston and Pearl Estelle McGill both of whom were de Veterans organization in charge of program By BILL MAPLES Nswe-taHM staff writer East Tennesseans Monday wiU honor the only Medal of Honor winner buried in National Cemetery by naming a of interstate highway for piece Elm He was Sgt Troy A McGill a 30-year-old cavalryman who fought to hold a vital position on Los Negros bland in the Admiral- Sf group in the face of fanatical apaneae attacks after all of Ms squad but one had been killed or wounded McGlITs heroism was displayed between 4 and 5 am March 4 1944 in World War IL He led Ms squad of eight men in defense of a revetment under attack by 200 drink-crazed Jape- um of Appalachia in Norris Other activities at the museum will include a Revolutionary War encampment sponsored by the Company of Overmountain Men arts and crafts and music Admission will be charged but parking is free In JelUco activities begin today with an 8 pm community singing The singing sponsored by the JeiHco Ministerial Association win be held at the Mountain Assembly Church of God Tabernacle on Florence Avenue On Monday and Tuesday arts and crafts will fill the downtown park from 9 am to 4 pjn Food and i I and local personalities also will be on hand Fourth of July celebrations are kicking off early in some cities in East Tennessee A complete list of Fourth of July activities will appear in Tuesday News-SentineL In Gatlinburg celebrants are continuing a five-day Civil War commemoration Activities began Saturday Visitors can spend today viewing Civil War artifacts dating from 1840 to 1846 at Riverbend MalL Francis Baraum an award-winning pewter sculptor wiU show his work today from 1 to 3 am The show will be held at Barbara's Elegants located at Reagan Terrace MaU Visitors can worship today In Chapel at the Muse Sgt Troy A McGIH.