The Chattanooga City Council will vote Tuesday on $65 million in bonds that, among other things, would help pay for improvements at Enterprise South industrial park, future home of the $1 billion Volks-wagen assembly plant, according to the council’s agenda.

Other projects included in the bond issue include improvements at Warner Park; the new North Shore parking garage; improvements to Hamill, Shallowford and Hudson roads; and the Summit of Softball Sports Complex.

strategic planning

City Council Chairwoman Linda Bennett brought a proposal to hold a council strategic planning session, but some council members initially balked at the idea.

“I think the strategy session we have is at budget time,” Councilman Leamon Pierce said. “I just don’t think it’s the council’s job to set an agenda.”

But Ms. Bennett said there’s a need for council members to begin thinking about the whole city rather than their individual districts. Councilwoman Carol Berz agreed.

“Sometimes we think territorially,” she said.

Ms. Bennett said she got the idea for strategic planning from her visit to Greenville, S.C., which is near a BMW auto assembly plant in Spartanburg, S.C.

Councilman Jack Benson said he didn’t understand why the current council, of which at least three members won’t be coming back after the March city elections, is going to be doing strategic planning.

“I think they could do it in April,” he said.

Council members Debbie Gaines and Dan Page are not seeking re-election, and Luther Shockley can’t run.

Ms. Bennett said she wanted to be able to tell people about the city’s plan during the campaign.

At Tuesday’s full council meeting, Mr. Benson moved to include all the candidates for the City Council in the planning session. The council agreed and voted unanimously to hold the session, facilitated by the University of Tennessee’s Municipal Technical Advisory Service.

A nutty incident

On Oct. 15, a Chattanooga police officer responded to 3000 E. 43rd St. shortly before 1:30 p.m. on reports of a woman shot in the back with a BB gun.

Upon arrival, the woman told the officer she was riding her bike down 13th Avenue and heard several “pops” similar to children’s firecrackers, according to the Chattanooga Police Department incident report.

Soon after hearing the noise, she said she felt a pinch in her back. She did not see a BB gun nor did she see anyone throw or shoot anything at her, but she thought three children sitting on a nearby porch had shot her with pellets, according to the report.

The officer went to the location and also heard several “pops.” He did not see any children, but upon further investigation determined the source of the sound.

The culprits? Acorns falling from a tree made popping noises when they hit the road.

politics on the web

U.S. Senate candidate Bob Tuke, a Democrat running against U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said he had to go around traditional media this election to get his message out.

“What you do is use media that’s free,” he said.

Mr. Tuke said Facebook, MySpace, his Web site and viral video have upped his name recognition statewide over the course of the campaign.

Sen. Alexander leads Mr. Tuke in fundraising in this year’s campaign by a more than 8-to-1 margin, according to Federal Election Commission records.

watching the polls

The Tennessee chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is distributing “voter empowerment cards” and has set up a hot line to help voters who encounter problems at the polls, according to a news release.

The cards include hints for voters and lists common problems they might encounter on Election Day.

“We are concerned that some voters might be turned away from the polls because they are not fully aware of their rights under Tennessee law,” said ACLU-TN Executive Director Hedy Weinberg.

The hotline numbers are 615- 320-2792 and 877-523-2792.

Also last week, the U.S. Justice Department’s Eastern District office announced that Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen Smith would serve as the district election officer for the Nov. 4 election.

In that role, Ms. Smith will respond to complaints of election fraud or voting rights abuses, according to a news release.

What’s in a name?

Two Board of Education members on Thursday said they voted to name two sports facilities, but both were vague about the actual name.

Vice Chairman Chester Bankston said he wanted to wait until an official unveiling to announce the new name of the athletic facility at Hunter Middle School.

“Well, I’ll vote yes as long as it’s not Bankston Field,” school board member Everett Fairchild joked.

“I assure you it’s not,” Mr. Bankston said, laughing.

When it was school board member Rhonda Thurman’s turn to talk about the naming of the press box at Soddy-Daisy High School, Chairman Kenny Smith spoke up.

“OK, Rhonda, is yours named after you?” he asked.

Ms. Thurman said the press box would not be named in her honor, but she also declined to say the new name.

Honor among attorneys

Apparently rookie defense lawyer Alan Dunn is quite impressed with the work this past week of his mentor, John C. Cavett.

Mr. Cavett on Thursday successfully garnered a 10-year federal prison term for his 23-year-old client who had been facing mandatory life for his involvement in a 2003 interstate kidnapping and murder. The sentence was delivered by U.S. District Judge Curtis L. Collier, who stunned Mr. Cavett with one of the most significant examples of “second chances” the veteran defense lawyer said he had ever witnessed over the course of his career.

Mr. Dunn thought this required a full-scale article on his hero. His suggested headline was: “John Cavett: From coal miner to maverick to Chattanooga legend.”

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