By Chip Brown | Maynardville@gmail.com

It had been six days since the ground breaking at the Paulette site, so I thought the amount of work would be minimal so far. A lady stopped by Maynardville Elementary the other day while I was there, simply to thank me for doing this website. She told me that she and her husband looked forward to reading it weekly and watching the school being built. I explained to her that this was a collaborative effort between myself and Mr. Goforth. Without the help or Mr. Goforth, Eddie Graham, and Glenn Coppock this could not be possible.

She asked me when the next update would be online and I explained I would probably wait a little while to allow a good amount of work to be done. She told me I should probably drive down.

I left my house Saturday morning not knowing what to expect. My inclinations led me to expect trees, a building left and possibly some smoldering brush. I was quite surprised to arrive at the site and find it as barren as a moonscape. All the trees were gone, without as much as a brush fire. I had to walk all the way to the back of the property to even find where brush had been burnt. The site that had been the old auction house is gone!  All I can find left of the house is less than a dump truck's load of rubble. One point near the lower end I found a metal pipe extruding from the ground. My father tells me this is where the well was that fed the house.

Oddly I found a small hill down near the old willow tree. Now granted I hadn't been there in six days but I could not recall this hill being there. On close inspection this hill is made of all the topsoil from the rest of the site. This is being removed and saved for future use putting in the grass areas around the school. Undoubtedly this will result in a savings for the county in this project.

I walked to the highest point in the lot and found it marked with a stake and flag. At this point the ground seem little disturbed. However, as you stand there a three-hundred-sixty degree view reveals layer after layer that has been removed. Walking around the site I was surprised that I was finding no rock whatsoever. Old people used to say,"there isn't enough rock to throw at a dog." Indeed if a dog had ran at me I would have been left defenseless. Possibly I could have thrown a lump of clay at him.

I commented to my father that we had hit it lucky on the excavations as there were no rock. He warned me that this was good land so far but there is limestone in the area. I remember digging my basement in Corryton we hit rock after rock. I just don't see that here.

I located an area across the street and marked a place to take weekly photos. My hope is to eventually have a time lapse of the building going up. I will in the next week look at the site plot to locate where the school will be located. That way my photos can feature the structure centered in the presentation.

We received a couple of questions this week in the "ask a question / leave a comment section."

The first question was regarding the access to the site. The question posed was whether the county could get crosswalks across Maynardville Highway. The person was asking in particular regarding the many houses across the road. I had never thought about this but in fact found myself thinking it a great question.

Director Goforth answered, "At the Paulette Elementary site, I am still negotiating with Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) about entrance, crosswalks, stoplights and other. At this point in time Highway 33 is going through the design process to be widened by TDOT. I am not sure at this date what the extent of the project involves or the timeline. However, I am monitoring the design process and when that process is completed, I hope to have a better idea how to address these issues. "

It may be that those of us in the community could contact our TDOT officials at some point and urge them to take this into consideration. If that becomes necessary I'll report it on here along with who we could contact as concerned parents and grandparents.
The second comment was about the groundbreaking and came from a lady who said in part, "... But I was more proud to see the turnout from the public. Not just elected officials, but just ordinary people like me. It was a beautiful day to start building a wonderful school!! Thanks, Mr Goforth, for never giving up on this project!!!! "

I can echo what this lady said. I hadn't thought about it while writing the first article but she is right. I pulled out the photos and began looking at the crowd that attended the ground breaking. I expected to see parents and maybe some children. But go back and look at some of those photos, it is amazing how many grandparents attended.

I am proud of our county for this effort. I have already said I was proud of the School Board. I have already said I was proud of County Court. But now I see I should have also said I am proud of all our families, who came together to see and watch this.

Until next time...

Figure 1: Photo depicts view of site from across Maynardville Highway
Figure 2: Photo depicts view from highest point of site facing Knox County.
Figure 3: Photo depicts view from highest point of site facing Milan Church
Figure 4: Photo depicts view from entrance of site facing HWY 33 Southbound
Figure 5: Photo depicts view from entrance of site facing HWY 33 Northbound