Every Sunday the Customs House Museum in Clarksville has volunteers come in to run their large model train collection. Sounds like great fun for kids (of all ages)who love trains!

For the art lovers they have three, or four exhibitions currently on display,

• You can see the Second Biennial Tennessee Arts & Craft Juried Exhibition showcasing TN visual and craft artisans together (ends April 11, 2008).
• "Without Intent or Scheme..." An exhibit of instrument and song by beloved Clarksvillian Tom Malone (through February).
• The Lucy Dunwody Boehm Porcelain Collection: One of the Southeast’s largest collections of Boehm porcelain featuring flowers and birds.
• Plus other artwork including the newest addition to the Customs House Museum permanent collection, The Porter Children, by William S. Shackelford a Tennessee artist.

If you were already planning on going up to Paducah to see the exhibitions at the Quilt Museum, Clarksville is right off highway 25. Customs House Museum in in downtown Clarksville. Build some extra time to visit this Tennessee Museum. Art and trains. That would be worth the trip all by itself. What more could you ask for?

You can see pictures from their current exhibitions on the Customs House page on Art Museum Touring.com (Link...).

Support your local museums! They are economic engines for your communities.

Sherrie

Memo to any of you folks over in Knox County or anywhere else in the area who would like to help save Townsend (the "peaceful side of the Smokies") and push back against wealthy land speculators (including Lamar Alexander) who want taxpayers to fund a tourist thruway to their new Blackberry Farm developments...

Come out to the TDOT hearing on the Pellissippi Parkway extension, tomorrow Tuesday Feb. 19, from 5-7pm at Heritage High School. We hope to be there live-blogging it.

More info here, here, here, and some talking points here.

...at the Fellini Kroger.

I almost forgot my annual President's Day address. This year, we go back to the 2004 SKB archives for a golden oldie, updated for 2008...

I saw the big Sentinel headline yesterday about a suprise and I figured it was another Muslim prisoner asking for a prayer rug, but no it was that Amy Henley-Vandergriff had put her name in for the clerk appointment. Even though she had changed her mind, it should not be more of a suprise than Sherry Witt or JJ Jones or whoever seeking the appointments in their races. Don't know if that was the best idea for Amy, but I've met her and like her, and I think the Sentinel, after seeing how well Amy did in the primary, which was a suprise, they feel they need to go to bat for their board member Foster Arnett.
I think the Sentinel and these "good government" groups have skated a really fine line in doing a public service about "Black Wednesday" and using it for personal gain and asserting their influnece.
All that said I think the appointments should ALL be given to qualified caretakers if there is a race for the seat in August. I've heard people say that since McKenzie in the first district is a Democrat and its a Dem district he should get the appointment. I say no, thats unfair to Baah and he deserves fairness as much as the rest of the candidates.

Yesterday's news..Clinton's leaving Wisconsin,cancelling Mondays events,a sure sign she's giving up.

Then old man winter stepped in..grounding Clinton in Milwaukee.

But more importantly grounding Obama in NC for his not so secret...secret meeting with Edwards.

So in the papers this morning..Clinton's smiling face graced the front pages.

As for cancelling events on election eve..not the case.

Clinton is stumping from the early morning till the late evening.

Today the Obama campaign is spinning down expectations.

Its a barnburner in the Badger state.

Mark Harmon proudly models his "University Twit" T shirt!

We have more available if you have not ordered yet. See the classifieds here on KnoxViews for how to contact me if you want one.

For those that have already ordered one, I am still figuring out how to get them to everyone.

Becky Harmon

The Knoxville News Sentinel has comments from several County Commissioners regarding the criteria they will use to appoint interim replacements for twelve county offices vacated first by a term limits lawsuit then again by a subsequent "sunshine" lawsuit over the first appointment process.

The special County Commission meeting to appoint interim replacements will be held Wednesday, Feb. 20th at 9AM in the City County Building Main Assembly Room.

Following are the applicants for interim replacements according to the KNS, with links to KNS profiles or resumes submitted by the applicants where available. (Please let me know if this list is not accurate.)

As an editorial comment, I find it interesting and disappointing that none of this is mentioned on the Knox County Commission website.

It's great that they adopted a more open process and conducted a series of public forums for the replacement appointments (prompted by the "sunshine" lawsuit, I'm sure). But there's no announcement of the date, time, or place of the special meeting that I can find on the Knox County website (apologies if I missed it and if someone can find it please let me know), there's no listing of applicants or background information, no minutes or reports from the public forums, no explanation of the process, and no agenda for the meeting. They are leaving it all up to the media to communicate this to the public.

This is pretty lame given the concerns about more "open government" in Knox County. They shouldn't expect the local media (or bloggers for that matter) to do their job for them in terms of outreach and communication, just like the KNS shouldn't have to take them to court to make them do their job out in the open.

(Again, apologies if this information is somewhere on the Knox County or County Commission website. I just wasn't able to find it.)