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THE CHRONICLE
of Mt. Juliet
The Largest Circulation in Wilson County 
Celebrating our 28th year as the leading newspaper in Mt. Juliet and West Wilson County
 www.thechronicleofmtjuliet.com
 Volume 29 June 10, 2009 Number 22
Page 10
TN authorto make rareappearancein WC
Page 2
 You Heard it First
Gwaltneyretires, Belltaking overMJMS
Page 10
Hours of debate resultin deferralof MJ Citybudget
Page 3
First carnival on MJ Rd
 
First carnival on MJ Rd
site bene
fi
tting county
site bene
fi
tting county 
What many long-time Mt. Juliet citizens say is the first-ever carnival to be located on such a prominent site on Mt.Juliet Road was approved by Wilson County Mayor Robert Dedman and is benefitting a Wilson County program.This prime real estate has been for sale for months - but how is it being utlitized? See story on Page 7~
 Photo by Tomi L. Wiley
Collegecoursescoming toMJ?
Page 5
 
Page 2, The Chronicle of Mt. Juliet, June 10, 2009
One of the
fi
nestcontemporary scribes of Southern
fi
ction makes arare appearance in LebanonFriday evening.William Gay, whose
fi
rst novel, “The Long Home,” won the James A. MichenerMemorial Prize in 1999, willread at Sherlock’s Books aspart of the Tennessee WritersAlliance WordFest (call aheadfor ticket availability).Gay, a native of Hohenwald, has been writing since his teen years while making his living asa carpenter and drywallhanger. Ten years ago, in hismid-50s, he was
fi
nally ableto lay his toolbox aside and wrestle with words full time.Since then, he has nabbednational and internationalliterary acclaim, and hisshort story, “I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down,”has been turned into a movie, while his novel “Provincesof Night” has just wrapped
fi
lming in Wilmington, N.C., with a cast that includes ValKilmer, Kris Kristofferson,Hillary Duff, Dwight Yoakamand Hank Williams III.Gay, 65, aGuggenheim Fellowship winner, is still ruminatingabout what he may presentin Lebanon.“I might reada short story aboutmethamphetamines, ‘WhereWill You Go When YourSkin Cannot Contain You?’ It’s about greed and has gotthat meth theme runningthrough the story. Themeth guys are like the newbootleggers or something.Or I might read a couple of segments out of my nextbook that I am still workingon, ‘The Lost Country.’  The title is in reference of a place you can’t get backto, that childhood and lostinnocence,” Gay said duringa phone interview this past week.The meth tale wasincluded in “The BestAmerican Mystery Stories2007” and “The BestAmerican Short Stories2007,” and Stephen Kingselected Gay’s third novel,“Twilight,” as his favoritebook of 2007. He wrote of itin “Entertainment Weekly”:“The perfect entertainment:no commercials, no batteries,hours of enjoyment for eachdollar spent. ... ‘Think NoCountry for Old Men’ byCormac McCarthy and‘Deliverance’ by JamesDickey … then double theimpact.”Storyteller Gay tendsto set his novels in therural South of the 1940sand ’50s and he has drawncomparisons to McCarthy,William Faulkner, FlanneryO’Connor and ErskineCaldwell. His books haverun with a similar theme of boys evolving into manhoodin rough circumstancesas their character is beingtested.For Gay, it was alegendary Southern writerthat sent him on his path tobeing a wordsmith.“I think I was around15 or so when a teacher gaveme a copy of ‘Look Homeward,Angel’ by Thomas Wolfe. Itsort of blew my mind andaltered my way of thinking,”Gay said. “I thought, ‘This would be a great way to beif you could write something
THE CHRONICLE
of Mt. Juliet
Largest Circulation in Wilson Countywww.thechronicleofmtjuliet.com
 Published each Wednesday in West Wilson County by Mt. Juliet Communications, Inc. A home-owned and operated community newspaper.
Tomi Wiley
Managing Editor editor@thechronicleofmtjuliet.com
Tonya Hinesley
Production Manager  production@thechronicleofmtjuliet.com
Amanda Oswalt
Sales Manager amanda@thechronicleofmtjuliet.com
Brenda Parker
Accounts Manager  brenda@thechronicleofmtjuliet.com
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 647Mt. Juliet, TN 37121
Of 
ce Location:
11509 Lebanon RoadMt. Juliet, TN 37122
Telephone:
754-6111
Fax:
754-8203
Of 
ce Hours:
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. M-F
Classi
ed Deadline:
1 p.m. every Monday
VacationBibleSchool
Vacation Bible School 
June22-25•9:00-12:30
 June 22 - 25 • 9:00 -12:30
Kindergarten-6th grade
Register your child online atwww.vbcmtj.org or call the of 
ce
Victory Baptist Church1777 Tate Lane Mt. Juliet773-5200
Hop on board Lifeway’s Boomerang express asVBS 2009 takes a train ride across the Land DownUnder! As kids wind their way through Australia,they’ll discover the vastness of God’s love, andthey’ll learn that no matter where they go or whatthey do in life- it all comes back to Jesus.
 
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Tennessee writer pours his South into his prose
William Gay sees decades of work translate into novels, films
By Ken Beck
Special to The Chronicle
See WORDFEST, Page 4William Gay of Hohenwald will read at Sherlock’s Bookstore onFriday evening as part of the Tennessee Writers Alliance WordFest.His short stories and novels have gained him acclaim as one of thepremier contemporary writers of Southern fiction. ~
 Photo by JulieGillen
 
The Chronicle of Mt. Juliet, June 10, 2009, Page 3
By Tomi L. Wiley
 Managing Editor 
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After an initial
fi
rstreading, several workshopsand hours of discussion Mt. Juliet city commissionersvoted to defer approval of the 2009/2010 budget Mon-day night.City commission-ers wielded their “whittlingtools” and discussed a vari-ety of possible budget cutsbut failed to come to a con-sensus on the proposed bud-get. Some of the budget cutssuggested (although not in-dividually recommended) byCity Manager Randy Robert-son included:- $5,500 for a web-streaming encoder for Chan-nel 3- $50,000 from a con-tingency fund for City At-torney Jason Holleman for“lawsuit issues”- a total of $38,637 forthe acquisition of a new Mt. Juliet Police vehicle and ac-companying equipment- $7,500 to only par-tially pave sections of Mun-dy Park instead of the origi-nal $15,000 to totally pavethe park- $45,000 – 50,000 fora vacant building inspectorposition within the PublicWorks department- $50,000 cut inhealth insurance policies forcity commissioners- $25,000 for the City-sponsored Fourth of July
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reworks celebration (“I would recommend not doingthat,” Robertson noted.)- some $33,000 fornew security cameras andan updated contract for CityHallThese money-savingitems were, again, only upfor discussion. The boardvoted 3 – 2 in favor, in dis-cussion only, for the $50,000cut in insurance policies forcity commissioners, withMayor Linda Elam and Dis-trict 4 Commissioner JimBradshaw voting against themeasure. Two other budget-cutting items proposed byRobertson were the elimi-nation of woodchipping, where “real dollars” could besaved, as well as contractingout animal control services, which was deemed too costlyand would reduce, Elam re-marked, in
fl
uence over thatarea of City control.Other possible cuts were in the MJPD sector,including removing the cur-rent community-orientedprograms such as the COPSand Explorers programs.MJPD Chief Andy Garrettsaid that while he didn’t want to cut any of 
fi
cer pro-grams, he believed elimi-nating community-orientedprograms would be de
fi
cientto the community and “addsmore than saving budgetmoney.” He added that heconsiders “any time an of-
fi
cer speaks to a citizen acommunity outreach,” butthat by removing Of 
fi
cer Ty-ler Chandler from his post ascommunity policing directorand “putting him back onthe streets” he would thenhave to remove one of 
fi
cerper shift from patrol, thuscausing a de
fi
ciency in of 
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-cers on patrol in Mt. Juliet.Robertson reiteratedthat the budget numbersare based on businessesproviding sales tax revenuecurrently – revenue big boxretailers such as Lowe’s andWal-Mart, which are sched-uled to come online in Mt. Juliet later this year, are notincluded in the 2009/2010budget numbers. He addedthat City of 
fi
cials shouldreceive sales tax revenuenumbers for the month of April later this week, andthat of the past reported10 months, eight monthsshowed increases in salestax revenue over last yearand above projected budgetnumbers.City Finance Direc-tor John Rossmaier saidthe projected sales tax andbusiness tax revenues forthe new Lowe’s is projectedat a total of $256,000 per year.“Don’t hang your haton that number,” Robertson warned, adding that esti-mates for sales tax revenuefor big box retailers are “likenailing wallpaper to a wall”and are based on numbersfrom the retailers in neigh-boring communities.In discussion, com-missioners unanimouslyapproved an amendment tomove $150,000 out of theGeneral Fund to a “rainy dayfund” – which is still part of the General Fund but “pro-tected” – and must have a“super majority vote” of 2/3of the commission to removefunds from the emergencyfund.Another amendmentapproved by the commis-sion in discussion was tocut the grants and donationbudget line item by some$73,170, down to $100,000.Depending on the economyat the time, commissionersmay “free up” the remaining$73,000 in December. Brad-shaw voted against the mea-sure.In Un
fi
nished Busi-ness, commissioners votedto defer one meeting to adopta new Title 3 to the City Codeconcerning Animal Controlper staff request.An amendment tothe FY 2008/2009 budge forthe IT Department for equip-ment to schedule Channel3, transfers coming fromStormwater, Police and Eco-nomic Development, was
First reading, multiple workshops, lengthy discussions,side meetings = City 2009/2010 budget still on the table
See BUDGET, Page 13
City Finance Director John Rossmaier said the projected  sales tax and business tax revenues for the new Lowe’s is projected at a total of $256,000 per year.
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