ABC19-WKPT News Headlines
Wednesday - February 13, 2002
8:30am
Bristol Sessions
People across the country will soon be learning that Bristol is the birthplace of country music. It's a message that could bring a lot of tourists and their money to our area. Bristol's Birthplace of Country Music Alliance is planning a big celebration to mark the 75th anniversary of those legendary recording sessions that happened in Bristol in 1927. They were records that led to the first commercial success of country music across the country. The Alliance has received a ten thousand-dollar grant from the National Endowment of the Arts to create messages that sing the praises of visiting this summer. The promise of more tourism dollars is music to the ears of people beyond Bristol as well. The 75th anniversary celebration features a week of live music at eight venues across the region. The Bristol Sessions Celebration starts July 25th and continues through the first weekend of August. The big finale will be the Carter Family Memorial Festival in Hiltons, Virginia. The performers will be announced in the next couple of months. You can find more information online at
www.birthplaceofcountrymusic.org.
Child Safety
What does it take to save your child's life? It could be little more than making sure they're properly buckled up in the car. This is National Child Safety Passenger Safety Week. Area police and highway safety advocates are working to spread the word about the importance of child restraints. This year, there's a particular focus on new guidelines for booster seats, recommended for any child under four feet nine inches tall, in order to make sure the seatbelt in the car provides them with maximum protection. Hawkins County now has its first three certified child passenger safety technicians. Three officers from the Mount Camel Police Department recently completed their training. Those officers will be glad to help you at two checkpoints coming up. The first one is Tuesday, February 26th at the Mount Carmel Police Department from 11:30am-3:00pm. On Thursday, February 28th, they'll be checking car seats for you at the new Food City store on Highway 66 in Rogersville again from 11L30am-3:00pm.
Fighting for Fingerhut
Fingerhut employees go the distance in another effort to keep their jobs. Workers facing layoffs at Fingerhut facilities in northeast Tennessee and Minnesota rallied outside Federated Department Stores in Cincinnati, Ohio. Federated is Fingerhut's parent company. The workers are urging Federated to find a buyer for the Fingerhut division instead of shutting it down. More than 1,300 people in our area will be out of work if Federated goes through with shutting down the Fingerhut distribution center and customer call center.
Virginia Budget Woes
More bad news for Virginia's state workers. Governor Mark Warner says the state will begin to cut 700 jobs due to the continued deficit in the state's budget. Tax collections are 300 million dollars short from a year ago. The job cuts are in addition to the Governor's plan to reduce state agency spending by 18 percent. Virginia's House and Senate are set to begin work on a budget plan that will cure some of the expected shortfalls, but also clears the way for fiscal responsibility for the next two yeas. During the process, Warner says Virginians should expect some difficult times ahead. State college and university students will see higher tuition and professors can expect lower wage increases.