by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the Jan. 11 Zoom-format meeting, the Sewanee Community Council decided to investigate extending council representation to the entire 37375 zip code. Also precedent setting, Woody Register, director of the Roberson Project on Slavery, Race and Reconciliation, offered a historical perspective on Sewanee’s African-American residents. In regular business, the council heard updates on the cell tower, and garbage and recycling.

Provost Nancy Berner welcomed new council members Bruce Manuel (District 2), Lynn Stubblefield (District 3), and at-large representatives Bill Harper and John Solomon. The council appointed Spike Hosch to fill the seat vacated by Paul Schutz, who moved to California.

Former council representative Theresa Shackelford raised the issue about expanding the council’s representation in September. Given time constraints, the agenda committee deferred the discussion until after the November council election. Expanding the area of representation to the entire 37375 zip code would include communities in Roarks Cove, Alto Road, along Highway 56 toward Sherwood, and the highly populated Jump Off community. “Important people in the community live there,” Shackelford said, “people who want to run for the council but can’t…[the 37375 zip code] is already part of the greater Sewanee area.” Serving with Shackelford on the committee investigating the change are council representatives Sallie Green, Mary Priestley, Lynn Stubblefield, and June Weber.

History professor Register took the council back in time to glimpse Sewanee’s thriving African-American community. Earlier in the year the council committed to make itself better informed about Sewanee’s African-American roots. Register stressed the University archive and local documents contained virtually no record of African-American community members. Roberson Project researchers gleaned information about the community from African-American newspapers as distant as Nashville and Baltimore. In 1946, the council decided to include a representative chosen by the African-American community, but the name of the man selected to hold the office does not appear in the historical record of the University. Yet, in the San Antonio Register, an African-American newspaper, the story made the front page crediting Rayford L. Bailey, a WWII veteran, with being selected as the first African-American council representative in Sewanee.

“You won’t learn about these people or their lives from [the University] archive,” Register said. “The Roberson Project is trying to change the way we tell the history…to tell a history that is inconclusive and recognizes the agency of the African-Americans who lived in this town…that is reconciliation work, repair work,” Register said.

Updating the council on the cell tower, University Vice President for Finance Doug Williams said an objection to the football field site had been filed with the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). SHPO approved the site, according to Williams, but asked for mitigation. An upcoming meeting will determine the form of the mitigation. Williams expects the tower to be complete by the end of June.

Asked about the prospect of Sewanee receiving a COLT (cell on light truck) to facilitate communication in the meantime, Williams said Sewanee receiving a COLT from Verizon was contingent on what was available. Other emergencies around the country took precedence.

Commenting on the decision to no longer offer curbside recycling to residents, University energy specialist Rachel Petropoulos explained Franklin County Solid Waste Management needed to receive a sorted product they could sell. There was too much “contamination and comingling” in the blue recycling bags collected from residents, Petropoulos said. She urged residents to take recyclables to the convenience center and emphasized the importance of complying with recyclable-plastic labeling.