Thursday’s Chattanooga Transportation Board meeting was so eventful, it required a bathroom break.

Along with the various points on the agenda, one item slipped through: Board Chairman Bart Quinn, despite his own protests that the question was not on the agenda, was officially voted in as chairman.

The board also hit a bit of a snag regarding Johnny Brown’s application for a permit to operate a pedicab business.

When it came to the issue of whether pedicabs could operate in parks and on bridges, Mr. Brown argued that the current law — which doesn’t allow such operation — should be changed.

“It is what it is. Until the City Council decides to amend or change the ordinance, that’s what we’re tasked with upholding,” Mr. Quinn said. “Let me make sure there’s no misconception. This board has no authority to change the ordinance, so we can make suggestions just as you can make suggestions, and I think that’s probably where it ends.”

He referred Mr. Brown to the City Council, adding: “Good luck.”

The board approved Mr. Brown’s application.

WHAT IF FUEL PRICES CONTINUE TO RISE?

With escalating fuel costs, Councilman Dan Page asked city administrators last week to put together a contingency budget that officials can look at should fuel prices climb even higher.

“A couple of council members mentioned the potential for fuel going up to maybe, I don’t know, $8, $9, $10 a gallon,” he said.

Mr. Page said he would like the contingency budget to accompany the proposed 2009 fiscal year budget, which is expected to be presented to the City Council this week. He said the secondary budget could show how the city might adapt to even higher fuel prices.

The council passed Mr. Page’s motion during last Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

DEMS DISAGREE ON NUCLEAR POWER

Former Knox County Clerk Mike Padgett, who is hoping to be U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander’s Democratic opponent in the November Senate race, is big on nuclear energy.

So much that he disagrees with his party’s Senate leader.

Mr. Padgett said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., strongly opposes a nuclear waste site coming to Nevada’s Yucca Mountain. But Mr. Reid is “only one vote,” Mr. Padgett said Friday in remarks to the Southeast Tennessee Political Action Committee.

One of Mr. Padgett’s primary opponents, former Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Bob Tuke, said officials must be cautious when it comes to nuclear power.

“We can’t build new nuclear facilities until we decide how in the world we’re going to make them safe and get rid of the waste,” Mr. Tuke said. “That would be like building an outhouse and not digging the hole.”

CRICKET AIMS TO GET NEW VOTERS

Cricket Communications Inc. is trying to rock the vote.

The cell phone company will have a voter registration service set up in stores in Chattanooga, Knoxville and Nashville. The initiative starts May 30, according to a news release.

“People are excited about this election and we wanted to do our part to encourage people to get out and participate in the democratic process,” Rafael Gomez, Cricket’s East Tennessee district director, said in a news release.

PROFESSOR TOLD KEEP DOWN THAT RACKET

It’s not every day you hear dozens of young kids causing a ruckus in the hallowed halls of a university department.

But during a two-week algebra program for middle schoolers held at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, just such mayhem was taking place in the Engineering, Math and Computer Science building, to the chagrin of some professors.

The algebra session, sponsored by the federal education program Gaining Early Awareness & Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or GEAR UP, taught basic math skills to rising eighth graders in the hopes of helping them pass difficult high school exit exams.

UTC Nuclear Engineering Professor Phil Kazemersky was one of the teachers. He used hands-on examples such as dropping an egg on the ground and having students lift each other using a plank as a lever to teach algebraic concepts. In all the excitement, it seemed a few of the neighboring academics might have complained.

“I upset the math professors,” Dr. Kazemersky said. “What we’re trying to do is just say, ‘Here’s how you can figure out what’s going to happen before you do it.’ And then I had them run in the hall.”

He told the GEAR UP director: “Put it on me.”

LOCAL DEMS ESTABLISH SCHOLARSHIP

The Hamilton County Democratic Party has established a new scholarship, named for the area’s long-time former congressional representative, for public high school students looking to go into public service.

“The scholarship is a living legacy to Congresswoman Marilyn Lloyd,” said party Chairman John Bailes.

The first scholarship will be awarded next year, according to a news release.

The party’s first annual Marilyn Lloyd Dinner will be June 16. Scheduled speakers include U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn.; U.S. Rep Heath Schuler, D-N.C.; U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn.; and Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Gray Sasser.

Former President Jimmy Carter also will send a videotaped message, the release states.