Well, duh. I live just across the river from where this man had his mansion - and folks all around this area lost everything - he did his time, but that didn’t pay back nearly enough of his debt to society.
I went to that Fair. The theme was “Energy.”
My recalled impression was “dinky” for a World’s Fair, but then I was comparing it to the Montreal Expo ‘67, parts of which still exist as a park, so that’s probably not ‘fair’ (pun intended) of me.
I still remember the television commercials and jingles for this event. “You’ve got to be there (pause) the 1982 (pause) World’s (pause) Fair (pause) You’ve got to be there!”
I also remember what a problem my parents had finding a hotel after we left the fair. I believe we drove almost all the way to Pigeon Forge. Great times for an eight year old!
I was a young bank examiner for the State of Alabama at the time. This debacle had repercussions, not only in Knoxville, but in many other places as well, including Alabama.
Jake Butcher’s daughters were my older sister’s age, and they and their little brother would visit at our church from time to time. I remember the girls as being very pretty. All of Jake’s kids were very nice and well-raised, as far as I could tell. His son was a few years younger than me, and I guess he really liked the “Dukes of Hazzard”.
The boy was too young to drive on the streets, but Jake bought him a ‘69 Charger and had it modified to be identical to the General Lee. He’d drive it all over the fields behind the Butcher house, and up and down the long driveway... lol
Years ago, I heard that Jake had US coins and bills (even large denominations) encased in a solid clear plexiglass toilet seat. lol I have no idea if that was really the truth or not.
Fletcher J
I lived in the area of that World’s Fair while it was going on. It was quite interesting...China exhibited the soldiers from the tomb discovered two years earlier to the public for the first time. Butcher was a crony of Jimmy Carter and Carter’s help allowed Butcher to creatively finance much of what later failed. Blanton helped also and Blanton later went down for bribery and scandals within the Governor’s mansion...