Maryville High School - To Expand or Not To Expand

How many people in Maryville are aware that Maryville High School is considering expanding at its current location using Eminent Domain to consume as many as 30 homes/properties in its neighborhood?

How many people in Maryville are aware that smaller schools are actually better for our kids? MHS has a current population of roughly 1500 students. If they expand they will create a facility to accomodate upwards of 2000 students. This is far from an ideal environment for our children as drop out rates and violence increase and participation, emotional well-being and parental involvement DEcrease. Please check out this great article: Link... . Yes, there are benefits to larger schools such as more extra curricular programs and a more "state-of-the-art" facility, but is this worth the expense in quality of education and student well being? As the large high schools are failing all over the country, there is a national movement back to smaller, community based schools. Funding is available through government and private institutions such as the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.

Link...

Aside from this, MHS resides in a very old and established neighborhood. This neighborhood is sandwiched between two historic districts and could be considered historic itself. Lamar Alexander grew up in this neighborhood. Many families will be displaced and the integrity of the neighborhood will be destroyed. Traffic is already a heavy burden here making roads questionably safe for kids to travel to and from school. Expansion will only make this worse.

Please - LET'S PRESERVE THE INTEGRITY OF MARYVILLE. Let's stop a Mega-Highschool from being created in our community. Let's stop destruction of historic neighborhoods. Please contact your elected officials and school board members and tell them you want preservation, not destruction, in your Maryville.

Thanks to Blountdemocrat, "mellokelley" I decided to sign on here at Blountvews.com. My first posting here is a letter submitted to, but never published by, The Daily Times. It is a follow up to a similar letter calling for Duncan to act on impeachment our criminal Bush Cheney administration. I was especially disappointed by the headline the Daily Times put on my previously published letter, "Reader would impeach president". It was clear my letter was calling for Duncan to act to impeach. In my follow on letter, I supplied the headline I wanted.

And now my unpublished letter of July 4, 2007:


Editor July 4, 2007
The Daily Times
P.O. Box 9704
Maryville, TN 37802-9704

Reader says, We Must Replace John Duncan if he Fails to Impeach Bush Cheney Before Election.

Dear Editor,

The congressional election of 2008 has become one in which I see only one issue. Will our congressman John Duncan vote to impeach the criminal that occupies the White House and his accomplices? Just yesterday, George Bush commuted Scooter Libby’s prison sentence. In defense of his obstruction of justice, Bush has offered a lame explanation that he has not pardoned Libby, only commuted his prison sentence. Libby has not paid a fine and may still be pardoned. Bush has refused to answer direct questions as to whether he will eventually pardon Libby. By the actions of George Bush, we can see that a criminal convicted of lying to investigators of maters related to national security and dis-information on which we went to war at the cost of billions in dollars and tens of thousands of human lives will spend less time in jail than Paris Hilton spent. When will John Duncan act to remove this criminal administration from office?

Scooter Libby was part of a campaign of smear and retaliation against Ambassador Willison for publicly disputing one of the lies that the Bush Cheney administration knowingly concocted to wage a war. A war not against Al Queda but a war to put control the oil of Iraq into the hands of Halliburton. George Bush could have removed our troops from Iraq after destroying Saddam Hussein’s control of Iraq and his conventional military, but Bush has stayed to control the oil. This war has cost American and Iraqi lives. This war has increased the influence of Al Queda, or groups that call them selves Al Queda, worldwide. The method of conduct of this war shames freedom-loving Americas every single day. John Duncan voted to impeach President Clinton for far less offences.

Americans must remove the Bush Cheney administration officials who are responsible for lies, torture, the deaths of tens of thousands and the theft of our nation’s institutions.

If before the election of 2008, Representative John Duncan will not support the House Resolution 333 to impeach Cheney and expand it to others in this corrupt, criminal administration, then Representative John Duncan should be replaced by the voters in the election of 2008. I remind the public that after the election of 2008 the new congress will meet in early January 2009. This new congress can impeach Bush Cheney before they leave office in late January. Impeaching Bush Cheney will go a long way to bringing the rule of law back to America. Impeachment brings another small element of justice, we the people, will not have to pay taxes for a retirement salary to these criminals.

Sign me,
F. Erickson