Blount County needs a home rule charter, mainly for the purpose of establishing term limits for Mayor, Sheriff, and County Commission, and probably some other offices (some of which ought to be appointed instead of elected anyway).

I used to be against term limits, thinking the voters are supposed to take care of that. The trouble is they don't, even if they bother to show up and vote. And before long you get entrenched political power machines (whether Democrat or Republican) and progress grinds to a halt unless you are a member of a preferred special interest group.

KNS: Knox Ethics Committee wants more power to investigate complaints

Some members of the Knox County Ethics Committee want more power to investigate complaints against county employees and elected officials.

[..]

"A citizen doesn't have power to conduct an investigation and neither do we," committee member Mike Duncan said. "We need an ethics committee with some teeth."

Blount isn't the only county struggling to figure out how this is supposed to work. The state should probably step up and make some minor repairs to the newly enacted ethics laws.

Link...

Political background seen as detriment

Dear Editor:

As a result of Judge David Duggan’s request to check out his web site in the April 17th Daily Times, I did. To my surprise I found out that the Judge is most proud of a Republican judiciary. I always thought that justice was blind and did not include political affiliations.

I also noticed that Judge Duggan belongs to the Federalist Society. This, I do know, is an elitist, radical group of judicial activists who are determined to revolutionize American law, as we know it.

As an informed voter, I decided to research Judge Duggan’s career, both politically and professionally. He states that he is a Republican based upon “limited government” although his present job is a direct result of growth in Blount County government. I found that as a result of being an active member of the Blount County Republican Party, Judge Duggan has been appointed to several profitable positions, those of which include the City Attorney for Alcoa and Townsend, Alcoa and Blount County School Board Attorney and his present position as judge. It is clear that Judge Duggan has made most of his living off of the taxpayers of Blount County. I do not think that his vast Republican Party involvement has any bearing on his qualifications to be elected judge.

My point is this: do we as Blount County Voters want to see someone who has made it through the system based upon appointments, and not electability? Do we want someone who, I assume, feels he is entitled to this new position based upon what he has done for the Republican Party? Again, I always thought that justice was blind. And lastly, do we want someone who is going to take that type of ideology into his courtroom? I do not.
Sincerely,

Lee Ramsey
607 Front St.
Maryville, TN 37804

Commissioner Wendy Pitts Reeves has updated her blog and I am sure you will find the new entry very interesting. On my pc I have to ignore the blog roll link over to the right of this post and go directly to her blog spot at Link...

Yes Ms Reeves- we wonder why indeed.

Keep up the great work pal!

In today's DT, Judge Young claims to set the record straight about Judge Meares' record as a judge, in response to Carol Gallagher's letter to the editor. Link...

He makes this statement:

This letter is not intended, in any way, to constitute or be construed as a public or private endorsement of either Judge Meares or Judge Duggan. Likewise, this letter is not intended, in any way, to constitute or be construed as public or private opposition to either Judge Meares or Judge Duggan.

However, his motives "to correct some terribly misleading statements" in Mrs. Gallagher's letter become completely clear - and somewhat sinister - when you realize that he has contributed AT LEAST $1,000 of his own money to Judge Duggan's campaign to unseat Judge Meares. Link... Funny that a letter full of disclaimers, and claiming to set the record straight, would omit such a crucial detail that should have been part of full disclosure. He is by definition a supporter of Duggan against Meares, and with his pocketbook has endorsed him to the maximum permitted by law.

Judge Young had no right to invoke any member of Mike Meares' family in a letter intended strictly to tarnish Mike's well-earned GOOD reputation. Particularly quoting Mike Meares' wife, an attorney, on a pleasantry she uttered to Young's staff in the course of business - her livelihood - to say that there is no delay in hearing cases in his courtroom. I have NEVER heard of anything tackier in a campaign in my life. I'm surprised that a man of Duggan's oft-reported integrity would approve such a message.

And this, I believe, is what we used to call a big bald-faced one in the olden days:

It is totally false that Judge Meares is now offering to assist in the civil area.

He isn't? Really, now, Judge Young.

More than a hundred Blount Co. Democrats gathered at the Airport Hilton last night for the second annual Roosevelt Day Dinner, presented by the Blount County Democratic Women's Club and the Blount County Democratic Party.

Thanks to Events Chair Gerrae Messer for putting on a great program, and to Party Vice-Chair Tony Webb, our gracious host and master of ceremonies.

Read all about it after the jump...

The TennViews progressive blog roundup is here.

Seems that the pages and news space aren't the only things disappearing from The Daily Times. Heard this morning that they let a number of their employees go yesterday (although unlike the Newel Rubbermaid layoff, it didn't make the front page). Among them, Business Editor Rick Laney, some people in their ad department, people that run their presses and others.

With the smaller pages, less news, very little advertising, idiotic editorial decisions (think retractions of articles that didn't need retracting and putting in ads from realtors that disputed previously reported facts to kiss up to those who would shoot the messenger), it shouldn't be long before we have The News Sentinel Blount or Blount Today Daily.

I'll bet the GOB are buying each other drinks all over town in celebration of the loss of the closest thing to an investigative reporter this community had in Rick Laney.

Wonder if we'll read about this in the DT, or will they bury it like they do everything that looks remotely negative toward The Machine?

Don't forget, the Blount Democratic Party Roosevelt Dinner is tonight.

(Note: We are told that Bob Tuke and Mike Padgett will not be able to attend after all due to a conflicting DSCC fundraising event scheduled in Nashville. There will be other speakers, though, and it will be a great program and a great opportunity to meet fellow Blount County Democrats.)

Link...

The Tennessee Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers recognized Blount County Commissioner Wendy Pitts Reeves with its "Public Official of the Year Award" for 2008. The award was announced to the 700 attendees at the National Association of Social Workers legislative conference at the Nashville Convention Center.

I have to agree with the National Association of Social Workers. Mrs. Reeves is a very unusual specimen in politics, maintaining an openness and approachability through her blog that we had never seen in Blount County prior to her election.

"Commissioner Reeves brings all the skills and core values of professional social work to her public service," Taylor said. "She is a wonderful role model for others, especially women.

"Politics can be a challenging arena for anyone, but especially so for someone who seeks to uphold the dignity and worth of each citizen and to advocate for those who may not be able to advocate for themselves."

McCain opposes equal pay bill in Senate: Link...

Republican Sen. John McCain, campaigning through poverty-stricken cities and towns, said Wednesday he opposes a Senate bill that seeks equal pay for women because it would lead to more lawsuits.

Hello? I thought this was the year 2008.

From the Knoxville News Sentinel, Mayor Cunningham names County Commissioners Wendy Pitts Reeves, David Graham, and Monika Murrell.

According to the aricle, Mayor Cunningham says they accompanied a "citizen activist" to Nashville yesterday for a meeting with the State Comptroller's office to discuss "perceived irregularities" regarding county finances.

UPDATE: Edited to correctly identify David Graham and "citizen acitivist." Follow the link to the article by Robert Wilson for full details.

UPDATE: WBIR has more:

"They completely side-stepped the legislative process," Cunningham said. "It's a vigilante witch-hunt process. I'm angered by it."

When asked what he thought would come of all of this, Graham responded "Nothing, because it wasn't a meeting."

UPDATE: The Maryville Daily Times files this report, with more details and comments from several individuals involved in the controversy. The article also quotes state law on meetings coverted by the open meetings act. The article fails to mention this part:

Nothing in this section shall be construed as to require a chance meeting of two (2) or more members of a public body to be considered a public meeting. No such chance meetings, informal assemblages, or electronic communication shall be used to decide or deliberate public business in circumvention of the spirit or requirements of this part.

As was debated ad absurdum in the Knox County case, the key part is "deliberate."

A very nice gift from the Steve West family along with the extended West/Ramsey family; Link...

Each community has things it "wants" and things it "needs". Taxes, money from everyone in a community, should only be used for needs. Things we want should come from the private sector - or as a result of a referendum.

I think the "wants" for the average taxpayers are going to be something we hear less and less of as cost rise and jobs are cut.

Thanks again to the West family for contributing to something many in our community want, but because of other needs, can't afford.

The Maryville Farmers' Market starts up again the first Saturday in May.

May 3, 2008
Opens at 9 AM and closes when the produce is gone, usually around noon or 1 PM.

Location: Church Street near CBBC Bank.

There is plenty of parking.

Get ready! Check it out!

Fresh produce is on its way.

Here we go again...

The attorney for Citizens for Blount County’s Future (CBCF) sent legal documents on Monday to, among others, the Board of South Blount County Utility District, Mayor Jerry Cunningham, Micky Roberts, and to the Blount County clerks of court (to insure public court notice), and to the District Manager of SBCUD, Henry Durant.

Link...

Seems as if the county government hasn't sent anyone a press release on this one.

Anyway, the letter and its numerous attachments give "Actual and Constructive Notice" to the SBCUD and local county government. It appears that 1.) the demand by Mayor Cunningham (through his written requirement that the paid SBCUD board members vote to add fluoride--hydrofluorosilic acid--to the water supply) and 2.) the board's subsequent capitulation to the Mayor's demand to do so creates legal liability for the Board.

Apparently, neither SBCUD nor the Blount County Health Department have given a legally adequate statement or a notification to the customers of the district regarding the problems with introduction of hydrofluorosilicic acid to their drinking water.

The letter also addresses the subject of whether SBCUD comes under any ethics policy itself. And if failure to give adequate notice to the community of a new additive that creates specific complications for certain age groups, those taking certain medications (like fluoride supplements) and those with specific health problems is not an ethical concern, I don't know what is.

The Notice itself is entitled "Potential of Non-compliance, Misrepresentation and Liability" by SBCUD as to the proposed fluoridation of the water supply of the district. It looks like this might be the first step to another lawsuit against the county.

Remember back when the news of this first broke out, a water district spokeswoman said:

"District Manager Henry Durant has been getting a lot of phone calls from people that are upset,” said utility spokeswoman Stacie Keller. “We don’t usually get phone calls (about issues). When I talked with the secretary (Tuesday), they had gotten 10 to 20 calls from customers who were upset and said, ‘You should have done a survey and asked our input.’

and

“As we have stated in the past, the benefits of fluoridation in public water is a very inconclusive issue, with valid research and arguments to support both sides. SBCUD wants to remain focused on moving forward and does not want to allow the issue of fluoridation to diminish our district’s progress nor hinder us from achieving our future goals.”

Link...

So, what will the Mayor and the Health department and the utility district do when the district has gone on record as saying that “the benefits of fluoridation in public water is a very inconclusive issue” and they are faced with a legal notice stating that they need to legally prove that hydrofluorosilicic acid meets all state and federal safety mandates?

That could be funny to watch.

Keep up the good work Citizens!

Fran Ansley, recently retired from UT law school, will be speaking at Maryville College on Monday, April 28 at 7pm in Lawson Auditorium in Fayerweather Hall. This program is sponsored by the Blount County League of Women Voters.

Fran is a tireless advocate for human rights and her talk (“Labor Rights Meet Global Wrongs: The Search for a Fair and Humane Immigration Policy") promises to be both engaging and instructive.

Dear friend of quality growth,

As an attendee of last year's Plain Talk on Quality Growth conference, I want to make you aware of an important event that is coming to East Tennessee next week. The Tennessee Department of Tourism has put together a first rate conference on sustainable tourism that will be held next Monday and Tuesday, April 28th and 29th, at the Knoxville Convention Center.

Rick Laney has an article about blogging in today's Maryville Daily Times.

Sit down before reading; Link...

Then stand up and be counted if it ticks you off. At a minimum, forward this to five friends.

Dorothy Samuels, a member of The New York Times Editorial Board, has some trenchant observations about who contributes to to judicial campaigns. In the Tuesday, April 15 edition of The New York Times, she writes,

"The perception that money is corrupting the courts would be damaging enough. But often, it seems, special interests are finding that buying up judges likely to side with them in big-dollar cases is a good investment. . ."

Later in the editorial she outlines the West Virginia State Supreme Court's (mis)handling of a case involving Massey Energy:

"In West Virginia, meanwhile, the State Supreme Court’s handling of a case involving a large coal company, Massey Energy, took on a decidedly farcical flavor. For the second time, the appellate court threw out a $50 million verdict against Massey.

The court decided to rehear the case after photographs publicly surfaced of its chief justice, Elliott Maynard, vacationing in Monte Carlo with Massey’s chief executive, Don Blankenship, in 2006, while the matter was pending in the Supreme Court. The chief justice disqualified himself from the rehearing. So did another justice, Larry Starcher, because he had publicly criticized Blankenship and his company. The 3-to-2 outcome in favor of Massey was unchanged from the first round, which might not have been noteworthy except that the deciding vote was cast once again by Justice Brent Benjamin, who declined to recuse himself despite owing his election to the court to more than $3 million spent by Mr. Blankenship."

Samuels offers a solution from a report by the Brennan Center for justice: stronger recusal rules.

See the complete editorial at
Link...

The earthquake Friday woke is up. A precarious table rattled at 5:40. Anybody else in Blount County? We are far from the epicenter and none of the news that I have seen mentions this area as being involved.

The software, Cartes du Ciel (or Sky Charts) is a fun tool for amateur astronomy.
Available at Link... for free.
You set it up for location with the icon that looks like an observatory.
For Maryville you can use the location of an overlook on the Foothills parkway: N 35° 37.594', W 83° 57.079', Alt. 2406
Use the icon that looks like a clock to set the time. Here in the eastern time zone we are at -4 hours (for Easter Daylight Time)offset from Universal Time.

The big image above is for May 4th facing south at about 10:00 PM
Some easy and familiar star patterns are given names and are called asterisms Link.... They include Orion the hunter who is just setting in the west. Three bright stars make up his belt. Next Gemini, the twins, up and to our left of Orion. Two bright stars mark the heads of the twins and roughly parallel rows of stars descend below towards the west, south west, horizon. Gemini has a wandering visitor this month, the red planet Mars. Mars is marked on the chart with a circle and a projecting arrow. To the south rests the regal Leo- lion and king of beasts. His mane and the bright start at his heart are usually the easiest stars to see in the lion's part of the sky. They look like a big reverse question mark. However, the presence of Saturn near the usually more solitary star at the bottom of the question mark confuses the lion's shape slightly. To the east is a very bright and red star, Arcturus. It can be found by "arcing along the handle of the big dipper towards the south"

From Link...

Arcturus is a ged giant star. Our sun may become like this in about 5 Billion years. One day our very atoms may be touched by the sun!
The moon is nearly full just now and is challenging the stars, but on any clear night the Heaven above Earth can be enjoyed.
Amateure astronomy is even better in person... Link...

Forrest Erickson

Congratulations to Donna Burnette! Link... We sometimes hear from the national media 911 dispatchers that seem to not understand the seriousness of their job.

Not in Blount. Donna and her coworkers are not only always professional, but courteous to those who are often irrational in a moment of crisis. Again, thank you for your service.

Keep up the good work!

A resolution is going before Knox County Commission stating that the Commission does not want any toll roads in Knox County. This resolution has been introduced by Commissioner Mike Hammond.
The resolution will be considered in committee on April 21, 8:30 a.m., in the main assembly room of the City-County Building. It will be voted on in full commission April 28, 2 p.m., same place.

Why should Blount County residents care about this resolution?
Because allowing toll roads means even more roads will be built across Tennessee when we should be shifting resources to other forms of transportation, and without federal funding these roads will not be subject to federal environmental review (NEPA). Even though this is (for the moment) a Knox County matter, input from the surrounding counties is important. In addition if you have friends and family in Knox County, please forward this information to them.

Knox County road watchers are asking people to write a quick e-mail before April 21 to all the county commissioners (see list with e-mail links below). The remainder of this post comes from our Knox County allies:

The tradition continues and is growing.

Arts, entertainment, food in downtown Maryville.

Live music later in the evening at Tomato Head.

Maps of participating businesses are available at Fine Arts Blount ArtSpace Gallery, 301 Church St. E, in downtown Maryville (865-982-0898).

Check it out!

Found 2 small, friendly, affectionate female dogs together on

Saturday night (4/12/08). One is brown with some black around

her face, and the other one is brown & white. No collars, but

they appear to be well cared for and groomed. If these may be

your dogs, please call Renee/865-771-5288 or Patrick/865-771-6388 and identify.

Featured speakers: Bob Tuke and Mike Padgett
Both are Democratic candidates for Lamar Alexander's US Senate seat, in Lamar's hometown... Priceless.

Also speaking will be Blount County's favorite son Judge Mike Meares.

Commissioner Wendy Reeves will invoke FDR for us... and don't forget, there's (good) food !!

It should be well worth anyone's time and money ($50.00 per ticket).

Saturday April 26th at the Airport Hilton.
Doors open at 6:30, Dinner at 7:00.

For tickets contact any Blount County Democratic Party member, Democratic Women's Club member or call 865-379-8683. Leave a message, they will call you back.

UPDATE: We have been told that Tuke and Padgett will not be able to attend.

Back in 2005, Joe McCord's dad, Keith McCord wanted to put a lot of condos in near a wetland at Crosscreek, there on Carpenters Grade Road and Sandy Springs.

The Maryville Board of Zoning Appeals turned it down.

Keith McCord sued them.

Meanwhile, Joe McCord puts in some legislation to de-list some 3,000 waterways and it seems a little obvious that this would benefit a development that would disturb a wetland, if a claim can be made that it is a wet-weather wetland.

But in today's paper, there's an article that Joe McCord's Legislation, which he had energetically defended before, has been "watered down" now to just cleaning up the Nolichucky River and another article that Chancellor Forgerty has "set aside" the BZA's decision in Keith McCord's favor for his condo complex. Strangely, this happened Feb. 1st and we are only now hearing about it.

If you want to go see how this series of coincidences play out, there's a meeting tonight:

The Board of Zoning Appeals will meet at 5 p.m. today for a briefing from attorneys about the ruling.

"Concerns raised by citizens relative to traffic is a matter that may be reviewed and considered by the Maryville Regional Planning Commission at the next requested approval phase of the property development ... if permitted by the applicable laws and regulations," the ruling states.

The City of Alcoa Utilities has added a $3 fee to resident's water bills to cover the EPA stormwater Phase II program requirements.

Permit requirements include system-wide erosion and sediment controls, pollution control, and public education initiatives. The stormwater utility will serve as an alternative to increasing taxes to meet the added expense of funding these requirements set by the federal government.

Probably a good thing and I suppose I don't mind paying the extra $3. However, keeping in mind I have not studied this in depth, I hope not that many businesses get credits while I, a resident, am not able to get credits.

Update: I called the City of Alcoa regarding residents that have two water meters, one for the house and one for watering the lawn. It sounds like they made a mistake in charging this fee on the second meter for watering the lawn. It sounds like they should have this handled and not charge this fee next month on the second meter.

Cool new feature found on the City of Alcoa web-site, GIS Mapping.

The City of Alcoa GIS Mapping is currently promoted for businesses to "review your property boundary and mapped impervious area".

However, you can use it to look up individual property information as well. Check it out at this City of Alcoa Stormwater Utility site.