Can someone explain to me how a local beef jerky maker can justify spending money to go to Argentina to investigate their beef, sample their beef, then come home and decide to buy their beef when we have some many frickin cows in Blount County?

Link...

On top of that their jerky now has nitrates and MSG, something the owner has said they did not want to do in the past. Well, if you import beef from Argenitina then it needs to be preserved.

I would think there are farmers in Blount County who would love to produce beef for this guy. I mean, come on, it's BEEF JERKY!

The owner must have talked to Sandy Beal about managing a company....

Just want to say that The Daily Times was spot on in the endorsement for Fred Thompson for president on MAY 20, 2007. First, ole Fred had not even declared that he was running for president when the sterling endorsement was made (he was too busy finishing up his TV appearance). Second, the declaration date was not even close to a primary. Third, it goes to show how idiotic the editor can be at the daily times. I DEMAND A RETRACTION OF THE ENDORSEMENT!

I would link the article but I'll be damned if I'll give a cent to the DT for retrieving archived articles. Someone can if they have access.

goes to Dean Stone????? Sure, he's a staple for Blount County history, but old Dean has also come out in strong support of the Pellissippi Parkway Extension and the Southern Loop (which the Raven Society is adamently against). And Booty giving him the award seemed kinda ironic.

Boy the Ruby Tuesday stock is taken more of a hit after the financial report yesterday. It's gone as low as $6.07 today, the lowest it has ever been. I looked at the five year trend and the stock was between $20 and $30 for the past five years until this past Fall went it started a sharp decline.

I blame this solely on the Daily Times. How dare they report disgruntled local people who complained about the food and new decor. A coworker said she went to Ruby's the other day and she said it was a glorified hamburger joint.

This could have serious repercussions for the city of Maryville. If RT goes down, so does most of downtown.... Of course there's always Blackberry Farms and the Three Sisters tract.....

Printed in the Daily Times. County officials have given the go-ahead on the idea of creating an environmental court which, among other things, be a place to enforce littering laws. I travel all over the US and East Tennessee has some of the trashiest roads. I applaud the new director of Keep Blount Beautiful Allison Teeters for helping to push this along. Finally KBB seems to have someone who is genuinely interested in addressing litter an pollution in our county.

In the same article it looks like the Planning Commission is coming along in setting design guidelines for comercial buildings! The RAC has design guidelines, but not for commercial developments. I hope this happens quickly.

I was wondering who was pushing for new convenience stores to go before the BZA versus rezoning (which would take longer, have more public input, and have a better chance of being defeated). Lo and behold here is the answer... Link.... The requestor is none other than the high and mighty former State Senator Bo Henry and his son. Not three weeks since being approved, the BZA gets their first request for a convenience stor and it's approved! Of course Bo said it will be a quality development and he'll turn off the lights at night, but still..... There is a lot of behind the scenes manipulation of zoning laws that will ultimately have a negative impact on our community.

I loved reading the letters to the editor in The Daily Times yesterday. Here's the link - Link... I thought it was pretty tasteless to have the lead story be about someone's divorce, especially someone like Pat Summitt. My contempt for the rag grows daily. Has the newspaper ever done any investigative reporting into the Sheriff's spending? It seems like it's kinda run by the Blount County mafia. Don't shake up the system.