An ongoing saga between Blount County Sheriff James Berrong and his former secretary came to a legal end on Thursday, with the U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in favor of an earlier district court decision.

Martin wrote that the U.S. District Court found that Nuchols had not stated a constitutional violation and that Berrong was therefore “entitled to qualified immunity.”

Berrong said on Saturday that the lawsuit, filed in May 2003, was “politically motivated.”

Ok someone with the power of sheriff threatens my family and if I sue I must be politically motivated?

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The History Channel is showing the program "Hillbilly : The Real Story" tonight.
If you sometimes have some trouble understanding the old time local folk around here be sure to watch this program 8-10 pm.
It is excellent I hear.

New laws that punish employers for hiring illegal immigrants seem to be doing what a border fence will never do.
At my place of employment, where we have legal contract workers from Mexico, we are seeing droves of people coming in looking for work. They are coming in groups of up to 10 and 12 people at a time, three or four times a day.
They have been let go from their former jobs because they cannot provide papers that are legit. We have never seen this many come to look for work, some as far away as Morristown. Of course we must tell them the same as everyone else. No legal papers, no job.
It is sad to see but I do agree this is a better and more humane way to discourage illegal immigration than a border fence across Indian lands and such.
These folks will leave Tennessee and seek work in other states where no such laws are in place, or return to their native country.
Still it is sad to see the desperation in their eyes, but we can do nothing but abide by the law.
It will be interesting to see how this affects businesses in the future when there is no cheap labor to make money off of.

Buenos dias, ya'll.
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What we are concerned about is extreme situations,” Grinberg said. “We filed one suit on behalf of employees who were fired for speaking Spanish in the break room, talking to family members on the phone, and in another case saying ’good morning’ in the parking lot.”

How offensive...say "good morning" in another language... how dare they...

I dare say that other languages have been spoken in this country since we became a country. Early Indians sometimes learned to speak in French, Spanish and/or English as all three languages were spoken in this country.

It makes it more difficult to raise children who are not racists or xenophobic when this type of thinking abounds in Tennessee.

I am beginning to feel completely disgusted by all this, and ashamed of us for being so narrow minded.

Let me see, no ESL classes, but speak English only.

If I move to New York will they pass a law that I cannot speak with my East Tennessee accent?

I am thinking that all are tiring of this topic and I am becoming tired of fighting redneck thinking. I want to crawl back into my rental home, where I don't pay enough taxes, shut up, and watch Tennessee regress.

This from today's Opinion in the DT:

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While no breakdown is available on how many of the immigrants are illegal, it is quite obvious that many do not have a green card which would mean they are here legally and employed nor are they in the normal channel to obtain U.S. citizenship or here as a visitor on a legal visa.

It is obvious to me that there is little understanding as to why South and Central Americans come here.

Immigrants from Mexico do not come to Tennessee to live out their lives. They come to work. Their desire is to provide for something or someone at home in Mexico.

This is changing as the border tightens. Now they will pay to get their families across because it is too hard for them to cross to work for a few months or a year, return home to their families, and then return to the US to work a while more.

Most would stay in Mexico if they could make a decent living there. No one has ever told me they wanted to leave their homeland to come here where they know they will be discriminated against and unwanted. They come out of need. We don't have that extreme need so most don't understand. It is out of the realm of our reality.

Not every hispanic who comes to Tennessee will stay here. Most will work a while and then go home. If jobs aren't available they will move on.
Not all want to become US citizens. They want to WORK to make enough money to support their families.
Charge a fee for the damn classes and shut up already!

Interesting opinion today in the DT. It seems literacy is a problem for local residents also. Check out the title. LOL.

Lieracy Important for Immigrants as well as Local Residents

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Seriously, uneducated immigrants often have little demand of their own language, making English that much harder to learn. I see this first hand almost every day. The educated person usually does not need to leave his country to provide for his family. Our huddled masses are mostly uneducated.

This e-mail was sent to me today by a friend who lives off Louisville Road in Alcoa.

Hi everyone,
My daughter in law Amber went to Walmart tonight to get some bread and some milk when she came out to get in her car a man grabbed her by her arm . This was about 10:30 she screamed real loud for him to let go and he did and ran, I told her he was probably looking for a purse with money but she rarely carries one and didn't tonight, but that is a good time to grab a woman's purse when we are getting in our cars. If he had wanted her he would have just pushed her on in the car. Please be extra careful out there there are alot of scum-buckets out there and then alot of people hurting for money just watch your step.

Everyone is shopping this time of year so be alert!

I have been told there will be a support rally for Judge Young tommorrow evening at the library. It will be interesting to me to see who turns out for this. The flyer was posted at the Justice Center of all places.
I know that the subject of Judge Young has become somewhat taboo on this site so delete if you must but I had to put it out there for all to see at least once.
I wonder if the DT will cover this one. They didn't cover Wendy's rally.

A disturbing development in Cataloochee Cove:

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I am an earlybird this morning. Check out the front page of the DT this morning:
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