"The boys" are at it again.

While it is generally agreed that building a new Mayfield school is a good idea, it is unfortunate that greedy anti-education activities of Cleveland's good-ol-boy system is fixing to tarnish an otherwise worthy project. Finding a suitable site for the new facility has erupted into a full blown power struggle between "the boys" and the city council.  Max Carroll, a local property speculator and legendary good-ol-boy, heads the Mayfield Site Selection Committee set up by the Cleveland Board of Education of which he is a member. The Cleveland City Council have let it be known that to save money they would prefer the school board use a site already owned by the city or build a multi-level structure on the existing Mayfield site, but Carroll and his group have other plans. He has suggested that a site owned by fellow speculator Paul Williams, be used. Williams has offered several acreage options; $675,000 for 13.7 acres to just over a million dollars for 28.65 acres, including some site preparation. It is recorded in the Bradley County Deed Book that Williams paid $207,000 for 14.4 acres of the site just two years ago, making the proposal an almost instantaneous increase of over 300% in the property's value. Exorbitant price is not the only drawback to the site which is located opposite Cleveland Plywood on 20th Street. There is an active asbestos dump within a few hundred feet of where the school building would be located. Local and state environmental agencies have voiced concern over the Williams site's suitability and Cleveland City Council members George Poe, Richard Banks and Bambi Hines have spearheaded a halt to funding until a more appropriate location can be found.

Folks, this is a prime example of using a fox to guard the chickens; allowing a property speculator to be part of the site location decision making process is folly at best and stupidity at worst. Carroll has become a wealthy man wheeling and dealing in Bradley County real estate and along with a handful of others have cornered the market in lucrative sales. An expensive government project like building a school using taxpayer funding is an attractive way of siphoning off funds into the property speculator network. Whether there is an underlying motive for the infighting or it is a genuine attempt by council members to protect parents and taxpayer interest is unclear but Poe, Banks and Hines seem to be doing the community an enormous service by standing up to Carroll. Also, it may be interesting to discover what horse the other members of the Site Selection Committee have in the race and why these people were chosen? Any ideas?
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Media integrity.

The Cleveland Media Association have proven once again that you "can't tell a book by its cover" and the name of an organization can be so misleading as to bear little relationship to its actual reason for being. Local pro tax increase activist and good all-round sucker-upper Traci Hamilton has been selected as the latest president of this august organization. On the face of it one could be led to believe that the Cleveland Media Association is a group of media professionals meeting to enhance the integrity and raise the work ethic of its members while promoting that image to the public. Most professional organizations of this type tend to achieve this purpose but what about the CMA? The Cleveland Media Association is not a media association at all, as is proven by the names of its past presidents and those who dominate its membership. Traci Hamilton, if you remember, was one of the "parents" who along with the Bradley County Board of Education and the Cleveland-Bradley Chamber of Commerce, bullied the Bradley County Commission into raising the property tax rate to build an overpriced Walker Valley High School. Shortly after, she was rewarded for her services with a cushy job at the Cleveland Museum at  Five Points and has become a regular supporter when an unpopular project is being pushed. In short she is a cheerleader for the system, the system the media is supposed to be watching. So, how come she is president of a media association and how come recent past presidents were also not from the media but worked for local government? You don't have to be Traci Hamilton to figure the real reason. The real reason is for the Cleveland Media Association to appear upright yet exert some control over what the media professionals release to you the public. Aside from this publication, have you noticed how sanitized local reporting is, or just plain slanted in favor of the establishment? The pressure these people exert on the real media is of course financial. They control advertising dollars that originate from your pocket in the form of taxes. Scan the advertisements to see just how many come from taxpayer funded agencies and services. In short, for scrubbing the news of scandal and supplying damage control when one leaks, the media is rewarded with lucrative and often unnecessary advertising, paid for by you. It is sad that so many journalists lend their names to make this organization appear respectable and form associations with the very people they are trusted to report on. The Cleveland Media Association is a scam to the public. By-the-way, The People News was asked to become a member, but declined the offer.
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Just like home.

So, Bradley County Sheriff Dan Gilley is encouraging an inmate to spruce up the walls of the new jail with art and murals to give it a more friendly appearance but was caught by surprise when the jail suddenly became filled. Who would have thought it?
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