as it gets, but I don't have to endure their b-s on how heroic they are.

Next year, all this year's fiscal conservatism will have been forgotten. The State of Tennessee will still employ too many people to be efficient. This year's cuts will have disappeared. Those that take the buy-out cash will likely be driving to work somewhere else in government, only this time in a new car paid for by you. Pork will still be on the menu only the trough will be a little larger.

Nothing will have changed except their decreasing ability to fool us.

That's what I think. What do you think?

Gobble lawsuit

Sheriff Tim Gobble and the Bradley County Sheriff's Office are being sued by a former employee after she was fired for divulging to the county mayor that the sheriff was making inappropriate credit card expenditures and had hired his wife who was not qualified for the job. This editor likes people who are prepared to risk everything for a principle. It takes the kind of guts lacking in the majority of the population and in my eyes sets them apart. But, was Sheriff Gobble justified in firing her?

Had I been elected sheriff after ousting a man who had been sheriff for as long as Dan Gilley had, almost 20 years, I would have been concerned about conflicts in loyalty of the staff I inherited. The new kid on the block is vulnerable and having a person by his side that can be relied on 100% is an asset to the rookie sheriff and the smooth transition of the department. In this situation the main qualification is loyalty and reliability, which a wife would have. Also, it turned out that it was not permanent employment, so seemed to me to be completely justified. An employee doesn't question the new boss's spending habits if they want to stay employed and loyalty is an elevated attribute.

Although I respect the courage of the whistleblower, I find I support Gobble's actions under the circumstances. Alerting the public to mismanagement is a valuable asset to help keep government honest and a whistleblower must be protected at all cost so I find myself in a quandary on this issue.

It will be interesting to witness the result of this lawsuit and the wisdom,or lack of, it promotes.

That's what I think. What do you think?

Not so Grand Jury

Again a southern Grand Jury has used its power to try to protect a law enforcement officer from being held accountable for wrongdoing. It is becoming an undeniable fact that here in Southeast Tennessee grand juries are being used by public officials to avoid prosecution for misconduct. The Grand Jury, an anonymous group appointed by a county judge to preside over his district, was originally conceived to prosecute mobsters. The juries were formed and names kept secret because regular court jury members were being bribed or threatened by the crime syndicates. Today their usefulness is in question because of their failure to indict police officers even though the case against them is substantial. In Athens, Tennessee, a McMinn County Grand Jury refused to indict former Athens Chief  Detective Bill Matthews, despite hearing his confession from the TBI and State Comptrollers Office of stealing at least $8,900 that was in police custody.

The Grand Jury is increasingly being abused and it may be time for its usefulness to be reassessed.

That's what I think.  What do you think?

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