It's the money, not the children, stupid.

So, finally the taxpayers are rid of three Bradley County Board of Education members that have been systematically squandering and mismanaging the wealth and future of the Bradley County School system. Steve Bivens, Sheryl Graham and Sandy Wallis are calling it quits now they have spent all the money. Funny thing though, I would have thought that because of their concern for the children, wild horses wouldn't have dragged them away. How much did they really care? In the best interest of the children, Graham withheld her decision not to run so that Terry McGuire would step uncontested into her shoes. That must have been a coincidence. Even before he has his feet under the table he is saying he will do what is best for the children, just like his predecessor. Cop or no cop we'll have to watch this guy very carefully because he has not been elected by the voters and he may prove to be worse than Graham - although that seems hard to imagine. Pretty soon all our elected officials will be members of the Bradley County Sheriff's Department and they will just arrest us if we complain. Now there's a thought.

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Get out of jail free card.

Although Bradley County Commissioner William (Bill) Varnell, has denied that he has been sworn as a deputy by Sheriff Dan Gilley in return for his political support while serving as chairman of the Bradley County Law Enforcement Committee, I don't believe him. He even acts as though he is a cop and talks of law enforcement matters in terms of  'we' and 'us.' One thing is for sure, Varnell is recommending we spend gobs of money in Gilley's name and only Roy Smith is asking why.  After years of being told that the new justice center was designed by an experienced architect and that it has been built under budget and on time, we find out that parking was woefully underestimated. Also, areas of the loading bays and dumpster storage were not capable of bearing the load and needed to be reworked. What else is Varnell going to ask for? And I'm not sure that Sheriff Gilley hasn't rewarded many of our other elected officials with get out of jail free cards. All I know is that there are an awful lot of them eager to do his bidding. Gilley has refused repeated requests for information on citizens he has deputized and you don't have to be a detective to figure out why. It is not just who he is doing favors for that casts an ugly cloud on his administrative honesty, Sheriff Dan Gilley runs all aspect of his department in almost total secrecy. How much money he spends and on what depends on who you talk to, it's even difficult to find out how many people he employs and what they do. No-one, including County Mayor D. Gary Davis seems to know exactly how many vehicles he has at any given time. It's anyone's guess how much gas the department uses, who is insured to do county work or how much is settled on lawsuits. It really is too bad that Sheriff Dan Gilley is, despite his secrecy, being paraded throughout the state as an ideal leader and respected politician. When someone in Gilley's position expends so many resources to hide what he is doing you have ask yourself why?

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Just all mixed up.

Reports of Iraqi insurgents attacking US troops appear almost daily but why insurgents? If insurgents are revolutionary in nature and Iraq doesn't presently have a government, aren't the people attacking US troops either terrorists or freedom fighters? If they are Terrorist then according to US policy citing the war on terrorism, they should swiftly be destroyed. Or, on the other hand, if they are freedom fighters we would appear to be the bad guys. Most confusing.

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Having a gay ol time

The Bradley County Commission passed a resolution supporting a state ban on same sex marriage. Considering this county is in the hub of the Bible belt and tend to be conservative when it comes to family values, it was a little strange that the vote wasn't unanimous. While I respect a commissioner for voting their conscience as Ginger Wilson-Buchannan did by voting no, I am curios as to why Ben Atchley, Matthew (Matt) Brown and William (Bill) Varnell passed on the vote.

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