Sneak Retreat

So... after being responsible for one of the most disgraceful and embarrassing episodes in Cleveland's history, council members have concluded that it is the public's fault for being uneducated in the niceties of city politics that is the cause of the community's troubles and vowed to better educate them in the future.

If I wasn't absolutely sure of my exact location on this planet, they could easily have convinced me that I lived a lot further East... a lot further. This group of so-called community leaders, squirreled themselves away in the far reaches of Polk County, to plan further embarrassment for our city but at the same time vowed to project a more positive image, including citizen outreach.

Number one priority in this quest for a new beginning was to devise ways to force-feed a new airport to their unwilling constituents. Mayor Tom Rowland, who's pet project this is, recanted his previous 'read my lips' speech of "this will not cost local taxpayers one cent" by declaring his concern for insuring minimal taxpayer burden.... which in Rowland talk means you will be squeezed until you squeak.

They also talked of avoiding a replay of recent scandals by offering cash incentives to government employees for exceptional hard work, which in Rowland talk means they will try to buy silence with taxpayer dollars.

Their enlightening new plan is simply more of the same stale good-ol-boy politics that has made Cleveland a national laughingstock.  And, if they believe blaming the media for the tarnished image will get them off the hook, it proves they have lost touch with the people they are supposed to represent.

If the City Council is really serious about polishing Cleveland's image, all they need to do is start listening to and acting on the wishes of their constituents and stop ramming everything down their throats.

Cleveland and Bradley County is made up of some of the most resourceful and industrious people in this nation; they are not so dumb and uneducated as council members seem to believe. The problem is not with the people, it's just that we have such lousy and arrogant leadership.

What do you think?

A nail in his coffin

Bob Taylor, Bradley County's Director of Schools has said that even if the law is changed and the voters get to elect a new director, he will not step down because his contract guarantees his job until 2007, and some members of the board are backing him up.

Lets make it clear exactly what these guys are saying here... If the state legislature changes the law at the will of the people and by majority vote the electorate orders the installation of a new director, Taylor says he will defy that order because he has a long contract agreed upon by his buddies.

Can there be any clearer reason why a new director should be elected as soon as humanly possible.

What do you think?

The secret of low paying jobs.

Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen needs to do his homework before his next visit to Cleveland. Meeting at Schering Plough with members of Cleveland Associated Industries to decide the economic future of Bradley County, cannot be in the best interest of the working people of Bradley County.

Cleveland Associated Industries, who's membership is by invitation only and who's members remain anonymous, should not be involved in the future development of this community and I will tell you why. It is obvious that any industrial group that demands secrecy can be up to no good, why else would they be ashamed of being identified. Do they meet in secret to discuss a bright and rosy future for their workers and to plan welcomes for all companies wishing to set up shop here, or do they meet to keep wages low and dissuade via their running mates, the Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce, any business that presents a threat to their monopolization of the skilled workforce?

Governor Bredesen is probably unaware of the potential political powder keg Cleveland is and is promoting people of shady integrity to powerful positions that will only exasperate the instability here.

If the Governor's office is intent on improving the lot of workers in this area, he is talking with the wrong people. Let his staff set up office here for a few days and invite working people to consult with them and I wager a totally different picture will emerge.

What do you think?

Drinking more, stops DUI.

A Cleveland Daily Banner report October 19, 2003 suggesting that the passage of the Liquor by the Drink referendum had a positive effect on Alcohol related accidents, seems an awfully strange conclusion.

The inference was that as DUI dropped from 67 in the year prior to passing of the referendum to 11 this year, fears that drunkenness would increase were unfounded.

According to their reckoning, the issuing of a few more liquor licenses should drop the DUI's to zero. If only speeding tickets worked under the same principle; the faster we drove the less ticket we would get.

What do you think?

On the same subject

Is it ethical for an election official to declare publicly his support for a political issue?

In the same October 19th Banner article, Director of Elections David Ellis said, "As a community, we have to find a way to expand our tax base," "That's why we were eventually going to have to accept liquor by the drink."

This newspaper found serious violations of state law during it's investigation of election procedures including improperly sealed voting machines and unsealed ballot boxes. Ellis' remarks could cast a darker shadow on the accuracy of the results of Bradley County elections.

What do you think?

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