The East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists has recognized Jessica Stith and Rick Laney for outstanding investigative reporting with the following Golden Press Club Awards:

• First Place: Rick Laney/Jessica Stith for continuing coverage of bogus diplomas in Blount County Government

• Second Place: Rick Laney for coverage of Ana Calixto and Judge W. Dale Young stories

• Third Place: Jessica Stith for coverage of the Blount County NASCAR pickup truck purchased by Blount County Sheriff's Deputy

More details as they become available...

The Maryville Daily Times reports on Mayor Cunningham's remarks at the Blount County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner. He apparently can't talk about policies and progress in Blount County. Instead, he lowers himself to name calling.

He referred to Blount County Democrats as "far-left loons" and called three sitting County Commissioners (who he did not name) "monkeys." Speaking of Judge Meares and his "handlers," Cunningham said that "when you wallow with the hogs, you're going to get a little mud on you."

Contrast this with remarks at the Democrat's Roosevelt Day Dinner*, such as Commissioner Wendy Pitts-Reeve's talking about Eleanor Roosevelt's fight for "equal rights, equal justice, and equal dignity."

Or Mark Padgett's remarks that "small business is the fabric of our economy" and that his Dad was committed to helping small businesses grow our economy and create jobs.

Or Joe Gallagher talking about the progress Democrats are making in Blount County and calling for an independent panel to conduct a top to bottom audit of county finances.

Or Judge Mike Meares' remarks about his extensive background and experience in criminal law, and the Constitutional system of checks and balances including an independent judiciary. Or his remarks about citizens getting involved in better government and elected officials being responsive to citizens.

The contrast is pretty clear. Blount County Democrats have a progressive message of better government for a better Blount County.

Mayor Cunningham has a tin ear when it comes to politics, so all he can do is go negative. He doesn't have anything positive to offer, and compensates by hurling insults at thousands of good, honest, hard-working Blount County voters. It's not clear how this helps his candidates, and it will be interesting to see if they reject his remarks and distance themselves, or if they share his low regard for Blount County voters.

It's difficult to understand how Mayor Cunningham got elected with nothing more to offer than name calling and a local version of "cowboy diplomacy." But he has actually done Blount County a huge favor by lowering the bar in local politics. The lesson for Blount County is that if this is the best Republicans have to offer, Democrats can do a lot better.

(*You'll have to read about the Democrat's FDR dinner here, because as far as I know the Maryville Daily Times didn't cover it. That should tell you a lot about the local paper and how cozy they are with the local political machine. EDIT: But give them credit for not glossing over these shocking remarks. I suppose they didn't have much choice, though, because lots of people herad them.)

Ed. note: Comments have been enabled for approved users.

Blount Co. Commission will be voting on the new budget in June. Commissioner Walker recently asked for input at his blog regarding the top five areas where you'd like to see increased spending and the top five areas you'd like to see decreased or eliminated.

Everybody likes to gripe about taxes, and lots of folks, especially in Blount County, want lower taxes and less government. When you actually look at the budget, though, it's easy to see lots of areas where it would be nice to spend more and hard to find areas to cut.

It's even harder looking at it from 50,000 feet without knowing the details on some of these programs. It's a tough job to figure all this out every year (maybe a two-year budget cycle would be good?), regardless of your politics. I don't envy our elected officials and department heads.

Anyway, off the top of my head here are my priorities, better late than never...

Except for two Commissioners (Walker and Pitts-Reeves), I can't find nary a contact email address for any public officials on the Blount Co. website.

Alcoa and Maryville both have email addresses for several public officials, and Maryville has a general contact form you can submit. Both also have email contacts for public information officers, who can route your requests/questions to the appropriate department.

Seems like Blount Co. should have at least one general email address. Ideally, all departments and elected officials would have one for contacting their respective offices.

UPDATE: A reader advises that there is a County Commission contact form here. Thanks!

The Maryville Daily Times files reports on the budget committee meeting. It's a no new taxes budget, but will use $3 million from reserves for schools.

The issue of expanding the jail to bring in more revenue for housing federal prisoners was discussed, and it was noted that the county would need a long-term commitment from the federal government to send federal prisoners. The revenue would help pay for expansion to relieve crowding at the jail.

I'm sure this has been explained, but how does bringing in more prisoners help relieve overcrowding? If the jail didn't house federal prisoners, would there be an overcrowding problem? How many federal prisoners are in the jail? Maybe the numbers work out, I just don't recall seeing them.

At any rate, I personally don't think Blount Co. ought to be getting into the prison business. Go take a drive around Morgan Co. some time.

In related news, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports on the county commission workshop last night. Property tax revenues are expected to be up 4% due to new development and commercial rezoning. There was also talk of disbanding the Ethics Committee, because the new state law requiring a policy doesn't require a committee to oversee enforcement. Instead of a committee, complaints would be taken up by the full commission.

KNS: McCord admits violating state law

State Rep. Joe McCord acknowledged today that he and others have been smoking in his legislative office suite, violating a state law that he supported.

Read the whole thing for some other interesting finds.

The Blount County Purchasing and Budget Committee meets today. Items on the agenda include:

• Growth Management funding options

• Resolution authorizing application for FY 08-09 Litter Grant

• FY 08-09 Budget Message

• FY 08-09 Recommended Budget-Estimated Revenues

• FY 08-09 Recommended Expenditures

• Where are we now?

• Summary of Budget-Beginning & Ending Fund Balance Analysis

• Additional Operating and Capital Requests for FY 08-09 budget

• Proposed Tax Rate Resolution

• Appropriation Resolution for FY 08-09 budget

The information package has extensive details on the budget, tax rates, appropriations, and more.

There is a County Commission workshop tomorrow, 6:30 PM at the courthouse. Some of the agenda items:

• Budget Committee items.

• Budget – Impact on tax rate, employee insurance, and debt service.

• Status on Children’s Home.

• Status on Road access to the Sheriff’s Firing Range and Training Area.

• Blount County Ethics Policy.

• Amending Commission Rules and Procedures.

• Petition Concerning Chilhowee Shooting Range.

• Discussion Regarding Blount County Noise Ordinances.

• Denial of Commercial Rezoning Request Concerning Highway 321.

• Zoning request re. properties on Lail Lane

From the information package:

• A petition signed by more than 80 residents was submitted regarding noise and potential water safety hazards at the Chilhowee Shooting Range. They are asking County Commission to "look into the matter" of these issues that they would "like to get stopped or under control."

• The matter of Highway 321 rezoning involves property at Lamar Alexander Parkway, Gateway Rd., and Tuckaleechee Trail. The owners had requested commercial zoning, which was denied by County Commission. They advised Mayor Cunningham that there was no valid reason to deny the zoning. In a May 2 memo to County Commission, Mayor Cunningham said "Upon the receipt of Ms. Whaley's letter, I asked for Rob's comment because at the last commission meeting I became very concerned about Blount County being sued over the vote denying the request. I think the manner in which the vote went down may have been based on a possible misconception relative to what is the law on this kind of matter. Certainly, I feel that it would be extremely difficult to defend such a lawsuit and not only would Blount County incur unnecessary legal expenses, but we could incur a rather large judgment. I would hope that the Commission would see fit to discuss the matter further."

• Regarding the Children's Home, Mayor Cunningham's attorney advises on May 2 that "I have met with Larry Giordano, the attorney for the Children's Home on April 24, 2008. We discussed all the outstanding issues. As you are aware, you and I then discussed property issues. I have conveyed to Mr. Giordano what I believe you and I can recommend to the County Commission. Mr. Giordano was to meet with the Children's Home Board this week and then make a a written proposal to me to settle all issues."

• Regarding the Lail Lane property rezoning, a citizen submitted a letter to Environmental Health stating that "At the present time we object to any rezoning that might now or in the future under present circumstances create greater problems in water control than we are presently experiencing." The citizen details the drainage problems, and also cites concerns about taxes, infrastructure, and traffic control. The letter concludes "No acceptance of a zoning change on Lail Lane should be approved before a thorough impact study is completed on the items listed."

Daily Times

The Blount County Planning Commission wants to keep a scaled-down variant of the controversial Southern Loop proposal on the drawing board.

During a special called meeting on Tuesday, planning commissioners indicated that they wanted to keep the proposal for a two-lane bypass around the cities of Alcoa and Maryville in the text of the county Policies Plan.

Planners let it slip in a recent TDOT public hearing on the Pellissippi Parkway Extension that local traffic congestion improvements would only be realized if the southern loop is completed.

Citizens Against the Pellissippi Parkway Extension explain the problem:

According to TDOT’s traffic studies, the PPE will produce marginal and short-lived improvements to traffic conditions on a few roads, and within 20 years even these limited improvements will have disappeared.

Becky White, whose firm did the traffic analysis for TDOT, said that this projection assumes the Southern Loop and other proposed new roads will be built.

[..]

Tell TDOT that they need to do credible traffic studies of the impact of the PPE on our existing road system – the road system that will be in place when the PPE is in use. Until this is done there is no objective data supporting the assertion that the PPE will alleviate traffic congestion anywhere in the cities or the county.

In other words, if the southern loop (for which other more desirable alternatives have been identified) is phased out of regional transportation plans, the PPE cannot be justified on the basis of relieving traffic congestion.

This is some real Mayberry shit over here, except Goober and Gomer are in charge and Earnest T. Bass is off leash and off his meds.

I've been doing this blogging thing for six years and I've never seen anything like it. The harassment of me and others at this site, threatening emails, invasion of my privacy, people showing up on my front porch, reporters and others trying to get me to "out" people -- it's a regular three-ring circus and you can't tell which clowns to trust.

So here's the thing. I'm not providing a playground for the local yahoos to abuse me or other participants at this site, nor am I providing a place for conspiracy knitting circles to play out their vendettas, nor am I providing an outlet for anonymous rumors and other crap that wouldn't pass muster for a tabloid gossip page.

But mainly I am not going to be set up as the point man to take fire for people with an ax to grind who won't sign their name.

We wanted to promote an open forum for mature discussions about issues of local concern. We wanted to promote a constructive dialogue on building a better community. We have some serious issues in local government. Frustrations run high, and we should be talking about polices, not personalities. But that hasn't happened, so the experiment in its current form is shelved for now.

I will continue to post about issues of interest to me and hopefully the community. If you find them interesting, fine. If not, that's fine, too. If anyone has anything they want to say, notices they want to post, complaints they want to air, or tips they want to share, they can send them to rneal@rviews.com for consideration.

Meanwhile, I will be thinking about more productive ways to contribute to a better Blount County, starting with trying to elect better local government.

And no, I don't know where the damn 25 cars are.

WATE:

The first phase of the project will require the demolition of three apartment buildings that sit adjacent to the east end of the school, across Cedar Street.

...There's also a long term plan that would take an entire block of homes on South Cedar Street, including Jeff Weaver's, but the city still doesn't have enough money to buy them.

Residents express concerns about uncertainties, getting a fair value for their properties, and more.

What is an "elite click?"

UPDATE: A reader writes "Isn't it a shame that a journalist can't spell or understand the word clique? Maybe next time someone should give him a copy of the speech so that he can spell the words right. The burden also falls on the editor. They are supposed to edit the paper to make sure it is right. This paper had four days from the time of the event to the press time. And we wonder why our businesses are saying the schools are not doing a good enough job."

Blount County needs a home rule charter, mainly for the purpose of establishing term limits for Mayor, Sheriff, and County Commission, and probably some other offices (some of which ought to be appointed instead of elected anyway).

I used to be against term limits, thinking the voters are supposed to take care of that. The trouble is they don't, even if they bother to show up and vote. And before long you get entrenched political power machines (whether Democrat or Republican) and progress grinds to a halt unless you are a member of a preferred special interest group.

KNS: Knox Ethics Committee wants more power to investigate complaints

Some members of the Knox County Ethics Committee want more power to investigate complaints against county employees and elected officials.

[..]

"A citizen doesn't have power to conduct an investigation and neither do we," committee member Mike Duncan said. "We need an ethics committee with some teeth."

Blount isn't the only county struggling to figure out how this is supposed to work. The state should probably step up and make some minor repairs to the newly enacted ethics laws.

More than a hundred Blount Co. Democrats gathered at the Airport Hilton last night for the second annual Roosevelt Day Dinner, presented by the Blount County Democratic Women's Club and the Blount County Democratic Party.

Thanks to Events Chair Gerrae Messer for putting on a great program, and to Party Vice-Chair Tony Webb, our gracious host and master of ceremonies.

Read all about it after the jump...

The TennViews progressive blog roundup is here.

Don't forget, the Blount Democratic Party Roosevelt Dinner is tonight.

(Note: We are told that Bob Tuke and Mike Padgett will not be able to attend after all due to a conflicting DSCC fundraising event scheduled in Nashville. There will be other speakers, though, and it will be a great program and a great opportunity to meet fellow Blount County Democrats.)

From the Knoxville News Sentinel, Mayor Cunningham names County Commissioners Wendy Pitts Reeves, David Graham, and Monika Murrell.

According to the aricle, Mayor Cunningham says they accompanied a "citizen activist" to Nashville yesterday for a meeting with the State Comptroller's office to discuss "perceived irregularities" regarding county finances.

UPDATE: Edited to correctly identify David Graham and "citizen acitivist." Follow the link to the article by Robert Wilson for full details.

UPDATE: WBIR has more:

"They completely side-stepped the legislative process," Cunningham said. "It's a vigilante witch-hunt process. I'm angered by it."

When asked what he thought would come of all of this, Graham responded "Nothing, because it wasn't a meeting."

UPDATE: The Maryville Daily Times files this report, with more details and comments from several individuals involved in the controversy. The article also quotes state law on meetings coverted by the open meetings act. The article fails to mention this part:

Nothing in this section shall be construed as to require a chance meeting of two (2) or more members of a public body to be considered a public meeting. No such chance meetings, informal assemblages, or electronic communication shall be used to decide or deliberate public business in circumvention of the spirit or requirements of this part.

As was debated ad absurdum in the Knox County case, the key part is "deliberate."

Rick Laney has an article about blogging in today's Maryville Daily Times.

The intermittently weekly Tennessee progressive blog roundup is here.

Daily Times reports that Newell Rubbermaid is cutting 200 Blount Co. jobs. WBIR reports that police cars were stationed outside the plant as workers were called to a company meeting for the announcement. According to news reports, employees were told to take the day off.

UPDATE: KNS has reaction from Mayor Cunningham.

UPDATE: Here's the Daily Times full report. Questions: Rep. Overbey is quoted as saying the IDB recruited Rubbermaid. Wonder what incentives they got from local and state government?

Also, there are several remarks about notice. Companies are required to give employees, local government, and the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development 60 days advance notice about layoffs:

WARN offers protection to workers, their families and communities by requiring employers to provide notice 60 days in advance of plant closings, mass layoffs and/or sale of a business. This notice must be provided to affected employees or their representatives (e.g., a labor union); to the state Dislocated Worker Unit; and to the appropriate unit of local government. (See Public Law 100-379, Sec.3.)

The article says layoffs will be complete by September, so I guess that is 60 days. But it appears the first termination could not occur before June 10th in order to comply with the 60 days notice requirement. I wonder if they have filed the appropriate notices, and who did they file them with in the County?

According to Metro Pulse, a citizen has filed a formal complaint with the Blount County Election Commission stating that Rep. Doug Overbey cannot serve as both a sitting judge and a state legislator at the same time, and is therefore not qualified to run against Sen. Raymond Finney for State Senate or hold his current seat in the House.

The Tennessee Clean Water Network has launched a new blog. The blog will cover water quality issues, legislative updates, stories from local communities, and updates on TCWN's activities.

Here's a database of every candidate for the Tennessee August state and federal primaries:

http://www.tennviews.com/tn08aug

You can filter the list by office, district, and/or party. Candidate listings include links to district maps, campaign websites, emails, and campaign finance disclosures that we could find, along with links to search Google news, websites, and blogs.

We will be updating it over the next few weeks. If you have any updates, additions or corrections please submit them to rneal@rviews.com.

The House conservation subcommittee voted against a ban on mountaintop removal mining.

Tom Humphrey files this report on the House subcommittee vote. Voting against the bill were William Baird, R-Jacksboro; George Fraley, D-Winchester; Joe McCord, R-Maryville; Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains; and John Tidwell, D-New Johnsonville.

Sen. Tommy Kilby, chair of the the Senate environment and conservation committee, has rejected Sen. Raymond Finney's call for a hearing and a vote. More on the Senate action here.

Will attempt to live blog...

Still discussing procedural issues regarding the types of ethics complaints the committee will handle, and whether they should be referred to the County Mayor's attorney for legal review before spending time investigating.

Action: Committee will not limit the scope of the type of ethics complaints it will hear, but will make the forms and procedures consistent. The committee also decided to refer all complaints to the County Mayor's attorney for legal review.

Once that decision was made, there was no further business because the ethics complaints against the Mayor must first be referred to the County Mayor's office for legal review.

The end.

Faster than a missing police car!
More powerful than a zoning ordinance!
Able to leap Robert’s Rules of Order in a single bound

“Look, up on the platform! It’s a politician!”
“It’s a statesman!”
“It’s Supercommissioner!”

Yes, it’s Supercommissioner, strange visitor from Walland who came to the Courthouse with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal legislative body members.

Superman, who can change the course of rural arterial zoning, bend Democrats in his bare hands, and who, disguised as Mike Walker, mild-mannered commissioner for a great metropolitan urban growth area, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice and input on items not on the agenda.

(Submitted by a reader who wishes to remain anonymous.)

Decisions by the Knoxville Regional TPO influence TDOT planning and affect Blount County. They are seeking input for their long range plan. Go fill out this short survey.

2007 population estimates put Blount in Tennessee’s top 10

With an estimated 119,855 residents, Blount County grew by 1,921 people from the 2006 Census estimate of 117,934 residents — an increase of 1.6 percent. Blount was also 10th out of the state’s 95 counties according to the 2006 population estimates.

Maryville Daily Times: Deputy files action against official

French confirmed that Pitts Reeves told him outside of a commission meeting on Feb. 21 that "she wouldn't talk to me because I was probably wearing a wire." He said his complaint states that Pitts Reeves also made a statement to him concerning "a Mr. McTigue," who was allegedly followed home one night after a commission meeting.

The article says Chief Deputy Jeff French filed the complaint against Commissioner Wendy Pitts Reeves with the Blount County Ethics Committee on Tuesday.

Doesn't Blount County government have more important business to take care of? And why is Wendy Pitts Reeves such a lightning rod for controversy regarding local establishment politics? Is it because she asks questions?

BIG UPDATE: More on the "other" ethics complaints, with some actual, like, reporting and stuff.