On Politics

Quotable Quotes – With the expected Tennessee Attorney General’s opinion due back to the county Beer Board at any time, I can’t help but remember the words of one of our elder local politicians when the county first considered dropping its “dry” status to allow beer sales. “Boys, we may not sell it here, but those inmates sure are picking up a lot of beer cans on the sides of our roads.” Can you hear me now? Part II – The ongoing case of phone gremlins in the county continued on Thursday when the telephone system at the Sevier County Courthouse went down in mid-morning and stayed down for most of the business day. In the strangely quiet hall, since no phones were ringing in any offices, the voice of one second floor employee was heard to shout, “There is a God, the phones are out all over the building!” Spending notes – Though the state is cutting back in spending, its important to note that the actual budget for Tennessee went up from $20.43 billion to $21.5 billion. The cutbacks are reductions in annual growth. Seeing the figure, Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Ron Ramsey of Blountville said, “the proposed budget is being cut … with TennCare getting over a billion dollar spending increase (6 billion last year to 7 billion this year). If a business were to cut its budget like that, people would line up in the streets begging for a pay cut.” Suit of armor – County Planner David Taylor has been taking a lot of lumps in his roving public community planning meetings, though not exactly for the right things. Taylor has been subjected to griping over speed limit enforcement, highway signs, beer board rules, road repair and a host of other things that his office has no control or responsibility over. Said one resident after the Seymour meeting, “David’s taking a lot of lumps for the commissioners, the sheriff and Jonas, I hope they appreciate it.” Even if no one else tells him, Mr. Taylor, On Politics appreciates all the griping you’re hearing and hope it gets passed along to the right folks. Looks like some other county officials would do well to have some open public discussion meetings around the county, or Taylor may need to invest in a suit of armor. We don’t need no education – While its true that the County Commission’s Education Committee has had a hard time holding a meeting, the last three have been unofficial as they didn’t have four of the seven members present, some around the courthouse wonder why the commission needs the committee. The county currently has an elected school board and a system supervisor to bring items to the commission. School budget issues are going from Jack Parton to the School Board to Education Committee to Budget Committee to the County Commission. It’s a lot of steps and extra steps mean longer waits and more room for communication breakdowns. But then it is still the best-fed committee when it comes to committee assignments, which maybe why almost a third of commission is on the committee. Run silent, run deep – Though the Senior Center has been the subject of debate at recent commission meetings, there hasn’t been a report from the Senior Committee to the full commission in some months. The committee has made some changes, including adding personnel to the center, and made some tough liability decisions on travel that might frighten the School Board if they are forced to meet the same standard on field trips. The committee is apparently merging with the Council on Aging, and that may jump start the reporting to the full body.