VITAL POLICY – OPINION – Gun Control Focus of Special Legislative Session
Governor Bill Lee has called for a special session to, in his words, “strengthen public safety and preserve constitutional rights”. In this session, he will be asking the general assembly to enact a “red flag” gun law. If you have the slightest doubt, read the 13-page draft legislation linked here: (Temporary Mental Health Order of […]
VITAL POLICY – The “Ibbetson Plan” for Jefferson Elementary School, Patriot Academy, and Jefferson County High School
Doug Ibbetson is a businessman with extensive experience in banking, finance, and business management, one who thinks outside the box, and one who views problem solving with a unique approach. He was elected to the Jefferson County School Board in August 2022. After four years of struggling to secure funding for a new elementary school, […]
VITAL POLICY – Education Savings Accounts (School Vouchers) Expanded in Tennessee
State Senator Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga) expressed disappointment concerning the lack of progress made by certain Hamilton County Schools after more than twenty million dollars had been poured into the school system over a five-year period. The additional money was over and above the BEP and other regular funding that the Hamilton County School system normally […]
VITAL POLICY – Food Truck Operators Get Regulatory Relief with New Legislation
Earning a living as a food truck operator will soon be more rewarding and profitable in Tennessee due to a new law that will streamline fire inspections. Under current law, operators of “mobile food units”, as they are called by legislators, are required to undergo fire inspections in each jurisdiction in which they operate. That […]
VITAL POLICY – Jefferson County Republican Party Makes Resolution Against “Red Flag” Gun Laws
With storm clouds brewing in Nashville for additional gun control laws, the Jefferson County Republican Party Executive Committee made a resolution strongly urging the Tennessee legislature to reject so-called “red flag” gun laws that would deprive a law-abiding citizen of their God-given right of self-defense and gun ownership. The resolution begins with the text of […]
VITAL POLICY – OPINION – Zoning, Economic Development, and Public Engagement, Jefferson County’s Chance to Finally Get it Right
Some of the most bitter public arguments in the history of Jefferson County have been related to zoning, economic development, and lack of public involvement in decision making. When a board or third-party, acting on behalf of the county or city government, or on its own, decides to make policy decisions on zoning or business […]
Memorial Service for Unclaimed / Homeless Veterans
A large crowd of veterans, families of veterans, and supportive citizens were present to honor seven veterans at the Memorial Service for Unclaimed/Homeless Veterans on March 22 at the East Tennessee Veterans Cemetery, 2200 E. Governor John Sevier Hwy., Knoxville. Seven burial urns and seven tri-cornered folded flags of the United States graced a long […]
VITAL POLICY – Jefferson County Republican Party Calls for the Removal of Allied Behavioral Health Solutions and LGBTQ+ Ideology from Jefferson County Schools
A formal resolution has been made by the Jefferson County Republican Party Executive Committee asking the Jefferson County School District to end its business relationship with Allied Behavioral Health Solutions (ABHS) and to remove all their personnel from all schools in the district. The resolution, made on March 24, 2023, also urges the school system […]
Dining in Early America
The preparation and consumption of meals in early America was quite different from what it is today. For one thing, all dishes were “made from scratch,” and cooking at the hearth was energy and time-consuming. Some of the foods, cookware, and serving ware would strike a 21st Century family as quite unusual. Diana West, DAR […]
VITAL POLICY – OPINION – Nullification Bill Rejected by Senate State and Local Government Committee, Federal Power Remains Unrestrained
The federal government was created by a group of states that decided that a national government was needed for certain vital functions such as national defense and creating uniform currency; but those states wanted strict limits on federal power. This is why such a bitter argument raged in the summer of 1787 concerning the federal […]
Remembering Our Forgotten Patriots & 7th Anniversary
“Remembering Our Forgotten Patriots” was the program presented by State Corresponding Secretary and member of State Speakers Staff Holly Matthews, Tennessee Society, Daughters of the American Revolution (TSDAR), at the February 11 meeting of the Martha Dandridge Washington (MDW) Chapter, National Society, Daughters of the America Revolution (NSDAR). The program focused on Patriots of Black, […]
VITAL POLICY – Senator Niceley Files Proposed Legislation to Permit Communities to Elect School Superintendents
For the past 30 years, citizens of have longed for the day when they could regain the right to elect their school superintendent. A voting right that was striped from Tennesseans in 1992 by a comprehensive education act that was pushed through the legislature by special interests. Until the Education Improvement Act of 1992 was […]
Martha Dandridge Washington Chapter (MDW), National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR), January Meeting
When the members of the Martha Dandridge Washington Chapter (MDW), National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR), arrived at their meeting on January 14, they were greeted with shiny, red apples on lacy, white doilies for each person. The meeting was to be a long one while the members completed the online questionnaires for […]
VITAL POLICY – Jefferson County Schools’ Mental Health Provider Advertising “Affirming Therapy for All LGBTQ+ Clients”
A local grassroots organization was surprised to learn that Jefferson County, Tennessee Schools made a contract with a Nashville-based mental health provider to place at least ten clinical practitioners in Jefferson County Schools, serving kindergarten to 12th grade. Jefferson County Director of Schools signed a $100,000.00 agreement with Allied Behavioral Health Solutions (Allied) on September […]
VITAL POLICY – Transparency, Tourism, Jefferson Alliance, A Convergence of Economic Development Ideology
For decades, citizens have pressed the Jefferson County Government to conduct economic development out in the open, mainly to avoid strife in the county and to give the citizens a seat at the planning table, citizens who would be profoundly affected by development. Jefferson County government has consistently pushed back on motions requiring transparency with […]
VITAL POLICY – Gardenhire Files Bill to Expand School Vouchers in Tennessee, Legal Claims of ESA Opponents Exhausted
After a lengthy court battle, Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), commonly called school vouchers, are available to parents in two Tennessee counties under a pilot program narrowly approved by the legislature in 2019. ESAs provide low and middle-income families with vouchers so they can move their children to private schools. Multiple Tennessee senate members aim to […]
