Just an Opinion

Do you ever wonder how things appear to get so out of hand so quickly? Or just exactly what someone is thinking? I spend a fair amount of time scratching my head and wondering just how things are so askew. Rarely do I find the answers to the little questions, never mind the large ones, but trying keeps me occupied. This week I have been pondering a couple of things.

First, how are we just now finding that we desperately need new lighting for the Jefferson County High School Football Field? Actually, the situation with the lighting has apparently gone past need and straight to unsafe, and it was a pretty fast trip. Did we not just do upgrades to the football stadium as part of the renovation of JCHS proper? I am finding it a little hard to swallow that no one thought to flip the switch and check the lights when they were identifying needs and necessities at JCHS. But, hey, the weather is nice and I am feeling generous, so let’s assume that the dire situation was not identified at the time that work was being done on the stadium. As late as last week the Maintenance and Operations budget for the Department of Education included lots of increases, including extra positions and materials, to the tune of more than $400,000. What it did not include was any money for capital projects. None. Not a dime. Not one copper penny for this or other capital projects. Interesting to say the least-the very least. Now, many of us remember just what can happen when lights go bad and there was a very tragic incident with lights at Jefferson County High School several years ago. I suppose the question really is -did we learn nothing from past, tragic mistakes or is there something amuck with the strangely timed,pressing, high priority need?

And then there is the situation with Douglas Lake. Apparently, a visitor fishing in the recent Bass tournament found the time to write his opinion of Douglas Lake and send that written opinion to a Knoxville print paper. It is fair to say that he was unhappy with the amount of trash that he encountered while fishing on Douglas Lake. There are many important things going on in this world, I would not consider a little trash to be worthy of such a scathing letter but then I suppose that everyone has an opinion and is entitled to express it. What I find most confusing is not the presence of a little trash as the lake is rising. For those of us who have lived in the area for many years, we know that getting to full pool can sometime be messy business, as can a lot of rain. Unlike a natural lake, Douglas is a reservoir and it has a larger purpose than looking pretty and housing fishing tournaments. Should people be respectful of the local waters and keep them clean? Well, sure. It takes very little for lakeside residents to keep their property clean and tidy. But, at its core, Douglas is driven by a river and what is upstream finds its way downstream. Had the tournament been a few weeks later, the waters would have settled and my guess is that no letter would have been written.

What I find most confusing is what gets the general public going. The letter in question has motivated much conversation about Douglas Lake. Conversation is good but where was intense interest when real issues concerning our local lakes were brought out. Take for instance the refusal of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to come on line with Watts Bar 2 until serious concerns about the viability of Douglas and Cherokee Dams to withstand a catastrophic event were answered. Holes were drilled and bags were filled and news was reported and still no pubic outcry. No questions about the flawed construction of the very structures that keep the water at bay-situations serious enough to concern the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

There is also the little problem of E coli, which I personally find much more disturbing than a Little Debbie wrapper. Don’t get me wrong, a clean lake is important but a letter from a fisherman who is probably just peeved that he didn’t catch the big one isn’t even on the same scale as a letter from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or the EPA. The reality is that,as beautiful as the lake is and as much as we love the local waters, the high season only lasts a little more than three months. What a vigorous wind blew lakeside three months ago is now floating in various coves. It is the price of living next to the water. Like most things, lakes are often more lovely from a comfortable distance but they are not nearly as exciting. For what it is worth, many visitors cross my office door every week and most all find the area to be lovely and compliment Douglas Lake. Scrub her down, clean her up but don’t lose sight of the fact that the letter was one man’s opinion. And, you know what they say about opinions.

So, here it is in a nut shell. Lights at JCHS football field-shocking. A little trash on the shores of the lake-not so much so.