Should Not Even Be An Issue

This week should have proven to us all that there are larger things at work in this world that our, mostly petty, squabbles here in Jefferson County. And some of those terrible, life altering, things happen right here in our own lovely state. We are blessed, as Tennesseans, that we largely are removed from the turmoil that burdens many of our cities and states. As a predominately conservative state, many of us tend to share at least somewhat similar views and that which we don’t agree on is generally debated in a less frenzied manner than in many other places.

Perhaps that is why this week’s tragic attack in Chattanooga was so shocking. We have been lulled into a place of complacency in Tennessee. We are the Volunteer State. We like everybody and most everybody likes us. People vacation here. They retire here. They choose us. Dating as far back as the Civil War, we are every bodies friend. I guess we learned the hard way that we are not, indeed, every bodies friend. There is at least one group of people that would do us harm, in many and various ways, everyday, if they could.

I hurt for those families that lost loved ones. Certainly, they know that there is a serious element of danger in serving our Country. But I am sure that they did not expect that threat to extend to an office in a place as innocuous as Chattanooga, Tennessee. We grew up a little bit, the hard way, this week. We now know that our people are not just in danger when they leave the borders of our Country or even the borders of our State. In a Nation that has preached political correctness, taken cartoons and sitcoms off the air, dug up buried Civil War Generals and pulled down a 150 year old flag, it is time that we wake up and see that the wolf is at the door and he is shrouded in a cloak of political correctness. We do not need to conjure issues to deal with or resurrect issues that have long been buried to have a conflict. We have a very real conflict right here and right now. Just ask the people of Chattanooga.

And as far as this County goes-our conflicts are born more of stubbornness that reality. Should the Mayor be left off of any agenda of the County Commission? No. The Mayor is the highest elected official in Jefferson County and that position, as well as every other County elected official, should be a part of any agenda. They are duly elected by the people of this County to conduct our business and that business can, and often does, happen between the Work Session and the Voting Meeting of the County Commission. Likewise, the Mayor should always report pertinent happenings in the County to the County Commission, period. Neither issues should be even minutely dependent on who is the sitting Mayor and who is on the County Commission. This is the business of the people, pure and simple.

In light of real, serious issues, this one is so pale that it is translucent. Is this really all we have to be concerned about? Wow. Aren’t we the lucky ones?