Tabloid Column of December 3, 2006
Commissioner Greg "Lumpy" Lambert in October 2006 was the hero of the tabloid. On December 3, 2006 he becomes it's next negative bias target. Here is the column.
Wrong, wrong, wrong
We’ve had some fun with the “One Man, One Vote” annexation referendum at South Grove shopping center in deep south Knox County, but at the core this is a most serious issue.
Much has happened since our last edition. The fight is over.
Mayor Mike Ragsdale and 12 county commissioners wrote to Law Director John Owings, requesting that he drop the lawsuit to block the annexation. Owings battled for a day, forcing Ragsdale to say “withdraw” rather than “settle,” then he withdrew the suit on Thursday.
Why it’s wrong:
1) Ragsdale and 12 commissioners (hereafter known as the Dirty Dozen) showed they will not fight to enforce the annexation agreement the county made with the city. Knox County paid $7 million and gave the city two seats on The Development Corporation board to establish the boundary. In a Nov. 7 referendum with one voter the agreement was blown to smithereens.
Halls and Powell were drawn outside the city’s urban growth boundary (protected from annexation) when Leo Cooper and Mary Lou Horner sat on county commission. Their successors, Scott Moore and Larry Smith, signed last week’s letter.
Halls and Powell residents are now at risk if just one developer wants to ram the city limits up Maynardville Highway or Clinton Highway to the county line.
2) Ragsdale and the Dirty Dozen said getting along and making nice is more important than protecting the county’s sales tax base. The News Sentinel said Knox County will lose $150,000 a year. Margie Nichols said the city will gain $600,000 a year. Fuzzy math, but whatever the amount they lose, the county didn’t fight to keep it.
3) Ragsdale and the Dirty Dozen have shown total disdain for open meetings. This issue should have been debated and voted on at commission’s Nov. 20 meeting. Instead, the mayor and 12 commissioners skulked around the City County Building in secret, obtaining signatures on the letters to Owings.
South Knox commissioners Larry Clark and Paul Pinkston deserved better from their colleagues than this backroom deal.
4) Ragsdale and the Dirty Dozen gave a healthy Christmas present to South Grove developers Tim Graham and Derry Thompson. With the annexation lawsuit dropped, the developers will receive a check for $1 million from the city on Dec. 31. This will be followed by three annual payments of $333,333, according to Nichols.
By what rationale do we tax some people to give money to others?
I would guess that the average city homeowner pays $1,000 a year in city property taxes. If so, then a thousand of you suckers just paid your taxes for Tim Graham’s first installment. Send a note to Mayor Haslam with your tax payment.
This is wrong, wrong, wrong for many reasons.
Wrong for city police and fire services to be stretched almost to Seymour.
Wrong for the skulking avoidance of open debate.
Wrong for sacrificing the urban growth boundary.
Wrong for subsidizing one development of retail stores when many others are built every day without subsidy.
Wrong, wrong, wrong
We’ve had some fun with the “One Man, One Vote” annexation referendum at South Grove shopping center in deep south Knox County, but at the core this is a most serious issue.
Much has happened since our last edition. The fight is over.
Mayor Mike Ragsdale and 12 county commissioners wrote to Law Director John Owings, requesting that he drop the lawsuit to block the annexation. Owings battled for a day, forcing Ragsdale to say “withdraw” rather than “settle,” then he withdrew the suit on Thursday.
Why it’s wrong:
1) Ragsdale and 12 commissioners (hereafter known as the Dirty Dozen) showed they will not fight to enforce the annexation agreement the county made with the city. Knox County paid $7 million and gave the city two seats on The Development Corporation board to establish the boundary. In a Nov. 7 referendum with one voter the agreement was blown to smithereens.
Halls and Powell were drawn outside the city’s urban growth boundary (protected from annexation) when Leo Cooper and Mary Lou Horner sat on county commission. Their successors, Scott Moore and Larry Smith, signed last week’s letter.
Halls and Powell residents are now at risk if just one developer wants to ram the city limits up Maynardville Highway or Clinton Highway to the county line.
2) Ragsdale and the Dirty Dozen said getting along and making nice is more important than protecting the county’s sales tax base. The News Sentinel said Knox County will lose $150,000 a year. Margie Nichols said the city will gain $600,000 a year. Fuzzy math, but whatever the amount they lose, the county didn’t fight to keep it.
3) Ragsdale and the Dirty Dozen have shown total disdain for open meetings. This issue should have been debated and voted on at commission’s Nov. 20 meeting. Instead, the mayor and 12 commissioners skulked around the City County Building in secret, obtaining signatures on the letters to Owings.
South Knox commissioners Larry Clark and Paul Pinkston deserved better from their colleagues than this backroom deal.
4) Ragsdale and the Dirty Dozen gave a healthy Christmas present to South Grove developers Tim Graham and Derry Thompson. With the annexation lawsuit dropped, the developers will receive a check for $1 million from the city on Dec. 31. This will be followed by three annual payments of $333,333, according to Nichols.
By what rationale do we tax some people to give money to others?
I would guess that the average city homeowner pays $1,000 a year in city property taxes. If so, then a thousand of you suckers just paid your taxes for Tim Graham’s first installment. Send a note to Mayor Haslam with your tax payment.
This is wrong, wrong, wrong for many reasons.
Wrong for city police and fire services to be stretched almost to Seymour.
Wrong for the skulking avoidance of open debate.
Wrong for sacrificing the urban growth boundary.
Wrong for subsidizing one development of retail stores when many others are built every day without subsidy.
posted by Brian Hornback at 5:18 PM
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