By Ray Hill Election fraud is nothing new to politics, nor to Tennessee politics, for that matter. In some states, it was a staple of the election cycle. Charges of election fraud in Tennessee elections have been almost common place throughout history. William G. “Parson” Brownlow had troops stationed at polling places during one of […]
By Steve Hunley The hallmark of Superintendent of Schools Jim McIntyre’s administration seems to be grand and glorious phraseology along with regular requests to jack up taxes. The superintendent is beginning to sound like a broken record. McIntyre really seems to believe there’s some chance the County Commission will provide extra money to give teachers […]
By Dr. Jim Ferguson I admire the prose of Rick Bragg, the southern writer and author of several books and a monthly column in Southern Living. Perhaps if I had followed a different timeline I might have had a writing vocation rather than a mid-life avocation. But who knows, if my destiny had been different […]
By Ralphine Major She does not live in our community anymore, but I see her more often than some who do. Labor Day Weekend, I saw her at the neighborhood IGA grocery store. I know she recycles, because I saw her last summer at the solid waste center. Just last month, I saw her at […]
By Mike Steely Let’s take a mini-vacation locally this year. Take a long weekend or a week’s vacation, get the kids excited, and let’s go camping. There are so many commercial and public campgrounds in our area from which to choose, not even counting the Smokey Mountains. There are Tennessee State Parks here and there […]
By Rosie Moore Did you know: Elephants sleep only two hours a day? Animals that lay eggs don’t have belly buttons. A duck can’t walk without bobbing its head. ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star” was composed by Mozart when he was five years old. Mosquitoes are attracted to people who have recently eaten bananas. A bee […]
By Alex Norman “Daddy, what was it like when they just played games and we didn’t pay attention to things off the field/court?” “No one knows Timmy… no one knows…” This is where we are now as a sports culture. Blame the internet and the leagues and the greed and the owners and the players […]
By Steve Williams Not since the 1970s, when Tennessee signed Ernie Grunfeld and Bernard King out of New York City, can I recall there being as much excitement over basketball recruiting as we’ve seen the past couple of weeks. New coach Donnie Tyndall had to work fast to fill up a roster that was dwindling. […]
By Joe Rector During my travels up and down the Interstate highways in Knoxville and surrounding areas, I’ve noticed the electronic signs that the state has erected. Just the other day, the message read, “Don’t text and drive; it’s against the law!” I’m sure doing so is also quite illegal, but that hasn’t had much […]
The Tennessee Constitution, Article II, Section 28 permits the taxation of all real property, personal property or mixed. The Legislature is authorized to exempt from this property owned by the State, Counties, Cities or Towns. It may also exempt property used exclusively for “purposes purely religious, charitable, scientific, literary or educational.” All property, except that […]
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