Randy Hegepath is honored as the face of a new craft beer in support of Tennessee State Parks...

Tennessee Brew Works has partnered with the Tennessee State Parks by creating a new Tennessee State Parks Beer, “State Park Blonde Ale,” with a portion of sales benefiting the mission of Tennessee State Parks...

The State Park Blonde Ale features the image of State Naturalist, Randy Hedgepath. Randy has served the park service for more than 30 years, working as a Ranger Naturalist at South Cumberland and Radnor Lake State Parks.

If you can see this message you are viewing the site on the new server.

We will be migrating to a different server starting sometime tomorrow morning so don't panic if you find RoaneViews not working for a few hours. It's not Russian hackers.

The Lions Club is celebrating its centennial in 2017! And to commemorate this milestone, the Harriman Lions Club is hosting a tailgate party to die for!

The Harriman Chapter is hosting ‘Murder in the End Zone’ dinner theatre- an entertaining evening of good friends, great food, and murder. The night’s entertainment will include a full tailgate dinner buffet, dessert bar, and an interactive murder mystery that gets the audience out of their seats and into the hunt for a killer. There will also be a Silent Auction offering great gifts and getaways to the highest bidder.

The details are:
What: ‘Murder in the End Zone’ dinner theatre
When: Saturday, August 26, 2017
7:00pm
Where: American Legion Hall
624 Morgan Street (behind HUB)
Harriman, TN
Tickets: $40.00 pp (includes: dinner, dessert, beverages, and
show)
Tickets are available at the:
Roane County Chamber office
N. Kentucky Street
Kingston, TN

Have questions? Visit the Harriman Lions Club Facebook page.

So remember back when Bill Clinton and Al Gore balanced the budget? Then W and his cronies on the Supreme Court stole the 2000 election and immediately spent more money on defense, cut taxes on rich people, deregulated Wall Street, and started a war that could never be stopped by attacking several nations who had never ever attacked us. Wall street immediately raped the housing market, crashed the American economy, while the managers who did this gave themselves huge bonuses when Congress bailed them out. W then handed President Obama a massive budget deficit leading to a massive increase in the National Debt.

Republicans then blamed Obama for every evil thing Republicans had done and continue to this day, even though Obama isn't President any more.

Republicans continue to cut taxes on rich people and spend more on defense, and try to cut every program that actually makes America a better place to live.

Diane Black is a shining example of the GOP ideal as it exists right this minute. She has issued a budget that cuts taxes on rich people and corporations, both of which are awash in cash at the moment and obviously need much more money to get by on.

Social Services Block Grant, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Supplemental Security Income or Disability Insurance all get whacked. The Energy, Education, Agriculture committees get huge whacks. Rural hospitals? See ya! Diane Black is going to give a helping hand to the Military Industrial Complex and the stinking rich. Eveybody else be damned!

Read it and weep...for America!

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The Douglas Henry State Museum Commission’s efforts to block Victor Ashe, or any other board member, from making negative comments about museum operations have generated a round of negative comments about museum operations.

You can't help but think the good State of Tennessee just isn;t being run for the benefit of the good people of Tennessee, when the actions of those in power are intentionally hidden from the light of day.

Read

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Frankly, I think the enforcement people do not have the resorces they need to adequately stop this but here you go:

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I have long observed the Scopes trial in Dayton with a mixture of amusement, consternation and borderline terror. Conceived as a publicity stunt by the equivalent of the local chamber of commerce, it degenerated into fanaticism and farce, achieving the goal of publicity in a manner that has spiraled at times into absurdity.
When a religious group raised money to place a statue of Bryan on municipal property the Freedom from Religion Society thought some balance was required and financed a comparable statue of Clarence Darrow. Predictable outrage full of bombast and froth resulted from some very loud sources...sources that turned out to be rather small in number. The statue was installed last Friday with about 75 supporters on hand and protesters completely absent.

I hear the statues are on opposite sides of the courthouse from which vantage points they cannot see each other. I suppose that is a metaphor for our ability to have open minded discussions regarding religion.

Saint Thomas has the story: (link...)

Yes! I am a science nerd and Yes, this is beautiful:

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"Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee is unhappy with the media’s coverage of the unfolding Russia scandal, saying the press is distracted by the “shiny object of the day” and should instead focus on “what Congress and the administration is doing to create jobs and provide health care.”

Okay, we’ll bite. Here’s our coverage of what D.C. Republicans have done to create jobs and provide health care:

(Crickets)

Back to the shiny object."

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The Knoxville Mercury has been a true community effort, from the individuals who pitched in $5 to the major donors like former Metro Pulse publisher Joe Sullivan who believe Knoxville truly needs a locally owned, independent media—especially when its dominant news organizations are guided by out-of-town corporations. We showed that thoughtfully reported stories—not just clickbait headlines—can make a difference in the place we live. People will pay attention, and they do want to be informed. Progress can be made when we know the facts.

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My good friend and very smart man, Earl Nall, just took a look into the future based on the Roane County School Board's current direction and came to this prophetic conclusion:

"If they’d had built two high schools and closed the Midway, Oliver Springs, Rockwood, Kingston and Harriman - Roane county would have become one of the premier counties in the state."
Every school board member I've talked with except one has said two schools is the obvious way to go but they can;t get the votes on the Commission.

Earl's piece is partly quoted in the RCN but the entire piece is here:

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I strongly suggest umbrellas and camp chairs and getting to Kingston Park a bit early. The Royal Hounds start their own brand of fireworks at 4:45 and then Johnny Neel goes off right after that. Temper Evans and Cereus Bright take us out to the big bang.

See you there.

Meet the artists and purchase CDs at the merch tent.

Johnny Neel rehearsing with the Allman Brothers Band way back in the last century... (link...)

Chuck Southerland got up early and did this for all of us. I hope you have broadband and can enjoy the high res version of this. Well done Chuck!

And then there's this:

"If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God."

Leviticus 25:35-38:

Corker and Alexander want 634,000 non elderly Tennesseans to lose healthcare. 395,000 to lose medicaid and 295,000 to lose their insurance from private companies. "It's a good thing" Alexander said.

We tried all day to call Corker and his line was busy every time. Was it that busy or did they just take it off the hook?

A doctor friend said it best, "What ever the insurance company lobbyists want...They should Not do that!"

"Let's not mince words. This bill will close hospitals. It will hammer rural hospitals, it will close nursing homes. It will lead to disabled children not getting services. . . . People will die."

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We will pay more at the pump for gasoline, as of July 1. Part of it will actually go toward roads and bridges but remember that you and I will have a tax increase to pay for a tax decrease for Fed Ex and Bill Haslam.

Don't you just feel good about that?

I'm reprinting this from the Sierra Club News Letter in order that we may be more knowledgeable.

Comments on TVA's Small Nuclear Reactors Plan.
TVA Board Meeting, May 11, 2017

by Don Safer,

Know Nuclear Committee Chair for the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club

"I am Don Safer, from Nashville. I serve on the Board of the Tennessee Environmental Council and as Know Nuclear Committee Chair for the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club. Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you.

"I urge TVA to abandon its unnecessary small modular reactor project immediately. Nuclear power is neither clean nor green. Stop Squandering Money and Resources on this latest false hope of the DOE and the nuclear industry. The current early site permit application process will likely prove to be an exercise in futility as renewable energy generation growth will make SMRs unnecessary long before any are built.

So we have several stories regarding Roane County Schools in the Moday edition of the RCN. Guess which one was on the front page?

A bright young third grade student finished 1st in the Nation in a mathematics competition.

Excellent new principals have been named at two elementary schools.

Two principals have resolved their marital issues and returned to work.

There is a link to the Roane County News over in the right hand column.

As Chairman of the TN Conservation Commission I had the honor of thanking outgoing TDEC Commissioner Jim Fyke for his massive contributions to the Parks and Environment of Tennessee. After the devastation of our parks and the bottomed out morale level of the employees under the Sundquist administration, Fyke came in as Phil Bredesen's appointee and turned our park system from a huge hole in the Tennessee experience to the absolute best park system in the United States of America. As I finished reading the very long list of accomplishments and awards I looked at incoming commissioner Bob Martineau and said, "Commissioner Martineau, you have a very tough act to follow!" I have never seen a more deer in the headlights expression on the face of any human, than that on Martineau at that moment.

I hope everyone will take a moment and think about Jim Fyke and the monumental good things that an honest and dedicated public servant can do when he serves his people.

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With so much bull being put out about Trumpcare, we thought it would be a good idea to share this interactive map on how it will affect Tennessee and Roane County. While the details are concealed by Lamar Alexander and Mitch McConnell (Corker doesn't even know what is in the plan) the basics that have leaked out have been analyzed and put into an interactive map. It's ugly for Tennessee and Roane County!

The working map is here: (link...)

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The Roane County Sheriff’s Department responded to the majority of the calls with 1,292 followed by Harriman Police with 712, Rockwood Police with 671 and Kingston Police with 312 calls.

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In June in Tennessee days are 15 seconds longer than 24 hours. The earliest sunrise of the year is tomorrow morning, 7 days before the summer solstice.

But you knew that, didn't you?

This thing never looked like anything except a ploy for tax subsidies. A lot of Westel and Crab Orchard folks will be glad it's off the table for now.

Senator Alexander (who hates wind power, doesn't love solar, loves nukes):

“Apex’s decision to suspend a proposed project in Cumberland County is welcome news for Tennesseans who opposed littering the landscape with giant wind turbines over two times as tall as the skyboxes at the University of Tennessee’s football stadium. And the turbines are unnecessary for Tennesseans because TVA has said it doesn’t need new power for the foreseeable future.”

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“The report suggests that donors may have been misled, the event may have been used as a pass through to convert charitable donations to the Donald J. Trump Foundation into revenue for Donald Trump’s private businesses, and the event may have been used as a vehicle to profit Donald Trump’s private businesses,” Cohen said. “I urge you to investigate to determine whether federal laws have been violated.”

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