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From the Roane County Elections Commission:

Due to a heavy case load in the Court system and limited parking, the Early Voting location which is normally located at the Roane County Courthouse has been moved for the upcoming August 7, 2008 State Primary and County General Election.

There will be NO EARLY VOTING AT THE ROANE COUNTY COURTHOUSE.

You will be able to vote at any of the following locations:

I want to give my opinion on what has been presented so far but that will have to wait until I have a little more time to think about it. I'm trying to look at this with an open mind. Two men are dead and two more could be put where they might as well be, facing life in prison if convicted.

If I were on the jury I would listen to testimony from both sides with questioning skepticism.

I did note one important procedural item...The Judge refused to allow David Haggard to state whether or not Deputy Jones had authority to serve the "failure to appear" warrant. My antennae went up and mental bells went off when I read that. Here's some of the coverage:

Roane County News

Knox News Sentinel

WBIR

HARRIMAN, Tenn. (WVLT) -- The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has issued an Endangered Child Alert for a 14-year-old Harriman girl who is believed to have ran way with two men.

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Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale is a complex person. And, as with most all folks, he's not all good or bad.

Lincoln's Republican opponent, Whatshisname, doesn't live in our district and won't be our next Congressman. Simple as that.

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"We cannot capture or kill our way to victory," said Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

I could write a book, no an encyclopedia, on what that statement means to the Administration's Iraq policy. But let me shorten it to one word...Diplomacy.

Would somebody use a little bit of it, instead of just swaggering around trying to get us all killed?

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Well, the Jury's picked and the show is about to begin for Leon Houston. I've talked to insiders and outsiders and I don't have a clue as to how this one will turn out. I do know that some of the insiders are not at all confidant that the Houstons will be convicted.

From the outside it looks like a "tough guy" Deputy went looking for trouble and found it. The only things we know for sure right now is that there was a "Failure to Appear" warrant out for Rocky and that he and Leon were sitting on their front porch eating Vienna Sausages and drinking chocolate milk.

I also know that this is a tragedy for everybody involved. Nobody is going to win this thing no matter which way it turns out. I only hope that the people who will speak will tell the truth and the people who must judge listen with an open and curious mind, and that when all is said and done, we have a good judicial process with a verdict we can accept.

KNS Story

By Ray Collett

Hello Readers, With July 4th upon us, I think it is fitting to hear from a Marine. David Sliger, (Class of 1954) sent me an e-mail about his early experiences in the Marine Corp. Remember a few days ago, someone suggested that we share our experiences with a floor buffer, here is what David had to say,

Tax Assessor candidate Steven Robinette has outdone himself with an even more venemous 2nd smear sheet on his opponent. I just got it in the mail.

This type of campaigning disgusts me.

I don't care about a public official's private life. I want to know about job performance, and why a challenger thinks they can do a better job.

Don't know why this has only hit newspapers in India but it is a significant local development:

Mr (Jim) Hensler said that Horsehead's capacity ramp up consists of the addition of a waelz kiln the technological cornerstone of Horsehead's technology to the zinc firm's Rockwood, Tennessee plant, upping the plant's recycling capacity by about 90,000 tonne.

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The wrecked truck that caused all the trouble shutting down I 40 and Hwy 70 is carrying Titanium Tertrachloride, sometimes known as "Tickle" in military circles. It used to be used to create smoke screens for the Navy.

Titanium tetrachloride or titanium(IV) chloride is the chemical compound with the formula TiCl4.

TiCl4 is an important intermediate in the production of titanium metal and other titanium compounds. It is an unusual example of a liquid metal halide that is very volatile in air, where it forms spectacular opaque clouds of titanium dioxide (TiO2) and hydrogen chloride (HCl). It is sometimes humorously referred to as "tickle".[1]

The "smoke" contains HCL, or hydrochloric acid. I guess that would tickle if you breathed it.

70 is now open, but no word on I 40.

We have several interesting things that folks noticed on our Saturday survey in Whites Creek Gorge. The first Diane Butterfly female of the year, a scarlet tanager, and what may be an unusual species of skullcap, a flowering plant that was used as an anti-spasmodic and a home remedy for rabies at one point.

We are posting things as we sort through the pictures at:

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After a few years, Rockwood is getting their own radio station. Nick and Betty Barrett, owners of "Yonder Hollow Productions" in Rockwood, filed on July 3, 2008, an application for a permit to purchase the radio station WOFE-AM from Southern Media Group. This notice was in the Roane County News and will continue for a few publications and also will be announced periodically on Crossville's sister station at 105.7. The new call letters will be "WYHM". This will be a real asset to Rockwood and the surrounding area. The Barrett's have been a real boost to Rockwood with their involvement in many projects. Let's all join in and give this new station our support.........Ray Collett

Want some fact based discussions and other cool stuff?

The "saluting a mentally deficient nation of whiners without a FISA warrant" edition of the Tennessee progressive blog roundup with a look at what the best Tennessee bloggers are talking about this week.

Well, here you go.

Well not really, but almost.

A team of biologists and friends of biologists will be conducting a stream survey along several miles of Whites Creek Saturday, July 12. This is all private land but is usually open to hikers and swimmers through the grace of the several land owners who are willing to share Nature's beauty, just not this one day. The Creek is closed in order for these folks to do their work efficiently.

There are several rare, threatened, and endangered species of various sorts living in and around Whites Creek. We'll have underwater cameras and other cameras and will try to document everything and report back on what these folks find. There's a good possibility that Whites Creek will be found to be a good place to re-introduce the "Spot finned chub", a beautiful little fish that has been found in the creek, but that may have been eradicated by sediment problems in the past.

We will let you folks know what they find.

The prices were way over inflated to beging with, in my view. Looks like some reality in Roane County real estate is kicking in. 'Bout time.

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Our District Attorney, Russel Johnson, always seems to give the correct answers with proper perspective. There are some expense records missing from the Roane County Budget director's office. They are simply "missing" at this point, and contrary to what the teaser says, I read Russel to say that the TBI is NOT involved.

Expense records get examined when they are turned in, and anything that isn't right usually gets flagged and corrected at that point, so there's no reason whatsoever to believe that there's anything wrong...Unless you just want to. But then this is the election season.

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Ten area Volunteer Fire Departments will compete in the annual Firefighter Games Competition to be held Saturday, July 19. See your local VFD in action! Go to the Wartburg Central High School at the BIG Flag on Highway 62.

My neighbors and I have been working on a project that has brought us together.

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Today, July 8, is the last day you can register to vote in the very important August 7 elections.

You can register in person by 5 pm today at the Roane County Courthouse, or you can download an application here and mail it with today's postmark, to:

Roane County Election Commissioin
200 E. Race St. Suite 8
P.O. Box 157
Kingston, Tn 37763

We see that the real estate is for sale. That doesn't look good for Starbucks staying open. The parent company has announced that 600 stores will close. Is this one of them?

Why the Tax Assessor's job is an elected position is beyond me. I think we should draft them, since anybody who actually WANTS to be Tax Assessor probably shouldn't be allowed to hold the office.

But then I feel the same way about most political offices.

We can get a picture of our fair County by watching the political races and reading between the lines. The School Board races are a prime example.

By Ray Collett

Hello Readers, The mail keeps pouring in about the jobs that we had growing up in Rockwood. One thing about the 50's and early 60's, things were booming and we could always pick up a couple of dollars.

Nice Fox