Sat
Mar 30 2013
06:57 am
Did Moore Draw Overtime While Watching Porn on County Computers
By: WhitesCreek

Employees under former Property Assessor Kirkham claim she threatened to fire them if they revealed allegations against Moore. Kirkham claims she never threatened anybody. It's Ms. Kirkham's word against the word of several of her former employees. Kirkham claims Moore did not draw overtime but that is contradicted by others in the office. The real questions here are whether Moore reimbursed the County for the overtime pay he drew while misusing County equipment and why wasn't he dismissed at the time?

The Roane County News had this story and refused to publish it. Here is the Knoxville News Sentinel story:

(link...)

It is good to get all this cleaned up so we can move on

Submitted by romanstone on March 30, 2013 - 9:02pm.

The Roane County News' lack of real reporting has allowed many of the problems in this county to continue on unchecked. It's time for them to either step up or close their doors as they are doing more harm than good for this community.

Once again Kirkham claims she never threatened anyone. I am not buying it. There is a clear pattern. A man dead. Sex videos. Florida investgations with the girls. The pattern of bullying appears pretty clear with the psychological twist of always blaming the victims or controlling through power and fear.

According to the KNS, they obtained info through open records request. The video too? It is all too weird.

It is good to get this behind us and move on.

I understand there was a property tax relief bill in the works for victims in Swan Pond being worked by Senator Yager and Assessor Morgan. It looks like the State was packing up early, but I hope good things are in our future.

Why Did Kirkham Not Fire Moore?

Submitted by WhitesCreek on April 1, 2013 - 6:18am.

Would any other employee still have a job after being videoed exposing himself in his office while watching the rather sick pornography depicted? That's the big question. What I'm hearing from more than one source is that Moore knows where Kirkham buried the bodies. That mainly takes the form of improperly assessing some property owners high and some low, but I'm also hearing other things as well. Until get proof and see that these things have a direct bearing on Kirkham's term of office I won't discuss it here.

The county knew all this but

Submitted by romanstone on April 1, 2013 - 8:17am.

The county knew all this but still tried to re-hire Moore to represent them directly in the State appeal hearings against the property owners. They must have known that Moore would defend Kirkham's high assessment. I just wonder what control or information they held over Moore to ensure he defended the high assessment? Keep in mind that they wanted to hire Moore against the will of the new Property Assessor, thereby, trying to circumventing his independently elected authority. In the end this scheme failed, but the story seems to become clearer.

I'm told that Woody did not

Submitted by WhitesCreek on April 1, 2013 - 8:42am.

I'm told that Woody did not know about the porn thing. At the time he was new to the courthouse and wouldn't have been in on the gossip. Nor would all of the commissioners, most of whom have actual jobs in the real word.

That said, there is the pressure, spoken or not, for property valuations to be kept high so that the Commission can keep the tax rate low and still have the revenue for their pet projects. It is the improper property valuations and the clique that nurtured them that is the real scandal here.

Per the Knoxville News

Submitted by romanstone on April 1, 2013 - 4:59pm.

Per the Knoxville News Sentinel,"She said she discussed the allegations with both Roane County Executive Ron Woody and an official with the County Technical Advisory Service, "and they said I handled it properly.” So according to Teresa others knew, but at this point her word lacks credibility. Per the KNS article these incidents occured just last year (2012) with the prior election in 2010. No matter what, trying to hire Moore above the duties of the elected official was not right.

I read that too, but I was

Submitted by WhitesCreek on April 1, 2013 - 5:44pm.

I read that too, but I was told otherwise. All of my info on that is second hand so it could turn out differently. I'm keeping an open mind about that point. Not so much about why Moore wasn't terminated or at least put back on retirement.

Interesting points

Submitted by WhitesCreek on April 2, 2013 - 3:01pm.

One: Why was Kirkham talking to Woody about anything to do with personnel? She was a separately elected official who is supposed to go to the County Attorney on matters that involve misuse of County property or improperly filled out time cards, both of which are legal matters.

Two: Why is the Roane County News conspicuously absent in all of this?

Three: This is a public matter and both the RCN and the KNS should have copies of the sworn and signed affidavits contradicting what Kirkham stated, which were not allowed to be heard by the Grand Jury.

Four: There's more but I'll just hold off and see if the RCN gets off its rear end and does its job.

They did it and they did great!

Submitted by romanstone on April 2, 2013 - 9:49pm.

They did it and they did great! Tonight one of my neighbors brought over a copy of the Wednesday's Roane County News with the headline "County porn scandal: Former assessor's employee busted by co-worker's spying". They actually stepped up. They even had a solid editorial that was point-on, "Price for SROs in every school much too steep." Good job Roane County News!!! I really hope that you can continue reporting for the people of the community instead of he said/she said or simply siding with those in power. We cannot stand for corruption, abuse of power or un-checked out-of-control government growth.

I would like to point out Teresa's constant denial that she's "never threatened anyone." Tell that to her former employee/former boyfriend the late-JT Woods, County Attorney Tom McFarland, former opponent/current Assessor David Morgan, Nick Williams, Jerry Bare, Barry Cofer, and the list goes on.

Teresa hiring a man to erase all the government records in the office before turning it over to the new Assessor should be criminal too. Those were not her records, they were the people's records. It seems both the TBI and the DA did their jobs, but skeletons in the Court House closets still allow favoritism to side step justice at times. We need others in the courthouse to continue standing up for doing the right thing above family loyalty or good buddy favoritism. We deserve a government above reproach.

P.S. I really feel sorry for Mr. Moore and his family, however, I clearly believe his actions were very inappropriate and a terrible waste of tax dollars and time, not to forget a real factor that our assessments are so grossly inflated.

P.S.S. I agree with

Submitted by romanstone on April 2, 2013 - 10:01pm.

P.S.S. I agree with WhitesCreek, Teresa should have requested her Office's legal advice from the County Attorney, not from the advisory agency CTAS or an equally elected county official such as Ron Woody. She should have been running her own office. She shouldn't have tried pulling Mr. Woody into her awful mess. I understand that she would like to take credit for helping Mr. Woody get elected, but I really don't think that's why people voted for him. They voted for him to help us get the county government under control and on a solid path. He's doing that! Teresa’s power was tested at the polls and she clearly lost. Teresa may want others to feel that they owe her, but they don't owe her. She may want people to fear her, but they shouldn’t.

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