Civil Liberties
01/28/2013 | 
Author When soldiers came home from the war, they found their McMinn County Government had become corrupt and abusive. This corrupt government was capable of Gestapo type actions that included stealing ballot boxes, shooting and beating voters who resisted their will, bribery, and misuse of the public trust and power. They were not the same farm boys who had gone off to war. These GI s formed a political organization to overthrow the corrupt regime on election day. When they were met with violence and intimidation they fought back with fists, pistols, rifles and even dynamite.
Here is a link to the show. It will probably go off of the link Sun. Feb 3rd
http://theveterannextdoor.com/online-show/
Posted in Civil Liberties, Home School, Local Issues, National Politics, Privacy | 
Tags: 2nd amendment, liberty | 
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On January 9, Bill and Norma Jarnigan were shocked to open a letter from the Jefferson County Economic Development Oversight Committee (EDOC) that laid out the county government’s blatant attempt to cajole the couple into selling their home of four decades. The county hopes to acquire their land and hand it over to a developer to build an industrial manufacturing megasite the county hopes will bring more jobs and tax revenue than the Jarnigan’s home. Opening such a letter certainly did not brighten the day of 68-year-old Mrs. Jarnigan, who stated, “I’d hate to think I’d have to move, me as old as I am.”
Meanwhile, at a press conference held that very afternoon, Jefferson County officials were unveiling plans for the East Tennessee Regional Megasite to be located on an 1800-acre tract of land where the Jarnigan’s and their neighbors’ homes currently stand. The press conference was all smiles, with claims being made that the Megasite could “provide 2,000 direct jobs and 6,000 to 8,000 indirect jobs in the initial phase,” and further that “It would have a very wide and broad impact” for the Jefferson County economy (all such claims assuming that the site could first be purchased, then certified, and finally bought by a corporation, none of which are even remotely certain at this point).
Jefferson County is no stranger to wanting land that isn’t theirs. In 1942, the construction of the Douglas Dam by the Tennessee Valley Authority, a federal New Deal corporation formed to provide “economic redevelopment” to the Tennessee Valley region, permanently flooded a majority of the county’s most fertile farmland. If it had not been for county residents personally petitioning then-first Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, the current Jefferson County seat of Dandridge would not exist—at least above water.
Seventy years later, the “megasite” announcement is the latest government instance of threatening Jefferson County farmland and the rights of property owners. But not to worry, says Garrett Wagley, director of economic development for the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce. The county is “really committed to an open process, and having a conversation about the plans…[for] this exciting opportunity.” Thank heavens these landowners received letters encouraging them to pony up…er, rather, sell their land mere hours before the EDOC’s press conference.
Just a few days after the unveiling of the “megasite” plans, property owners in the megasite’s potential footprint voiced their outrage at the prospect of the government seizing their land. Oliver and Jean Wood, proud owners of a 590-acre farm who received the same letter as the Jarnigan’s last week, boldly asserted that they would not surrender their farm for any price. Mr. Wood pointed out that city officials “have not taken into account the economic costs and the human costs of taking away century-old farms and disrupting lives.”
Wagley stated that “he hoped the issue of eminent domain would not come up,” but hope is a cheap thing relative to a megasite project with a million dollar price tag being sold to so many private landowners as an “exciting opportunity.” Encouragingly for property rights activists everywhere, however, citizens like the Woods and the Jarnigans are not taking the government’s phony bait.
Tennessee has a sordid history of abusing eminent domain in the name of “economic development.” The state’s eminent domain laws received a big fat grade of D- from the Institute for Justice for failing to ensure that property rights are adequately protected.
–Robert Fountain
This Article if from the Institute for Justice
See more here: http://www.ij.org/one-hundred-tennessee-property-owners-under-threat-for-nebulous-megasite-development
Posted in Civil Liberties, Economics, Free Markets, General Economic, Local Issues | Tags: Eminent Domain, Jefferson County, Property Rights | No Comments »
Public utility officials in Chattanooga, Knoxville and Memphis have preached the benefits of a new taxpayer-subsidized technology they say will lower their customers’ utility bills and reduce electrical outages.
Known as a digital smart grid, this technology uses computers to distribute electricity. Those benefits, however, are short term — and that makes this investment, funded with almost $1 billion in federal stimulus dollars nationwide, an unwise use of money, according to an expert in computer and communications engineering. >>READ MORE
Governor Bill Haslam recently announced he plans to put off the decision on whether to form the health care exchanges outlined in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, after HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius extended the deadline for states to notify the federal government until Dec. 14.
No doubt, the governor is getting significant pressure from both sides of the exchange fight, with insurance company lobbyists emphasizing that they’d prefer to work with the state government instead of the federal government, while individual citizens and employers are mounting a lobbying effort of their own against the exchanges.
One has to wonder if perhaps Haslam isn’t waiting in the hope that Tennesseans will …. to read this entire article by Lesley Swann, please CLICK HERE.
A reader from New Jersey, who is familiar with the intersection in question, forwarded the link below. The article details the upsetting results after installing red-light cameras at the busy intersection of Route 1 with Bakers Basin Road/Franklin Corner Road. See article from New Jersey HERE.
It documents that the number of accidents over equal 7-month periods increased from 25 before camera installation to 49 after red-light cameras were installed. A simple statistical analysis shows that the difference is significant at the 99.6% confidence level. That leads one to conclude that there was a systematic change at that intersection causing the 96% increase in the accident rate. The most obvious systematic change that could account for the significant increase in the accident rate is the installation of red-light cameras.
If you read the article in the link above, you will note that the increase in the accident rate was mainly due to a higher frequency of rear-end collisions. That is consistent with virtually all the comprehensive and competent studies that have been reported on the impact of red-light cameras, as referenced in other articles on the TLA web site ( SEE HERE ). Those studies document that red-light cameras yield an insignificant reduction in right-angle collisions, but cause a significant increase in rear-end collisions.
Another point noticed in the New Jersey experience is that the majority of revenue from the camera automated traffic tickets comes from right turns on red, i.e., not coming to a complete stop before the stop line. In 2011, the State of Tennessee passed a law making it unlawful for red-light cameras to issue traffic tickets for right turns on red lights. Across Tennessee, red-light camera revenues dropped precipitously, because the vast majority of camera ticket revenue came from right turns on red. Ironically, right turns on red were not causing accidents in proportion to the ticket volume. In other words, drivers were not unsafely making right turns on red, even though they may not have come to a complete stop over the camera sensors.
There is copious, sound evidence that red light cameras do not improve safety at intersections. Yet, red-light camera companies and municipalities continue to pursue them, as if that evidence did not exist. Why? Because the cameras generate revenue. This is a money-making scheme perpetrated on drivers by local governments and red-light camera companies in the fallacious name of safety.
Dale Gedcke B.Eng., M.Sc., Ph.D.
Marketing & Technical Consultant
Over the past thirty years the community of Bethel, Tenn. has been in the middle of an annexation debate in some form or fashion. Bethel sits between Norris and Clinton, Tenn. Both cities have looked to annex ‘Bethel Unincorporated’ during those thirty years. Recently the city of Norris voted to annex two pieces of property within the Bethel community. During the annexation hearing many spoke out against the city of Norris and their attempt. They see that Norris may look to their property in the future and see it as income. Regardless of the vast opposition the City decided to annex anyway. Most people that reside in Bethel say that they just want to be left alone and do not want annexation from either Norris or Clinton.
The Tennessee Liberty Alliance sees this as an issue that would affect others in the state as well. There may be more to this than just a neighbor and business owner losing some property rights. Also, in attendance, during the annexation meeting was Mike Carberry. Mike is the Comprehensive Planning Manager for the Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission. Mike might possibly live in the Norris area. However there were two other gentlemen there who participated in the PlanET forums, acted as regular attendees and were actually government employees within planning and zoning departments. The MPC holds the contract for PlanET (Covers Anderson, Knox, Union, Loudon, & Blount cos.). A regional plan for establishing so called ‘sustainable’ communities.
The Norris 25 year comprehensive plan will be available for review. We look to produce solutions so that your property rights will be upheld for generations to come.
All of this will be fleshed out and covered in a town hall meeting. Location and time is listed below.
Oct. 25, 2012 6:30pm-8:30pm
Norris City Building 20
Chestnut Drive
Norris, Tennessee 37828
The TLA Board will meet at Panera Bread in Turkey Creek on Thursday, September 20 at 7:00 P.M. The address is: 11361 Parkside Drive, Knoxville, TN 37934. For more information contact Richard Esparza at richard@tnliberty.org.
On August 25th, The Tennessee Liberty Alliance will provide an open public forum regarding PlanET and Smart Growth development in Tennessee.
Guest speakers from the Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission, Jeff Welch and Mark Donaldson, along with regional experts on the topic of Smart Growth and Sustainability, will provide important information and answer questions from the audience regarding this very important issue facing all property owners nationally.
This forum will be held Saturday, August 25th, at the Bearden Banquet Hall, 5806 Kingston Pike in Knoxville, from 10am-3pm. Lunch will be provided for a donation of $15 to help cover the forum expenses. You will need a ticket for lunch and pre-registration is required to eat. REGISTER HERE. You may download a flyer for this event HERE.
The TLA would like to thank all who attended our recent meeting about Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development. We had a packed house of over 60 attendees for this meeting. All left the meeting significantly more educated regarding the topic of “sustainable development.”
Our speaker for this important topic was Karen Bracken. Her knowledge of the subject was superior as she presented a simple, yet revealing look at a very convoluted topic. Through this presentation we learned that “sustainable development” is the process by which, now that we are no longer industrialized, we will be made slaves — if we are useful to the global elite — until we are no longer of use.
We are very thankful to Karen for filling in for our scheduled speaker, Kathleen Marquardt, who had sustained injury in a fall that prevented her from being with us. It is great to know that we have such high quality resources close by as we continue to fight to remove this threat from our communities. We wish Kathleen a continued, speedy recovery.
Karen has a great web site–America…Don’t Forget–that has an immense amount of information available regarding this topic, so please visit her site to further educate yourselves. Also, Freedom Advocates, is a great source for more information as well. Both links can be found in the column on the right.
The TLA is currently evaluating a time a place for a follow up meeting on this topic. More information will be available soon.
What is the big deal about ‘Agenda 21′ and the ‘sustainable communities’ we’ve all been hearing about the past few months? Here is a relatively short video that will provide a short synopsis of the major concerns every liberty-minded person has about the progression of this destructive agenda.
Much more available information is available at the Freedom Advocates web site. Clicking here will download a copy of their multi-paged pamphlet, Understanding Sustainable Communities–Agenda 21. While we are all being distracted with the upcoming presidential primaries, our current administrations (federal, state, county and community) are systematically taking the baby steps needed to place the snares of control all around us.
