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Columns

  • A fresher, more natural look coming

     

    For a long time, the Roane County News logo has included an anemic blue version of the county outline in its logo.


    Anyone who studies the points designating Roane County communities on this outline will notice they are more than a bit off.

    But it was familiar to you and to us, and so we kept it.

    After the 2008 TVA ash spill, when Chamber of Commerce and tourism officials decided the county needed a better image, we began to think about the same.

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  • Looseleaf Laureate: Two wheels keep on turning, but not here

    My passion for vehicles on two wheels has been well-documented of late.
    I’ve loved riding bicycles since, as a 6-year-old, I snagged my older sister’s powder-blue Huffy out of the yard and wildly pedaled off.
    Now, as an adult, I have two bicycles of my own.
    In the past month or ™so, I’ve gotten my motorcycle license and bought one of those, too.

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  • A VIEW from LICK SKILLET by Gerald Largen: If they love the party, Republicans will fire DesJarlais

    It seems, gentle reader, that when we were first exposed to the deplorable conduct of Dr. Scott DesJarlais, we weren’t told even half of the story.

    What we were told about his conduct with and to his first wife, and even more importantly his son, seemed enough to disqualify him from representing us, or any others of the good, moral, ethical, and high principled citizens of the old Fourth Congressional District of Tennessee.

    However, our Republican friends saw it differently and gave this low-life reprobate their votes.

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  • Listless Congress cedes power to president

    By LEE HAMILTON
    Center on Congress
    There is a widespread sense, both in Washington and around the country, that Congress has just ended one of the most listless and unproductive sessions in memory.

    When its members bolted town to go home and campaign, they left a long list of big issues unaddressed — immigration reform, “the fiscal cliff,” climate change, entitlement reform, cyber-security.

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  • A VIEW from LICK SKILLET by Gerald Largen: Save America, vote Republican???

    Gentle reader, you have no doubt seen one or more of these signs and billboards somewhere in the county; possibly they are also being posted elsewhere, although we have been to Knoxville, Crossville, and Chattanooga in recent days and have not observed them any where else.

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  • Autumn morning triggers spider senses

    I was sitting in my living room the other morning, gazing out at the fog that softened my ridge-top neighborhood. Suddenly, a bit of motion caught my eye, shaking me out of the morning mist that had also overtaken my brain.

    A garden spider, golden orb or writing spider, as some people call them, dropped gingerly into one of my azalea bushes, then rose again, placing an anchor line for a more complex structure just out of view.

    A lot of people don’t like spiders, but I’m not one of them. 

    If I had time, I could watch them all day.

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  • Congress has forgotten how to oversee the balance

    By LEE H. HAMILTON
    Center on Congress
    You’ve likely never heard of William Natcher, which would have been just fine with him.

    Natcher spent four decades in Congress representing the area around Bowling Green, Ky., and for the most part the national press ignored him, just as he ignored them.

    He didn’t have time for burnishing his public image; he was what is known on Capitol Hill as “a work horse, not a show horse.”

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  • Ever wonder where your property tax dollars go?

    By RON WOODY
    Roane County Executive
    In October of each year, your county and city governments sends out the annual property tax bills.

    As citizens and property-tax payers, we generally hate to see these bills and often think, “what benefits do we receive for these taxes?”

    This column will deal primarily with the property tax levy for the county government; however, before we address the property tax we will try to address an overview of the county budget as a whole.

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  • A VIEW from LICK SKILLET by Gerald Largen: Wise folks will use their heads and vote for Headrick

    When writing for publication, there are sad stories, and there are happy stories, and on rare occasions there are stories that are both sad and happy at the same time.

    The story of the death of William D. Patterson is one of these: It is, of course, sad for those of us who are left behind when a loved one leaves us, but it is happy when one realizes that this object of our affectionate regard is no longer subject to the ills and unpleasantness that befalls most of us in old age.

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  • Looseleaf Laureate: Vrooom, vrooom ... I’m a new road warrior

    There’s an ugly knot on my right shin and a bruise the size of Texas on my calf.
    I earned those injuries over two days of noise, fumes, heat — and fear — at a Motorcycle Safety Foundation riding class at Pellissippi State Community College’s Hardin Valley campus.
    And as a result, I now have an “M” for motorcycle operator on my driver’s license.
    For a while now, I’ve been thinking of learning to operate a motorcycle.
    I do a great job as a motorcycle passenger, but, recently, I decided I wanted more.

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