Superunintendedly dumb

Senator Dewaye Bunch says that a proposal to elect school superintendents could pass the Legislature:

“It’s hard to look citizens in the eye and say you are smart enough to elect me and not smart enough to elect him,” Sen. Bunch, R-Cleveland, said at a meeting with Cleveland and Bradley County school board members to talk about the Tennessee School Boards Association’s 2009 legislative agenda.

That's right up there with electing sheriffs as the top law enforcement officer in counties around the State. Oh, wait...we do that. The executive management of our schools requires professionalism and a buffer, however slight, against politics. Do we really want superintendents campaigning?

If it's hard to look voters in the eye and say that, then buck up and find the words and tell us.

Response to hate in Cleveland

Here's part of an interesting piece in the Bradley News Weekly by Daniel Brantley:

Whatever it takes to walk down the road to hatred, Cleveland came face to face with the outcome recently, and it's left the community sick at their collective stomach. The spray paint on the side of those homes is a disgusting sight that could be a sign that we've shot backwards a good 100 years or so. Or it could be a sign that ignorance has hit a select few right between the eyes. Is there any other way such an act could have come to fruition?

The worst part is what an incident like this could do to a weak community. One group of people suddenly becomes afraid of the other, and both begin to look over their shoulders a bit more. Whereas trust in one's neighbors used to exist in full bloom, it has now been replaced with fear and skepticism. No one can trust anyone else, because that someone else could be out to get you.

http://www.bradleyweekly.com/news.cfm?id=6228&issue=333 for the rest.

It's an important reminder that hate crimes are not merely acts of vandalism committed by individuals against individuals. Hate crimes target minorities and affect an entire community. They sew distrust and fear. And they can happen anywhere, from charming small towns to cosmopolitan, "progressive" cities. They provide opportunities for communities to come together across differences and say, "This is not who we are or want to be."

Governor's energy task force gets 2 1/2 stars in Cleveland

David Davis of the Cleveland Daily Banner gives an "attaboy" to Gov. Bredesen for establishing an energy task force that includes a number of leading lights, but notes the lack of representation from Southeast Tennessee: http://www.clevelandbanner.com/NF/omf/daily_banner/editorial_story.html?rkey=0071744+cr=gdn .

For a list of task force members and their bios, go to http://www.tennesseeanytime.org/governor/viewArticleContent.do?id=1200&page=0 .