Reveille
June 1999
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Reveille June 1999 |
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Published by International Press Service
for the Veterans for Good Government
Box 4072, Chattanooga, TN 37405
FAX (423) 698-7803
Pete Chaney, Editor and Publisher
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Tennessee’s brilliant legislators Smarter than the voters? The Volunteer State is indeed fortunate. Voters are not smart enough to decide for themselves what they want or need. So, they elected some brilliant legislators who make their decisions. A few courageous lawmakers in the legislators have urged a referendum to give the people of Tennessee a chance to decide for themselves if they do or don’t want a lottery. But a few of the arrogant legislators say they don’t have sense enough to have a voice. It has never been a question or whether or not the state should have a lottery. Other states around have it.Georgia has schools far superior with facilities. Kids are offered college scholarships. Computers are in classrooms. Hamilton County is straining to provide a decent education for its children. Property tax increases and a wheel tax were the only options they could find. A lottery may or may not be the best route. But those elected by the people should at least have as much faith in the voters as the voters had in them. |
Money’s the name of the game Bigger not always better Money has no friends. It goes to whoever is smart enough, industrious enough or, in come cases, ruthless enough. Somewhere along the way the idea has been accepted that bigger is better. There was a time when banks were limited to six percent interest. Otherwise it would be usury. There was a time in many places a bank had to serve its community. Money had to be limited for usage in a 50-mile area. In Chattanooga, the changes at Pioneer Bank are an example of the bigger theory. No one can blame the owners of Pioneer Bank for going after more money. No matter that the people who supported and loved the bank over the years. No matter that employees had shown loyalty to the institution. They sold out to First American who sold out to AmSouth. Money was the name of the game. It’s a standing joke for a customer to go to a depressed looking teller at the bank and ask, "What’s the name of your bank today." In the changeover, account information has been four days late on occasion. Without warning, they changed the deposit deadline from 4 PM to 1 PM. Depositors paid for the changes with a middle of the month service charge. Gone is the cordial familiarity of the hometown bank Pioneer was. Gone is the rapport bank employees had with their depositors. Bigger is the policy, not just in the bank change, but in business mergers everywhere. After fighting John D. Rockefeller and other business cartels generations ago, the government now encourages destruction of competition. What’s the final answer? One big trust headed by Bill Gates and similar tycoons in control of everything from banks to every business? |
Jeff Dicks dies on death row after 20 years He was a teenager when he was sent to death row in Nashville. A month ago he died there. Jeffery Dicks didn’t die in the electric chair. He wasn’t given a lethal injection. He wasn’t hanged. Heart disease claimed him From the beginning, he claimed he sat unknowingly in the car while another man robbed and killed a merchant. Law states that whoever is there is equally guilty. His family didn’t have the money of an O.J. Simpson. They had a court appointed lawyer. Over the years, his mother fought to get him a new trial. Shirley Dicks became involved in advocates against the death penalty. Now she blames the state for her son’s death, saying they did not give him the medical attention he needed for his heart condition. She has a web site as a memorial. It’s at http://members.xoom.com/jeffdicks/index.html. |
Bloody hatchet still swinging Under the failed administration of Skip Reeder as CEO of Erlanger Hospital, some 600 career workers were slashed with the bloody hatchet. And the hospital lost $26-million. The blood letting isn’t over under the guidance of CEO Dennis Pettigrew. By using "consulting firms" as management, the hospital keeps its hand clean while heads are chopped and the hospital suffers. Emergency rooms are understaffed. Paid employees work for companies in Nashville not even associated with Erlanger. The firm of Ernest & Young locally has a share of the management with its staff growing from three to eight, and still getting bigger. On one occasion, the company’s E&Y's Melody Turner slashed career workers she didn’t agree with. Her team runs admitting and patient accounts. Dozens have been cut from the laundry. And a food service hired by Nashville runs the kitchen. One worker said she felt like she was back at a McDonald’s fast food where the order pops up on a screen. And CEO Pettigrew has negotiated a 15-month severance package. |
When Mac McGuffey was elected quartermaster of VFW Post 4848 five terms ago, he thanked everyone for the support. Individually, he told members, "You’re the boss. I work for you. And I’m here to serve you." I’ll always remember the day Mac said that and how much it meant to me and to the post. Unfortunately, in our world there are so many officials from the White House to the Capitol dome to the State House in Nashville, there are those who forget who put them there. The paid bureaucrats who last from term to term are the worst. They forget who is boss and get the feeling the people work for them, not vice versa. The VA administration is an example of this. At the highest level, those who were in charge of protecting and serving veterans forgot why they were there. In their co-called infinite wisdom, they decided those who had fought and sometimes lost their health for their country didn’t need to be taken care of. On a more regional level, those in charge of the medical facilities at Nashville and Murfreesboro have ignored the needs of those they are supposed to serve. They forget the VA doesn’t belong to them. It’s not there to serve them. It’s there to serve America’s veterans. The government made a contract with those who wore their country’s uniform. It’s time to honor that. And maybe it’s time for more resignations. |
When Parade magazine put Chattanooga officials on the front page and lauded the city, that was the best PR available. Critics found fault that their favorite person wasn’t included on the cover along with Mayor JON KINSEY and others. The only way to please them would have been to have all the people in town. Probably no two individuals in the past did more to bring the city forward than former Mayor GENE ROBERTS and former County Executive DALTON ROBERTS. But you don’t hear them complaining. ******** Say it ain't so--that SKIP REEDER is on the board of directors for the Tivoli Theatre. Surely that don't have $26-million to waste. Seems like President BILL CLINTON just can’t stand success. After getting praise for the budget surplus and Bosnia bombing, he’s appointed a professing homosexual ambassador to represent the United States abroad. Is that the way he wants to advertise America? ******** Faces were red at the mayor’s reception during Riverbed. JANICE MILLER ordered 250 pounds of ice. Problem was when it was delivered, there was no refrigerated place to put it. It had to be reloaded and returned. ******** A lot of people in East Ridge are wondering how a refugee family from Bosnia was able to move into their neighborhood with a yard full of new cars. Surely, Uncle Sugar isn't paying for this. ******* After three years of rumors that he was leaving for another post, JAMES WALLACE will be vacating his position as administrator of the National Cemetery in Chattanooga. He will be in charge of five smaller cemeteries in northern Virginia. ******** If America and Russia start playing King of the Hill in Bosnia, there may not be a hill left. ******** At one time Mountain Creek Manor was the Cadillac of nursing homes and retirement center. With management in Florida now, one patient has died and the state has pulled the accreditation as a nursing home. Few residents are left at what’s now called Grand Court, and employees still have to wait for their paychecks. ******** Give our city Parks and Recreation director credit. JERRY MITCHELL can take the heat. He’s getting plenty after trying the program suggested by Animal Control director PAUL MILLER to let canines walk the Walnut Street Bridge. ******** One if the spokespersons on TV for the TAWC campaign is GERALD SHAW. The Canadian World War II paratrooper has been active in the local 82nd Airborne and has worked for the Medal of Honor Museum. ******** A lot of employees at Whelan Foundry think too much cleanliness is expensive. While the plant was shut down for maintenance, a select crew was picked to work. Others were told to clean out their lockers. The hired cleanup crew cleared all lockers—including the maintenance crew lockers. Gone were uniforms, steel toed boots, badges and sensitive keys. |
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