By Pete Chaney

If you live long enough, you meet a lot of interesting people. If you happened to have started in the newspaper business when you were 17 years old in 1950, you would have met a lot of very interesting people. Harry Moore (who claimed he broke the Wright Brothers flight story) and Tom Wicker. Richard Nixon and Sam Ervin. Jersey Joe Walcott and Yogi Berra. John Bubbles and Robert deNiro. Ray Price and Cristy Lane. And a lot of other folks. After a while you aren't easily impressed.

Dalton Roberts would impress anyone. Fifteen years ago as a newcomer to Chattanooga, I couldn't understand how anyone that blunt spoken could not only hold political office but be as popular as he was. It was because of that bluntness, that dedication to honesty that made him say what the thought and do what he believed best. That's why he was loved or hated, but hated with respect.

It would seem strange for anyone else to be son of a minister, a college graduate to make his living picking a guitar and singing in honky tonks. When he ran for office as the first Hamilton County Executive in the newly created office, political advisers told him to stay away from his honky tonk friends. He said if he had to turn his back on friends he had rather not be in politics. Those friends helped put him in office. His ability and actions earned him the right to stay there as long as he wanted.

Yet, he's more than a politician and public servant. His array of talents is amazing--song writer, author, talented writer and columnist, student of philosophies and religion from yoga to meditation, and he's a bird watcher. If someone said he was going back to school to learn to be a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon, those who know him wouldn't be surprised.

Once I told him I felt like a dinosaur, a 19th Century man deluged by changing cultures and inventions. He disagreed. He felt this was the most exciting time to be alive. If Chattanooga and Hamilton County have a 21st Century man, Dalton Roberts is certainly the Man of the Millennium.

Politicians make a lot of promises when they campaign, pledges like representing the people and listening to them. After they get into power, it’s easy to forget.

They become smarter than the folks who elected them. They just won’t listen.

While they promise better schools and a better life for Tennesseeans, they won’t come up with a way to fund it.

Political winds blew against an income tax, but they have brain lock against other alternatives.

While surrounding states have lotteries, our legislators won’t even let the people to have their own vote to see if they want one or not. This should be a basic American right—to decide for themselves. Look in any large parking lot on a Saturday morning and you’ll see parked cars and people getting on tour buses to go to a more progressive state for even such simple relaxation as bingo.

When the Attorney General, lacking legislative from the office holders, outlawed bingo, churches and other non-profit organizations were robbed of their fund raising programs to carry on a lot of good work.

To his credit, Ward Crutchfield and a few others have carried on a valiant fight to let the people decide on lottery or even bingo. States such as Georgia have enough money to fund students going to college.

Tennessee can’t even fund basic school needs.

Maybe common sense will enter the halls of legislation some day. Maybe those in office will have as much faith in the voters as the voters had in them.

Maybe that’s asking too much.

Bill Bennett was given endorsement by Veterans for Good Government in his bid for reelection as Hamilton County’s Assessor or Property at a reception sponsored by the VGG. Dalton Roberts, Redbird Klingman and Bill McCallie provided entertainment.

Ralph Wilson, VGG president, said, "Bill has done a great job for the county and been sensitive to everyone’s problems. We are happy to support him."

The New Jersey waterlords finally found out what everyone already knew: they spent $5-million fighting the city’s buyout.

Now they don’t know what to do with it.

The first of the year the company told union workers, who had been loyal to them, $150,000 would have to be cut from programs. Now that’s on hold.

Their purchase of a multi-state western water works dropped their stock value.

Action by the legislature to prevent water exploitation may actually help them. Their facilities couldn’t begin to expand a water selling operation to Atlanta.

There is an undertow of support for Bob Corker to run for Chattanooga’s mayor.

A successful businessman like Democrat Jon Kinsey, he has GOP credentials as did Gene Roberts. Some say he might offer values from both sides. It will be interesting.

Kermit Salyer made a lot of money as a sailor on Onasis’s ships. When he came home from the sea, he bought a small weekly newspaper in the western Virginia hills. Barry Goldwater and Lyndon Johnson were running for President and Kermit wrote an editorial that was reprinted nationwide.

He couldn’t find anything nice to say about either candidate and decided to go fishing that day.

A lot of Americans were inspired this year and excited over the energy of John McCain and Bill Bradley. The two mavericks brought fresh enthusiasm into the political process. People who never even voted before got involved. Everyone looked forward to a battle of ideas and principles.

Each man was crushed by the political steamroller of his own party. The establishment candidates of George W. Bush and Al Gore were given the crowns.

But the electricity—especially from war hero McCain—remains. Hopefully, the breath of fresh air McCain and Bradley blew into the backrooms will clear away some to the stale thoughts. Maybe the people can get involved in the process.

The furor over stupid remarks made by Braves pitcher JOHN ROCKER is another over reaction. Insensitive? Yes. Foolish? Yes. But he had the right to an opinion whether the thought police agreed or not. And if we all were punished for dumb remarks we would stay in hot water.

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The thought police continued to be busy by seeking punishment for the East Ridge school teacher with raunchy photos. Maybe they would like to censor thought as well. Problem with censorship is finding a perfect person to be the censor. If some fanatic atheist did the censoring, no one could have a Holy Bible or a Koran.

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Note to City Council members: when I was a green "hot shot" newspaper reporter, I got a parking ticket. I told the publisher I was going to ask the officer to "fix" it. He said, don’t do it. Sometime you might want to write a story about something he’s done wrong and he’ll say that you owe him. Somebody owes somebody something for the parking tickets. To JON KINSEY’s credit, he never had a parking ticket "fixed." To his credit, Judge WALTER WILLIAMS reacted immediately by launching a probe to find the whistle blower.

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What’s with the City Council in micro management of the police department. They hire a chief because have confidence in him and then overrule him when he disciplines an officer.

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The NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION lost a lot of good will with their "blood on President’s hands" remarks. The organization has become fanatical in their pursuit of the dollar—support from the gun industry.

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People who favor castration for sex offenders have forgotten about the Janissaries. They were castrated soldiers in the Ottoman Empire who were the fiercest of all warriors.

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Congratulations to ALAN GRIMSPAN. He’s been able to create the problem he warned against—inflation. Rising gas prices make everything higher. Products are usually either made from an oil derivative or have to depend on gas to be moved. The chairman and the Federal Reserve have too much power.

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Grand Court, formerly Mountain Creek Manor, still has problems. The state investigated after the death of a patient and soon their license was lifted. Now they’re on a COD basis with suppliers. A carpet company in the middle of work came and picked up their material. Sixty residents and $1,000 rooms ought to pay a few bills. Florida managers should be living well.

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