Author Archives: Netmom

LOL!

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Out of the mouths of babes and children come the words to make us laugh away the gloom:

JACK (age 3) was watching his Mom breast-feeding his new baby sister. After a while he asked: “Mom, Is one for hot and one for cold milk?”
MELANIE (age 5) asked her Granny how old she was. Granny replied she was so old she didn’t remember any more. Melanie said, “If you don’t remember you look in the back of your panties. Mine say five to six.”
STEVEN (age 3) hugged and kissed his Mom goodnight. “I love you so much, that when you die I’m going to bury you outside my bedroom window.”
BRITTANY (age 4) had an earache and wanted a painkiller. She tried in vain to take the lid off the bottle. Seeing her frustration, her Mom explained it was a childproof cap and she’d have to open it for her. Eyes wide with wonder, the little girl asked: “How does it know it’s me?”
SUSAN (age 4) was drinking juice when she got the hiccups. “Please don’t give me this juice again,” she said, “It makes my teeth cough.”
D.I. (age 4) stepped onto the bathroom scale and asked: “How much do I cost?”
MARC (age 4) was engrossed in a young couple that were hugging and kissing in a restaurant. Without taking his eyes off them, he asked his dad: “Why is he whispering in her mouth?”
CLINTON (age 5) was in his bedroom looking worried. When his Mom asked what was troubling him, he replied, “I don’t know what’ll happen with this bed when I get married. How will my wife fit in?”
JAMES (age 4) was listening to a Bible story. His dad read: “The man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city, but his wife looked back and was turned to salt.” Concerned, little James asked: “What happened to the flea?”
TAMMY (age 4) was with her mother when they met an elderly, rather wrinkled woman her Mom knew. Tammy looked at her for a while and then asked, “Why doesn’t your skin fit your face?”
The Sermon this Mom will never forget…. this particular Sunday sermon… “Dear Lord,” the minister began, with arms extended toward heaven and a rapturous look on his upturned face. “Without you, we are but dust.” He would have continued but at that moment my very obedient daughter (who was listening!) leaned over to me and asked quite audibly in her shrill little girl voice,
“Mom, what is butt dust?”
Thanks for sharing, TS.

Of interest: the IDB

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Following the blowup when the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board decided (and then un-decided) to grant a million-dollar tax abatement to a local health club after it was already constructed and open, someone must have realized that it would be a good idea for the IDB to have a website and make a few things public.

Little details, like the membership of the IDB (appointed by Council) and the matrices showing who’s eligible for what, are now online.  I would have put the matrix documents in PDF form to make them easier to print, but at least it’s there and available to the public.

Tax incentives are a necessary evil, but one that must be used judiciously to bring in investments of a specific nature that meet specific needs.

Miscellaneous

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Gamma Nov. 18Bear with me for a brag moment; on Saturday, the ETSBOA Jr. Clinic performance was held at Carson Newman College. Gamma made the “blue” orchestra — the more advanced of the two — and performed stunningly. At least it sounded that way to me, although the rational side of me knows that there’s no way in the world I could pick out the sound of one viola in ten, amidst all the other instruments as well.

Oak Ridge schools were well-represented in this event, in which students are selected via a grueling tryout of scales, a prepared piece, and a sight-reading segment. Yeah, the orchestra is not a mandatory program, but it’s one that has paid off over the years. Early music instruction has been shown to boost academic potential through the creation of new neural pathways… the improvements show up in everything from math scores to improved reading and written expression.

My piano teacher always tried to tell me that music and math are closely related; I thought she was full of it until I had to learn binary, octal, and hexadecimal numbering in college.

Music is simply a graphic expression of octal numbering.

* * *

On the way to Carson-Newman, I tweaked the WordPress PHP code that controls this page, so that the address for the memorial fund remains in the sidebar. I wasn’t sure until today that it would work, but it did. If you’ve followed this story and wondered what you could do to help this family through an extremely difficult time, there’s an option.

* * *

Saturday evening, we dropped by a 50th birthday bash for one of the rare, lucid contributors to the Oak Ridger Forums (Regular Guy). RG hasn’t posted anything in the longest time, but I know now he’s been trolling lurking (thanks for the correction, Joel) since he made mention of the treatment I’ve received there lately.

Truthfully, I’ve been stopping by there less and less frequently. For a couple of years now, I’ve thought that it was a reasonable way to answer questions and address issues about the school system, but I’ve almost concluded that it’s dominated by a few trolls who aren’t really interested in the truth.

That’s a shame. This city deserves better, and that forum was at one time a pretty good place for discussion of public issues.

* * *

Just a few minutes ago as I was finishing up a pot of chicken and dumplings for supper, I heard John Kerry complaining that the Republicans hijacked his “joke gone bad” (stay in school or you’ll end up in Iraq), then just moments later, ran across a story in the Commercial Appeal where Democrat Charlie Rangel is proposing to reinstate the draft.

Trying to make Kerry’s bad joke come true? This seems like an incredibly bad idea — with the all-volunteer military, we’re served by those who choose to do so. I can’t imagine how bad it would be if they took those who didn’t want to go, and aren’t up to the task.

Memorial

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A memorial fund has been set up for the family of a young mother, wife, artist and community activist, who was taken from us more than a half-century too soon.  BJ was bright, funny, but most of all a giving, caring individual.

To donate, send a check to:

Barbara J. Kilpatrick Memorial Fund
C/O ORNL Federal Credit Union
P.O.Box 365
Oak Ridge TN 37831

Anyone who visits here often has surely been alerted to the story, as painstakingly detailed at Atomictumor.

As a footnote, say “thanks” if you get a chance to John McKittrick, President of ORNL Federal Credit Union, for staying at work until 6 p.m. on a Friday evening to get this done.  It was 5 p.m. when I first spoke with him, and he really went the extra mile by making it happen today instead of waiting until Monday.

Hope

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The little candle in the corner of my banner is burning a little brighter tonight; BJ came through surgery safely, and is now free of the breathing tube she’s been subjected to for two weeks now.

Over the last couple of days, there have been hopeful signs. Prayer and good medical care are working, but now is the time to step up the prayers (as the docs have admitted to AT that they haven’t seen anyone as sick as she was survive).

Through this incredibly traumatic ordeal, AT has shared everything — fear, pain, hope, an occasional glimpse of humor, but most of all, his deep and unshakable love for his wife. A love that stands as an example in this world obsessed with perfection and instant gratification, when they have been denied both.

Yet, he is also balancing the needs of their two young sons through it all; perhaps there is strength found in seeing his wife reflected in their children. He is fiercely protective of them, yet calm and reassuring through a time when there has been no calm and little reassurance for him.

Now is the time to step up the prayer, in whatever way works best for you. For me, it’s usually a random conversation with God — sometimes out loud, sometimes not. Often with my eyes open, especially while driving or cooking… I think He’s okay with that. But sometimes I hit my knees and clasp my hands, just in case that’s preferable. I really don’t know.

Drop by Atomictumor and offer a little encouragement while you’re at it. This young family is one that would be a valued member of any community, and I’m really glad they’re in mine.

Favors, anyone?

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I’ve been wondering how the striking Boeing workers were getting by, after three months with no paycheck. No matter what they negotiated, it would take forever to make up three months’ full-time pay.

Remember that one of those — Steve Murphy — entered the Republican Primary for Property Assessor last May? Well, Murphy works for Boeing, according to the Oak Ridge Observer Election Guide (page 17). Although he garnered only 789 votes in the primary, a distant third place, word was that he was put in as a spoiler by Rex Lynch and Alan Beauchamp to help Bob Walker.

Murphy’s platform (as spelled out in the election guide referenced above) was essentially the same as Walker’s anti-nepotism rant. It didn’t work, although Stair ultimately lost the race to Democrat Rodney Archer in the August General.

So Murphy ran, lost, and went on strike in August (laughingly, in the election guide, his response to the question of why he should be elected was “most importantly, I will be on the job.”). So, while not on the job, it seems he was hired by Anderson County’s Buildings & Grants department — Alan Beauchamp — to tend to the first floor of the courthouse.

Good grief. Does anyone else have a hard time believing that one can’t find an employee in this county who isn’t 1) related to other county employees or officeholders, or 2) a political pawn?

Then again, maybe I should ask why we elect so many county commissioners who are also on the county payroll. Seems like it’s about half at this point.

Runaway Court

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Sessions Judge Ron Murch continued his attempt to run away from the court’s home in Oak Ridge last night, in a meeting before the County Commission’s Operations Committee.

A citizen observer reports that Commissioner Scott Gillenwaters questioned Murch on his changing reasons — first it was security, then a question of adequate office space for his clerks.  Could it really be that Murch lives in Clinton and just wants a shorter commute?

Bob Fowler writes that County Mayor Rex Lynch wants the committee to force Oak Ridge to supply an “adequate” courtroom:

County Mayor Rex Lynch said the law that established the second Sessions Court requires that Oak Ridge provide a suitable courtroom.

“We’ve got the law on our side,” Lynch told members of the commission’s operations committee. “Tell Oak Ridge to provide adequate facilities.”

Ahem… wait just one @#$%&! minute here, Rex: Oak Ridge taxes supply most of the stinking County budget, and all we get for those dollars is use of the jail, the courts, and the dump (and 30 cents on the dollar for education).  Everything else the county supplies to us is based in FEE offices, for which we pay the same fees for service as everyone else.

We’re already paying the County to provide court facilities, including the one in Oak Ridge.  If you think that our courtroom, which has been adequate for 14 years, is now so woefully inadequate — pay to fix it, or build a new one here. 

Three more things about this meeting are disturbing to me:

  1. That City Manager Jim O’Connor allegedly wrote a letter saying that the City doesn’t want the Sessions Court in their building, and is perfectly okay with them moving to Clinton.  No, Jim, it’s not okay.
  2. That John Shuey, a new County Commissioner who is a member of the Operations Committee, is employed as Murch’s bailiff.  As such, he has a glaring conflict of interest in this matter and should have abstained, but did not.
  3. That County Attorney Jay Yager reportedly pushing Murch’s viewpoint in the meeting, rather than sitting back and advising the County Commissioners when asked.  I had more confidence in Yager than this, and am disappointed…

More TSBA

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The Tennessee School Boards Association continues to meet, both as a whole, and in small breakout groups tailored to specific topics. This morning, I attended a session with Sen. Jim Tracy, a member of the Senate Education Committee and a former school board member himself.

I was thankful to hear him say that he opposes the TACIR prototype model, simply because it causes so many systems to lose funding. He continues to support appointed superintendents, because the most qualified candidate to run a school system isn’t necessarily the best politician, and may not necessarily live in the community that needs him or her.

Schools should be as apolitical as possible. Our school system routinely scoops some of the best from a neighboring district, because the superintendent there is known to demote good people if he learns that they’ve interviewed elsewhere. Hey — mistreat your best people, and we’ll take them off your hands. Gladly.

Among the issues that will be before the Legislature this year is a bill to expand the “special school district” option to all Tennessee school systems that choose to convert. While the board of a special school district does not have its own taxing authority exactly, it requests that the Legislature set a property tax rate that funds the needed budget. The Legislature almost always does — kind of a rubber-stamp thing, because the constitution prohibits school boards from having taxing authority.

For many years, I didn’t think this would be a good option for Oak Ridge; for many years, the school system was a high priority to our City Council, and was generally funded at a high level.

Now, I’m not so sure.

I will definitely support the passage of this legislation, but still haven’t decided whether I think that Oak Ridge would be better off to convert to a special school district. Ponder it a bit, and let me know what you think.

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TSBA is under new leadership now, with the last president losing her re-election bid. Dawn Robinson, of Cleveland City Schools, took office early as a result. Her efficiency and enthusiasm have already made a difference in the quality of the programming at this convention.

Educating: yesterday and today

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At the Tennessee School Boards Association convention, this evening’s keynote speaker (Ako Kambon) threw about some interesting statistics from a University of Michigan study on who, or what, influences children.

There are five basic influences over the past 50 years or so — home, school, church, peers, and tv (or media, depending on the decade).

In the 1950’s, the order of influence was home, school, church, peers, TV.  (All one channel of it?)

In the 1980’s, it was home, peers, TV, school, church.

1990’s: peers, TV, home, school, (insert six more items), church.  Yeah, church fell to 10th place in the 1990’s.

2000’s: Media (encompassing TV, internet, computers, video games, etc.) moved up to #1.

So, when teachers, principals, and school boards say “we have to do more to involve parents in education…” we’re really fighting a losing battle; if family influence had fallen to third place 10 or more years ago, where is it now?

Today’s students, he said, have about a 12-minute attention span — the length TV programming between commercials.  Kids expect faster delivery of information, expect it to be relevant, and tune out if it’s too slow in coming or not presented in a way that matters.

I don’t buy that hook, line, and sinker… but it’s worth thinking about.  Certainly, achieving a 100% graduation rate by 2014 will require that we make all subjects both interesting and relevant for all students.  Oddly enough though, there’s contrasting research showing that the nations where students are the least confident in their abilities, and get the least enjoyment out of school, tend to be the ones with the highest-performing students on international tests.

Much to think about, much to learn in these next couple of days.