Monthly Archives: January 2007

House Ed Committee

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Tennessee House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh announced his committee appointments on Thursday, yielding a similar “no surprise” composition as in the past. Of the 18-member committee:

  • 6 represent Shelby Co./Memphis
  • 11 represent the four Metro areas (Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville)
  • 11 represent only school systems that would gain under the TACIR funding prototype (67% of school systems lose funding under that plan)

Four others represent mixed districts, where some school systems would gain while others lose. John Mark Windle is one of those, where Fentress and Overton counties would gain funding, while Morgan County would lose. It’s tough to know how a legislator in that position would tend to vote — does it depend on how many votes are in the winning counties versus the losing, or the legislator’s own philosophy about education funding, or whether it’s a net gain overall? Or maybe something else?

The Committee Members are: (newly-elected reps in italics)

  • Les Winningham (D-Huntsville), Chair
  • Tommie Brown (D-Chattanooga), Vice Chair;
  • Joe Towns (D-Memphis), Secretary;
  • Barbara Cooper (D-Memphis);
  • John Hood (D-Murfreesboro);
  • Ulysses Jones (D-Memphis);
  • Mark Maddox (D-Dresden);
  • Mike McDonald (D-Portland);
  • Larry Turner (D-Memphis);
  • John Mark Windle (D-Livingston);
  • Harry Brooks (R-Knoxville);
  • Jim Coley (R-Bartlett);
  • Dolores Gresham (R-Somerville);
  • Beth Harwell (R-Nashville);
  • Phillip Johnson (R-Pegram);
  • Ron Lollar (R-Bartlett);
  • Gerald McCormick (R-Chattanooga);
  • Richard Montgomery (R-Seymour).

Any plan that takes from some districts to give to others is a bad plan. While it may be necessary to provide additional state funding to some areas based on the local tax base or special needs, Tennessee is not a state that over-funds any school system. If we are to improve, funding must improve overall.

This House committee doesn’t look like one that will do so, though I hope I am wrong.

Newbaby!!

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GeddesBaby

From AtomicTumor and NineMonths, it appears that Bos and Eaves’ new baby is on the way!

After a bit of a rough day today, my aggravation is gone and nothing but happy thoughts remain. Newbaby is actually due tomorrow, and it appears that he (supposed to be he, but we’ll know soon) may actually arrive right on time.

Not a bad thing, for a fourth baby.

Here’s to an easy labor and a healthy baby!

UPDATE: 8 lb baby boy arrived at 12:35 a.m. — exactly on his due date.

In very simple terms:

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There has been some discussion over at the forums I used to visit about this site, and the content thereof.

Let me be perfectly clear: this is my personal weblog, not one affiliated with my work nor my public service. Certainly, I do include items of information that relate to both, along with my opinions on those items, but all of the content contained herein is at my own discretion.

As noted by the Creative Commons insignia at the top of the sidebar, yes, this content is copyrighted. There’s been a bit of a problem with some folks lifting not only my words, but those in the comment sections, and misusing them elsewhere. You’re welcome to link, and welcome to copy verbatim with proper quotation and attribution.

I do include a lot of education news on these pages, and will continue to do so, as it is a subject of great interest to me. Likewise for local politics, and even state politics or federal policy from time to time — usually when it relates to education or local government. Some days, I may write simply about a nice place to visit, or anything else that’s on my mind.

Rest assured, I do hold back, knowing that any mute donkey can easily discern who I am, where I live and work, and what I do.

That’s been a challenge today, but I’ve met it head on. However, the license now stands as official warning to those who would copy and paste (that’s you, MushroomCloud, Geese and AAC) without attribution, precise quotation, or permission.

In the coming weeks, another site will be launched with a more professional tone containing information related to the Oak Ridge Board of Education. However, this one will remain as it is and has been — strictly personal.

Happy Friday!

Pink!

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Surfing around my favorite sites this morning, I was reminded why some things are best not shared: toothbrushes, underwear, computers, you know — personal stuff.

Check the comments in the shoutbox on Manland last night:

manland in pink

Now, I think very highly of Mrs. Daco, but even the suggestion of painting the background of Manland pink makes me want to leave town for a few days. I shuddered the other day when he wrote that she was cleaning it, remembering once (many years ago) when I cleaned up the carport and threw out a bucket of car parts to cars we hadn’t owned in years… Hubby didn’t speak to me for three days.

Thanks for the laugh, Mrs. D., and thanks for not actually doing it!

Your Input Requested

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Back in November, the NNSA had a “scoping hearing” in Oak Ridge on the subject of Complex 2030, soliciting public input on options for the future of Y-12.

If you don’t live in Oak Ridge, or don’t want Y-12 here, now would be a good time to go read something else.

Most of us probably didn’t make it to the public hearing back in November, being that most of us who aren’t in violent opposition to something have plenty enough meetings to go to without taking yet another evening away from our kids. But, the NNSA is still accepting public comments up until next Wednesday — January 17 — and you can send it in by e-mail. Please do.

So easy. So necessary, because you can rest assured that Sister Felonius Lensch (or whoever she is that always gets arrested on Hiroshima Day) and the rest of the tree-hugging NIMBY gang have already provided their input by the ream.

Three options are under consideration:

  • Alternative 1: No Action
  • Alternative 2: Proposed Action – Transform to a Responsive Nuclear Weapons Complex
  • Alternative 3: Reduced Operations/Capability-Based Complex

In short, option 2 is to expand Y-12’s capabilities with additional modernization, construction and cleanup, or send the jobs and investment elsewhere (Los Alamos? Sandia? Pantex?).

Y-12 has a better track record on security than the others, and generally has a more supportive home community than most. However, we’re closer to other population centers (e.g., Knoxville) than the others, so it’s critical that people who live here express their support.

To provide your comments, as I already have, send a letter via e-mail to Complex2030@nnsa.doe.gov. The letter should be directed to:

Mr.Ted Wyka

U.S. Department of Energy

National Nuclear Security Administration (NA-10.1)

1000 Independence Avenue, S.W.

Washington, DC 20585

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming…

Thursday Menu

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Breakfast: Coffee and unraveling an IT tangle

If you own a business and your internet/e-mail/website was set up by one of your employees, you might want to be sure you have the necessary information (service provider, user name, password, etc.) filed away in a safe place. Should that person leave your employ for any reason, it will undoubtedly save you some time — and possibly expense — later on.

This happened to an associate, who asked if I could help. I did.

It wasn’t a hard problem to fix really, just a matter of finding the right password, finding the control panel on the web host to change a couple of things, and set up e-mail forwarding on the departed employee’s account so that clients who had his address on file wouldn’t be left lingering on the server until his mailbox was full. Still, those are things that any business owner should have in his or her possession.

Seems like a no-brainer, but many people just don’t want to think about how this stuff works.

Lunch: Carrot soup!

(Disclaimer: I’m a “pinch of this” and “some of that” cook… all measurements are approximate.)

2.5 C chicken broth, 2 C chopped carrots, a small chopped onion, teaspoon of curry and a pat of butter; simmer about 20 minutes until the carrots are soft. Puree in blender; add a little milk. It should probably be about a cup, but I didn’t have that much on hand… “some” will do. A dash of salt and pepper to taste, and a little sprinkle of cilantro.

It’s low fat, low calorie, low cost, and high in the “warm food on a cold day” factor.

Reading about Daco’s success in the first ten days of the new year made me feel plumb guilty about my eating habits… I need to drink more water, less coffee, eat more colorful things (carrots, broccoli, squash) and fewer white things (potatoes, pasta, bagels). Most of all, I need to go back to my weight training, just in case it ever snows for real and there might be skiing opportunities.

Afternoon snack: finish caulking around the new tile, buy some stain and marble wax. Maybe some brownies for the kids, depending on how enthusiastically they tackle their homework.

Supper: Spaghetti!! That doesn’t count as “white food,” BTW — it’s whole wheat pasta.

Cooking with Gas

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Kit7Yes, we are cooking with gas!

The installation took all day, and not on the day I had planned. The person who scheduled the installation didn’t tell me that a 110v outlet was necessary within 30″ of the cooktop (which would have been easy to install before the stove was put in, but which will now require crawling into the cabinet to complete). Electricity is required to power the lights and the igniter, so I have it hooked up to an extension cord for the moment.

This weekend, Hubby will put in an outlet for me, inside the island where it doesn’t show — and can’t be accidentally unplugged.

I still have to stain and install the trim work that goes around the edge of the marble, but that’s not a big deal. Again, a project for the upcoming 3-day weekend.

I need to buy some marble wax to protect it from stains, now that it will be the center of various messy cooking activities.

However, the two gentlemen who ran the gas line through the basement and put in the new stove were most courteous and efficient. As an added bonus, I had a gas line extended to the deck, so that my grill can be converted to natural gas rather than propane; now, there is no danger of running low on fuel in the middle of a good steak.

It’s a good thing that the hard part of the ordeal is finished, as several folks have been ready for me to get back to work. The “I can’t cook and my kitchen is a wreck” excuse only works for so long…

City Council: who’s NOT running…

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David Bradshaw, Lou Dunlap, and Leonard Abbatiello have announced that they’re NOT running for City Council in the June election.

Here’s the press release.

So, as speculated at the end of my previous post (just scroll down), how might these three members of Council be expected to vote on the budget, knowing that they will not face approval (or disapproval) by the voters in June?

I don’t know.  Rather, I know how Abbatiello will vote, but I don’t know how Bradshaw and Dunlap may vote.

Both David and Lou surprised me greatly last year; I do know that both understand and appreciate the value of having a great school system.  I’m hopeful that they will feel liberated by this decision, and that they will feel a greater allegiance to protecting our greatest asset than to the rigidity of the strategic plan, or the small faction of voters who want lower taxes at any cost.

I hope they understand the harm that was done last year, and choose not to perpetuate it.

City Budget, School Budget

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John Huotari covers the first meeting of the City’s “Budget and Finance” committee in today’s paper, summed up in the closing paragraphs:

Judging by the back-and-forth exchanges between city and school officials on Tuesday, budget talks this year could be contentious, as they were last year.

Last year, a 4.25 percent increase in school funding from the city was controversial because it was less than what school officials had requested. A larger increase would have required a property tax rate increase.

The Oak Ridge school system gets about 29 percent of its funding from the city.

It’s the statement that “a larger increase would have required a property tax rate increase” that bothers me, because it’s only half true.  It would have required a property tax increase unless City Council chose to cut from some other area of increase — maybe the $800,000 in new vehicles, delayed replacing all the playground equipment in Bissell Park, etc.

Aligning City staff raises and “longevity payments” with what the schools’ staff receives would have made a big difference in the bottom line as well.  For example, the City Manager’s increase this year alone was more than the total increases accrued by the Director of Schools since he arrived in Oak Ridge six years ago.  If I’m not mistaken, the Director of Schools manages a larger budget and more staff than the City Manager, which makes the disparity seem out of line.

Don’t misunderstand: I realize that some of our City staff were earning salaries below market value, and we needed to correct that.  However, some of our school non-licensed staff are also far below market value, and that correction was one of the things that had to be cut.

That four newcomers have picked up petitions to run for Council is encouraging; it means that at least four people are not entirely satisfied with last year’s performance.  The election will come too late to make a difference in this year’s budget process, unless…. unless some of the incumbents would like to be re-elected, and realize that a large number of people are very concerned about the constraints on the schools’ budget.

Should some choose not to seek re-election, it’s anyone’s guess as to how they may proceed.

Our City Council is comprised of seven good people.  Several are personal friends.  But what happened last year was very bad, very lopsided, and should not be repeated.
Sometimes though, even friends can be wrong.

Adventures in Remodeling

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There’s still a hole in the kitchen island where the stove is supposed to be. One of us wrote the date down wrong… but I was at the computer when I made the appointment, and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have scheduled it for tomorrow (because I’m supposed to be somewhere else tomorrow).

Kitchen visualizeStill, it is what it is. I picked up a big frozen lasagna and threw it in the oven, so we don’t have to forage tonight.

I will wear my pajamas inside out and do the snow dance. If school is called off tomorrow, then I won’t miss the event that I’ll have to miss for the mis-scheduled stove installation.

Thanks to the magic of photoshop, I can visualize what it’s going to look like…