At dinner before the ORHS v. Bradley Central game Friday night, I picked up a copy of the People News, a weekly out of Cleveland, TN. It was a refreshing change from the on-demand syndicated feeds that dominate the larger outlets, and what struck me was that some of our own hot topics locally are also hot topics in other towns scattered about.

In Public Square, JC Bowman writes about the need for change in their local Republican Party: members of the Executive Committee are refusing to step down from their leadership positions when they run for office, or actively support a candidate in a primary election. Sound familiar, Anderson County? The local party Chairman is currently running for State Representative; four years ago, Terry Frank declined to step down as Chairman when her husband challenged State Sen. Randy McNally in the primary.

Bowman: Candidates and elected leaders need to be aware that merely a call to the local Republican Party leadership no longer translates into broad support from Republicans voters. A sign in the yard of certain people does not signal confidence, but rather identification of a person who may be bought and paid for by the oligarchy to increase their power. When that sign is in the yard of an executive committee member during a contested primary it very wrong. This is not directed at one person, but rather all who violated that tenet. If an executive committee member wants to support a candidate or run for office they should just step down
from their position. People are clearly tired of being manipulated, and as evidenced by the heated crowd at the last Republican meeting, people are willing to step up and do something about it.

In Read All About It, Pettus Reed  explores the  debate over  illegal immigration, but introduces some interesting facts worthy of consideration:

One thing we do know at the farm gate is that farm labor is becoming harder to find. The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released its quarterly farm labor report on May 19, 2006. They reported the number of hired farm workers decreased 3.75 percent to an all time low of 718,000 workers nationwide. In the Tennessee region the figure was even higher at 9 percent. Even after adjusting for seasonality, this represents an acceleration of a declining trend dating back to before 2001. The fact that wages increased sharply over the same period indicates that the drop in worker numbers was due to a tight labor supply, rather than any decrease in demand for farm labor. Farm operators have had to pay more to retain a shrinking hired work force.  The April wages quoted in the May NASS report put the national average at an all time high of $9.79 per hour – up almost 5 percent from the year before and up 18 percent from 2001.

The immigration debate has been an active topic on the Oak Ridger’s forum, with many still seeming to believe that illegal immigrants are taking jobs from Americans.  I disagree, and the NASS reports seem to concur.

This morning, I read the Paris Post-Intelligencer from Henry Co., Tennessee, and saw that they publish a list of students absent from the local high schools, in cooperation with the local school board.  Hmmm…. I bet it does cut down on cutting classes when the students know their parents can find out from the newspaper that they were absent!

I was actually reading the Paris PI looking for any mention of Anderson County Probation Director, Alan Beauchamp, following up on PoisonIvy’s post on the Oak Ridger’s message forum.  Apparently, someone heard that he’s been involved in helping set up probation programs there, just as I’d heard he was involved in ex-Judge Thomas Austin’s programs in Roane County.

I didn’t find anything about his involvement in Henry County — yet — but if this sort of thing is going on, the taxpayers of Anderson County certainly deserve to know whose dime he’s traveling on, and whether these jaunts are occurring on time he’s paid to be working for us.

For about three months now, one of my projects has been to help a friend who has taken that great plunge — quit her job, and started her own company.

In real estate, all income is commission-based, and the commission is usually split between the buyer’s agent, the seller’s agent, and their respective firms. Because the listing (or selling) agent bears the advertising costs, the listing agent gets a larger percentage than the buyer’s agent. Then, each agent’s firm takes a cut of their share. Some offices also charge office rent and fees, so it’s quite possible for a new agent to actually lose money while selling real estate.

Miss Betsy had worked with a couple of good firms over the last ten years, moving from a situation where she could actually lose money (and did, during a difficult pregnancy when she wasn’t able to work as much) to one where she had no rent or fees, but had to turn over a large portion of her commissions to the firm.

Of course, an employee gets stuck with the Sunday showings, as well as working any hours that the managing broker wants to be on vacation. It’s a classic situation of he who holds the gold makes the rules.

Ever the agitator, when she got really frustrated over the office politics, I told her to quit and go out on her own.

I’ve known her for a very long time, and I know she’s dreamed about starting her own company for years. She was ready — she just needed someone to give her a push. So I did.

She passed the Broker’s Exam on the first try, with flying colors. We drove to Nashville to speed up the licensing process, and within a few weeks, she had her firm license as well.

Today, just 16 days in business, she had her first closing. She gets to keep all of her commission, exept to pay off some of her start-up costs, and a little bit for a cantankerous web developer/support technician/graphic designer.

Betsy was in the delivery room with me (and Hubby) when our last child was born, and I think she was as excited as anyone in the room. Today, I feel that same kind of excitement — I didn’t birth this business, but I certainly cheered her on every step of the way.

I’m easing her into a new way of doing business, of going mostly paperless (as much as is legal, in any case), so that she can conduct business from anywhere there’s an internet connection. Like Lake Tahoe, for example.

Maybe that’s the capitalist republican showing in me… I think that small business is the heart of commerce and a free-market economy. Small businesses can innovate. Small business owners work like crazy, but no one can tell them that they have to work on Saturday instead of going to a child’s soccer game.

I know the website needs work — especially on content — but it will be growing and changing daily. It will have to, to keep up with Betsy. In her first week, she had five listings and a couple of buyers… now we have to grow it.

I’ll be there to help and cheer, just as she has been from Day One of Delta’s life.

When you see something every day, it’s all too easy to miss subtle changes.

I just returned after a couple weeks’ absence, and noticed several substantial differences just in the short time I was away. On the turnpike, an old bank building at Jefferson Avenue — it was Heritage Federal a decade or more ago — has now been cleaned up and transformed into a new bank.

It looks a lot better.

Further east, the new apartments along Emory Valley Road near SAIC have absolutely sprung out of the ground, seemingly on their own, since I left. This is also great news for Oak Ridge, since we don’t have much in the way of upscale starter residences for young professionals, or a place for people to live while they build.

These new projects are definitely an encouraging sign. I’m also looking forward to visiting the new Sonic on Illinois, since it means I don’t have to drive to the other side of town to get a positively decadent chocolate malt — an infrequent indulgence, but a treasured one nonetheless.

If anyone has wondered why I haven’t continued punching the buttons of folks running for local office lately, just ponder the picture to the left.

If this was what you looked at every evening over supper (and breakfast, for that matter), would you bother wondering what the local miscreants are up to?

Nah. Anotherthing2 is covering it quite nicely. That’s where I go to see what’s really going on in my absence.

But I know that at least one of her/his questions is bound to be answered in the next day or two.

At right, Delta and Dog are enjoying a calm surf; it isn’t always so. On Monday, the undertow was so strong it swept Gamma, Delta and me all out past where we could touch the sand. Way past.

Lifeguard training from decades ago kicked in, and we all returned to shore safely. However, it was definitely time to stay shallow at that point.

And eat ice cream.

I do still care what’s going on at home, but at this point, it’s up to all of us to vote and put the best people in office. People who haven’t spent the last eight years building a political machine, sometimes crossing party lines but always extending the protection of government to certain individuals in a perversion of the American political system.

Sometimes I do have to wonder what sort of dirty laundry Beauchamp has on these elected officials to make them put up with his shenanigans.

Stay tuned.