presstalk 865-671-TALK (8255) or editor@farragutpress.com
• Tuesday, May 5, [was] the final day that voters of Knox County will get to vote for a new sheriff. Something that needs to be emphasized is that three of the sheriff's candidates are behind putting a precinct back into the Farragut-Turkey Creek area. One is not. What a lot of people do not realize is that the Farragut precinct covers not only the town of Farragut, but a lot of unincorporated West Knox County, including Choto, Karnes, Hardin Valley, parts of Cedar Bluff, and so on. Please take that into account when you are casting your vote.
• With the new Farragut Elementary School going in on Boring Road, Knox County is widening Boring Road from Baldwin Park down to the new entrance to the school on Boring Road. But surely the Town of Farragut can widen Boring Road all the way down to Kingston Pike. We surely don't need to close off the access to Kingston Pike from Boring Road. The Town of Farragut has plenty of money, plenty of surplus money. They should widen Boring Road from the new entrance to the elementary school on Boring Road all the way to Kingston Pike. We do not need to lose the entrance to Kingston Pike. The accessibility of the elementary school needs to be from both Kingston Pike and Smith Road. With all the buses and all the traffic, they'll come in off of Village Commons, but they need to be accessed from Kingston Pike and from Smith Road. So I see the barriers up on Kingston Pike at Boring Road, but the Town of Farragut needs to pay for the widening of Boring Road from the new entrance on Boring Road for the school all the way down to Kingston Pike. The elementary school needs access from both Smith and Boring Road. Surely that can be done.
• I see where the Farragut [Municipal] Planning Commission turned down Raymond James Investment, an insurance company coming into Farragut, into a building that used to be an insurance agent. It's an insurance agent building down across the highway from Ingles. It used to be an insurance agency. And Raymond James wanted to come into the Town with an investment advisory and insurance agency. And they were turned down. I think the Planning Commission has the mayor and vice mayor on it. And they 100 percent rejected Raymond James. We need new leadership. It's time for change. It's time for change. We need new leadership in Farragut. We don't need the same mayor, vice mayor who sit on the Planning Commission that stop things. We need to be more encouraging to businesses coming into the Town like Raymond James, into a building that used to be an insurance agency. So what is going on? We need new leadership, change. We have an election coming up, and early voting in July, and Aug. 6 election. Let's have new leaders as mayor, etc. New leadership, time for change.
• Addressing “the quiet pond.” It would have packed more of a punch if the far-ragutpress didn’t already give constant voice to those who disagree with Town officials. Every week, the same handful of unhappy residents are more than represented in the paper, either in a story or an editorial, press talk or letter to the editor. They are not disenfranchised. The problem really is that the paper has taken their side, rather than allowing each side to express their viewpoints. Within one months’ time, a south ward alderman candidate was allowed to discuss a meeting held by the incumbent two different times, in two different editions, without any pushback or factchecking from the paper, nor was the alderman’s viewpoint requested or expressed in any way. A newspaper’s job is to show both sides, and appear not to take sides. That is certainly not the case here.
