TN town tracks residents, travelers with license plate reader
Police are using license plate reading cameras mounted on hoods, trunks and roofs. (Photo Tenthamendmentcenter.com) LEBANON, Tenn. (Sept. 23, 2016) – A small-town Tennessee police department recently deployed an automatic license plate reader system that allows officers to collect and store data on the location of drivers in the city and feed it into a […]
Child-seizing state official charged with false statement
Brenna E. Cervino of Tennessee department of children’s services has been indicted for false statements. (Photo TBI) In the Hanson Melvin case and no doubt and many others the officer reaches the standard for his “disorderly conduct” charge by faking it in his police report. The disorderly conduct statute is stretched to fit the facts […]
Trump promises to sweep aside establishment dunghill
Donald Trump, the authoritarian Republican, promises to sweep aside neoconservative elites who press for war. (Photo Trump campaign) In the final stretch of a heated presidential election there are often significant political transformations and paradigm shifts that take place, but are overlooked. One such major shift has occurred, the steady removal of tares from the […]
Will cop be held accountable in false arrest, double perjury? Pinkston mulls case
Neal Pinkston, district attorney (Photo wdef.com) I would like to follow up on my suggestion of Aug. 24. It concerns the abuse of Hanson Melvin by officer David Campbell of the Chattanooga police department. The internal affairs division of the police department is reviewing the claims Mr. Melvin has made against officer Campbell. By David […]
Necessity in TN for reform of state’s punitive machinery
A young woman in Montgomery County pays off taxes, fines or fees that were cited in a letter she received saying her driver license was being revoked. A revoked driver license is for most people a form of civil capital punishment. (Photo Newchannel5.com) Every opportunity I’ve had to speak during the 2016 campaign I’ve talked […]
Idols that fail: Social media — more isolation, not less
Social media eats into life at home. (Photo Laura Schmalenberg) A case in point where technology not only fails but threatens a humane life is social media: Facebook, Twitter, the whole tribe of which I avoid like a rabbi shuns pork chops. By Franklin Sanders One valid charge laid against the modern age (for all […]
Highway patrol rejects high court rule for roadblock public notice
By refusing to publicize its roadblocks, Red Bank, Tenn., joins the state department of safety in violating a roadblock rule laid down in two high court opinions. (Photo city of Red Bank website) Tim Christol, police chief of Red Bank, Tenn., refuses to reveal when and where his department is imposing roadblocks this Labor Day […]
Highway patrol insists vague roadblock PR obeys public notice rule
By refusing to publicize its roadblocks, Red Bank, Tenn., joins the state department of safety in violating a roadblock rule laid down in two high court opinions. (Photo city of Red Bank website) Tim Christol, police chief of Red Bank, Tenn., refuses to reveal when and where his department is imposing roadblocks this Labor Day […]
Highway patrol, Red Bank reject public notice rule for roadblocks
If you avoided Highway 41 in Chattanooga along Raccoon Mountain on Friday, you avoided the only Labor Day roadblock in the Chattanooga area. But avoid Red Bank, as it refuses to reveal whether it plans roadblocks this long weekend. Public notice of roadblocks is essential, according to the two key Tennessee high court rulings on […]
City’s best ad, ‘Angry Man,’ touts Shooter’s Supply
A customer looks at a rifle at Shooter’s Supply in north Chattanooga. (Photo YouTube) One of my tasks as observer and booster of local economy and free markets is encouraging people to shop local. Inherent in the idea of local economy is self-government under God and constitutional government, which further implies the armed citizen. By […]