Category: Political figures

Taxi board oversees transportation, no authority over private travel

Justin Strickland is the new chairman of Chattanooga’s taxi board, which regulates “vehicles for hire,” those involved in commerce. (Photo David Tulis) Hotel marketing manager Justin Strickland is the new head of the city’s transportation board, a sleepy volunteer regulator that exercises authority over transportation in the city. By David Tulis / 92.7 NoogaRadio Mr. […]

City to criminalize begging, directs cops to do social work among poor

Landon Howard is shushed by Phil Noblett, city attorney, because critics of the panhandling rule have already had their turn to be heard and will not be heard from further. With him are protesters Beth Foster and Jeannie Hacker-Cerulean. Police chief David Roddy, center, is empowered under a proposed ordinance to arrest beggars. Worried about […]

Hammond says massacre risk too slight to shut down schools

Sheriff Jim Hammond chats with people in the audience prior to a school board meeting Thursday in Hamilton County’s barbed-wire fence-protected administrative compound. (Photo David Tulis) Sheriff Jim Hammond refuses to order a shutdown of Hamilton County public schools even though he describes them as being subject to a “type of war” — the gunman […]

Begging ban hits 9 pages of type + appendices as shopkeeps voice support

A red ribbon flutters toward the tarmac after William Green, cente, opens his M.L. King Boulevard eatery, G’s Detroit Sausages, a shop whose customers are frequently hassled by beggars. (Photo Facebook) Four opponents of a city panhandling ban talk local politics after a second city council meeting focusing on complaints about begging and harsh measures […]

Model for liberty, confidence, openness: Old Israel with no border wall

In what ways could city government in Chattanooga encourage the concept of sanctuary, where people fleeing evil elsewhere will be protected here? (Photo David Tulis) Welcome to Episode 43 of Axe to the Root Podcast, part of the War Room Productions, I am Bo Marinov, and for the next 20 minutes I will be getting […]

Notice to Hammond: Reform required even though Haslam, judges, legislators opposed

Sheriff Jim Hammond talks with Greg Luther, left, at a 2014 political event. Mr. Luther is defending the right of citizenry to photograph department officers in any public place. (Photo David Tulis) The following is a letter sent to Jim Hammond, sheriff of Hamilton County, Tenn., regarding an interview about the laws he is charged […]

Dayton mayor Louallen debates journalist on limits of police authority

David Tulis gives a transportation administrative notice Feb. 23, 2018, to Gary Louallen, mayor of Dayton, Tenn., a town in which a few people use the public roadway without state permit but face arrest or citation is stopped. (Photo Facebook) Dayton is the seat of Rhea County, Tenn., where a courthouse stands as a tourist […]

Hammond gets help on key question: Does travel = transportation?

Sheriff Jim Hammond, the most powerful man in Hamilton County, Tenn, declines to answer questions about the scope of authority of the driver license law, but indicates his belief that no one can be on the road without a license, even if that person is non-commercial. (Photo David Tulis) Sheriff Jim Hammond declines to answer […]

How Berke could win all sides by restraining cops, ordering ’open’ city

Mayor Andy Berke speaks with members of the audience at a campaign debate at UTC in 2017. (Photo David Tulis) I realize it will take a while for the policy and political implications of transportation administrative notice to take effect. For busy men such as Mayor Andy Berke and city attorney Wade Hinton, it will […]