Commissioner Mike Walker has been blogging since Al Gore invented the internets.

How to tell if your local police range accepts federal funds: They open it up to the public once per year and let you sight in your shotguns. The sheriff in The City (My The City) does that too. See, if you accept federal funds for your range, the range must be open to the public. So, instead of following the spirit of the law and opening the ranges up, they follow the letter of the law and open it up only once per year.

Me and the family went to the Foothills Fall Festival, a pretty big to-do here in The City (My The City). Every year, they shut down a couple of blocks in down town to traffic, get some musical acts, some arts and crafts booths, a few bounce houses for kids, and all manner of good food including funnel cakes and ribbon fries (ribbon fries are awesome, by the way). We parked near down town and went and looked at the various nifty items for sale at the crafts area (including bat boxes and can-jos). We saw a 1,000 pound pumpkin and some tractors. And then, I crossed the line into a (gasp!) public park. At that point, I was violating the law since The City (My The City) opted out of park carry and I had my G-30.

Up to that point, I was on public streets and in a coffee house. In the latter, I was surrounded by hipster doofuses (doofi?). I didn’t know we had those in The City (My The City) as I’d never seen one before.

Anyway, at some point I looked up and realized I was actually in a park. I didn’t really notice entering the park until I was there. I’m a criminal.

Blount County takes the TN Attorney General at his word on the whole parks become schools thing when it comes to carry permits.

No way this guy had a gun in on school property. That’s illegal.

MKS reports that Blount County schools have a new policy that states that the press shall not bring cameras to board meetings without the consent of the executive committee.

In The City (My The City):

The Blount County Sheriff’s Office has opened to the public its firing range at the BCSO’s training facility on two dates in September and October.

The public range days are being offered to individuals interested in honing their shooting skills in preparation for the upcoming hunting season. Only rifles will be permitted.

You love kimchi or hate it. There is no in between. I happen to love it. If you happen to hate, I won’t try to convince you otherwise.

That said, in The City (My The City) there is a market called, interestingly enough, The Market. Good meat selection, seafood, and locally grown veggies. I’m a fan.

Stopped in a bit back and they had kimchi. I struck up a conversation with the owner about it and how I make my own and how it’s a lot of work. He explained to me that one of his regular customers came in and said her husband, who had a terminal illness, served in Korea. And he said he wanted some good kimchi. The owner took it upon himself to track down some one local who could make it. And he did. He started selling it for her. I bought some that day in the event that it was good, so I could stop making my own. It was good. Delicious. I’d buy it all the time.

Today, I swing by to get some kimchi. And they don’t have any. I ask about it and the guy behind the counter (different guy) says that the FDA told them they couldn’t sell it anymore because the supplier was not a licensed manufacturer. Of course not. The supplier of good kimchi was a Korean lady.

Government: Keeping the world safe from good food.

Looks like there’s some sort of protest scheduled in Knoxville. The Blount County Democrats (both of them) plan on counter protesting.

The county I live in says that there’s no need to ban guns in parks because it’s already prohibited. Another case for preemption. Park carry in Tennessee is becoming a complex patchwork that no law-abiding citizen can possibly keep up with. The state should extend Tennessee’s preemption with respect to parks.

Neighboring city of mine bans guns in parks. Word is Pigeon Forge did not.

I see preemption coming.

Update: Looks like Pigeon Forge went the other way.

Looks like a ban is on the agenda for the county. The City (My the City) already passed such a ridiculous ban. I see thes ridiculousness getting pre-empted next year. HCP folks will have to start carrying around maps of where they can and can’t go if this keeps up.

Tomorrow, gubernatorial candidate Zach Wamp will be having a meet and greet over at Gunny’s range and gun shop.

Just wait.

Today, on the drive in, there was a Homeland Security van driving (really slowly, actually) through my subdivision. Odd, that.

A poll at the local rag: Do you favor banning guns in Maryville city parks?

As I’ve said before, I’m actually glad various localities have opted out of the park carry business. One, you know who your allies are and, two, this law will probably be revised and preempted next session.

Junior starts kindergarten this week. We (and by we I mean mostly the Mrs.) have been doing the prep stuff. Last night was open house where we got to go meet the people who will be shaping Junior’s life. Frankly, they were not the most organized bunch and I really question some of the things they did. For instance, yesterday was open house. And this morning was document day, in which I had to haul over various documents showing proof of immunizations and such and pay some fees. Why they can’t combine open house with document day and save me 45 minutes of time, I do not know.

Also, one of the documents was a computer usage agreement. In this agreement, Junior agrees not to look at porn and bomb making instructions on Al Gore’s Internets. And she has to sign it as though it’s a contract. For a five year old. I guess we gotta introduce them to legal contracts at some point.

Next issue I had was the ridiculousness of paying for stuff. We had to pay a supply fee, buy a tote bag, and get a prepaid meal card. Now, one would think that the school would be set up to handle common transactions in a convenient manner. You’d be wrong. I have to write one check to the school. One check to the cafeteria. And one check to the PTA. I guess they don’t have an accountant or bookkeeper to sort that out. I wrote three checks today, which is more checks than I’ve written in the last five years.

Speaking of the supply fee, that really annoyed me. In addition to paying a $40 supply fee, we also had to go buy supplies like markers, pencils, hand sanitizer, and tissues. So, we buy supplies. Pay a supply fee. And, of course, I’ve paid property taxes in The City (My The City) for a while that I thought were there to partially fund the schools. But then, it gets better. You see, those supplies we bought? Yeah, they’re community supplies. They’re not Junior’s supplies. They’re for everyone. I figure it’s a good way to teach Junior about taxes. Or communism.

The tote bag seems like a scam to me. Sure, it’s only $5 but it looks like it cost $1.25 for Chinese kids to sew it together. All the kids have the same bag. Between that and the community supplies, I’m not getting a big individualist groove from the school. I think that will be a problem for Junior, who tends to take after me. Also, we were sternly warned that the bag is for school supplies only. Sorry, Sparky, I paid for it. It’s mine. I’ll use it for whatever I choose.

It also makes me wonder. I’m guessing that not all parents can readily afford these expenditures. And it might be a particularly undue burden on some of them. I guess that’s why we all pick up the tab on supplies. But what about the fees and such?

Complaints aside, her teacher and assistant seemed to be nice folks. And the school’s renovations were nice. And they have a lot of interesting items and activities in store. This is going to be fun. But I’ll still complain about it.

The Daily Times:

Maryville City Council unanimously ‘opts out’ of handguns in parks, public places

Typical nonsense about people losing their shit at little league games and other unfounded nonsense. And a new one:

Councilman Tommy Hunt said he does not want a situation where the police don’t know who the good guy is or who the bad guy is. He mentioned a case in New York where a young policeman off duty and not in uniform was chasing a thief and, because he was carrying a gun, was shot to death by other police officers.

Brilliant!

In The City (My The City), not much expected to happen, other than lame headlines from the local fish wrap.

In Nashville, a place I’ve never heard of called Tootsies is, and I am not making this up, using metal detector wands on patrons. Yeah, that’ll be good for business. Talk about over reacting. Rich notes:

Oddly, they weren’t as concerned with the criminals who were carrying into their bar for the last 20 years. At least, not enough to spend money on metal detectors.

Yeah, when you fear the law-abiding more than criminals, you’re the one with the problem.

Meanwhile, we await the rivers of blood flowing in the streets due to the new law.

The local paper has a piece on Whitechapel, a local metal band that has had some recent success. They call them death metal. I thought they were more metalcore. But who the Hell can possibly keep up with all the genres and sub-genres of heavy-metal?

So says The Daily Times:

Maryville and Alcoa government officials have indicated they will opt out of a new law allowing people to carrying guns in public parks, according to Parks and Recreation Director Joe Huff.

The issue was discussed at a Parks and Recreation Commission meeting Tuesday.

Huff said he hopes Blount County Commission will also ban guns in parks. The state Legislature recently passed legislation allowing handgun permit holders to take their guns to parks, but gave local governments the right to opt out. The law was sent to the Governor and would go into effect on September 1 of this year.

The city and county governments can be contacted here. Also, if cities keep doing this, it seems like a good way to get the state to pass a law preempting local control of the guns in parks issues. And Campfield reports that the legislature is looking at expanding the state’s preemption powers.

Greg notes the AR shortage is coming to a close. I concur. Last week, I was at both Coal Creek Armory and Gunny’s and noticed they both has AR lower receivers and AR rifles in stock. I didn’t look at rifle prices but the lowers were priced at about the $150 mark.

The paper in The City (My The City) has a poll:

Will you feel safer in bars and restaurants now that the guns bill has passed?

Well, I’ll really feel the same. HT to linoge.

So, I asked earlier why they make me get a cashiers check as part of closing. So, at closing, I decided to ask. The title guy said it was required by state law. I asked if cash would have been OK and he said it would have been.

Also, we went to a local bank to close. The bank had nothing to do with the transaction other than, apparently, the title guy or mortgage lady rented a conference room from them that was convenient for us to get to. Heading into the bank, I was met with this sign that caused me to stop and laugh out loud:

From Misc

Wow. Relying on a sign. Why not put up a Robbing is Prohibited sign? And there’s the fact that their other sign prohibiting weapons does not appear to comply with Tennessee State Law which has requirements for signs prohibiting the otherwise lawful carrying of weapons by permit holders.

Regardless of that, I won’t be doing any business with BankEast.

Update: Heh:

Why didn’t they just staple a sprig of wolfsbane and a few cloves of garlic over the doorway while they were at it?

The local talk radio this morning did an hour on the ammo shortage. They even had the proprietor of Gunny’s on the show. The Gunny basically said that all his suppliers tell him the shortage will ease up in May. Err, well, it’s May.

As I type this, Al Gore is dumping some Global Warming on us. In April.

Les has one. It was a pretty small show but there were plenty of people there. I sold a few things I was no longer using. Prices were ridiculous on ammo and anything black and semi-automatic. A Bushmaster with a rail system was going for over $2K. Well, it wasn’t going. It was sitting on a table with that price on it. I spent $60 on 50 rounds of Golden Saber 230 grain 45 ACP. And that was a good deal given that regular price was $80. I used to buy that for about $36.

Handguns were still reasonably priced but magazines were spendy. It was $75 (IIRC) for those 31 round Glock magazines.

Still, it was The City (My The City)’s first gun show. And I’d call it a success.

Les has the details.

Annual physical. Doc’s office littered with various gun magazines. I love this town.

Jack McElroy on the Commercial Appeal publishing carry permit holders’ names, notes some perceived good that has come from the information:

In recent years, reporters have used the database to reveal that permits were being issued to ineligible people with restraining orders and criminal backgrounds.

Yes, we here at SayUncle noted that an error rate of a whopping 0.084% existed. And:

The Tennessean in Nashville and the Daily Times in Maryville also have put the database online, but then have removed it in the face of complaints.

Never knew my local paper did that. Anyone confirm?

The Maryville Police would like a word with you.

In Knoxville and Maryville. If you’re reading this, stop. Go be safe.

My wife reports that our grill cover has disappeared.

Saw a billboard for Blountopia this morning on the way in. It was hard to read so good thing they used regular font on the bottom. Checked it out, not much there. They have a blog, not much there either.

My local paper: Park to see concealed guns in 2009

Err, how? If they’re concealed, I mean.

I’ve mentioned our local porn store before and it’s various trouble in dealing with the local yokel good ol’ boy network that thinks you shouldn’t look at dirty movies. And also how it was a landmark everyone ignored. I was heading to a secure and undisclosed location the other day and noticed that there is now a quilt shop where the porn store used to be. I wonder if they moved or eventually got tired of dealing with all the local legal wrangling and closed?

Seen at AR-15.com, it looks like Gunny’s is having a match:

GUNNY’S FIRST ANNUAL
GET OUT OF THE SNOW INDOOR MATCH
31 JANUARY 2009

Format: This is a one day tactical pistol match with 6 stages, with typically 12-24 rounds per stage. IDPA targets and scoring is used, though typically, no cover, concealment, or magazine retention requirements. No extreme physical stuff, but your skills will be tested and you will have a good time.

When: Saturday, 31 January 2009
On-site registration begins at 8:00 AM. Shooters meeting at 9:00 AM
First shots fired at 9:30 AM

Where: Gunny’s Indoor Range
2208 East Broadway
Maryville, TN
865-233-3471

Guns: If your gun is legal in IDPA, or in USPSA Limited/Limited-10/Single Stack/Production, then it’s fine for this match. . No optics or compensators. Magazine wells, long heavy dust shrouds, bull barrels and oversize magazine releases are permitted, however the gun must fit into the IDPA test box

Magazines: Extended magazines are permitted, however “All pistols are limited to 10 rounds maximum in the magazine, regardless of magazine capacity.” You may carry as many magazines as you wish.

Gear: Gear must be basically IDPA or IPSC Production/Limited legal. No race rig holsters, etc. Holster and magazines to be behind the centerline of the body

Ammo Requirements: 80-120 rounds NOTE- round count is an estimate. Always bring extra.

Cost: $60

Lewis Scoring System: Prizes will be awarded to 1st and 2nd place in Gold, Silver, and Bronze Divisions (assuming a full field). Remaining prizes to be awarded based on order of finish. Awards presentation will take place within 45 minutes after the last shot is taken. Presuming there are 60 shooters, there will be a $3500 prize table with EVERYBODY going to the table at least once.

In The City (My The City):

Blount Countians voted strongly against a half-cent sales tax increase Tuesday.

The countywide referendum was defeated by nearly 13,000 votes with 30,871 people voting against it and 18,124 people supporting it, according to unofficial returns.

Good.

Past coverage here.

In The City (My The City), a local man had $34,750 worth of guns stolen:

A Maryville gun collector came home Wednesday to find someone had burglarized his residence and stolen about 100 guns which were valued at $34,750.

William Ellis Spurgeon, 4760 Sevierville Road, had been away from home since Sunday. When he returned at 11:08 a.m. Wednesday he noticed a sliding glass door located on the side of the house standing open, according to the police report.

After closer inspection, he noticed pry marks around the lock area of the door.

He immediately went to check on his gun collection, which was located in a closet in the basement of the house, which is located beside Spurgeon Greenhouses. He found about 100 guns missing, along with several boxes of ammunition.

A list of items the burglars made off with:

Guns stolen included Colt .45-caliber WWII commemoratives, Colt Detective Series, Cobra Action Scout .22-caliber, Colt Gold Spike, four .22-caliber derringers, Smith and Wesson .44-caliber Magnums with 6- and 8-inch barrels, six Smith and Wesson .351-caliber Magnums, two nickel-plated .44-caliber Magnum pistols with 6-inch barrels, Smith and Wesson .357-caliber Magnum Texas Ranger, bone handled pistols, Rouger .44-caliber Magnum Red Hawk Super, two .44-caliber nickel-plated black powder guns, a Winchester 30-30 John Wayne Rifle and a 30-30 President Roosevelt Rifle.

I early voted today. Usually when I early vote, I walk right in and right out. Today, there was a bit of a line. That could indicate higher turnout this election. Beats me.

Also, seems McCain/Palin finally got someone to put out some signs.

I’d tell you how I voted but you could probably guess.

Nothing too exciting to note except that, honestly, can we have paper ballots for those who want them? Folks over the age of 70 aren’t too good on these newfangled voting gizmos. And everyone else has to wait on them. Just sayin’.

It’s odd. But I tend to follow the local goings on in The City (My The City). But I had no idea there was a proposed 1/2% sales tax increase on the ballot. It is, of course, for the children^tm. I got spam in the mail from Blount Countians for Educational Excellence telling me I should support this tax increase for a variety of reasons, including that a lot of taxes are paid by out of towners anyway. And they’d get all the kids ponies. Ok, I made that last part up. They want to raise money for schools. Like they always do. For the children^tm. The city and county governments should live within their means. Instead of blowing millions for a Civic Arts Center that no one will use and should be considered a free gift from the taxpayers to Maryville College, they could have funded schools. Anyway, the answer is no.

Their membership list is veritable who’s who of local yokel good o’ boys and girls.

Reading the local paper daily, I had no idea this was on the ballet. I even searched and found a single letter to the editor.

I’d say Maryville.

This past weekend, The City (My The City) hosted the Foothills Fall Festival. We took the kids on Saturday and watched some live music featuring a bunch of country singers I’d never heard of and Billy Ray Cyrus, who I have heard of but only ever heard one song – and you know which one it is. It’s not that these weren’t big names it’s just that I don’t listen to country. It was a good time. Our kids’ first concert.

Then on Sunday, we left the kids with the in-laws and me and the Mrs. went at watched a bunch of country singers I’d never heard of and Kenny Rogers. At 70, that man is one Hell of an entertainer. And it helped that I’d actually heard some of his songs before.

And the food was awesome. Funnel cakes and big greasy burgers. Oh, and one place had ribbon fries that were to die for.

It was a good time.

I went to the local sheriff’s department to get my NFA item approved. I walked in. Made small talk. And it was signed on the spot.

Well, if one can be VP then one can open an adult business:

A woman has applied to locate a sexually-oriented business at 2642 U.S. 411 South in the city of Maryville, a move an adjacent business owner opposes.

This would be the first such business within the city limits.

Deborah Yantis wants to locate her business, Sunshine (sic) Video, closer to town, said Maryville Development Services Director John Jagger. Sunshine Video was previously located at the intersection of U.S. 411 South, Clover Hill Mill Road and Calderwood Highway in Blount County.

Looks like it’s under new ownership. You’ll recall the past owner’s issues with the local political machine.

I see where the paper in The City (My The City) now has comments.

In other news, we have a SWAT Team?

I knew they bought some ninja-mobile a bit back with their free federal money and all that.

Campfield hangs on.

Overbey defeats Finney. You’ll recall that in his time in the house Overbey crossed party lines to vote for Jimmy Naifeh as speaker of the house. Jimmy Naifeh, you’ll recall, is our lying speaker of the house who keeps abusing his power to kill pro-gun bills.

And it looks like the dirty pool paid off: Duggan beats Meares.

Various reports of misinformation at voting locations and alleged violence against folks in Blount County. Shameful.

This election should be an embarrassment for residents of Blount County.

There’s a pretty ugly local election for judge in my county. Apparently, the local papers have been pretty incompetent on the issue. Incompetent is one word. Partisan hacks would be another. But I digress.

Also, we have the battle of the douchebags. See, we got us a state senate race going on. The incumbent is Ramond Finney. Despite his tendency to be a bit embarrassing, he’s mostly harmless. And Finney does have the NRA endorsement.

His opponent is Doug Overbey, whose cheesy mug you see all over the city, my the city. Overbey is running on a conservative leadership platform and pointing out that he’s a lifelong Republican, 100% pro-life, and all second amendment rights.

Unfortunately, Doug Overbey lost all credibility on two of those claims when he crossed party lines to vote for Jimmy Naifeh as speaker of the house. Jimmy Naifeh, you’ll recall, is our lying speaker of the house who keeps abusing his power to kill pro-gun bills.

I’ll be voting Finney.

Reports that the Blount County Voice to be canceled?

Via some random clickity that started with this post from R. Neal, I discovered that my subdivision now is part of Google’s street views. Creepy. However, they still show a cow pasture where my house is on their satellite view.

Blount County Sheriff’s Office Detective James Wilson won the friendly little shooting competition:

The Blount County Sheriff’s Office will have bragging rights for the next year after taking home the police shootout trophy on Tuesday.

After a challenge was sent out to all local officers, 22 men and women came out to show off their shooting skills on Monday at Gunny’s Indoor Shooting Range, 2208 E. Broadway Ave., Maryville. They were each scored on marksmanship, shooting while moving and speed shooting.

Blount County Sheriff’s Office Detective James Wilson was named “top shooter” and won first place in the competition with his overall score in all three categories. Wilson also took first place in speed shooting.

I wish I could have made it. BTW, the competition was held at Gunny’s.

The Daily Times:

Any police officer — who isn’t a scaredy-cat — is invited to participate in a “Police Shootout” Monday at Gunny’s Indoor Shooting Range, 2208 E. Broadway Ave., Maryville. Co-owner David Perry sent out a a flyer inviting all officers to find out “who’s the best.”

The flyer also includes a challenge from Maryville Police Capt. Mike “Mad Dog” Johnston, who claims other local departments quit competing in shooting competitions in the mid-1990s because they “got tired of being beat by Maryville” Police Department. There was a loss of interest because ”it really wasn’t that much of a competition,” he taunted.

“My challenge is to come compete and see if you can take away the bragging rights for a year,” Johnston said.

Gunny’s website is here. I may have to check it out.

The city (my the city)’s local newspaper caught fire. Vandalism is suspected and there were recent layoffs.

Our local newspaper has some blogs now. I’ve read this sentence now like four times:

Today I spent an extra free thought time to consider knowing as I prepared to lead a discussion on ideas tonight.

They speak English in what?

People wonder why I prefer to remain pseudonymous (even though quite a few folks know who I am), this is one reason:

This is some real Mayberry shit over here, except Goober and Gomer are in charge and Earnest T. Bass is off leash and off his meds.

I’ve been doing this blogging thing for six years and I’ve never seen anything like it. The harassment of me and others at this site, threatening emails, invasion of my privacy, people showing up on my front porch, reporters and others trying to get me to “out” people — it’s a regular three-ring circus and you can’t tell which clowns to trust.

The worst I’ve had to deal with is a geography grad student who likes to use my name when he posts comments here. Oh and ATF. The latter were far more pleasant.

Update: Related thoughts on anonymity and blogging from a blogger who is not anonymous.

You don’t know how many times this happens to me. Someone is giving me directions somewhere. And they say something like take 129 South from 411. Or You know, where Old Niles Ferry crosses 129 South. And I’ll say Huh? No idea what you’re talking about. And then they’ll say something like You know, take 411. There’s a light by a Citgo station. Make a left there.

And then it hits me: They mean make a left at the porn store. And then I say Oh, you mean make a left at the porn store. They look at me perplexed, as if they never noticed it was there. And I usually say something like How can you miss it? It’s got signs like 30 feet tall that say X X X ADULT SUPERSTORE and ADULTS ONLY and until recently it was painted bright red?

You know, when I mention the porn store, I’m not saying that you go there. I’m just pointing out that it’s a big landmark and it’s impossible for you to not know that it is there. So, why are you acting that way? Are my fellow Maryvillians so uptight that they can’t even acknowledge the porn store?

Any way, it always cracks me up.

BTW, I’ve talked about our local porn store before and his fight with the local authorities. See posts here. Turns out, the old owner has sold it because now the big signs that say X X X ADULT SUPERSTORE now have NEW OWNER plastered on them. And the new owners put up siding and stone as opposed to the former bright red paint. It almost looks respectable. Or at least, less offensive.

After doing an article on Blogs, I noticed just now that our local newspaper now has an RSS feed. And this time, it works! From that RSS feed, we learn that:

The Daily Times has a space for community conversation. BlountCountyVoice.com puts you in the editor’s chair; you write about what’s important in your world and participate in discussions about topics of all shapes and sizes.

Daily Times reporters and editors are blogging at BlountCountyVoice.com along with many from around the community.

We’ve also begun relationships with several local bloggers to syndicate their content on our site. We include snippets from their blogs and provide a link to their sites from ours to help provide the bloggers in our community with additional exposure.

Excellent! Welcome to it. The still need to figure out this whole hyper linking thing, though.

There’s a shotgun club at the base of the Smoky Mountains for trap shooters. Seems the local busy-body contingent thinks that the lead from the range is bad for the local watershed and, of course, the noise is a problem. Another reason to remove the onerous regulations regarding sound suppressors and ammunition. After all, suppressors and some more environmentally friendly ammo would make everyone happy.

You can suppress shotguns, right?

Over at The Daily Times, they do a piece on blogs.

I think this is the second time they’ve used the word blog. But someone should tell them how to use hyperlinks in their stories. I mean, I had to google up Red Necks and White Socks — It’s Murville. It’s a local blog mentioned in the piece that I’d never heard of. And it’s also, apparently, not even local.

And they mention Blountviews, R. Neal’s other joint.

Update: Say, two of the more popular blogs originate in Blount County and we weren’t contacted?

Gunny’s is apparently open for business. And their website is much improved. So says an email I received.

So, Blount County Mayor Jerry Cunningham was blindsided that the local Rubbermaid plant decided to lay off 200 people. By blindsided, you’d think he meant shocked or concerned. But he’s more concerned because Rubbermaid didn’t tell him:

“I am very surprised that any company would have handled the manner in the way that this company chose,” he said in a press release.

“In the past, other companies, when they have even downsized, have had the courtesy to visit with the different governmental entities relative to these kinds of things inasmuch as it affects so many live,” he said.

Well, first of all Sparky, the local government did know because police were there when Rubbermaid fired everybody.

Look out! Bears.

This weekend, I was out driving around and I decided to stop by Gunny’s Indoor Shooting Range. It’s not open yet but there was plenty of activity with them finishing the place up and stuff. They gave me a tour of the facility and their range. They’ll have (IIRC) eight pistol lanes and four lanes rated for rifles up to 30-06. And they explained to me how the fancy ventilation system works. Seems breathing lead is bad for you and they have put in all kinds of filters and stuff for that. They told me the total cost of just the range was about half a million. Also, if you join now before they open, you get a membership at $80 off the regular price. Membership includes range time, one handgun carry permit class, and your first firearm purchase at cost. They were all super nice, friendly, and helpful. I mean, the guy stopped what he was doing and gave me a tour and I just walked in from the street.

But this ain’t a post about that. It’s a post about this: A man who I assume was The Gunny was talking to another guy, who we will refer to as SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED. SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED happened to stop by that day to and got a tour. I’m not sure how the conversation got to that point but I heard The Gunny say something like Well, you can’t really carry a loaded weapon through the store to the range. The Gunny explained that that was a condition of his insurance policy. Well, SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED got all SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED on The Gunny saying he thought it was ridiculous and he’d never be back and he would never patronize the store. Would you rather the guy not open up his shop? I’m pretty certain the rules for insurance are probably consistent at various ranges.

So, hats off to assholes like SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED for getting all GOA on a shop-owner over something he can’t control. Thank you for making this guy’s life hard. And thank you for ruining what was probably an otherwise fulfilling afternoon for the guy. I mean, it’s not like you can’t take your frustration out on the insurance folks be sending them a letter. It’s much better to attack a guy who happens to be on the same side of the gun issue as you. I mean, that makes sense, making life hard on people with like interests. I mean, Hell, if a gun range has rules about gun handling, it’s like the gun controllers have won!

Asshat.

Glenn Reynolds mentioned the Aptera. About three weeks ago, I saw on Pellissippi Parkway a three wheeled futuristic looking car. It was bright red. I thought it was odd and I was curious. I went home and some combination of googling three-wheeled vehicles lead me to believe it was an Aptera. The vehicle I saw sat two in the front. Anyway, turns out Aptera only has prototypes in Cali and all Aptera’s are white. So, obviously, what I saw was not an Aptera. Anyone know of a similar looking vehicle? Or, better yet, any of you seen a similar car around Knoxville/Blount County?

KAG asks if Elliot Spitzer was local:

Where would he have gone for his “needs?” Magnolia Avenue? One of the “spas” on Alcoa Highway? Do “high end” call girl services exist in the greater Knoxville metropolitan area?

Well, they shut down the spa on Alcoa highway. I always got a kick out of those when I traveled a lot for business. I’d get in from a late flight at the airport, start the drive home, look over and see that the spas were open. At 2:00 in the morning. And I’d laugh. Rumor was, authorities looked the other way even though they knew what was happening there. Then something happened and they got shut down.

Then, I recall in college, a friend of mine telling me that there was a brothel in The Fort. No idea if that was true or not.

But I don’t think either of those qualified as “high end”.

In The City, My The City:

William Roseburgh told a judge that “Yahweh” was his legal representation and refused any other counsel on Monday — but he has apparently sought attorneys’ assistance before on other criminal charges.

Ok. He’s charged with having an illegal nursery for plants. No, really, that’s a crime.

Well, all things Maryville.

The Mrs. has now had it happen on at least three separate occasions. She’s looking up something in the city (my the city) and the number one result is Les Jones. She thinks it’s funny. Small internet.

Look at the signs!

Seriously though, the dogs had a history of attacking people and it’s owners like that who give the owners of other politically incorrect dogs a bad name.

County workers accidentally burned down a woman’s home. However, the county will only reimburse her for $100K despite her property being assessed at $230K. She volunteered to let two county trucks dump brush on her property. They knocked over a power line that caused the fire. And this is beautiful:

Don Stallions, who heads the Risk Management Department for Blount County, said the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act protects the government from being sued out of existence.

Well, after displaying such incompetence, is that necessarily a bad thing?

“The government used to be immune from law suits,” Stallions said. “People need to realize that the government isn’t like a business. When you sue a business, you get money that was generated as profit by an income-producing company. When you sue the government, it’s the people’s money you’re dealing with.

Really? There was a time when we couldn’t petition the government for a redress of grievances? You know, first amendment and all that?

“The Tort Liability Act allows counties in Tennessee to do business. Without it, our counties wouldn’t be able to function.”

Do your employees really screw up so much that that is an issue?

Stallions said Blount County has had numerous property damage claims in the past, but none that he can recall involving a claim on an entire home.

I guess so.

Via Ben.

A while back, I noted that The City (My The City) may get an indoor firing range. Well, it looks like Gunny’s is set to open in mid-March. Their website says this month but I called them and they said it looks like March (speaking of their website, yes it is horrible and when I stop by, I might offer to help them with that).

They have a 25 yard range and it looks like, if you join now, they’ll knock $80 of the price of membership. Rumor I’ve heard is that if you join, they’ll sell you your first handgun at cost. So, don’t hold them to that. It’s just what some locals have told me. There’s also the added bonus that they’re seven miles from my house.

Here in Blount County, there were some Tennessee Wildlife Resource Officers who happened to be near some bait for bears and, by all accounts, seemed to be hunting. But no charges will be filed because, despite being in the hunting area near the bait, they can’t seem to prove who placed the bait there.

Blount County Commissioner Mike Walker:

I know what property owners in my district are saying, in short “another government regulation that is not only placing more restrictions on property that I own, but also requiring financial expenditures by me and then taxing me for the improvements”

Ya think?

Cool, another blogging local politico.

The local paper has a bit on our spectacular views. We do have some. But they only show one picture. Dude, bandwidth is about as cheap as water. Of course, the bit isn’t totally about the views but about how the powers that be should govern with those views in mind.

Chris mourns the loss of darkness. In these parts, I have plenty. I recall moving from Knoxville to The City (my The City – which is not really so much a city) and thinking about how nice it was to see the stars.

In Blount county, there are allegations that the sheriff has threatened people who had the audacity to ask questions about 28 vehicles the sheriff department has misplaced. I’ve heard nothing about this in the local paper. I wonder if that’s how they paid for their new crime lab and SWAT vehicle?

One of the politicos in the city (my the city) decided a few years back that fluoride had evil spirits in it or something. So, there was a successful push to get rid of fluoridated water. No shit. With kids, me and the Mrs. had to start buying fluoride drops for the rugrats to keep their teeth healthy. Anyway, someone got some sense and the water will soon be fluoridated again.

Welcome back to civilization.

So, my local state rep has proposed a bill:

Sergeants-at-arms in the Tennessee General Assembly would be allowed to carry guns under legislation being proposed by Sen. Raymond Finney.
The Maryville Republican said the legislation is necessary to protect visitors and members of the General Assembly.

Under the legislation, “special” sergeants-at-arms would be appointed by speakers of the House and Senate and vested with police powers while on official duty.

They would be required to have a handgun permit and “must demonstrate annually firearm safety and marksmanship proficiency equivalent to … that members of the Tennessee Highway Patrol are required to demonstrate,” according to the bill.

As to why:

Finney said the legislation is needed because of recent shootings in schools and other public places. Both the Capitol and Legislative Plaza already have metal detectors and armed police who guard entrances and patrol the grounds.

But Finney said armed sergeants-at-arms — who are normally at the entrances of each chamber — could act quickly if there’s trouble within the chambers.

“If you have someone open fire in the Senate chamber, you don’t have 10 minutes to run down and find an officer,” he said.

So, what about the schools? Are we going to arm people there? Or allow the law-abiding to carry there? Just asking. Apparently, our friends at the capitol are afraid after a bunch of people in wheelchairs staged a protest.

Also, seems odd to me to give control of state troopers to the senate and house. You know, separation of powers and all. I thought they operated under the direction of the governor.

Craig reports on a potential tax hike in the city, my the city.

Or rather my county. Seems the federales are looking into police purchases of confiscated items taken by the drug task force. Now, I’m not in anyway assessing guilt or innocence here but am I the only one disturbed by the fact that the police can buy items that they’ve confiscated? I mean, one bad apple decides he likes your car? I think it’s bad policy.

Lawnmower leads funeral procession.

In other news, we have a SWAT Team?

I think this may be the first time my little hometown paper has used the word blog:

Maryville businessman Tim Richardson, an author and nationally known keynote motivational speaker, is getting ready to throw the “World’s Biggest Blog Party.”
Richardson is recruiting 1,000 people from around the world who will, if things go according to plan, use blogging to raise at least a million dollars for organizations and charities with a global reach.

A blog, which evolved from the word “weblog,” usually refers to a magazine-style online journal or electronic diary. Starting Sept. 11, selected bloggers will begin creating what Richardson calls “an invisible matrix of global fund-raising.”

Each Internet blog host will write about a favorite charity or an organization that makes a difference, encouraging readers to donate to that charity with the intention of raising a million dollars globally between Make A Difference Day (Oct. 27) and Family Volunteer Day (Nov. 17). Richardson and the other 999 bloggers will direct attention and support to organizations working to solve problems facing people all over the world.

More info on the event here and here.

Some neighbors of ours held a garage sale. They told us about it and asked if we wanted to sell any thing. We had some junk in the basement that we wanted to get rid of so I loaded up the truck and took it over.

On sale day, about half way through the day, the police show up. They inform my neighbor that there is a fee and permit required to have a garage sale. And you’re limited to two sales per year (my neighbor was in no trouble of violating that one). Officer friendly let just told him to remember that next time. No harm, no foul. I did some research (i.e., talked to some people who would know) to find out why the limit; why there’s a fee; and why there’s a form to fill out. Turns out, it’s a law that has been on the books for a long time but it was never enforced. Until Ebay. Seems a lot of folks run Ebay based businesses out of their homes. Whenever stuff wasn’t selling on Ebay, they’d have garage sales. And, apparently, people started complaining that certain other people were having garage sales every couple of weeks and were basically operating a trafficked business from their homes. And these sales caused traffic problems and, generally, made life hard on their fellow subdivision denizens.

Anyway, the garage sale was a success. So much so that the Mrs. wants to have one in our yard because we’ve found all sorts of other stuff that, at one time, we absolutely had to have but we now no longer need. Like my robot (looks like this). So, being the law-abiding sorts we are, she wants to pay the fee and get the permit. She called. Turns out, there is no fee. But there is an application and it is designed just to ensure you limit your sales to two per year.

Also, she was googling up yard sales and fees and Maryville and her first result was Les Jones. Small internet.

The Daily Times:

Three local former Marine friends want to open an indoor firing range and retail gun store in Maryville.

David Perry, Johnny Anderson and David Stone want to purchase the old Waters Grocery building at 2208 Old Knoxville Highway, Maryville.

Currently the structure, owned by Dwight Price and Lyman and McDaniels Builders, is occupied by a consignment antique business.

Perry said that the firing range would be located in the basement of the building and would be surrounded by dirt on three sides.

He said handgun carrying and personal protection classes would be available.
The plan would be to have a retail business selling guns and accessories, such as holsters and belts, on the upper floor that fronts Old Knoxville Highway.

Before the business can become a reality, operators must get permission from Maryville City Council.

The city (my the city) is getting a mobile command center. I don’t know what that is or why Maryville needs one but they’re putting their drug and Homeland Security money to use.

Somebody tell my wife:

Please stop making these lame, feeble and comically arbitrary attempts to water your lawns.

Also, funny story. Behind the house, we have a creek. The Mrs. and I both thought it would be a good idea to install a pump in the creek and use it to power a sprinkler system (dude, free water!). So, we looked into it. Turns out, we’d have to pay fees, hire a lawyer, file forms with the EPA, take 8X10 glossy photos, have a study conducted, file forms with the local .gov, and juggle three chipmunks on one leg while facing north singing Blame it on the rain. For a portion of a creek that I own. You know, usual bureaucratic crap. And that’s not counting the cost of the pump, piping, power and system. Long and short, we’d have to use the pump system for several, several years to recover the cost involved and for several decades to make up for the lost time. So, we scrapped the idea.

So, I was amused to learn that while I was on vacation the city (my the city) asked us to conserve water. Well, I would have been conserving more if I didn’t have to jump through hoops to keep my grass looking decent. I think I’ll turn on all three bathtubs when I get home. I kid.

By R. Neal.

A few items on the high school in Maryville here and here.

In the city, my the city:

A handful of protesters were asked to leave the front entrance of the Maryville Municipal Center Monday after setting up shop to confront visiting U.S. Sen. Bob Corker about the Iraq war.

According to Maryville Police Chief Tony Crisp, city code requires a permit for such a protest and the group did not have one. It’s a matter of safety for the protesters and citizens around them, Crisp said — especially with one of the city’s busiest intersections around the corner and the fear of distracted drivers.

They certainly can protest, “but we want to do it in a manner where they’re safe and other people are safe,” he said.

I went to the grand opening of the new Maryville Wal-Mart to 1) annoy hippies and 2) snatch some 12 pack Coke products for $2.80. The top 5 things I saw there:

1 – Instead of importing products from slave shops in China, they just imported some Chinese children. They keep them in a big glass dome in the center of the store where you and your kids can watch them work their fingers to the bone.

2 – New buggies!

3 – Youngest employee: 73 years old.

4 – Union flyers

5 – All employees were wearing vests that said: Welcome to Wal-Mart; Death to Small Business

Local adult novelty store Sunshyne Video (not safe for work, for those who need to be told that) made the local news:

A woman who has been ordered out of her home after living there for months without water or electricity received help from an unlikely source Sunday.

Margie Hamby was told by Maryville officials to move out two years ago because her house had been declared unlivable for safety reasons and because of her overabundance of belongings.

Determined to stay put, Hamby refused city and court orders, claiming she wasn’t able to do it alone.

Sunday she got help from an unlikely source.

It’s not everyday employees of an adult bookstore and members of local churches come together for the greater good. But Sunday everyone worked together to help get 20 years worth of clothing and clutter out of Hamby’s home.

“We help where we get a chance to let people know that there’s really not much to the stereotype of adult bookstore or adult stores,” says David Anderson, the owner of Sunshyne Video.

He says he and his employees heard the call for volunteers and decided to lend a hand.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a member of an adult video store or a church if someone needs help the American thing to do is be there,” says Anderson.

Kim is looking to move and he has criteria that are important to him. Go help him out. A commenter there noted a website called Find Your Spot. You enter your info (including political, weather, economic) and it tells you a place that fits the bill. Turns out, it recommended to me the town that I already live in. The city (my the city) of Maryville, TN. Cool.

Saw on the news yesterday at the barber shop that the city (my the city) of Maryville was planning on using eminent domain to take some land for a school. I’ve seen nothing on Al Gore’s Internets. Anyone see anything?

Another local yokel pipe dream for Blount County:

Taxpayers are putting up $20 million to buy the land from Rarity Communities, who will develop it. (CLARIFICATION: Blount County, Alcoa, Maryville, and Knox County will purchase the property from Rarity for $10 million and spend $10 million more on infrastructure. The county is not buying the property for $20 million.)

Again, plans to spend tax payer dollars on questionable items of questionable benefit. It’s supposed to be a business district but the first items slated are for condos. Additionally:

The deal is being announced as if it were done, yet there has been no public input.

Read the whole thing. R. Neal has done a lot of legwork covering this.

Or I have a pipe dream.

Blount Today is reporting that the latest in the epic battle for the Civic Arts center is an idea to have it paid for by hotel/motel taxes:

In a phone conversation on Friday, Keeble explained how the facility could be funded. Keeble and McCall had not yet spoken with other commissioners to get thoughts on their plan, Keeble said.

According to Keeble, 37 percent of the hotel/motel tax collected in Blount County goes into the county general fund. Hotel/motel tax dollars are supposed to be used for tourism, he said.

Instead of property tax dollars, hotel/motel tax funds would pay for the county’s portion of the facility.

“I feel this is a good use of that money. Tourism is people coming into our area, spending money and going home. That would be an excellent opportunity for the arts center,” Keeble said. “The entire portion payoff on the art center would be done with hotel/motel money, so no property tax money is involved.”

So, the hotels in our county (both of them) may draw enough in taxes to cover it. Also, there is this:

According to the original plan, funding for the facility would come from the county, the cities of Alcoa and Maryville, the college and the federal government. More than $20 million in funds raised by the college and $8 million in federal dollars would pay the bill until 2014 when the county and cities would start paying their shares. The facility would be owned by the Industrial Development Board and leased to the college.

Ah, first mention of federal pork for the project that I can recall. Guess that explains Jimmy Duncan’s interest. Boondoggle, ho! Looks like the powers that be really want this thing.

Blount County officials will not disclose the details of their deal with Denso and its pending $185M expansion:

Blount County economic developers have declined to release details of incentives offered to Denso Manufacturing Tennessee for the company’s $185 million expansion in Maryville, even though those incentives are funded by tax dollars.

The refusal comes on the heels of controversy over another incentive package, a nearly $200 million deal that lured Nissan’s headquarters to the Nashville area.

Blount officials say they can’t disclose promises made to Denso until a Blount County Economic Development Board meeting Dec. 21.

So, why the refusal?

The Civic Arts Center is rearing its head again:

A civic arts center, presumed dead after a 10-10 vote last month, will get new life at the Blount County Commission meeting next week.

Commissioners John Keeble and Jeff McCall have resurrected the center with a resolution that would designate the county’s share of the hotel/motel tax to the debt service fund. That money then would be used to pay for the county’s portion of the project.

A separate resolution, rejected Nov. 17 because it did not get the 11 votes needed to pass, would authorize the Industrial Development Board to issue a $45 million, 25-year bond to pay for the $55 million facility. The county would be responsible for $11.9 million, while the other funding would come from Maryville College ($20 million), Maryville ($9.4 million), the federal government ($8 million), Alcoa ($3.8 million) and the state ($2 million).

Those are just principal payments, however. With interest, the civic arts center would cost the county some $25 million, Finance Director David Bennett said in a telephone interview Thursday.

Still, the county is the only entity that has not approved its funding. The agreement hinges on all partners giving the plan the go-ahead.

The powers that be are damned determined to get this boondoggle going.

Good:

The Blount County Commission on Thursday night voted not to fund its $11.9 million portion of a proposed $55 million Civic Arts Center at Maryville College.

Because the measure needed 11 votes to pass, and 10 commissioners voted for the measure and 10 voted against it, the four hour commission meeting ended with Civic Arts Center proponents going home disappointed. The number of proponents in the commission room out-numbered those against funding the center by more than a three-to-one margin.

More than 200 people were crowded into every seat and along each wall of the commission room.

Good for the county. This was interesting:

In many cases Civic Arts Center supporters stressed economic, educational and cultural opportunities the facility would bring. Civic Arts Center opponents pointed to economic and education priorities for not funding the facility. Still others said they supported the facility, but not the public funding.

The meeting was not without at least one surprise when commissioner Joe Everett voiced his support for the project after initially speaking against the funding two years ago. He said that information about attracting business and industry were his reasons for supporting the plan.

Well, if it’s to be so profitable and all that, why not get some private investors to foot the bill? And, at least one commissioner, agreed with me:

Commissioner David Graham spoke against the funding while acknowledging the civic center was a good idea. “It’s hard for me to support funding the civic arts center when we’re not anywhere near solving the overcrowding problem (in the schools),” Graham said.

I’ve covered this plenty of times but here’s the latest at The Daily Times:

Citizens for and against a proposed civic arts center have one thing in common: they’re busy lobbying their county commissioners this week.

The Blount County Commission will decide Thursday whether to fund its $11.9 million portion of the $55 million facility. Because the rest of the funding already has been committed by Maryville College, the cities of Maryville and Alcoa, and the state and federal government, the future of a civic arts center hinges on the commission.

Citizens for a Civic Arts Center held its last rally Saturday, when about 120 people including U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. walked from the Blount County Public Library to the site of the proposed center on the Maryville College campus. Co-founder Carolyn Forster said Monday that the group is working this week “making phone calls, writing letters and doing what we can to voice our support.”

“We know this is a one-time shot, make it or break it,” Forster said. “We’ve been working on this for over two years, but it all boils down to one night.”

I generally like John Duncan but the man has never seen a bit of taxpayer funded pork he won’t support. Now, from the opposition:

Meanwhile, the anti-tax group Citizens for Blount County’s Future is holding a meeting tonight for all taxpayers against using taxpayer money to build a civic arts center, said spokeswoman Linda King.

She said the taxpayers she talks to — “And I do talk to a lot of them” — all feel the same: that a civic arts center should not come from taxpayer dollars. The meeting is an opportunity, she said, for those people to get together and brainstorm the best way to make their opposition known to commissioners.

The group successfully rallied against a wheel tax in July. Commissioners decided that night to send the wheel tax back to committee and ultimately voted to hold an August 2006 referendum on the issue instead of voting in a wheel tax themselves.

I would say this boondoggle is a done deal and when the day comes (and it will) that it’s largely unsuccessful, I can take comfort in the fact that I told them so.

Update: In comments:

We could have had a new school or two

Heh.