One Charge Dismissed Another Investigation Starts

"One Charge Dismissed, Another Investigation Starts" was a headline from the "Pulaski Citizen" front page.
The article reports that the charges against Mr. Clay McAlister of destroying my political signs has been dismissed. The charges were dismissed after the video that was in the possession of the police department turned up with a section missing. Fortunately that section was viewed by Lt. Glossup prior to it being locked up in evidence and he reported what was on the disc. I never claimed that anyone altered the disc and all I have said is that there was footage on there the night Lt. Glossup viewed it and the next day only blue sky was seen in that section. I never made any claim as to what happened to the disc or how it happened. The TBI was unable to confirm 100% that the disc was altered or that the prints on the signs were those of Mr. McAlister thus the charges were dismissed.
Of all those police officers who have been actively involved in this activity Lt. Glossup has continually shown the most integrity and professionalism and is deserving of praise not a continued harassment because he bucked a system where the well connected are protected and given special privilege.

Trash on Highways

This topic was requested by a reader. It may seem somewhat out of place on a day when God has covered all the ugly trash with this beautiful snow.
It seems that for whatever the reason trash along the highways is increasing. While it is an eyesore it is also a reflection of an attitude of selfish, thoughtlessness that shows an extreme amount of contempt for others and the community and is without any legitimate excuse.
Those who litter have either become more numerous or far more thoughtless that in the past as those who pick up the litter are now unable to keep up. Only the cessation of such obnoxious and criminal behavior will have a real impact on this problem.

Report Card For Giles County Schools

This information is available from the website for Tennessee Department of Education.

According to TDOE the Giles County School System has 4143 students in eight schools. There are 306 teachers and 23 administrators. The state expenditure per student is $8,773.00 the Giles County school system has an expenditure of $8,961.00 per student.

TCAP SCORES FOR GRADES 3-8

SUBJECT 2009 2010 STATE

MATH 45 43 49
READ 47 45 49
SOCIAL STUDIES 47 47 51
SCIENCE 48 47 49

5-8 WRITING
5TH GRADE 3.9 3.9 4.1
8TH GRADE 4.1 4.0 4.2

WRITING
11TH GRADE 4.0 4.0 4.2

ACT ACHIEVEMENT
COMPOSITE 19.7 19.3 20.3
ENGLISH 19.9 19.4 20.3
MATH 18.3 18.0 19.6
READING 20.4 20.0 20.7
SCIENCE/REASON 19.6 19.3 20.1

ATTENDANCE 95.1 94.7

GRADUATION RATE 86.6 89.7

I apologize if this seems somewhat hard to follow the written part is fine but when posted it becomes of of sync. The first numbers are from 2009 the second 2010 and where there is a third set of numbers it's the state's objective.

CHANGES IN ELECTRICITY RATE STRUCTURE COMING IN JANUARY

TVA Moves Forward With Plans for Major Rate Structure Change:
Will Result in Cost Increase to DREMC Members
Despite concerns expressed by many of its power distributors, including Duck
River Electric, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) appears determined to move
forward with plans this fall to implement a major rate structure change that will ultimately
affect how wholesale and retail electric bills are calculated as well as potentially impact
the total cost of energy. The change could come as early as October of this year.
While TVA asserts the rate change is “revenue neutral” to TVA as a whole, it will
have varying impacts on different TVA power distributors. Unfortunately, the impact on
DREMC and its members will be to increase the rates TVA charges to DREMC and
ultimately to its members for power consumed. DREMC is still analyzing the degree of
the impact and methods to mitigate it, but it now clear that TVA’s charges to DREMC
will be going up.
For approximately two decades TVA has billed its power distributors through a
rate methodology known as “end-use wholesale rates,” which in lay terms means all
municipal and cooperative customers of TVA power are billed each month for the
amount of energy sold or used and metered by that individual power distributor to that
specific class of customers. This particular method of billing does not take into account
the peak demand for power during a given period of time by all consumers, nor does it
matter what time of day, day of the week or season of year the energy is used.
TVA began discussions with power distributors through the Tennessee Valley
Public Power Association’s (TVPPA) Rates and Contracts Committee more than a year
ago to arrive at a new “demand and energy” rate methodology that will in the future
account and bill for hourly use of power at differing rates as well as introduce rate
incentives for peak load demand reduction through time-of-use rate calculations, direct
load control devices, etc.