"Bring our children home."

As the holidays near and we reflect on all that has transpired during this past year. With Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve parties coming up we will be caching up on how and what everyone and their families are doing. I know a lot of people have kids in college or that have just graduated. When our children do go off to college and hopefully graduate what is their here besides their family and friends to draw them back to work and live?

Do we have a diverse job base? Do we have new industry and companies relocating to Savannah and Hardin County? Are we actively seeking out and pursuing new businesses to come here? And what are we doing to make our community attractive to companies outside Hardin County so they will come here?

These are some tough questions and I don't claim or pretend to know all the answers. But I do know one thing and that is I want us to have thriving and growing new and old businesses . When my children graduate from high school and college I want there to be opportunities for them here to get a job that pay enough to support themselves and their families so they will want to come back home not move to some other community. If they choose to live some where else I don't want it to be because there was not opportunities for them here.

I am not trying to insult or make anyone mad. But what we are doing now isn't working. Maybe we need a new approach to the way we try to attract new businesses to our city and county? Maybe we need to look at some other growing and booming communities and see what they are doing that is being so successful. We need to do everything we can to build a better future for our children and help our business community to thrive and grow is essential to making this happen.

If anyone agrees or disagrees please leave a comment I would love to know what other people think about this issue.

Savannah Youth Football

This year my son Austin played tackle football for the first year. It was a great way for him to get exposed to this great sport. There is one person who needs to be recognized for his incredible dedication to our children, and making sure our kids are learning the fundamentals to help them be more successfull football players. The person I am talking about is Paul Alexander he selflessly dedicates his time and puts together a excellent program for the youth of our community. I hope people will let Paul know what a great job he did and I hope his example will encourage others to get involved in our youth sports programs.

My pick for comic of the week.

A couple of weeks ago WBBJ aired a segment on community and business leaders in Selmer. The segment told about a new effort to beatify the downtown area and the area around the four-way stop at the corner of highways 64 and 45.

I thought of this when I was coming over the bridge into Savannah this morning. I thought what a shame we don’t have community activist, business people and concerned citizens coming together to beatify Savannah and our county. Right when you cross over the bridge the first thing you see is that ruined down shell station. The out of business gas station is not the only thing that could be improved on, there are several properties that need mowed and then there is that eye sore that suppose to look like a paddle wheel boat that should be know where near public view. The area where the welcome to savannah sign is, needs spruced up and some up dating of the landscaping. The appearance as you enter our fare city and county is a direct reflection of the citizens that live here and I don’t know about everyone else but I want people to have the best impression as possible.

Another impression that could use some help is the unsightly mess along the crump side if the river bank. The trailers, lean-tos, tee-pees and who knows what else is down there should never have been allowed to be put there. We need zoning to protect the good tax payers of this city and county. I feel sorry for those people who have to look out their window everyday and look out at the eye sore across the river.

The community activist, politicians and business owners need to come together and with the involvement of the community do something to improve the appearance of the way our town and county looks. First impressions mean a lot to people and when people come to our town and our county we should do everything possible for their impression to be a great one.

As for these so-called community leaders they need to quite patronizing us and quite being a stumbling block and really do something to benefit the community. They need to realize they don’t need to impress us, they need to find ways to encourage people to get involved and make a real difference. The citizens of our community are not impressed with some of these people who always boast about all they have done, all the important people they know and all the places they have been. One of these so called activists would have to be 400 years old to have done all the things he has said he's done. So don’t impress us with your words, impress us with your actions how you can get people involved in bettering our community. That is what a community activist is suppose to do.

I went to pick my daughter up today at Paris South Elementary School and I noticed how run down and over crowded it is. While I was there I started to talk to a employee of the school and I mentioned something about the condition of the school and the large number of students in the class rooms. This person said the ratty carpet was original from when the school was built. and some of the missing, broken & stained ceiling tile have been that way for years. I thought to myself what a shame that our children have to go to school with it looking like this. With the amount of taxes we pay you would think that our schools would be better taken care of. The sad thing is this problem is not exclusive to Paris South. In this country there should be no school that is as run down as North, Paris South and Walker whose principle Mrs. White does an excellent job with what little she has to work with. White elementary is another issue, it appears that the school district has done nothing at this school in years except try to close it. If it was not for the principle Mrs. Holt and the PTO the school would have probely caved in. I must say the two schools that we have been involved in, there PTO's have been the life saver of the schools. The condition of these schools should be and is unacceptable! As parents and taxpayers we should not stand for this and we need to hold the School board and the school officials responsible. I know we have a new superintendent and he should be given a chance to make a plan of action on how to fix the situations and communicate it to the public. With all the political and community activist we have in this town they should be jumping on the band wagon so to speak and get the public aware of the irresponsible and inexcusable behavior of the school administration.

Secondly, There needs to be new schools being built. On top of that there needs to be a growth plan in place so that there is a clear plan to have schools replaced and new schools built so our children have the best environment to learn in that we can give them. There does not seem to be a growth plan in effect. If there is it needs to be communicated to the public so they can get behind the plan and support it. After all it is the tax payers that pay for the schools and if they know what is going on they will be more supportive when it comes to funding them.

In my opinion we as a community need to come together and make and build a better educational system for our children.

Both Ted Cook and Vance Dennis have responded to my thoughts on my blog. Mr. Dennis has responded with respect to me and to my views but Ted shows again why he is not in public office. He always throws allegations and claims of wrong doing but if there was any truth to them why is there no criminal investigation and why isn't there major new organization behind him making these claims front page news. Again I am not a democrat I am a republican and will not be voting for our current Governor. My opinion witch is just as important as Ted Cook's, Vance Dennis's or any one else's. I think Randy puts the best interest of Hardin County and the rest of his district at the front of everything he does in Nashville and things pertaining to the betterment of his district. Ted is always quick to point fingers and to make allegations whether there true or not. I am not sure if the truth is a criteria for him. It seems to me he thinks we are all stupid and he is the only one smart enough to figure out or solve the problems that face us. Surely there are others that are democratically elected capable of solving the problems and issues that face our county, state and country. And if these people don't do their job the public won't vote them back in office. If Mr. Dennis is elected to office than I think all citizens have an obligation to help him do what it take to make our district a better place and the same goes for Randy if he is re-elected.

I think the time for name calling and trying to divide should stop. The time to come together and solve the problems that face us is know! If we don't stop the bickering than what kind of future are our children going to have. The issues that are at hand are going to take everyone working together to solve, accomplish and overcome.

Our future is in our hands and it is up to us to do what is in the best interest of all. We have a choice to be apart of the problem or part of the solution! That decision is up to each one of us to make.

These are my opinions for what their worth.

P.S. Their worth just as much as anyone else's opinions

Vance Dennis e-mailed me in response to my comment to Ted Cook article in the Savannah Courier last week I have posted Vance's e-mail to me in it entirty and here is my respose to his e-mail.

Vance,

I am a strong Republican and I will always be, but Randy is a friend and is a good person I have listed below just a few of the many things Randy has done for our district.

District-specific improvements included $4 million for a capital project in Pickwick Landing State Park; $650,000 to construct an entrance to the UT Martin McNairy County/Selmer Campus; and, $200,000 in funding for the development of the UT Martin Center at Parsons in Decatur County. “This budget demonstrates the strength of our state’s economy. It is our fourth-consecutive balanced budget without new taxes,” he said. “Just a few years ago, Tennessee was in financial trouble. With some common sense and sound decision-making, we have been able to overcome those difficulties.” Due to this sound fiscal management, Rinks said he was able to “vote to return money to the state’s taxpayers by creating two separate sales tax holidays and, senior citizens and disabled veterans will see property tax relief because of raised eligibility ceilings.” Rinks sponsored and supported many successful bills in the 104th General Assembly. In addition to $95.2 million for the Basic Education Program, other education legislation he helped pass included: Increased teacher pay at $42.4 million; Expansion of the Pre-K program to 250 new classrooms Increased HOPE scholarships to $3,800 for students at four-year institutions and $1,900 for those at two-year institutions; Increased Wilder-Naifeh technical skills grants to $1,500 for students in the skilled trades; Increased overall appropriations for higher education to $185.1 million, resulting in the lowest tuition increase for families in many years.

In the FY06-07 Budget, Randy Rinks secured: $200,000 in funding for the development of the UT Martin Center at Parsons in Decatur County (Higher Education facility)

$24,000 in funding for At-Risk children’s programs in Decatur County

$71,000 in funding for At-Risk children’s programs in Hardin County

$73,000 in funding for At-Risk children’s programs in McNairy County

$650,000 in funding from TDOT to construct an entrance to the UT Martin McNairy County/Selmer Campus


Past budgetary highlights include:

$50,000 for the Decatur County Fairground

$14 million for the construction of the new Pickwick Landing State Park and Conference Center in Hardin County

$2 million for the Tennessee Technology Center at Crump in Hardin County

$25,000 for the McNairy County Industrial Park

4 Lanes for Highway 45 in McNairy County

4 Lanes for Highway 64 in McNairy and Hardin Counties

Extension of Highway 69 in Decatur; a new bridge in Decatur; and improvements to Highway 69 in Hardin County


Current Road Projects include:

The improvement of State Route 128 in Hardin County

The widening of US 64/State Route 15 in Hardin and McNairy Counties

My wife and I happened to be coming into town Fri. Afternoon and traffic was backed up over the bridge and we wondered what was going on. Then it dawned on me that it was home coming parade. I think the the public would be better served if the parade was on Thursday morning when traffic is not so congested. Fri. is so busy and everyone is trying to get things done for the weekend.

This is in response to Ted Cooks letter in this weeks paper.

Rep. Rinks has done more for this county than any other rep. We have had. It seems that you are so quick to find fault in everyone and everything that does not agree with you and your thinking. I think if you would put as much effort in making our county a better place as you do putting it down you might see some great things happen. You don't make a lot of friends throwing rocks at glass house's, quit throwing rocks and you will get more done.