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Who Snitched on the Teacher?

Michael Silence has a possible theory…

So do you think an ex is behind this? If so, let’s move on.

Seriously. In fact, let’s move on either way.

If it was an ex, I’ve already addressed what I think about jackasses like him.

Yesterday, I predicted that “nude teacher photos” would be all the craze in 2008. That still may come to fruition, but I bet there won’t be too many partially nude photos surfacing.

There was no doubt a flurry of activity on MySpace last night, with educators across the country making big changes to their profiles.

Lesson learned.

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Naughty Pictures of Knox County Teacher Being Investigated

From the KNS:

School security chief Steve Griffin said this morning that his department scoured the web after they received information Friday relating to photographs of Inskip Elementary School teacher Melinda England.

Get ready for an onslaught of this. I predict that “nude teacher pictures” will be the new “doing it with the teacher” in 2008.

The fact is, lots of people have digital cameras, but not many people have common sense. Really, it’s bad enough to let someone else take and have pictures of you in compromising situations, but to post them yourself?

Forget about whether or not it is inappropriate–is this person smart enough to teach kids?

Some people don’t think it’s a big deal, and maybe they are right. But if you are going to be employed by the public (schools) you have expect that they (the public) are going to judge you by the community’s accepted standards–right or wrong doesn’t come into play.

Maybe people will eventually catch on that you can’t do stuff like this and expect that it is going to be copasetic, because chances are we are pretty far away from parents thinking this is ok.

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County Commission Guilty. Now What?

Now that the KNS trial over Knox County Commission’s violation of Tennessee’s Sunshine Law has been decided, what should we expect next? And no, I’m not referring to whether or not Scott Moore will (be asked to) step down or not, or how the seats will eventually be filled.

I’m more interested in knowing if they media scrutiny of County government is now going to turn back onto the Mayor’s office and the events over there. One thing that became clear to the public, if it wasn’t clear already, is that there are definite factions opposing one another.

If the KNS doesn’t pursue the story vigorously, it could be viewed as support of the argument made by some Commissioners that the New Sentinel is biased towards Mayor Ragsdale. Should we then expect more hard hitting coverage from another angle? From another news outlet? Will it be initiated by the Commissioners damaged by the trial as a sort of counterpunch?

This has potential to get even more interesting.

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Verdict in Sunshine Law–Violations Occurred

From the KNS

Jurors this afternoon said commissioners did violate the Tennessee Open Meetings Act in the way they chose 12 replacements for term-limited officeholders.

Now what? How do we fix it? What is the fall out? Does anyone want to vote for me? 😀

***UPDATE***
From WBIR

Chancellor Fansler announced he will release a written decision based on the findings of the jury. His opinion will offer a remedy.

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New Aggregator at KnoxNews

This is cool, and needed. The News Sentinel continues to be way ahead of the curve as far as newspapers go when it comes to embracing its local blogging community. Not at all a bad business decision either, since they will be hosting blogs (and advertising) for others there. The site itself has a lot of features, but I doubt I’ll be using many of those. The aggregator is nice though.

I’m a big fan of aggregators for two reasons. First, they bring readers to your site that you may have a hard time reaching otherwise. Secondly, they are a great way to find new blogs and get a good sampling.

Luckily, I have the perfect spot for it in my theme. As soon as the bugs are worked out, I’ll be including it.

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It’s That Time of Year Again

Local people will hate me for writing this, and most non-locals won’t get why it’s a big deal.

It is really sad funny, but I didn’t know that football season started today until about 30 minutes before the UT game. This is what is considered the real football season around here by the way, not the NFL. I’m risking my status as a Knoxville resident by admitting that I wasn’t really aware and don’t care that much about UT football.

Now for the fun part. The start of football season means that it’s time to start listening to sports talk radio again. See, I’m not really a football fan, but I’m a huge “Members of the Knoxville Chapter of Mensa talking about football on the radio” fan. It’s hard to believe the entertainment they provide is actually free.

I just checked the scores and saw that the Vols lost, so it should be good this week of radio. The chicken littles will be out en masse, not realizing that win or lose, they still have to go to work on Monday. I’ve never understood how people can get so emotionally invested in something over which they have no control. Maybe that’s it? The fact that they don’t have control is what makes them freak out over it? Dunno.

Anyway, here’s a quick stab in the dark of some things we may here this week:
“Phil Fulmer should be fired”
“I don’t understand why they ran _____ on that 2nd and 4 during the 3rd quarter”
“How many games does Phil have to win this year to keep his job?”
“Let’s just hope Cal wins out.”
“If Fulmer gets fired or resigns, who should we go after as a coach?”
“I just want to say GO VOLS! I’ll hang up and listen to your comments.”
“If the NFL comes after Phil, what are the chances of him leaving?”

See a common theme here? Tennessee fans do love them a good coach firing!!!

***UPDATE***
As sure as the sun rises. The first comment on the article in the KNS I linked to:
“it just goes to show that we pay top dollar to overrated coaches (phill fulmer mostly)”

I love this time of year! It’s better than Christmas and Arbor Day combined!!!

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To Save Us Money?

Asked if he would be willing to give up his seat, Cate said, “Probably. I would want to hear the law director’s opinion on how the re-do would be done and a full agreement from the plaintiffs that this would be the end of spending taxpayers’ money.”

Stop spending money. What a novel idea. I guess better late than never. Although I doubt they’ll really be saving us anything, just finding other ways to waste it.

Besides, I think someone called “no do-overs” before this game started.

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Money Re-directed — Gov’ment Cures All Ills!

This gets more and more interesting every day. I’m disappointed I won’t have access tomorrow. There’s no telling what I’m going to miss.

But the money for Dingus to go to Las Vegas came from a Knox County community grant approved for another group, Christian Cultural Ministries.

Cynthia Finch personally signed off on $1,000 for Dingus’s trip. A hand-written note above her signature explains Christian Cultural Ministries is “now defunct.”

At this point, does anything Finch has done really even matter? The fact that she is still employed by the County is what concerns me most at this point. Why aren’t the powers that be trying to separate themselves from her?

Interesting.