Haslam sweeps into town, Cleveland City elected steal signs that “embarrass”

Haslam sweeps into town, Cleveland City elected steal signs that “embarrass”

Gadfly, a “muscled up gadfly”, this is what City Councilman George Poe said in the aftermath, as he and City Manager Janice Casteel removed signs from the  private business of Dan Rawls this week during a recent visit by TN Governor Bill Haslam.

A gadfly is by definition an”irritator, trouble maker,  a fly that bites livestock, a fly that irritates livestock by biting them and sucking their blood, a horsefly, somebody annoying, somebody regarded as persistently annoying or irritating, nuisance, pest, meddler, busybody, irritator, tormentor, pesterer, stirrer! 

Dan Rawls said this about Poes comments, “yep, that about sums me up” as he chuckled at the unbelieveabilty and gall of these elected officials to step onto his private property and remove his signs and then insult him when confronted. 

Governor Haslam was visiting the city of Cleveland just across the street from Mr Rawls business. Dan got word of this and began his peaceful protest in the yard of his business. He placed several signs on his private property that said benignly “Shame on you Governor Haslam”, and “Stop CC!”

Even more humorous was at one point Poe thought “Stop CC” meant Stop the Community Center, the place where Haslam was speaking. 

The disconnect by this politician is evident as they failed to recognize that the sign was a statement protesting one of the cities and states most fiery issues, Common Core, the nationalization of our public school system, led by Haslam and his Education Secretary Kevin Huffman stated Rawls when interviewed by BCN.

While Governor Haslam dumped multiple hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on our community much like a John would for a high dollar prostitute. The Haslam faithful latched on to the big government teet, adulterating the “City with Spirit” and suspending the peoples rights and the Constitution.

As the scene unfolded Councilman George Poe evidently took offense to private business owner Dan Rawls protecting his own property by shouting, seven police cars responded hurriedly after Poe dragged his handy police radio from his ample hip and reported his own crime. 

Poe, dragging Casteel along for what could have been a zany clip from the hit tv show “Cops” said Dan Rawls came out of his private business quickly, flailing his arms and asking what they were doing removing his private property, essentially stealing his property. George Poe with Janice Casteel commenting on the malay afterwards said that he thought he was going to shove Mrs Casteel when he exited his business. Shoving? Let’s trek back into the not to distant past and see the last time you saw someone stealing property near you Mr Poe. Let’s see the last time you saw private property being stolen you acted irrationally. You emptied a .380 clip over a lawnmower, chased the perpetrator  down and shot till you ran out of bullets while he crashed his vehicle trying to flee your wrath and District Attorney Steve Bebb let you go unscathed. Rawls didn’t and it never crossed his mind to use such violence but If Mr Rawls had followed your credo you and Mrs Casteel would have been loaded up in the back of a hearse, toes up and lying on ice in a local funeral home saying hello to Jesus.

Rawls exercised great restraint and clear judgement and chose not exercise his second amendment rights as you did.

Instead he gave you and Mrs Casteel a pass, which is his nature and instead opted to simply raise his voice asking what authority you had to remove signs from his private business. 

Poe and Casteel, on the scene were obviously a little confused as once again city officials think it’s within their power, within the City Charter and state constitution to take on the role of Code Enforcement officer pushing their will on it’s
Citizenry because they thought the message implied would embarrass them and shed a bad light on the Governor. Once again you are wrong in assuming you have more power than you do.

This is not the first incident in recent history that Cleveland City officials acted against the actions of citizens exercising their first amendment rights. 

If you remember, earlier this year Cleveland MayorTom Rowland started a manhunt for  citizens passing out fliers warning the public of the cities plan to destroy and demolish the homes of 300 or so in South Cleveland. This action by the Mayor spurred a potential lawsuit by citizens in Cleveland and resulted in public outcry to bridle the appointed King Rowland and his court from sending taxpaying citizens to prison for expressing disdain for the Mayors own growth plan. Requests for apologies were denied by these tyrants and the reign of terror continues.

The obvious is happening. Elected officials with too much power and an abundance of bad judgement within a good ole boy network are way comfortable restraining the rights of citizens. This must be stopped.

This buddy system and self absorbed power must be driven from town. The ballot box must be the answer. The old guard must be changed. It cannot lead us any longer. The citizenry has lost faith in it’s abilities. 

Please be on the alert and conscious of your surroundings. The posse in town seems to place the needs of a RINO Governor with a little cash over the rights of it’s people. The Haslam seems to bring out the worst in people, especially those that rely on his money bribes for favors.

What a sad day and time we live in.

Source of info:
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/jul/13/protest-signs-lead-to-uproar/?local

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/may/27/councilman-unlikely-be-charged-da-says/

Cleveland mayor, Bradley County tea party chief defend roles in flier dispute

published Wednesday, August 15th, 2012
Cleveland mayor, Bradley County tea party chief defend roles in flier dispute
By Randall Higgins
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2012/aug/15/mayor-tea-party-chief-defend-roles-in-flier/?local

CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Mayor Tom Rowland says the city has no reason to apologize for asking for a police investigation into who was distributing fliers to south Cleveland homes in June.

The fliers, which stated the city was planning to use eminent domain to take more than 300 homes in the name of development, were untrue, Rowland said Monday.

It is the Tea Party of Bradley County that needs to apologize for upsetting families, some of whom have lived in their homes for two generations or more, he said.

“They were in tears,” Rowland said.

At Monday’s City Council meeting, a lively, but civil, debate took place between council members and members of the Tea Party of Bradley County. In the end, the only common ground was that no one will apologize.

Donny Harwood, president of the Tea Party of Bradley County, said his organization has no reason to apologize, either. At the time they were distributed, the fliers were true, according to the latest public information, he said. It is the city that needs to apologize for intimidating the group’s members and seeking to deny them their right to free speech, he said.

The call for an investigation aimed to “essentially hunt down, arrest and expose members of our tea party group as we made efforts to inform the community of horrendous plans for their community,” Harwood said.

“This flier contained truthful information based on the last known public meeting,” Harwood said. The “white paper” on which the flier was based later was changed, he said.

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“We haven’t stopped your free speech,” Rowland told Harwood.

“Have you passed any leaflets out to apologize to the 300 homeowners that this was not true?” he asked Harwood.

Rowland said the investigation was only to determine if laws were violated, and since none were the point is moot.

“If you are man enough, you will go down there and apologize,” he told Harwood.

“There is nothing for us to apologize about,” Harwood responded.

The group, he said, held a town hall meeting to seek explanations but only one councilman, Bill Estes, attended. Other council members, and Rowland, said they got the invitation after the meeting was held.

Tea party member Dan Rawls said that isn’t true because he sent the registered letters.

Councilman George Poe said he got a late invitation to a meeting to discuss something he had no intention of doing anyway.

“We couldn’t afford to buy 300 houses in the first place,” he said. “We have never talked about what we are accused of.”

If Harwood’s group was so alarmed, Poe said, they should have come to the council first with questions.

Rowland and Poe said they have not read the “white paper” from contracted consultants on which the flier was based. Harwood said the paper was handed out during a three-day public planning meeting at Bradley Square Mall.

Councilman Richard Banks, who said he has read the white paper, told tea party leaders they took the “300 homes” statement out of context. The original question was what would happen in the community if Whirlpool stayed in its old location, he said.

Consultants said that up to 300 homes might have to be seized through eminent domain to accommodate the company’s expansion there. But Whirlpool moved to its new Benton Pike site.

It was only a “what-if” discussion, Rowland said.

“There is nothing for us to explain, because there was nothing to it,” he said.

Contact staff writer Randall Higgins at rhiggins@timesfree press.com or 423-314-1029.

Council, tea party leader argue over apology need

Council, tea party leader argue over apology need
by DAVID DAVIS, Managing Editor
http://www.clevelandbanner.com/view/full_story/19800265/article-Council–tea-party-leader-argue-over-apology-need?instance=latest_articles

The Cleveland City Council became embroiled in a 40-minute argument Monday with Bradley County Tea Party President Donny Harwood over who should apologize for deceiving the public. In the end, neither side admitted wrongdoing.

Harwood approached the Council during the regular voting session regarding what he viewed as an action taken by the Council that impinged on party members’ freedom of speech.

The resulting exchange centered around a flier distributed in June by the local tea party and subsequent action taken by the Council on June 18.

“On June 18, I witnessed first-hand the Cleveland City Council and its Mayor Tom Rowland display behavior uncharacteristic of a free republic bound to the U.S., the state constitution and the city charter. With this most recent breach it is safe to say our first amendment rights are imperiled in Bradley County,” he said. “There is still egregious legislation on the books today that has yet to be reversed that limits our freedom of speech.

“Cleveland Mayor Tom Rowland, with a unanimous resolution vote of 7-0 by this Council ordered an investigation using police force to essentially hunt down, arrest and expose members of my Tea Party group as we made efforts to inform the community of horrendous plans for their community, thus criminalizing our free speech.”

Rowland said Monday there was no resolution. It was simply a vote taken after he expressed his opinion at the June 18 Council meeting that whoever anonymously distributed the flier should be publicly identified.

The anonymous flier was in neighborhoods south of the old Whirlpool Plant in downtown Cleveland. It warned homeowners of the impending loss of their property rights, if they did not immediately act. The flier stated 300 homes were targeted for demolition and redevelopment.

“I think this is a very cruel hoax on the citizens of our community. This is sneaky. It’s deceitful. I don’t like it and I don’t like my citizens to be in fear,” the mayor said in June.

He said then it was a gray area as to whether or not an actual crime was committed by distributing fliers containing false information about the future of the area and “whoever wrote this should be exposed to the public and to those people who called Greg (Planning Director Greg Thomas) with fear in their hearts. They ought to know who wrote this.”

The Council voted 7-0 to request the city attorney, police and district attorney’s office to fully investigate the matter to determine if any laws were broken and try to uncover the source of the flier. The matter was investigated. It was determined no laws were broken and no further action was taken.

“I think this flier is very inciting and I don’t find anything, other than some terminology here and there, that’s even true,” Rowland said during the June meeting. “We formed the Southside Development Committee, but that would do nothing but increase values in that area by getting rid of the blight in our city and enhance the value of the property around it.”

Harwood said Monday the flier contained truthful and accurate information based on the last known public meeting where the information was provided.

“The white paper draft plan is the last known information available to the public in a public setting,” he said. Since that time, he said the plan was changed in a private setting.

Thomas said in a June 17 interview the white paper was written by a Knoxville-based planning consultant and it was handed out to the public in April during a three-day planning workshop at Bradley Square Mall. Thomas said that was the first time he saw the white paper and subsequently, he requested that section be deleted. There have been no public meetings since April.

“The bottom-line answer is the city is not going to run in and take anybody’s property,” he said in June.

Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce Vice President for Economic Development Doug Berry said in July references to 300 houses came when talks first began with Whirlpool about replacing its century-old manufacturing facilities. The company wanted to remain in the downtown area where there is historical linkage because it is a big issue for a company to break that attachment.

“When we first sat down with Whirlpool, they told us they needed to develop modern manufacturing facilities, that the inefficiencies of these historic plants were so great it was having a bottom-line effect on the company,” Berry said. “They told us they would prefer to do a rebuild in the area of their existing plant. Their first request of me, as a representative of this community, was to provide them a redevelopment option for them to put two half-million square foot buildings in this corridor.”

Berry said during the July MainStreet Cleveland luncheon that such a redevelopment project has never happened in Cleveland. Ultimately, keeping the plant in its historical location would require the use of eminent domain. Berry said he expressed his concern to the company, but agreed to analyze what it would take to put a million square feet in the neighborhood. In order to do that, he said it would require buying all of the property between Plant No. 3 and Ocoee Street, all the way to Plant No. 2.

“That’s 300 lots. That’s where the 300 number came from,” Berry said. “I then sat down with the company and explained that I did not think this was a viable option because this community has not been through the process and has no history of ever having used eminent domain as part of its economic development program. When you hear about the 300 homes that are going to be taken and bulldozed, that number actually has basis, but it’s not fact in the conclusion of those statements,” he told MainStreet members.

Rowland asked Harwood on Monday if he had apologized to the 300 homeowners.

“They were alarmed that their houses might be taken when that’s not a fact,” the mayor said.

Harwood said, “There is nothing for us to apologize for.”

Rowland said, “You should go back and apologize to those people whose lives you have upset. Would you do that or not? We have not stopped your free speech. You have passed leaflets out since then and during that time you haven’t been stopped. We wanted to know who was doing it so you would know what you are passing out is not true. There is nothing true about it. This Council has not voted on it and you know good and well where it started — when Whirlpool said what if we build down there, it was said you might have to buy 300 houses. Period. Where did Whirlpool move to? That was irresponsible —”

“Well, the information —,” Harwood said.

“Listen to me!” the mayor demanded. “The only people I’ve talked to were in tears because somebody put some kind of information out that has no facts to it at all and if you’re man enough, you’ll go down there and tell them that you were wrong.”

The remainder of the argument centered mainly around Harwood and Tea Party member Dan Rawls asking Council members why they did not appear at a Tea Party town hall meeting to discuss the issue. Councilman Bill Estes, who represents the 2nd District, was the only councilman who accepted the invitation.

In return, Councilman George Poe asked Harwood why he didn’t attend a Council meeting months ago if he had questions.

Eminent Domain once again topic of Cleveland City Council

Eminent Domain is once again the huge elephant in the room at Mondays Cleveland Tennessee City Council Meeting.

After several minutes debating a study on the Ocoee/25th Street corridor construction project with City Mananger Janice Casteel the conversation went to the subject of eminent domain and the specifics of that process.

During the dialogue, as reported in the Chattanoogan, Councilman Banks said “We have to be conscious of the fact that when we vote on this project, that there is going to be imminent (eminent) domain proceedings. There will be lawsuits filed in court……”I think we need to be talking about other funding issues rather than this intersection project.”

The 25th street/Ocoee street Project, I have been told, will result in around 35 homes and businesses losing all or portions of their property. I have been informed by planners that this project will be 7 lanes wide, much like the road through the North Lee area and will be expensive. I asked would it be in the hundreds of millions and he said no that high but high.

First of all the eminent domain issue just last month was a crazy idea. The crack pot tea party types were spreading “false rumors and propaganda” about plans for Cleveland City. The Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Rowland, Editors at the local paper, Mayor Rowland, City and County Planners, 7 City Council members, McBride Dale and Clarion and countless other bureaucrats thought the subject was the worst thing they have ever been accused of. We have had our first amendment rights threatened because we passed out flyers saying the government was going to take your property by eminent domain, demolition and redevelopment and here they are casually doing the exact thing they reacted so strongly against just a month ago.

“False Propaganda” is what our mayor called this action a month ago and this week enacts eminent domain from his throne speaking volumes of a hidden agenda or hypocrisy on a high level. Just a month ago when his plan was uncovered it was outrageous, preposterous and scaring old people and the idea highly frowned upon.

Eminent Domain, rezoning, demolition and redevelopment, takings, outright purchases. Those are dirty words from the pits of hell and would never be uttered from our City government? Right?
Any man that would dare utter those words in my presence will burn in a hot and steamy lake of fire? Right?

Well, that was the sentiment from voices past, now the purveyors of all things unpopular, false, full of propaganda and hateful despicable lies is now the topic of City Council meetings as something that is inevitable.

I understand needing to hide these things. If the public grasps a great understanding of what is really going on in our local government they would not have a seat on our local city council seat for long and their long term legacy would be tarnished, forever linking the elite 8 to eminent domain and taking of the citizens property in such an egregious manner.

I think councilman banks said it best when he rebutted City Manager Janice Casteel with “We have to always be concious about how we appear to the public!”

Notice not one word was uttered that we must be careful or conscious to protect the citizens property rights! Their legacy, social standing in public, reputation will be tarnished are their true concerns, not your property rights! We can’t appear to want to take peoples property against their will, that would not be good, this is my humble opinion.

Councilman Poe in his defense did mention that he must go with the people he represents him on this one! Bravo! But what is going to be the end result of a 90 day study versus a 60 day study? How to take more of your property or at least take it in a more politically correct manner? I don’t know! One thing is for sure though and mark my words just as we have warned you for months now,

EMINENT DOMAIN WILL BE USED AS A VERY EFFECTIVE TOOL TO TAKE YOUR PROPERTY RIGHTS AWAY AND THE CITY AND COUNTY DEVELOPED!

Onward to the Central City Area!

The end!!!!!!

Yep, many are going to be affected by eminent domain, demolition and redevelopment. I guess it just matters as to which side of government you are on as to whether you can say it or not.

Compare these two articles. Both reporting on the same subject, only one mentions eminent domain, the other doesn’t! Why the bias? Why does it seem that the agenda is being hidden by the press? What is the benefit if the people are locked out of the process. I don’t get it!

Remember, my opinion is only mine and it doesn’t have to be yours!

http://www.clevelandbanner.com/view/full_story/19560052/article-TDOT-updates-city-on-Highway-60-Corridor?instance=homesecondleft

http://www.chattanoogan.com/2012/7/24/230864/Cleveland-Council-To-Vote-On-Cutting.aspx