TDOT attempts to destroy Gatlinburg via the Hwy 321 project

I can hardly wait for Jeff Foxworthy to hear about Tennessee Department of Transportation's (TDOT) plans. Where else than in Tennessee do people remove mountains, install concrete barriers to keep the mountains back and then paint the walls to look like they belong. There has got to be a joke in there somewhere. My neighbor told me a couple of years ago that our grandchildren will someday ask, "Mommy, what was a mountain?" By the looks of Sevier County he was on target.

TDOT is breaking new ground in the area of removing mountains and painting walls to look like the mountains. Gatlinburg and the TDOT can be proud of their breakthrough design strategies. The city can now do away with any building code requirements having to do with the outside of a structure. We can build a nice concrete block building and paint it to look like a nice mountain log cabin or governorsÂ’ mansion, or maybe even the Parthenon or how about a replica of the Mountain View Inn or whatever we like. That will reduce construction costs quite a bit as well as speed up development.

Gatlinburg will be the butt of jokes for years to come as tourists drive the concrete corridor and look in bewilderment at the concrete barrier walls painted to look like real rocks and the larger walls painted like treeless nothings and wonder why things were not left as they were since the paint is attempting to make things look like they used to be. The view should be picturesque as the tourists look out over the painted short barriers to see the mountains. As they take pictures and other people across the country view those pictures they too will be able to appreciate what Gatlinburg and the State of Tennessee have done and reputations of both should grow in leaps and bounds. Southern Living should be able to do at least a couple of stories on the subject of Tennessee landscaping techniques and maybe My South can tape a couple of episodes.

When, as expected, thousands and tens of thousands of cars use the concrete corridor has any thought been given to what they will do at light 3 in Gatlinburg? Do you suppose we can look forward to traffic backed up to City Hall or maybe even to Glades similar to the backup at the intersection of Rt 66 and Chapman/Dolly Parton highways?

As was said during the meeting, the Resource Team, made up of area citizens, has no authority. ThatÂ’s fair since no one has any responsibility for the debacle that is now attempting to be mitigated.

But that's just politics isn't it? No reason to cry over spilt milk. When the going gets tough, the tough gets going, cliche, cliche. It is too late for Gatlinburg and now is the time to just try to make things look as nice as possible, live with the jokes and the criticism, and take our experience and paintbrushes and go on to the next project.

The City of Gatlinburg had almost no input in this whole process. As a resident I resent the State of Tennessee destroying parts of the city in which I live and the City Leadership for failing to raise public awareness of what was going to be happening to our fair city. I thought at the very least the city was looking out for our welfare, wrong...........

California cannot/willnot convict celebrities!!

OJ Simpson, ?? Blaker (I forget his first name), and Michael Jackson are all free due to the inability or the unwillingness of Californians to convict celebrities. There was more evidence against each of the three than there was against Scott Peterson but of the four who was convicted and is now sitting in a cell on deathrow? Imagine two murderers and a child molestor walking the streets. Is it any wonder California is known as the land of fruits and nuts? We must recognize and make allowances for the reality that District Attorney offices are staffed with lawyers who cannot survive in private practice and that they are working under strict budget limitations that are more important than convicting criminals while celebrities have almost unlimited resources and are more than happy to show their appreciation to anyone who is willing to lie in court for them. In the Jackson trial the District Attorney is a joke and cannot be taken seriously let alone believed.

The jurors in the most recent case, that of Michael Jackson should keep their collective mouths shut because the more they talk the more we understand they voted against the mother and not on the evidence.

We all know that pretty girls/women and handsome boys/men do not commit crimes and always tell the truth while ugly or dirty appearing people will comnmit crimes of all sorts and would prefer to lie than to tell the truth. At least that is how we make judgments. The MJ case was a tossup between a conniving mother/ugly boy and a fruitcake defendant. If the mother had been pretty or the boy handsome Michael would be in prison today. Lucky for Michael he is attracted to and attracts the bottom feeders of society and prefers young but ugly boys. There is no way a jury will believe the people to whom Michael is attracted.

The big question is will Michael be able to restart his career so he can get on stage and massage his crotch, hump the air all the while gyrating among a group of young boys mostly poor, Hispanic or Black while young Hispanic or Black girls squeal at the top of their lungs and Michael shows no interest, wrong gender. Again, lucky for Michael he lives in state where he has an endless supply of Hispanic boys whose mothers will keep quiet so they will not be deported.

California leads the way as usual in degradation and is truly becoming a third-world state.

What You Won't Learn In School by Bill Gates

Life is not fair - get used to it!

The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping -- they called it opportunity.

If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up work ing for one.

Pro-Life or Pro-Born or Pro Stem Cell

Researchers collect stem cells -- immature cells that can be coaxed into developing into any cell in the body -- from unused embryos remaining at fertility centers. But the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School chose to create its own embryos for two reasons.

1. "The consent of the donors to this process is very clear as opposed to asking someone who created IVF eggs if they would be okay with using them this way,"
2. "there is also the fact that these eggs are younger. Younger eggs are more viable eggs." /em>

Sperm donors received $50 for their semen and egg donors received $2,000 as compensation. Typically, the discarded embryos from in vitro fertilization centers come from people who have been trying to conceive for a long time.

Embryonic stem cells are preferable for research because of their immaturity and lack of development. While researchers can derive stem cells from umbilical cord blood, spinal fluid and adult organs, those cells are more specialized.

Unspecialized cells are preferable because stem cell tissue lines can become any type of body cell that can be used for therapeutic purposes.

And thus the discussion continues..............Sacrificing embryonic life for the betterment of mankind.

So far the United States goverment, under the direction of one of the more influential opponents of expanding the harvesting of the raw material required by Stem Cell research, has donated the lives of over 1,800 men and women for the betterment of mankind.

Are those people who label themselves "ProLife" really "Pro" all life or just specific kinds of life?