By Steve Hunley

Knox County Vagrancy Laws Must Be Enforced

Folks in northeast Knox County have been worried about an increasing presence of either the homeless or just plain old vagrants along Harris Road, a residential street.  Neighbors have complained about fires started just a few steps away from homes to keep the vagrants warm.  Some people are living in tents, which has caused two brothers, Rodney and Michael Snow, to contact the Knox County Sheriff's Office repeatedly. The Snow brothers are worried about the safety and well-being of their mother, who is 91 years old.  This is becoming less of an everyday eyesore to a real problem for the folks who live along Harris Road and in the area.  The problem has been getting worse over time and it's past time something was done about it.

Alvin Bragg Is A Disgrace

Alvin Bragg, the district attorney for Manhattan, is nothing less than a disgrace to the office he holds.  By charging Daniel Penny, a former Marine who accidentally killed a man who was threatening passengers on the New York subway, Bragg has raised his flag once again.  Alvin Bragg seems to have a habit of only charging those New Yorkers who try and defend themselves from criminals.  God knows he doesn't seem inclined to charge the actual criminals.

One 66-year-old woman was a witness to the full incident and said she's praying for Penny.  The woman said Jordan Neely was saying, "I don't care.  I'll take a bullet, I'll go to jail."  Neely was telling the passengers he would kill people on the train, the woman recalled.  Is anybody surprised to learn that Jordan Neely had a long arrest record and was wanted on assault charges when the incident on the subway occurred?

Penny courageously put Neely into a chokehold while two other passengers held the crazed man down.  Now Alvin Bragg is charging Daniel Penny.

New Yorkers have witnessed several citizens who have been murdered by mentally ill homeless people.  Michelle Go was shoved into the path of an oncoming subway train by Simon Martial.  When asked if he had killed Ms. Go, Martial replied, "Yeah because I'm God.  Yes, I did.  I'm God, I can do it."  Martial then proceeded to say Ms. Go had stolen his jacket.  A woman merely waiting on the tracks to take the subway train had her life ended by a crazy vagrant.

Yadira Arryo, a mother of five and an EMT, was crushed to death under the wheels of her own ambulance.  In that instance, a vagrant was entertaining himself by riding along on the bumper of the ambulance.  When the ambulance stopped and Ms. Arryo and her partner got out of the vehicle, the man ran past them and got into the driver's seat to drive off.  The two were on their way to a call and Ms. Arryo tried to stop the man from stealing the ambulance and one social media video showed the sickening sight of the vehicle rolling over the 14-year veteran of the New York Fire Department.

Alison Russo-Elling, a police lieutenant and grandmother, was stabbed by a crazed vagrant in an unprovoked attack on the streets more than 20 times.  According to the New York Police Department from reports, "He walked toward her, sped up and then stabbed her to death."

Crime in New York has been skyrocketing and prosecutors like Alvin Bragg are one big reason why.  People like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez say that the rising tide of crime in New York City is little more than one's own imagination; leftists like AOC claim it is being exaggerated.  Tell that to the families of the victims.

Writer Kat Rosenfield wrote an excellent piece reminding readers Mayor Eric Adams was elected, in part, for his pledge to "flood the subway system with uniformed police officers" because of crime.  As Ms. Rosenfield points out, people are wondering "where the tacit agreement to tolerate becomes a duty to intervene."  "How do we know when to stand by, when to step in, when to look away, when to be afraid?" Kat Rosenfield wrote.

As Ms. Rosenfield points out, our society, especially the mainstream media, had accepted the notion of not tolerating "male aggression."  "If you argue that a woman can be traumatised by bawdy humour in the office or awkward come-ons in a bar, surely you would agree that she's entitled to be fearful when trapped underground on a metal tube with an erratically-behaving stranger twice her size."

Not in Alvin Bragg's New York.

Who Is The Real Debbie Helsley?

As predicted, City Council candidate Debbie Helsley had nothing to say about stopping the proposed spot rezoning in South Knoxville until the McNabb Center had pulled their request.  Demolition Debbie never opened her mouth to publicly oppose the drug rehab center McNabb wanted to place inside the South High Assisted Living facility, which had drawn heated opposition from area residents.  Helsley likes to promote her image as a "fighter," but if she is, she's one of those pillow fighters who kicks the body after somebody else has already won the fight.

Thank You, Tim

Congressman Tim Burchett has just introduced a bill that would increase the criminal penalty for trafficking fentanyl.  Burchett's bill would make the smugglers accountable for their role in the drug epidemic gripping our nation.  Under the Burchett Bill, anyone convicted of intentionally trafficking fentanyl would be sentenced to life in prison.

"There are people dying left and right due to fentanyl overdoses, and lots of them are kids or teenagers.  We have got to stop this epidemic and I think that making an example out of drug traffickers would be a good start," Burchett said.

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