By Steve Hunley

Mental Health Court Needed

Knox County is set to establish a Mental Health Court, which will hear the cases of those with mental health issues, obviously.  Not only is this a very good idea, but it is increasingly needed.  Judge Chuck Cerny of the Knox County General Session Courts, and his fellow judges appear to be solidly behind the idea.  It fits hand-in-glove with Commissioner Kyle Ward's push for a new mental health facility for Knox County.  The facility would give Knox County judges an additional – – – and vital — option in addressing the burgeoning homeless and addiction problems, which are all too often connected to mental issues.  The mental health facility would greatly diminish the need to place those arrested in the penal farm operated by the sheriff.

An effective detox program can take up to a year and judges oftentimes sentence serious misdemeanor complaints to 11/29.  This is a big step in the right direction.

Brooks Versus Fugate

City Councilwoman Lynne Fugate is being pressed hard in her reelection race by Cameron Brooks.  Last week Fugate attended the Center City Republican Club and received such a chilly reception she about froze to death.  It was the first GOP meeting Fugate has attended since she graced the reorganizational meeting two and a half years ago.  Since that time, Fugate has pretty much renounced her Republicanism in a statement to the Compass, which is just as well since she voted to jack up Knoxville's property tax by a whopping 40%.  Not exactly an action calculated to meet with the approval of Republicans or Independents and many cost-conscious Democrats.

One attendee of the meeting quizzed the councilwoman about that particular vote and Fugate was immediately on the defensive.  Brooks has openly pledged NOT to vote for increasing any tax during the four years of his term, should he be elected.  Fugate claimed that the no-tax increase pledge taken by Cameron Brooks applied only to the sales tax, which is odd as the city government is either very close to or has reached its maximum under state law.

Fugate has heaped self-praise upon herself recalling "Nine Counties, One Vision," which was heavily promoted by the Chamber of Commerce back in the day.  Fugate was the executive director of the outfit.  The organization was little more than an idea, which paid Fugate a mighty nice salary.  Fugate's eight years on the Knox County Board of Education was simply to ratify whatever Superintendent Jim McIntyre wanted.  It was McIntyre who presided over the bloating of the bureaucracy of the school system at the expense of the classroom.  Roundly hated by the teachers, McIntyre became the High Priest of Bloated Bureaucracy.  With the sole authority to make appointments at schools, McIntyre anointed any number of principals and vice-principals who, like Topsy, continued to grow.

Lynne Fugate has shown the same kind of pattern on the Knoxville City Council, content to follow Mayor Indya Kincannon.

But evidently a deal was struck and Fugate supported a 40% tax increase then Kincannon and her administration moved in behind Fugate's reelection bid.  That brought the Goddess of Recode into the fight and Fugate, smiling like an opossum with a corncob, was photographed with former Mayor Madeline Rogero signing her petition to run again.  There was a time when Rogero donned a wig, declared herself "Big Jane Rogero" to parody Jim Haslam, father of her then-opponent Bill Haslam, in a piece of negative campaigning.  Rogero has carefully locked that event away in her political closet, but to those who know anything about this community, Jim Haslam has done more for Knox County and the City of Knoxville than Rogero ever did.

Several Democrat operatives have moved in behind Lynne Fugate's candidacy in order to prop her up.  So, it is strange to see Fugate deign to attend a Republican meeting.  The only Republicans who back Fugate are a few privileged country club Republicans, which are becoming as scarce as pro-life Democrats.  Finding a Fugate sign in a working-class person's yard would be like finding spring water in the Sahara.  In turn, Fugate signs sprout like weeds in toney Sequoyah Hills, where Fugate lives.

Cameron Brooks has been pitching his campaign, much to the irritation of Kincanon and her allies, to working-class people.  Brooks ticks off the median income in the City of Knoxville, which is a fraction of what Kincannon and her leadership pull down annually.  There are thousands of former city employees who make more in lifetime pensions than the average taxpayer.  Brooks reminds audiences these are the working people paying the taxes raised by Kincannon, Fugate and the city council.  Fugate talks about "affordable housing" while Brooks asks affordable for whom?  A Realtor by profession, Brooks points to the fact Kincannon, Fugate and the city council have made housing less affordable for many because raising taxes increases rents and mortgages.  Lynne Fugate has no answer to that, nor does Indya Kincannon.

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