About: Christine Anne Piesyk

With 40 years behind me (Huh? What? How did that happen?) as a journalist, feature writer, investigative reporter, editor, and film/theater/arts critic, I brought my liberal New England activism to Tennessee several years ago. having completed a midlife undergraduate degree in community organizing and women's studies, and an MA in Interdisciplinary Arts. I am currently an MFA student at Goddard College. I served on Future Search Commissions for two colleges and an issue-specific commission for the City of Northampton, MA, and did minor undergraduate work in studies in urban planning and community development. I am a community volunteer and a member of FreeThinkers for Peace and Civil Liberties. I am a certified storm spotter. In my spare time (define spare time please?) I am a voracious reader, obsessive movie buff, classical music junkie; I also and design and make sci-fi/fantasy and renaissance costumes. I have an unquenchable interest in just about everything. I see life as an ongoing opportunity for learning and adventure, with the best things still to come. All posts by Christine Anne Piesyk as presented on Clarksville Online are copyright ©2006, 2007 to the author.


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Email: womanspeak@yahoo.com

Christine Anne Piesyk's Articles:

CTS hears concerns about proposed route changes, fare hikes

By Christine Anne Piesyk | August 12, 2008 |

 

CTS presents fare structure with reinstated transfer system

When Clarksville Transit System Director Jimmy Smith presented the new route and rate structures to the public Monday evening at the Public Library, there were a few changes from the budget-balancing package approved several weeks ago by the City Council Transportation Committee, not the least of which was a controversial decision to eliminate transfers and replace that option with a second fare for the second length of all cross town trips.



CTS DIrector Jimmie Smith explains route changes that now service the new Gateway Health Center

Responding to public concern, Smith said the phone calls, letters and comments he and his staff have received all put the “transfer” issue at the top of the list, with respondents overwhelmingly calling for retention of the transfer system and voicing support for the system wide fare increase of 25 cents, which would raise the cost of a basic bus trip to $1.25. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Business, Issues, News, Politics | No Comments

 

Elimination of transfers proposed for CTS

By Christine Anne Piesyk | August 10, 2008 |

 

The Clarksville Transit System will hold a public hearing this evening (August 11) at 5:30 p.m. at the Clarksville Public Library to seek public input on proposals that include the elimination of transfers and a requirement to pay a full second fare for trips requiring a change of buses. The city’s Transportation Committee has already unanimously approved the new CTS rate structure. CTS must now explain to the public the planned fare structure and proposed route changes and take public input on those changes.

The elimination of transfers translates to a de facto 75 cent increase in bus fare for riders who need to utilize two buses navigate across town or into adjoining residential neighborhoods. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Business, Events, Issues, News | No Comments

 

Out again! Eternal flame extinguished on apathetic election day

By Christine Anne Piesyk | August 9, 2008 |

 

The darkened flame mirrors both voter ambivalence and the loss of a sense of honor.



The flame is out -- again!

Light’s out. Again.

Just when we thought the Eternal Flame was finally going to remain lit, its blaze was doused again — on election day.

Apart from being completely irritated and totally digusted with a city that can’t seem to get its collective act together long enough to keep one itty-bitty little thing ablaze (such as a monument that honors all American soldiers), there is another irony, one that I, as an American citizen, find disgusting.

The city seems to have no problem lighting the flame for commercial events. The flame blazed when the new downtown fountain was lit. It blazed during the last three Riverfests and Rivers and Spires festivals. It blazed when nothing was going on downtown but city government as usual. Because we (Clarksville Online) check every single day, we know when the flame is lit. And when it isn’t.

It was off on the fourth of July, even as the Vietnam Vets staged a striking ceremony honoring their fallen. It was re-lit after the 4th of July passed, and blazed right up until the eve of primary election day. It has been lit while the Legion Street-turned-Strawberry Alley construction is underway. Now the city managed to keep the new streetlights ablaze throughout the daytime hours this entire week. Water continues to flow through the lovely new fountain on Public Square. Only the flame, the best and brightest of our symbols, seems eratic. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Issues, News, Opinion, Politics | 1 Comment »

 

Voter apathy reigns in Montgomery County as primary draws a mere 11.86% turnout

By Christine Anne Piesyk | August 8, 2008 |

 



I have been covering elections since 1968, back when I was too young to vote but old enough to be a journalist covering the elections. Just like the soldiers old enough to ship to Vietnam but not old enough to legally vote against that war.

I’ve only missed two elections in my voting life, and as a writer I’ve covered 30 years worth of voting ups and downs. I have painstakingly worked to implant the importance of voting to my daughter, my grandchildren (two of whom are now old enough to vote), and anyone who can and should be registered to vote. That’s why I found myself upset and disturbed at the end of the day, Thursday, August 7. Primary day. A day of another kind of infamy: a day of voter apathy. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Events, Issues, News, Opinion, Politics | 3 Comments

 

Incumbent Senator Rosalind Kurita takes 22nd District with 19-vote margin

By Christine Anne Piesyk | August 7, 2008 |

 


Incumbent Senator Roslaind Kurita campaigns outside St. Bethlehem Methodist Church Thursday, August 7.

Nineteen votes. That narrowest of margins gave victory in the District 22 Senate race to incumbent Rosalind Kurita, who spent election day campaigning at wards across Montgomery County and the rest of the district that continues to support her. District 22 includes Montgomery, Houston and Cheatham counties. Sen. Kurita was unable to be reached prior to posting the election result.

Kurita defeated challenger Atty. Tim Barnes by 19 votes, a true “horse race” as elections go, with each candidate taking turns at the lead post until the final count gave victory to Kurita. Barnes has said that due to the closeness of the race, he will request a recount.

Voter turnout, including both early voting and the actual Thursday primary, was 11.86%. A total of 5238 Montgomery County voters cast ballots in the two-week early voting period, while another 4486 voted in the August 7 primary.

According to the Montgomery County Election Commission website (10 p.m. 8/7/08), Montgomery County voters favored Barnes 52.02% to 47.96% or 3369 to 3106. District wide, the numbers were Kurita 4477 (50.1%) to Barnes 4458 (49.89%). «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Events, Issues, News, Politics | 2 Comments

 

Local legals speak out: Kurita’s disparaging anti-Barnes ad deemed ’shameful,’ ‘beneath the dignity of a Senator’

By Christine Anne Piesyk | August 7, 2008 |

 


Tennessee Senator Rosalind Kurita

On Tuesday, and again on Wednesday, in the final stretch of the primary campaign, voters across the city of Clarksville received oversized full color postcards in the mail from State Senator Rosalind Kurita, cards that drove spikes of criticism at Tim Barnes and his law practice. Barnes is challenging Kurita for her 22nd District Senate seat on today’s election.

Today a coalition of 38 area attorneys came to Barnes defense while simultaneously calling on Senator Kurita to retract her statements and stating unequivocably that her comments as written on this mailer (and recapped on television and radio ads) were “shameful, and beneath the dignity, and the honor, of a Tennessee Senator.”

In a matter of four hours, the legal community rallied, creating a full page block ad denouncing the “Smear Barnes” ads and obtaining hand-signed signatures of dozens of local “legal eagles” as part of a statement of support for Tim Barnes. (Complete ad text/signatures at end of story). The full page ad is slated to run in The Leaf Chronicle today. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Business, Issues, News, Opinion, Politics | 1 Comment »

 

Jesse Jackson Jr: United States electoral system is “fragile”

By Christine Anne Piesyk | August 6, 2008 |

 

Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. cites “UnCounted” in warnings about the fragile state of our electoral system; documentary singled out as important illustration of the problem

NASHVILLE, TN (8.6.08) – In a statement about the fragile state of our electoral system, Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., singled out Nashville-based filmmaker David Earnhardt’s election integrity documentary, UNCOUNTED: The New Math of American Elections, saying that it offered “warnings about the fragile state of our electoral system” and “evidence of how voting machines themselves can create problems.”

UnCounted made its premiere in November, 2007, to a standing room only crowd at Nashville’s Belcourt Theater, where Clarksville Online was the only media present to cover the event. Clarksville Online and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in December, 2007, teamed up with Uncounted producers David and Patricia Earnhardt to co-sponsor an equally packed screening of this film in Clarksville. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Issues, News, Opinion, Politics | No Comments

 

Run for the Fallen: Celebrating the lives of our fallen soldiers

By Christine Anne Piesyk | August 4, 2008 |

 

THE MISSION: RUN ONE MILE FOR EVERY SERVICE MEMBER KILLED IN OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM.

Run for the Fallen raced through Clarksville Saturday, a little-heralded event that deserved far more attention than it received. Despite Saturday’s (August 2) oppressive heat and humidity, the runners, friends, family, military and former military honored their commitment to run one mile for every service member killed in Operation Freedom, running a route that traversed Fort Campbell Boulevard, and Riverside Drive before coming to a temporary halt at the Clarksville Jaycees adjacent to the fairgrounds, where welcomed refreshments including cold drinks and fresh fruit were provided.



Randall Holder displays his father's flag for Run for the Fallen racers

As the seemingly tireless runners arrived, they were greeted by cheers and applause from a small but enthusiastic group of Clarksvillians, including Clarksville online author Debbie Boen and a young man named Randall Holder.

«Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Events, News | No Comments

 

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