Topic: TDOT

Watershed signs: more government waste?

By Scott Beasley | March 24, 2008 |

TDOT and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation are placing watershed signs along roadways across the state. Perhaps you’ve seen them on the way to Nashville alongside I-24. The purpose of the signs is to increase public awareness about the importance of watersheds and to encourage good stewardship of the state’s rivers, streams, wetlands, lakes, and ground water.

What is a “watershed” some ask? A watershed is the entire land area that drains into a lake, river, or other water body. Watersheds can be small, like the area that drains into a creek, or large areas that drain into a major river. So why the need for public awareness? To educate and raise awareness for their protection, they claim. I suppose its just fine to litter where there are no signs, sarcastically speaking. I see little value in this expenditure.

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Sections: Issues, Opinion | 3 Comments

Happy 43rd Anniversary, 1964 Civil Rights Act! Title VI Compliance Still MIA In Clarksville

By Turner McCullough Jr. | July 4, 2007 |

We are now in the 43rd anniversary year of the signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. That’s quite a milestone for the nation. Sadly, it’s a dark anniversary for Clarksville and the state of Tennessee. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law on July 2nd of that year. (Pictured left.)

Tennessee State Archives records show our own state legislature didn’t adopt it into the state’s law code until 1993. That’s twenty-nine years after it had became the law of the land! The law of the land, that is, except for the State of Tennessee.

That lag in time may help explain why our own city council has refused, even now, to adopt Title VI of that law, as the city’s official non-discrimination policy. There is a policy statement on display in city offices and the city’s website, to be sure. However, since it is required that the legislative controlling body of local government formally adopt Title VI mandates as official policy to receive federal financial assistance, these displays are meaningless without the council’s follow-thru. A mayoral proclamation is inapplicable. As TDOT’s Commissioner Nicely noted in August 2005, the city is not in compliance with the federal law. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Politics | No Comments

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