Roane County Mayor Mike Farmer nodded his head when I called the current County web site, "Lame."

But then he showed me a new one under development that looks like a real county web site. There's a lot to do before it goes live (and I was unable to pry a date out of him) but the template looks like it has links for most business a Roane County resident would have with the County.

Even obtaining a Marriage License!

Now all we have to do is get email addressess for the Commissioners so they can use the Internet Tubes, too!

Lots of Roane County students are attending ETSU and there's a great Student Newspaper we folks back here at home can read to keep up with the things our kids don't tell us.

Like this bombshell: Sushi replaces Burger King

First they dump football...then Burger King. What is this generation coming to?

I've been told that the Roane County Park land that was given to Darby C. for his RV park is going to be further developed.

I'm not sure I understand what I was told, but he plans to cut the trees off the ridgeline and put trailers all across the top for rental units.

This place is a huge eyesore as it stands now. This will put it in a world class league of Tennessee trailer parks if it is true.

Can we get the story from anyone?

Having lived up in Massachusetts for a time, I'll probably always have an interest in watching the antics of their politicians.

When I was a small child we went to visit my great Aunt Ellen because her husband was going to be working on the road crew near her house and was going to be allowed to come home for lunch. Uncle Cleveland Carter was doing 30 days for drinking and fighting. Uncle Cleveland was pretty much an abusive drunk and the only peace Aunt Ellen had was when he was on the crew, but she missed him terribly during those times and couldn't wait until he came home.

I have no idea why these men are doing time on the road crew but I appreciate them picking up the trash that the fine folks of Roane County throw out of their cars.

I suspect they have their "Ellens" waiting for them at home...

We've been having trouble with two different antivirus companies.

Anybody know why the County Commission got wimpy on dealing with our light pollution situation? It seems like a no brainer to me.

There are even sample regulations posted for small communities to adopt that have been proven in other areas.

I like these sites. You can find out way more than you'ld ever want to know about a community.

Since I haven't yet gotten to Oliver Springs with the camera, I thought I'd start with it. It's a pleasant town to visit, and for some reason, they seem to always turn out some fine women athletes in basketball and soccer.

I'm not sure I'd bet the farm on some of these statistics but the fact that the number of houses went up and the number of residents went down over the last ten years is interesting.

Oliver Springs

The Roane County Commission meets the second Monday of each month and that would be this coming Monday, September 10, unless something's changed.

Has anyone seen an agenda?

Update: Got it.

This lady is an excellent writer and shows us how local politics ought to be handled. But she keeps us giggling with bits like this one:

Ok... maybe it could happen in Tennessee, too.

There's a caption for this in the Roane County News, but it's more fun to make up our own...

Space object lands on Roane County man's pickup truck

Rare turtle chrysalis found in Clinch River near White Oak Creek

Roane County News Photo

Send in the Clowns

We need a farmer's market. I grow some great veggies but I just don't have the touch for somethings...like all the strawberries I want. My yearly strawberry fix comes from a farm down the road. But what about corn, butter beans, field peas, sweet potatoes, or any of the other 100 or so veggies people eat?

I would buy local food for more money than I pay in the grocery store if I could find it on a regular basis. There are a couple of numbers that bother me:

The average bite of food travels 1500 miles to the table.

The state with the highest propotion of direct sales of locally grown food is Vermont, with a pitiful 1.2% of food sold locally.

Would you shop a Farmer's Market first if we had one?

We were at a house that was so high above the beach that the birds flew right by us.

The following words are not mine but were put together by an old friend who was from imigrant Belgian family (probably illegal), definitely of the "working class" and a deacon in the Catholic church.

This subject keeps coming up and the Democrats consistantly seem to somehow shoot themselves in the foot every time it re-appears:

Ok!

Settling down to watch the Clemson Florida State game after a hard day driving back from Virginia.

The Clemson Tiger mascot is my son's roomate at Clemson and has his work cut out for him. I've seen him dunk a basketball in the Tiger uniform but this is his first football game. He's already had to go in and puke from the heat earlier today, but he's back out there and ready to rock.

We sorta hope Forida State loses but whatever happens...We're pulling for the Tiger.

(Our other son is at ETSU...Expected to go undefeated in football again this year....Ha!)

Update: Halftime score...Tommy Bowden 24, Bobby Bowden 3

It's a beautiful morning in the tidal backwater I'm sitting beside in Virginia but I'm headed home today. I've actually been cool enough to wish I'd brought a long sleeved shirt up here, but I miss Roane County.

Gotta get back and check on the dogs, cat, spiders, scorpions, and butterflies, so watch out all you drivers on I 81...That van with the kayaks on top headed south is me.

The Roane State Raiders football team is expecting another undefeated season in 2007.

Roane State Community College

I noticed an excellent blog on tips for the college bound, this was missing.

What about tips for the not so college bound? Not everyone who graduates from High School ends up in college. For some people money is an issue, or family life, or even the desire not to spend another four years in a class room.

Here’s a tip some of these folks need!

Rockwood 35 Midway 14

Kingston 27 Harriman 3

And in other Constitutionally related news, Pat Robertson and the ACLU have joined forces to protect the free speech rights of high school football players.

There's some story about Alice Cooper's Boa constricter escaping from his room at the Marriot by crawling into the toilet and then showing up two weeks later in Charlie Pride's room. (Oh Wow! It's true!)

I want to know if that story is true, but this one's nice, too.

And I want to see all of Dave's D's pictures posted somewhere...He's a really good photog. (Backstage pass at Alice Cooper...lucky!)

Like your long weekend?

Thank a Union member!

"Labor Day differs in every essential way from the other holidays of the year in any country," said Samuel Gompers, founder and longtime president of the American Federation of Labor. "All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day...is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race, or nation."

Is there a way that Roane county could "encourage" the local cable company to provide their cable modem service in rural areas? Currently if you don't live in the suburbs there is seemingly no hope.

You fine people will have to be in charge until I return. I'm sure there's some kind of outrage you can discuss while I'm away.

Like the letter to the editor calling for Roane County to support Rocky and Leon...That will be interesting.

And our schools seem to be uppermost on the list of concerns...followed closely by the lack of anything resembling a coherant plan for the future.

Be nice.

No...I didn't say that. That is a statement from the person writing the history of Japan's rise to superiority on the Internet, Thomas Bleha.

Want to get your rah rah USA feelings hurt? Check this out:

The average download speed of an Internet customer in Japan is 30 times what it is in the USA.

Even Canada...Canada is 4 times faster than us.

America is getting screwed!

If you haven't talked to Gerald Largen in person here's your chance.

Yeah, you'll have to put up with a bunch of, you know, Democrats, but it'll be worth it I promise.

It starts raining.

I'm not complaining at all. I hope we get soaking wet right through to out undies.

But why has it been so dry? Well now we know...

The Bermuda High went to Texas for the summer.

My little valley has been very lucky to receive a number of thundershowers. Even so, we're really dry and other parts of our County are really suffering from this drought.

Please be careful...and watchful, as well!

Give our Firefighters the weekend off, how 'bout it?

The GOP is calling for the resignation of Senator Larry Craig...OK, but what about Senator David Bruce Vitter, who has done far worse?

A Mrs. America contestant from Tennessee was walking to rehersal and saw a spider which frightened her...She jumped away from the spider...

And was bitten by a rattlsnake.

She's now trying to walk in high heels with a badly swollen foot.

I always knew there rattlesnakes involved with beauty contests.