Metro Pulse/Ear to the Ground

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You Mean They Don't Like Lung Disease?

A poll of Tennessee voters being touted by the Tennessee Clean Air Taskforce shows that 75 percent want airborne emissions from the state's power plants to be reduced. Another 57 percent are willing to pay more each month if their electric utility works to reduce emissions.

American Viewpoint, a Virginia-based, Republican-oriented public opinion research firm commissioned by the National Environmental Trust, surveyed 600 registered Tennessee voters last month, following on the heels of a report by the American Lung Association that found Knoxville has the ninth smoggiest air in the country in terms of ozone content. Sevier, Blount and Knox counties have the 12th, 13th and 15th worst air among the country's counties. And the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has been on the list of 10 most endangered parks for the past three years.

We Hear You, America!

City Council members Jack Sharp, Larry Cox, Ed Shouse and Ivan Harmon all had a simultaneous religious experience compelling them to support the proposed ban on new billboards that they used to vehemently oppose (they say, generally, that they have heard the "Voice of the People"). So it looks as if the folks who collected signatures all last weekend to force a referendum on the billboard ban can relax now—or maybe turn their efforts toward a different petition drive.

Billboard ban proponents who manned signature-collecting booths at local shopping centers last weekend report finding great interest in the recall petitions aimed at ousting Sharp, Shouse, Cox and Mayor Victor Ashe. Here is a report from a source who was collecting billboard-ban petition signatures publicly in a mall, but for some reason didn't want his name used in print:

"The number one question we had was 'Do you have the recall petitions?' It came from all kinds of people—suburban matronly types, young people, old people, people who generally support the status quo, some firefighters who came through and said they'd sign petitions in the firehalls—in uniform (they said they got a court order that says they can.) Those are the petitions they were looking for."

The recall petitions were approved by the Election Commission for circulation the day before Council members started telling folks they'd heard the Voice of The People about billboards. Makes you wonder what other voices they'll start hearing in the next few months...

Putting the Jock in Jock Talk

"Hey guys, who says size doesn't matter?"

Surely it can't be what it sounds like, this radio ad that plays frequently on WNOX radio, mostly during he-man sports talk shows. We couldn't believe what we seemed to be hearing, even when John and Jimmy and the guys started cracking bad jokes about who needed the stuff most.

"You could be on your way to a more dazzling appearance...."

This wonder product is something that bills itself as "an all-natural dietary supplement that contains no chemicals, artificial ingredients or steroids... a potent growth hormone-releasing formula" and compares itself at the end to other, more expensive "penis-enhancement alternatives." The ad directs listeners to a website with further information. A two-month supply is only $465. WNOX, of course, used to be owned by Dick Broadcasting.

'Twas the Year Before Elections...

Times are better for Circuit Court Clerk Cathy Quist, from the look of her well-attended fundraiser Tuesday night. Quist, a first time office holder who weathered a full-bore media storm her first two years in office, is gearing up to seek re-election. One likely opponent, Chubby Watts, is telling people he isn't going to run against her, while another, sheriff's deputy Jay Witt, appears to be testing the waters.