Metro Pulse/Ear to the Ground

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Slander in the Sand

So Richard Bean was minding his own business, being superintendent of the juvenile detention center that Knox County named after him last year, when he got a call that he says scared him half to death.

It was District Attorney General Randy Nichols, conveying a message warning him that be was about to get sued for slander by lobbyist Bill Nolan. Alarmed, Bean had his lawyer, Wendell Hall, fire off to Nolan a letter, the gist of which was that "you recently asked General Nichols to pass along notice of your intention to bring a defamation action, specifically slander, against Mr. Bean. You further advised Gen. Nichols that the alleged defamatory publication was somehow related to your relationship with Jamie Roberts Hagood, State Representative for the 17th district. Mr. Bean has no recollection of any discussions that would give rise to a legal action and was shocked to learn of the threatened lawsuit."

The letter goes on to ask Nolan to provide details of his "alleged claim" and says that "...having such matters brought to his attention by the attorney general for his home county is disconcerting to say the least."

Nichols confirms the conversation with Nolan and delivering the message to Bean. Nolan, contacted this week, says he has not received the letter (which is dated Feb. 3 and sent to a Nashville address).

Bean, whose friend Billy Stokes is running against Hagood for the 6th District state Senate seat being vacated by Ben Atchley, says he is waiting to hear from Nolan. "When the attorney general calls and tells me that some big lobbyist down there is Nashville is gonna sue me, things are getting serious. I just said 'Lord-a-mercy, I don't know a thing about them. 'It kind of scared me to death. I'm just over here doing my job, trying to take care of these little children.'"

Tree-Hugging Tim Burchett

A bill that started as a way of closing a billboard legislation loophole turned into something else last week, and Sen. Tim Burchett's instinctive opposition to it has made him a surprise hero of the environmental community.

The bill was gutted and amended to enable non-conforming billboards to be doubled in size, and it was being zipped through committee and slated for a quick vote on the Senate floor when Burchett blew the whistle. He says something told him it was time to slow that mustang down: "I looked out there and saw all the lawyers that were arguing over it last year suddenly got to where they agreed with it this year. No one could find out about the amendment—introduced one day, [and] two days later getting ready to go to whole Senate—that's like NAFTA, and I knew it had to be a bad thing. There was definitely a bad vibe out there."

Knoxville's lobbyist Tony Thompson was able to help put the brakes on the bill, and it has been postponed, City Councilman Joe Hultquist had been sounding the alarm, and Burchett has become a hero to the opponents of rampant billboardry. The senator says the amended bill would have done away with all the local rules on billboards. "I've never received so many positive emails in my life—all these people thanking me," he says, "That bill just didn't smell right."

News Flash: South Knox Bubba

Sunday February 08, 2004

"Alabama will not recognize Massachusetts license.

"The State of Alabama announced today that it will no longer recognize Massachusetts driver's licenses. According to Alabama state officials, Anyone caught driving in Alabama on a Massachusetts driver's license will be given a warning and asked to leave the state. If they are caught a second time, they will be subject to a $10,000 fine and one year in state prison.

"Alabama Junior Assistant Deputy Attorney General Harland Banks was asked why the state decided to adopt this policy. 'Down here we believe in the sanctity of driving. We believe it is a relationship between a man and his automobile and its maker. We will not have our personal transportation values dictated to us by another state, nor the Fed'ral gub'ment. We will take whatever steps necessary to protect our values and our very way of life from attack by lib'rul Northerners' said Banks.

"He added, 'Besides, we can't have homosexualists and other perverts running around loose in our great state of Alabama all willy-nilly like, now can we?'"

It's February Fool's Day on SKB's blog.