The People News, a free newspaper serving Cleveland Tennessee (TN) and Bradley County Tennessee (Tn).





Of Bradley County Tn.


SEPTEMBER  2007

                            The People News, a free newspaper serving Cleveland and Bradley County Tn.

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The Gobble Squabble

By Joe Kirkpatrick

(I had previously said this month I would write about "Identity Theft - Law Enforcement Style", but hopefully will have it in next months column.)

I hate to get on board and beat a dead horse, but since everybody else has written about the "Gobble Squabble," I thought I might as well throw in my two cents.

A lot of times, I like to sit back and analyze all parts of a situation to see if perhaps I can "think outside the box" and come up with a viable alternative solution to the problem. After studying the situation for the past couple of months, I have arrived with a solution that can give Sheriff Gobble everything he wants without raising any taxes.

First off, is we have to take a close look at why we have a sheriff's department to begin with, and an almost new jail that is already filled to capacity. What segment of the population does the sheriff's department deal with? Well, if you haven't been over there, I can tell you. 90% of what they deal with is low life losers - time and time again, over and over. Most of us have been the victim of a crime at one time or another. If so, and the person was apprehended, you probably found out this was not the first time they had been in trouble. In studying the problem of the sheriff's department, I got

Joe Kirkpatrick

to thinking of the one common denominator that a vast majority of the losers they deal with have in common: I would be willing to bet that 90+ per cent are high school drop outs.

Now, what department of county government takes up the most money? The Bradley County School System. Did you know that less than 7 out of 10 students who enter high school in Bradley County will graduate?

Let me say, the school system isn't totally responsible for this drop out rate, but they certainly have a share in it. It has long been proven traditional education does not work for evidently 3 out of 10 students, but no effective wide spread alternative program has been established for them. The other contributing factor for the drop out rate is the large segment of parents who don't work, draw some type of check, and give no support or encouragement to their child to stay in school. In fact, the only encouragement many of these dropouts get from their parents is "hell no, you ain't dropping out - they'll cut our food stamps!"

The solution? Since the school system is failing almost 1/3 of the students they are paid to graduate, take 10% of the budget for secondary schools and give it to the sheriff's department. That should more than meet Sheriff Gobble's wildest budget dreams. Remember all of those who dropped out because they lacked motivation from their parents? The sheriff's department would be required to use a portion of the money to establish GED classes. As a motivational tool, misdemeanor sentences would be suspended and the inmate released upon completion of their GED.

Make sense? Of course it does! Unfortunately, our local government is not allowed by state and federal law to make decisions on what makes "sense." Oh well, back to the Gobble Squabble I guess.
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