TVA’s brier patch mentality
May 23, 2009
Oh Golly, Miss Molly! This is TVA at its best. Magnanimously TVA wants to pay for a PR program for Roane County because of TVA’s own Kingston “catastrophe”. I believe it really is for TVA to hope to ameliorate charges of their possible criminal negligence.
Does any thinking person believe this would be only for Roane County, Tennessee? And why should Roane County taxpayers pay for the PR? TVA already has a huge in-house PR organization. Uncle Remus’ Mr. Rabbit pleaded with Mr. Fox not to throw him in the brier patch.*
Just who really needs a major PR adjustment? It’s TVA, of course, and it would be a win-win result for them. It is much more important to get the mess cleaned up than even to be thinking about “PR” for anyone. There already is enough credit and blame to go around. The credit at this time goes mostly to those who have risen to the call to correct this gross injustice by the TVA. Among the environmental activist groups and individuals who are suing TVA is a group headed by residents of the Swan Pond area, the ones most directly and grossly affected. http://lifeonswanpond.livejournal.com/
Entangled in all this mess is TVA’s “bribes” in lieu of taxes. Roane County received “no strings” money of $1,263,035 from TVA last year with a similar amount expected for next year.
This is the perfect scam; TVA pays Roane County $1.2 million which the county could then use, plus another $700,000 of taxpayers’ money, to pay for a big time PR firm to do what? Tout the TVA, naturally. TVA says it will pay them back. It is mind boggling how TVA manipulates not only money but tries through their “bribes” in lieu of taxes to influence local officials for them to “lean” toward the TVA.
I did notice an early reticence on the part of Roane County officials that they did not speak too harshly of the TVA, a tune now somewhat changed because of the anger of their constituents, the voters.
The best PR for Roane County and for the TVA is for them to get in there and do the job quickly while doing it right.
Don’t be duped again by the TVA!
Ernest Norsworthy
emnorsworthy@earthlink.net
http://norsworthyopinion.com
*Brer Rabbit was stuck in some tar stuff and it looked like finally, he would be eaten by Brer Fox. Brer Rabbit pleaded with Brer Fox to do anything with him, hang him, drown him, pluck out his eyes, or throw him in the fire, anything except to be thrown in the brier patch. So that is where Brer Fox threw him.
Ha, ha, the rabbit laughed after the fox threw him in the brier patch. “Bred en bawn in a brier-patch” he said, some distance away.
EN