TN Child Support Enforcement

Child Support Enforcement for the State of Tennessee, it is sometimes hard to figure out whom to go to for help. Some things the county in which the child support was award has jurisdiction except if you have it put in your decree that you want another county to handle it. Then you have the State of Tennessee Department of Human Services that have a department that is supposes to help you with collecting child support. I know Shelby County has a company that they use to help collect child support. Though it seems that Shelby County is starting to figure out that the company is not doing such a great job at collecting it. I guess if you compare Memphis to some other counties that they are doing a decent job. When I started getting child support my divorce was in another county my lawyer had it put in the child custody agreement that Shelby County Courts were to oversee any problems or changes in child support because they had a better track record than the county I was divorced in. In The Daily News, February 8th issue they are reporting that child support payment have dropped by about 13 million dollar in the last half of 2009 compared to the last half of 2008. We must take into account the recession that is going on and that some of this is caused by parents without jobs or now working jobs that don’t pay as much. Tennessee 1996 implemented a law that would allow the delinquent parents to have their driver license, professional license, and hunting and fishing license to be revoked. In September, of 2000 they reported that they mailed notices to 11,000 parents that were delinquent on their child support. In November they ended up revoking driver licenses of approximately 1,300 for non-payment. Of those revoked during these round 31% was Shelby County. This was reportedly the highest number since the program started. The major of these were men as about 90% of the delinquent parents are men. Some people will things are a little strange like revoking the privilege to hunt in the State of Tennessee. Unless something has change I don’t think Tennessee talks to Mississippi or Arkansas, but I guess doing this is better than what they had been doing. I do think Tennessee has made some improvements to collecting child support, but as with most Government agency they are slow to react to changing situations as with dealing with the effects of the recession and unemployment and collection of child support.

Uninsured Motorist

Is anyone outraged about the uninsured motorists in Tennessee?  In our day and age, automobile insurance is a necessity, not a luxury.  If you drive, get insured!  There are too many motorists driving around without automobile coverage.  This causes motorist with insurance to pay the price for uninsured motorist.  Automobile insurance is not enforced in the state of Tennessee.  If you are pulled over for a traffic violation you’re asked for license, registration and proof of insurance.  If you do not have proof of insurance the only thing that may happen is that you are given a citation.  This needs to change!  In the state of Georgia if you are stopped and you do not have proof of insurance you got to JAIL.  I think if Tennessee would become stricter on their insurance laws more people would become insured and stay insured.  When someone purchases an automobile it is required that insurance is purchased in order to take it off the lot, but once you leave if you do not pay it the next month the insurance is canceled and people continue to drive around uninsured.  Uninsured and underinsured motorist are both optional in Tennessee. The idea behind uninsured motorist insurance is to protect the persons who do have insurance from drivers who do not have liability insurance. If the consumer (Joe) injures another driver (Bob), and Bob doesn’t have insurance, Joe’s insurance carrier pays for Bob’s injuries. However, if Bob who is uninsured hits Joe and Joe suffers serious injuries?  More than likely, Joe is not going to recover a dime from Bob.  So when Joe pays his premium each month for the $25,000 liability policy, he is also getting the protection of uninsured motorist coverage.  In this case the responsible party Joe has to pay for irresponsible drivers like Bob.  An example of underinsured motorist would be responsible Joe is insured with an insurance policy with limits of $100,000 with the same amount of uninsured motorist coverage $100,000.  When Joe becomes involved in an accident with another driver (Susan) who is insured but she only has $50,000 of liability coverage.  In this case Susan is responsible for causing the accident.  Joe’s damages consisted of $75,000, which leaves Joe’s insurance company to pay the remaining $25,000 because Susan is underinsured.  The only way for Joe to recovery any of his losses is to sue the uninsured and underinsured motorists.  If Joe sues and wins he still may never receive a dime from either motorist.  Why should responsible Joe have to pay for irresponsible motorists in Tennessee?  Why does it appear that policies are made to protect the people who do not follow the policies?  I’m not sure about how you feel but I am tired of paying insurance premiums to protect myself from irresponsible motorists.

Gun rights for felons.

The second amendment of the United States' constitution in the section of the United States Bill of Rights, adopted on December 15, 1791 states that it is the right for all American citizen to bear arms. That is the legal right of every american citizen. In fact, this is the way our forfathers have put it: " A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." However, Federal law prohibates anyone convicted of a crime punishable by a year or more of imprisonment to possess, handle and even transport a firearm. This provision of the law; 18 U.S.C. 922(g) strictly prohibates any felon to own a firearm in and/or outside his/ her residence. To that provision, are some exceptions. I think in my opinion that non violent offenders should not have their second amendment right stripped away from them. We live in the United State, where there is a gun on almost every block, legaly or not. Therefor, I believe non vio;ent offenders should keep the right to bear arms after paying their debt to our dear society. I also believe that the provision is broad and overly narrow: I will say that because, the general proscription of the section 922(g) is not limited to just felons; by its trems, the provision forbides not jsut felons but anyone convicted of a crime punishable by an imprisonment for a term exceeding one year to own a firearm or ammunition whether the crime is a felony or not. Also section 921(a)(20)(B) limits the impact of this provision on misdemeanors by defining the punishment. In fact let's not forget that the 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(20)(A) expressly exempts certain white collar felonies such as antitrust or unfair trade practices. In my opinion, this second amendment provision should be revised and the interpretation change.

Mid-South Fairgrounds Re-development- a sentimental view

The Mid-South Fairgrounds is a site in Memphis that is packed with historical and sentimental value. However, a lot of the fun and allure of the fairgrounds has gone away, because of the shape that it is in at the present time. Several of its wonderful buildings have been abandoned and the parking lots and streets have been left unattended for years causing the area to look and feel outdated. But the fairgrounds I know were full of memories of innocent times when I was young and had my whole life in front of me. I want to propose a revitalization to this area so future generations can enjoy all the fun and history that the Mid-South Fairgrounds can give. Some of the fondest memories I can remember are of when the Fair came to town. My family and I would go to the Mid-South Fairgrounds every year just to visit, ride the fair rides, and to eat the wonderful food. My favorite fair food is the Philly cheese-steak sandwich, I would usually eat two or three of those every trip we made to the fair. My Mom had to get a famous fair corndog and she would be set for the whole year food-wise, until the next fair of course. I would spend all of my money and most of my parents playing all of the games and come away with my 2 dollar stuffed animal that I won. But the fair has moved on to another location and is no longer at the fairgrounds. All that remains in its place is an empty parking lot and some old decaying buildings. The Mid-South Fairgrounds need to be re-developed so that I can bring my own family back there again, so we can start making our own fond memories. But bringing the Fair back to town is not the only reason to re-develop the fairgrounds, it is such a historic part of our beloved city that has just gone to waste. Something should be done to revamp this whole area. So much history is being left to rot away like some unwanted garbage. For instance, the Mid-South Coliseum is one such place full of history and nostalgia. So many famous bands performed concerts there that it could be a music hall of fame in itself. Bands like The Beetles and Elvis Pressley performed on this historic stage on any given night. I remember going to wrestling matches at the Coliseum and seeing wrestlers like Hulk Hogan and Jerry " The King" Lawler battling it out in the "squared circle." Before Memphis had the Memphis Grizzlies NBA team, professional basketball was a part of the history of Memphis. The old ABA team, the Memphis Pros played professionally at the Coliseum and called it home. A couple of years during the 70s, the Coliseum held the ABA championship. And of course the Memphis State Tiger basketball team called it home for decades until the Pyramid came along. Legendary Memphis basketball players like Larry Finch and Keith Lee held the city in awe as they flashed their greatness on the basketball court. The heart of the Mid-South Fairgrounds needs to be kept in tact, I propose a complete renovation of the Coliseum. It should be brought up to code and made handicap accessible. The City of Memphis would then be able to bring back concerts to the area and boost the economy of this area of Memphis. The next thing I would propose is to create a new football stadium in this area. To make room for the stadium, they could take down Tim McCarver Stadium which is not being used and use that space plus the parking lot to put a new stadium in. Once the new stadium has been built, the old Liberty Bowl stadium can be taken down, and more parking could be put in for the Coliseum and the new stadium. I think the re-development of the Mid-South Fairgrounds should be a priority for the city government. Except for a few football games a year, the fairgrounds is wasted space. Gone are the days of concerts and the annual Fair. They have shipped out to new, updated venues. The city council has to make sure that they renovate this site to be used again in the future. If not the Fair, at least some new performing arts. I'm sure there are people in this city like me that would love some more culture in their lives and do not want to travel downtown to find it. If you would like to learn about other proposals for the Mid-South Fairgrounds, you can find it here http://midsouthfairgrounds.org/index.html

Foreclosures.....is there an end in sight?

It seems these days that everyone is talking about foreclosures. You can’t turn on the news without hearing about the rise in home foreclosures or the drop in the housing market. I didn’t pay much attention to it because I do not own my own home. Home foreclosures became a topic I learned very quickly when I got a job in a law office that handled bankruptcy and foreclosures for the banks. Yes, the banks, the evil institutions that the tax payers have to keep bailing out on a seemingly regular basis. One cannot realize the sheer magnitude of home foreclosures until you spend one day answering phones in a law office that forecloses on homes. It is heart breaking at times and the urge to become bitter is overwhelming. A lot of people got into this mess because they bought a home with an adjustable rate mortgage. For those that don’t know what that is, here’s a quick lesson. Basically you start out with a very small interest rate and then suddenly after 6-8 months, even a year, the interest rate explodes and your $600 a month house payment suddenly becomes $2000 a month. Other people lose their homes due to a job loss, illness, or other “life happens” moment. I’ve heard stories about people losing their job, having cancer, getting divorced or just getting in way over their head. For some people it is a relief to have their home taken away, for others it is devastating. When things go bad for a large number of people the government seems to step in and try to fix it. I use the term fix lightly. Right now in the state of Tennessee there is a law that was recently passed that basically makes the bank and/or firm handling the foreclosure give the mortgagor 60 days notice before they begin the foreclosure process. What that really means is that the bank and/or law office can’t set a date to sell your house on the courthouse steps for 60 days. The government has also taken action in encouraging loan modification companies. These are the people who you give your last $1000 and take their word that they will negotiate with your bank for a new rate and lower payments. There is a government website that promotes these loan modification companies. Here’s the problem: they are not regulated. No one is watching over these companies and quite a few of them have taken the money and ran. People call me to find out that their home was sold at auction and that the loan modification company took their money and they are now left with no money and no home. Neither one of these “government” solutions seem to be working. A lot of people don’t know that the bank WANTS you to keep your home and most times will work out a loan modification with you directly. The media and government are still painting the banks as being the bad guys. Is there a way to fix foreclosures?? At first I thought so but after this week I’m starting to wonder. A typical week at the firm brings in roughly 50 foreclosure referrals. This week I had right around 300 referrals cross my desk. Maybe there isn’t an end in sight. There isn’t really a win-win situation. The banks need their money and it seems that the people who go into foreclosure don’t have any money. The banks can’t certainly say “Oh well, maybe next month” or “ Don’t worry about it, we don’t need the money”. Hopefully we will hit bottom soon and things will start to go up. Will foreclosures ever end?? Probably not. Will they be this severe forever?? Let’s hope not.

Are red-light camera's worth the costs?

I'm wondering the the $30K/month to have six "red-light" cameras in the city of Murfreesboro, TN has been paying for itself. Paying off how? The monthly expense to city taxpayers? Is it cutting down on major accidents by those who think a yellow light means punch the accelerator? Although I haven't been caught, I must say that I go a lot slower approaching a traffic light, even if it is green and yes, my heart races when I slip up and do happen to 'gun it' at yellow, but those instances are becoming less frequent. The number of 'rear -enders' has increased though, so depending on your definition of 'major accident', I wonder if it's paying off. There have been lawsuits filed and won in our country that this is an 'illegal' practice as the picture taken is of the license plate and not the driver, so who's to say that it was me or you driving your car. Like a lot of things in life, it does have it's pro's and con's, what say you?

The Imam and the 9/11 Truther

The Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is the man behind the "Ground Zero" Mosque. On 9/13 Bill O' Reilly broke the news on his show that the Imam has ties with Dr. Faiz Khan, a 9/11 Truther. A 9/11 Truther does not believe that we were attacked by terrorist and radical Islamists, they believe our government orchestrated the whole thing. This association between the Imam and Dr. Faiz Khan was a partnership in the American Society for the Advancement of Muslims. http://www.mediaite.com/tv/bernie-goldberg-tells-bill-oreilly-why-liberals-like-the-ground-zero-mosque The New York Post had this information and was publishing the article on 9/14/2010. This is a bad partnership , because Dr. Faiz Khan is so active in the 9/11 Truther organizations. The Imam is claiming to be a moderate and on a peaceful mission buliding this mosque , but at this location and being partners with a 9/11 Truther , that claims a government conspiracy, makes things seem awfully suspicious as to the intentions of this mosque in that location. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/imam_pal_is_nut_gPPtzFwetyaUlE3u4P4cKI The New York post had background information on Dr. Faiz Khan that lead to this discovery. Khan serves on the advisory of Muslims for 9/11 Truth and is also founder of the Muslim-Jewish Christian Alliance, for 9/11 Truth (MUJCA). On MUJCA's website , Khan wrote "the inescapable fact (is) that 9/11 was an inside job." He then states that 9/11 was a criminal mission not coming from 'militant Islam', although ' militant Islamic networks may have played a partial role. He suggests that their role may have been as a scapegoat. How could a moderate peace loving American ssociate such as, Iama Feisal Abdul Rauf, be partners with such an off kilter conspiracy theorist such as Dr. Faiz Khan? What does this make Americans think about the source of the "ground zero" mosque and its true intentions? Guilt by association is assumed when one has such ties. Do we really want a center for Muslim worship next to ground zero with such ties to an absurdly delusional person such as Dr. Faiz Khan? I say not. I did a research paper on the 9/11 conspiracy theorist and some of their cliams last semester. It is shocking to think that people actually believe that this is true. I am going to include this paper in this blog so that you can see the craziness that these preach daily. Module 7 Research Paper Refuting The 911 Conspiracy Theory July 17, 2010 Honei Macy Bowers ENTC 3030 Professor Jamie Pacton Introduction The main proposal by the 911 conspiracy theorists is that the Islamic Terrorists were pawns in a far more sinister plot that includes the United States highest official who aim to establish global socialist police state. (1) I intend to refutiate this proposal through highlighting the three main "smoking guns" that the 911 conspiracy theorists put forth as evidence of their claims , exposing the true nature of these events of this horrible tragedy. (2) The three "smoking guns" are as follows; thermite was used in demolition of the World Trade Centers as the plane attacks occurred, the National Institute of Science and Technology are covering up the Federal Governments involvement in the planning and execution of the attacks of September 11, 2001, and that President George W. Bush not only knew about the attacks but also had been in on the planning and its intended outcome. (1) Body 911 conspiracy theorists are convinced that thermite was present at the World Trade Centers, which is a chemical used for large demolitions. (1) "The major smoking gun here is the molten iron that was being dug out of the rubble over a month after the event. The only plausible scientific explanation for that is that thermite was involved, residues of which were also found in the rubble and dust. Thermite is used in controlled demolitions- planted ahead of time and controlled at the time of demolition.... The reason the government is not addressing this issue is because they were in on the execution of this attack." (Sterling D. Allan, September 12,2008) (1) The main evidences of the conspiracy theorists proposal of the thermite being used at the World trade Centers is that of yellow smoke being present, traces of thermite found in the rubble, and molten iron being dug out of the rubble and dust over a month after the event. (1) The yellow smoke and residue was left behind by the ironworker when cutting the columns at an angle so that they would fall in a certain direction during cleanup. No traces of thermite have ever been proven to be found in the aftermath of the World Trade Center destruction. (2) Thermite , generally, makes an ugly hole with molten drips/blobs. It does not make any clean cuts due to its chaotic burning pattern. (2) You would need tons of thermite to blow up one massive core column. (2). The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) is the next target of the 911 conspiracy theorists claim in the government cover up. (1) "NIST's role in 9/11 cover-up , established to be a pillar of scientific accuracy, the NIST has prostituted itself in the case of its role in helping the elements of the U.S. government to cover their tracks of culpability in the 9/11 tragedy." (1) According to the theorists, the NIST has become party to the 9/11 cover up, falsifying information, cooking the data, and otherwise acting in disregard to the ethics of science it is supposed to uphold and epitomize as the official body for the United States establishing standards of measurement. (1) " NIST is supposed to be the final word on measurement accuracy, but in the case of 9/11, they have prostituted themselves at the hands of their federal masters who are likewise involved in the cover up. they have thus become another tool in helping to establish a world socialist dictatorship under the control of a sinister, insider elite." (1) On August 2008, NIST published their findings that the World trade Center buildings came down "due to fire alone". Contrary to the Federal Government o official story supported by the NIST report, the 911 conspiracy theorists believe many facts point to controlled demolition of the World trade Center buildings 1,2, and 7. (1) On October 19, 2004 the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released the latest findings from their World trade Center investigation. The NIST World Trade Center investigations goal is to recommend improvements in the way people design, construct, maintain and use buildings, especially high rises. (3) The report mainly contained: 1) The leading hypotheses for the collapse of WTC 1 and 2- chronological sequence of major collapse events. 2) Time delay between the collapses of the WTC towers explained WTC 103 minutes nearly twice as long as WTC 2. 3) Post-impact capabilities of the WTC towers assessed- demand to capacity ratios. 4) Fire-induced core column shortening detected. 5) First responder command and control was hampered-inadequate information dispersed. The assessments and evaluations of the buildings structural integrity were assessed post- impact. (3) The third and final aspect of the 911 conspiracy theorists proposal was that President Bush had a role and prior knowledge of the September 11 attacks . (1) A petition was filed against George W. Bush charged with high treason for complicity in the attack of 911 (Oct 14, 2003 by Sterling D. Allan). (1) The theorists believe that George W. Bush not only knew in advance , but had been in on its planning and its intended outcome. (1) "I was thinking about what it meant for America to be under attack. It was an amazing thought." President Bush recalling what he was thinking about while sitting with the children at Booker Elementary . (Oct. 2001, California). (1) Long before 9/11/01 the white House debated taking the fight to al-Qaeda. By the time they decided, it was too late. The transition between the Clinton administration and his National Security Advisor, Sandy Berger and the Bush administration and his new National Security Advisor, Condaleeza Rice proved very costly to the communication of the intelligence gathered in the years before concerning terrorism. (4) An aggressive plan to fight al-Qaeda was in the works at the end of 2000, especially fueled by the attack in Yemen on October 12, 2000. Unfortunately the strategy was shelved for the next administration to deal with and the Bush administration was in the midst of reevaluating when the September 11, 2001 attacks took place. (4) Conclusion Nobody predicted September 11th, how and when the attacks would come. The bureaucrats in Washington did know that a major terrorist attack against American interests was imminent.(4) The 911 conspiracy theorists believed that evidence shows that thermite was used for demolition of the World Trade Centers, the NIST is covering up the Federal Government involvement in the attacks, and President George W. Bush knew of the attack in advance and had been planning on its intended outcome. From all research and facts uncovered concerning the September 11, 2001 ; thermite was not present or evidenced in the rubble of the World Trade Centers, the National Institute of Science and Technology reports on the 911 tragedy are valid, and President George W. Bush had no prior knowledge and/or involvement in the planning of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World trade Centers. (4) References (1) Patriot Saints for the Kingdom of God. "911 Conspiracy" http://patriotsaints.com/News/911/Conspiracy (2) Shagster, Scott S., and David B. Benson."Debunking 911 Conspiracy Theories, Exploding the Myths" http://ww.debunking911.com/thermite.htm (3) National Institute of Standards and Technology. "NIST's Role in 911 Conspiracy" http://www.nist.gov/index.html (4) Time Magazine."Before September 11th. The Secret History. They Had a Plan" http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020812/story.html

Gun Control

Currently the Obama administration is trying to implement more gun control polices to Congress in order to make owning a firearm a long and tedious task. The Second Amendment is stated in the United States Constitution in the section of the United States Bill of Rights that was adopted on December 15, 1791 it is the right for all American Citizen to bear arms. The Bill of Rights is every Americans legal rights as a citizen of this country. Throughout the course of Americans existence many political parties and leaders have tried to implement new addition to many of the amendments in the Constitution in order to make their personal perversion of the rights our country was founded on. The fear is that the Country was founded to be a Republic, "Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth." - Abraham Lincoln, will be compromised and the government will start to control our way of life spinning our country into a socialist style government. With each new bill congress and the president passes is one more step in the wrong direction. With every new policy are new laws and with laws comes authorial action. Many of these actions are implemented by revoking of citizen’s original rights therefore leaving a American citizen bare of all legal right and in complete control of the government. Firearms are indeed dangerous and someone who owns one has an obligation to be properly educated and trained with the weapon. So with the current laws emplaced a possible buyer must be 18 years of age to purchase a rifle or shotgun, 21 years of age for a pistol, go through a background check to see if the buyer has been convicted of any felons, domestic assault or abuse, dishonorably discharged veterans from the military, illegal immigrants, anyone under indictment for felony charges, mentally ill or insane, and people with outstanding misdemeanor or felony warrants. I feel this process is important ensuring only those who are illegible are able to purchase a firearm. The Obama administration along with many other liberal politicians are wanting every firearm owner to register every weapon with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms so that the government knows of every weapon an legal law abiding citizen has. Failure to do so under these new policies will result in property searches without a warrant, confiscation of firearms, fines and possible jail time. Keep in mind this is apart of a process of a law abiding citizen takes. Nowhere in these new laws or polices is it making it any more difficult for someone who doesn’t live by the laws to obtain a firearm. So now in this society where a law abiding citizen is punished for following the laws its country has put into action can not own a firearm to protect himself from a transient citizen or non citizen who has obtained an illegal firearm and is now threatening their life. With each new stipulation on our original rights will result in more power to the government and less to the people. By disarming the citizen you are arming the criminals making it the governments responsibility to hire and train more police officers to protect the citizens. Lets take Chesapeake, VA 2009 statistics for an example, Population 222,455, Full time Police Officers 512. This putting 434 citizens to one police officer and patrolling a area roughly 340.7 square miles with a population density of 653 people per square mile. This is a large area and a large number of people for only 1 police office to be in control of. If we just keep the standards we have on gun control and actually enforced purchasing and carrying firearms will in turn instill fear to many criminals. With the fear of not knowing who may or may not be carrying. With this idea comes great responsibility to ensure proper education and training as stated earlier. But empowering the people with their original right to bare arms will make our country a safer place. Sources 1) Sands, Trent. “The Instant Background Check for Gun Purchasers”. Loompanics Unusual & Unique Books. Web. 2) Chesapeake, Virginia. Web.

Year Round Education

The year round education (YRE) issue has been around for many years. As of the 2006/2007 school year there were approximately 3,181 schools in 46 states in our nation utilizing some form of the year round school calendar. The four states that do not have any form of year round school calendar are New Hampshire, Maine, Mississippi and Wyoming. California, of course, led the nation with 1,322 schools operating on some form of the year round schedule, following by Hawaii with 296 and Arizona with 175. There are many issues to address when considering the year round school schedule. Some of the very first things that come to my mind are the top issue my daughters faced when switching from private to public schools in the last two years. The public schools in our district rank very high in the state for educational achievement, however both the high school and the elementary school are both operating at or beyond full capacity. The easy answer to that would be to build new schools but when the state is barely able to cover the funding to pay teachers it makes me wonder where they will come up with the money to build a few new schools, let alone furnish and staff them. Sure, they could raise taxes but in our economy I am sure I speak for many when I say “who can afford more taxes”? As a matter of fact, my younger daughter is attending the Elementary school. At the end of last year, the district announced that the new primary school would be opened in the fall of 2010, housing kindergarten through second grade. My daughter, who is in the 5th grade this year, would for the first time, be attending the Elementary school with only the third, fourth and fifth grade in it. The trailers would no longer be necessary. The lunchroom would no longer be overcrowded. The classroom size would be smaller. New facilities would be put in to place such as a new science lab. Well, here we are, some 6 weeks into the new school year and the primary school is still not completed. The classes are still overcrowded. There is no additional funding in the school budget for teachers so unless the classrooms are over 34 children each, they cannot hire another teacher. They do not have teacher’s assistants or aides to assist with so many children. My daughter’s class has 32 kids. The buses are overcrowded. At the beginning of October, the entire school will be uprooted as the younger grades move to the newly opened primary school and the older kids start switching classrooms. The school estimates it should take no more than one week to make “the move” but that is a full week of learning time for these kids. And maybe that doesn’t seem like a lot of time but to a child trying to learn the basic skills to pass these state standardized tests that are crammed down their throats all year long a classroom with 32 other children, those 5 days could be detrimental. For anyone that is not familiar with YRE I will start with a brief definition. Year Round School (YRS) are schools that restructure the traditional school calendar, August to June, to a calendar such that learning followed by vacations are spread throughout the entire year to make learning more continuous. These YRS do not add additional days to the standard 180 days of learning but instead just reorganize the days. Typically YRS use the single track with unified attendance or a multi-track with staggered attendance, or some combination of both. The single track provides the entire student body and staff the same school calendar with the same attendance days and vacation time. The multi-track divided the students and teachers into groups with staggered attendance days and vacation periods. Well, that leads me to the first of some of the many pros to year round school calendars. When the schools are overcrowded, a multi-track year round school schedule could possibly be the answer. New schools would not have to be built. These rickety little trailers that look like they would blow away during a hard wind storm we see outside our elementary school now would not be necessary. And of course, one of the key points in this is the money saved. According to research, Florida’s Marion County school system estimated a savings of more than $12 million in construction costs by switching to a multi-track year round school calendar. Imagine what could be done with $12 million dollars? That would pay quite a few teacher salaries and possibly some teacher assistants. Of course, the multi-track schedule does raise a lot of concerns for other reasons as well. If you have more than one child in school, there is no guarantee that they will both be on the same track in the multi-track system. Then my next issues are the research and statistics on summer learning loss. The teachers seem to spend the first six weeks of back to school giving refresher courses in last year’s learning. That’s like starting out behind. I know my kids always look forward to summer break but about three or four weeks into it they are bored and ready to go back to school. This topic came to my attention during this last summer and I have been very interested in finding out more about. I have read quite a bit about the topic and so far I must say that I am leaning toward being more of a proponent than an opponent to the YRS.

"e gov't" friend or foe?

"e government" friend or foe?

Unfortunately over the Summer I endured a serious accident while enjoying a day at the lake. While I thought that cliff jumping was a spontaneous yet safe thing to do was I ever so wrong. My 60ft free fall was the dumbest thing I have ever done! No, I didn't hit a rock and the water was not shallow, as I have been asked a hundred times, my ever so graceful fall caused me to tear my acl and multiple other ligaments in each knee. As I hit the water my knees bent and the harsh blow tore my knees to spaghetti. Now I was a 24 year old girl, working as a server full time to pay for college, and needless to say I was also uninsured. I bet you are thinking this blog is going to be about our public healthcare crisis haha it easily could be, but that would consist of writing a book! No, this blog is about another problem in our ever so evolving local government. Before my accident I never really had much of an encounter with our local government, only the local DMV that we all enjoy so much. Due to my problem with being uninsured I had to turn to the local government for help, not only did I need to find a doctor to do my surgery pro bono, but I also had bills to pay! The doctors and specialist I had dealt with, and friends just said go online and apply for SSI, disability, Tenn Care, food stamps, etc. So that is exactly what I tried to do, needless to say, going on the internet and applying for such help was not as easy as everybody made it seem! The navigational toolbars were useless and each site would send you to another site, that would send you to another, that would give me a phone number that I had to call several time before getting a human on the other end and ultimately was useless. Talk about frustrating and discouraging! So I would make appointments at DHS and Unemployment, wait for hours in a crowded room to be treated like a number, and ultimately got denied for any help because I am a full time female student without children, grrrrr. Anyway after blowing off some steam my point is that our local e government needs some work. The concept is great, some may argue that society is becoming so impersonal, but I think that being able to do certain things over the internet is an awesome idea. My primary concerns are that government websites need to be easily accessible, user friendly and secure. If these issues can be resolved, local citizens can enjoy the convenience of these sites, and spend less time waiting in frustrating places such as the DMV. As the semester goes on I look forward to resolving the e government issue.

is this working?

is this working??

TN Child Support Enforcement

This blog post will be in close relation to a previous blog in February 2010 regarding child support and justice. There are millions of cases all over the world that are somewhat comparable to one another. The difference in all of these cases is the mother and father involved and what type of character they portray. In most cases one parent always benefits more than the other, instead of the children being the ones benefitting from the current situation. To provide a real world example of a situation of this nature, we should get on a personal level. I have been and still am involved in a relationship with a Daddy of two small children. These children went through divorcing parents at the ages of one and four. These children are now four and almost eight. Over the past almost three years, it has been a very torturous situation for both their father and the children. The mother in this situation has refused to take a full time job, she lives with her mother and father and she goes to school at best part time. What about her situation is helping to better the lives of their children? While on the other end of this situation, dad travels all over to make a living, pays over a thousand dollars a month in child support, he receives every other weekend visitation and that is if she decides if she wants to bring them or not, on a consistent basis we have to purchase new clothing, new shoes, school supplies for our house to work with them, school supplies for school and the list goes on and on. Meanwhile, what is the child support for? The child support is set based both incomes and it is supposed to support the children in all aspects of life. When mom enrolls them in sports, part of her responsibility is to ensure they have the proper equipment to play, when mom fights to have them ¾ of the year, it is mom’s responsibility to have them dressed properly and in clothing the fits properly. The situation is this, no one forced her to take those children 285 days per year, that is what she fought for in order for her to be able to collect her child support check so she could continue to be a stay at home mommy and live the lifestyle she use to. When parents chose to become husband and wife and have children, should things not work out; it isn’t a matter of who can draw the most blood to bring the other parent down? It should be what can we do as parents to our children to make sure that they have the most normal and sufficient life as possible. Most often times rulings are made based on the bad raps of parents. It is sad that each case can’t be decided on because of it uniqueness, it has to be decided on because of the history of this cycle. Sadly enough, during custody battles and child support calculations, the children are never the ones that are discussed. For the most part, one parent is angry at the other and they want nothing more than to use their child or children to control the situation and the other parent. I am not going to point fingers at either parent for doing something of this nature because often times both parents are trying to do it to each other. The judge in most cases makes an emotional decision because one parent has played on the judges emotions and the custody ends up in I feel as “what the judge would want to happen to he/she.” What the most unfortunate part about this is, there are really no laws on certain situations. All of these parenting time decisions are based on an individual’s emotions toward this situation, not what is most beneficial and realistic for the children. I hope is that some day, this will all change. I hope the change is that each parent receives a fair chance to parent their child the best of their ability until they are proven that they aren’t fit enough to do so. Maybe one day, justice will be served!