Portland, Tennessee Blog

I LOVE our library and the staff is beyond friendly and sweet, and I want to say "job well done" to everyone that works there.

BUT...have you ever noticed how LOUD it is in there? I was always raised to be "shhhhh" quiet in a library. At our library, people are talking and laughing out loud, and kids are screaming. If you haven't noticed, give it a few visits.

When I am reading, or doing research, I often find it hard to concentrate in there.....

Other than that, I love it, and think the WORLD of the library and its employees....!!!!!

Deanna--We have a great library and I hope others will support it like you.

Hat's off to Heidi's Jewlery for her contributions to the Library from her jewlery sales. Being a Friend of the Library, I was happy to see this on the front page of the Progressive this week - maybe it will inspire others to contribute in some way to the Library, too !

Just got The Portland Progressive a few minutes ago -- looks like another parent has a problem with a school in Portland. Did you all see this bug bite story?? According to the article and the doctor's statement this could have had a very different outcome - a potential tragedy had medical attention not been given when it was. Sounds like the school doesen't want to acknowledge any responsibility at all.
I look forward to seeing the outcome of this.

FYI Carnival

The $3.00 off Unlimited Ride Band coupons in the papers are only good on the purchase of "1" Arm Band. (Good Tue-Thur) You must have a coupon for each person you need to buy the arm band for. My daughter just called, she took my 2 grands and 2 friends and found this out. Just thought I would pass it on.

My heart too, goes out to the Golob family. I believe it goes to court tomorrow. I'll have them in my prayers.

Daniel, remember to wear sunscreen!!!!!!

Good luck Daniel. I hope you stay wet all day and raise a lot of money!

My heart and prayers go out to the Golob family. I was just heartbroken when I read about what their babysitter admitted doing to their baby. Children are precious gifts . . . I have NEVER understood how someone could hurt ANY child, moreless a BABY!!

And one more thing:

Thank you to the teachers from Portland High School who volunteer their time all year long in order to prepare for the annual NOAH'S PROMISE AFTER-PROM EVENT.

This event is provided FREE OF CHARGE for students who attend the prom and gives them a SAFE, ALCOHOL and DRUG-FREE way to keep the celebration going into the wee hours of the morning.

And I am also SO PROUD of the students who attend the event . . . for making the CHOICE to keep their prom night alcohol and drug-free.

Daniel - Sounds like a good cause and alot of fun, I hope you're prepared to get wet!! looks like the weather will cooperate, forcasting clear skies with highs in the upper 70's to Low 80's for Saturday, perfect festival weather!! Have FUN!

Judy,
Come on out and "dunk" me, we're taking up donations for a charity which is why we're doing it, hopefully it will be fun and we can raise some money.

I read the article that Jason Tolbert wrote -- what a harrowing experience he had. Portland is so fortunate to have this caliber of officer on the police force.
I know Portland dosen't have the manpower, but it would be great if the police could work in pairs..so they would always have a back-up with them on calls like this. You never know which call will be a tragedy waiting to happen, I'm sure.

Couple of things;

I would like to touch briefly on the story from officer Tolbert that was in the paper, If you can get thru his whole story without a tissue it is something everyone should read.

Saw an ad about "Dunk Daniel" on mainstreet parade day, bet there will be a line out there... LOL Daniel just funnin with ya, sounds like fun!

I would like to elaborate a little more on a Letter to the Editor that I wrote to the Portland Progressive and that is published in this week's paper.

For those of you who don't already know, my daughter was recently ACCUSED of saying that she was going to bring a gun to school and shoot everyone.

I can't, for the life of me, figure out WHY a school would fail to initiate a formal investigation which would logically involve the police, especially when it's concerning a ALLEGED threat of such magnitude.

Something else to chew on - they tried 2 times to reach me - once at 12:10 and again at 12:20- that's it. And school didn't let out until 3pm.
That afternoon, they put her back on the bus with the kids she allegedly threatened. Now, playing the devil's advocate - IF she had actually made the threat, IF she had actually had the means to follow through with the threat, IF something had happened THAT AFTERNOON- would YOU blame ME or the SCHOOL??? (they didn't search her locker or her person so they had no clue- they took her word for it even though they believed her to otherwise be a liar.)

Beside the fact that I stand behind my daughter who has maintained her innocence, who asked me to ask administrators to review the bus video, who offered to cooperate with the police, and who HAS PASSED a polygraph test, (lie detector) THE POINT THAT I WANT TO DRIVE HOME is that Portland Middle School is A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN.

I challenge the statistics that the school provided to the public on April 12th. I believe there are things that were NOT reported and things that were incorrectly reported. *** On my daughter's suspension notice, it simply says "threatened violence" for which she received 2 days suspension. Nothing even hints at WHAT she was accused of threatening, (And YES, it does make a difference.)so one can only assume that it has happened in the past and will happen again in the future. (The first step in addressing a problem is to acknowledge one exists)

I challenge the administration to provide even ONE publication that uses scientifically based, best practice guidance that would lend credibility to the way they handle bullying, harassment and threat assessment.

I challenge the administration to provide 15 minutes before the end of the school year to conduct the "School Climate" survey that is includes students, faculty, support staff, and parents. They can use the survey on the Tennesse Department of Education's web-site.

I challenge the administration to show up at the next Sumner County BOE meeting and ask THEM for the SRO that they have told the public on numerous ocassions they need and to let the BOARD know what it will take to get the school's security up to par.

I challenge the administration to hold themselves and the rest of the faculty to the same level of accountability as they hold the students. (The MAJORITY of the faculty ARE mutually respectful, and dress professionally, and do not bully, and do their job as expected, BUT there ARE a FEW renegades that go UNCHECKED - they know it, parents know it and the kids know it) As they always say about parents, children learn by example.

I challenge the administration to be more welcoming to parents and ENCOURAGE involvement. I have PERSONALLY been told, "the kids are at the age they don't want their parents at school", and I have been told by other parents that THEY have been told the same or similar thing. Since when do we stop doing what NEEDS to be done just because a teenager balks? As a parent, I'm pretty sure that I know what my child needs better than my child does.

Yes, you're right about Tennessee's being a Right-to-Work state and an employer can fire at will. After reading some of those statements ...I just wondered why it took so long for him to be fired, since the officer apparently had lost the confidence of the Chief and the other officers...and that there were 17 offenses over a long period of time...if I understood it right.
No one should be above the law....for sure !

DeeAnna makes a good point. On the other hand, the arrest for stalking was probably "the straw that broke the camel's back".

When it come to criminal acts, police officers are not above the law, but have the same right to the assumption of innocence until a jury of their peers have found them guilty.

When it come to employment, and this applies to any company or agency in Tennessee, employers have the right to decide whether or not an employee is more trouble than they're worth. In fact, they don't need to HAVE a reason. It might not always seem fair, but that's the way it is.

DeeAnna's comment from another thread:

"After reading the front page article today in the Progressive and this week's Portland Leader, does anyone have any thoughts about the firing of the police officer? I think if I were on the Council, I would have had to vote against the firing, since it appears that it wasn't properly handled all along. Just from what I got out of the article - it seems that some disciplinary action should have been taken a long time ago..and not let someone go from " no discipline to firing" in one fell swooop. Seems unfair, to me...in most companies, it goes from verbal warnings to written warnings to being suspended without pay, etc......Just wondering. I don't know...just wondered what others think."

Judy...thanks for explaining that...Ok...I see what you mean ....that's great !!
This way, it covers everything.

You're doing a great job......

DeeAnna - I thought that was what I posted as noted "News worthy Articles" in the thread, your request was to comment on current articles in the weekly papers, keeping the "current" part in mind, I thought it would be good to add other topics relating to what would be current in our town, not everything gets in the papers, and not all topics will get alot of activity/comments and is why they were combined into one topic/post.

These weekly topics will be right out front when people come to the site and will be read, whereas your post in the Police/Speeders & Truckers is an older post filtered into the topics to the right.

Judy

Judy...thank you.

My idea for the Front Page, was to comment on the news stories that were on the front pages of the Portland Progressive and the Leader....not just for garage sales and events. I don't know if I was misunderstood or not...but that's what I was asking for. I thought it would be interesting to see what other people thought about the front page news stories for the current week...to get opinions on them. What I had on my mind when I suggested it....was the story about the firing of the police officer that was on last week's front page. I had some thoughts on that, but perhaps this isnt' the place...I couldn't resist putting a comment on the police page,on the blog, however. Again, I was only commenting on what was in the paper and how it struck me.

Don't forget that Bottom View Farms this Saturday May 12th they will be having the first for the year concert. They will have one event like this per month. See the ad and all the details on the front page of the Portland webpage. Thanks!!