Outgoing state Sen. Paul Stanley would qualify to receive an annual pension of more than $7,000 a year from the state government, the legislature’s administrative office said.
Stanley, who will resign effective Aug. 10 following a sex-and-extortion scandal involving an intern in his office, is eligible for a minimum monthly benefit of $76.12 for each year of service.
That works out to $666 a month, or $7,992.60 annually, based on his more than eight years of service starting with his election in November 2000.
I want to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks and gratitude for your support during my legislative tenure in the House and Senate over the past nine years. As a result of poor personal decisions I have made, my wife and I reached the decision to resign from the State Senate effective August 10, 2009.
First and foremost, I humbly ask your forgiveness for my indiscretion. The public criticism I have received thus far is well deserved. Even before these matters became public, I have been concentrating my efforts on rebuilding and repairing the damage I have done to my wife and two great children. They (and not me) are the victims in this situation, and I am to blame. I recognize that it is my actions that have brought this embarrassment on my family.
I humbly ask, not for my sake, but for theirs, to respect my wife and children’s privacy as they are truly innocent and should not suffer the humiliation or embarrassment for my wrong doing and indiscretion.
For my errors I am very sorry, and I will continue to make amends. Admitting failure is difficult but necessary if one expects to ever better themselves by allowing God to work His will in their life. Giving myself to Him and rebuilding my family relationships are now the focus of my life.
My future course is uncharted, and I will rely exclusively on prayer and the advice and input of my wife on which course I personally and professionally travel. Finally, many have critized me for violating pro-family stances I have taken on a number of issues. I firmly believe God’s standards are where they have always been. Just because I fell far short of those standards, does not negate the standard set by God.
All I simply ask for is your prayers for my family and their healing. Again, thank you for your support and friendship, and I hope our paths will cross again in the future.
(Via SouthernBeale) Two Nashvillians competing in the World Outgames 2009 in Copenhagen posted pictures of a hate crime committed against participants. According to reports, explosives were tossed onto the track during a relay race injuring one runner. The games are the gay and lesbian equivalent to the Olympics. Over 5,000 people from 90 different countries are registered participants in the games.
Keith Little and Sam Felker of Nashville are there competing and journaling their experience. Here is their post on the incident.
The camaraderie of the Outgames was temporarily broken this afternoon when unknown assailants tossed two explosive devices onto the track during the start of a relay. One runner who was in a starting position near the explosions sustained a minor injury to his hand and was treated at the scene by paramedics.
The large crowd of athletes and spectators was stunned by what can only be described as a hate crime attack. Competition resumed after consulting with the athletes who were determined not to let this incident succeed in stopping the Outgames.
Police were called to the scene and were searching the premises when two more devices exploded on the track. Shortly thereafter the police arrested a suspect who was seen fleeing from a nearby church tower where it is believed the attack was launched. Police are still searching for a second suspect.
rocket1124BOOOOOO! RT @nashvillest ESPN radio is gone in Nashville. 106.7 switched to Top 40 today; we have a lot of angry friends. What do you think?2 minutes ago from web
CeeElCeeRe: 106.7 I was wrong. Black-eyed Peas. I might stick around until Boom Boom Pow is over…6 minutes ago from web
KatieHaileWaiting patiently for the new station 106.7 while looking over the many mosquito bites from my 4 min in the garden. Thank God anyway? =)about 1 hour ago from web
Breaking News from Kleinheider: Lobbyists are liars edition. Kleinheider takes on lobbyist who may or may not be the same burlesque dancer he saw pictured on the Tennessean website, but who definitely lied to someone. @jrlind even started a hashtag over it. #kleinheiderkerfuffle
I decided to facebook Cox again noting that the pics of her “doppleganger” had been removed (thank you Google cache).
“You are about the 8 millionth person to ask if that was me in those photos. I just decided enough was enough- kind of tired of the comparison/gossip. So I asked to have them removed,” Cox said.
I found curious that the Tennessean would remove photos at the request of someone that wasn’t in them. I expressed this curiosity to Ms. Cox and she replied that “it is all in the asking.”
I queried Cox again if she was the women in the pictures. She again said no. I asked her if she was at the party where the pictures were taken. She said that she was at the party. Cox said she remembered the woman in the pictures but that she was wearing a different outfit than the pictured woman.
“I was at the party as a guest of one of Manuel’s daughter’s friends. I was wearing a long, cream dress with a blue and yellow floral pattern. If I see any pictures of myself there, I will let you know.
I remember seeing the gal there from the website. The trendy/20’s haircut is very similar,” offered Cox.
By this time, I had emailed the Tennessean to ask them why the photos has been removed and for what reason. The response that came back was from Mark Silverman, Vice President of Content and Audience Development.
“We removed several images upon request of the person in them.”
So Kleinheider made his point–that you can’t lie to the press in this day and age, and that the coverup will always be worse than the crime. If this point wasn’t self-evident after all the sex scandals we’ve experienced in Tennessee over the last few years, I don’t know if it ever will be. But at what cost was this point made?
If she were strutting around in a burlesque costume for the purpose of doing her job as a lobbyist and getting votes, and then tried to cover her tracks, I could absolutely understand how the public interest in exposing this sort of corruption would outweigh anyone’s right to privacy. But are you personally able to sleep better at night and feel more confident in your government now that Rose Cox’s private life has been blasted all over the Internet for the world to see? What benefit did you gain from reading that story?
It’s hard for me to decide who is more in the wrong here–Cox or The Tennessean. Let’s just assume that Cox is telling Kleinheider the truth, that she is not the woman in the photographs. This seems the most plausible explanation, because all of the burlesque dancers I know who go public places and perform are not stupid enough to have not considered that, when they perform in public and pose in front of the photographer from the Tennessean, someone might learn that they are burlesque dancers.
by Christian Grantham - 12:47 pm - July 28th, 2009
From the inbox:
A citizen’s tip led to the arrest of the man suspected of grabbing at least four female joggers in the Belmont area this month.
Julio Cesar Juarez, 19, of Wallace Road, was spotted driving a white 1995 Honda Accord yesterday near Lipscomb University by a citizen who thought it might be the suspect mentioned in recent news accounts. He wrote down the license number and contacted Sex Crimes detectives.
Juarez, a construction worker in the Green Hills area, is charged with two counts of sexual battery for allegedly grabbing female joggers’ buttocks as they ran during the early morning hours on or near Belmont Boulevard.
His photo is being withheld pending additional lineups in the case.
by Christian Grantham - 10:44 am - July 28th, 2009
(via KnoxViews) -This report is shocking, and it really should serve as a dire warning to every community across the country with a decades old coal ash containment pond tucked away from public view and accountability.
Coal waste containment is one of the largest hidden costs of coal power Americans have avoided paying until now. The costs of clean up of the TVA coal ash spill alone could reach $1 billion, not to mention the costs that we’ll all start paying for proper storage of the waste produced by our consumption of coal power.
After the cost of proper coal waste containment and cleanup are added to our monthly power bills, tapping into renewable energy sources might become the option it should have always been. It takes a crisis.
• TVA could have possibly prevented the Kingston Spill if it had taken recommended corrective actions. TVA was aware of “red flags” that were raised over a long period of time signaling the need for safety modifications to TVA ash ponds. These “red flags” were raised both by TVA employees and by consultants hired by TVA.
• Despite internal knowledge of risks associated with ash ponds, TVA’s formal Enterprise Risk Management process, which began in 1999, had not identified ash management as a risk.
• Attitudes and conditions at TVA’s fossil fuel plant that emanate from a legacy culture impacted the way TVA handled coal ash. Ash was relegated to the status of garbage at a landfill rather than treating it as a potential hazard to the public and the environment.
• Clearly, a reasonable expectation was created for Congress and TVA’s other stakeholders that since January of 2009, TVA has been working diligently to explain why the Kingston ash spill occurred. It was not foreseeable that, in fact, TVA would not review what management practices may have contributed to the failure, but would instead tightly circumscribe the scope of review to intentionally avoid revealing any evidence that would suggest culpability on the part of TVA. In fact, it appears that TVA management made a conscious decision to present to the public only facts that supported an absence of liability for TVA for the Kingston Spill.
UPDATE 12:09pm - Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) issued the following statement in response to this shocking TVA Inspector General report:
“The inspector general’s report raises major concerns which must be taken seriously and which I will discuss with TVA management. TVA needs to learn from the report so it can take every reasonable step to ensure that such a coal ash spill never happens again.”
Here’s a few links shared on Twitter this morning. The video above was shared by a few people which is why “William Shatner” is one of the top trending topics. He’s reading Sarah Palin’s farewell speech as a poem.
Since pretty much its inception, Twitter (Twitter) has asked you to “update” your status, whether by web, by application, or by text. Unofficially, this has been known as “tweeting,” but that isn’t language Twitter ever used on its website.
That is, until today. Twitter has begun to change the use of the word “update” to the word “tweet.” It’s a small language change, but carries implications for the microblogging startup. This comes off the heels of the news that Twitter trademarked the word “tweet” and the AP Stylebook declaring “to tweet” legitimate grammar.
Thank you for your tweets re: Metro Councilman Mike Jameson’s resolution to call Metro “Nashville.” I shared those tonight in our 4:30 p.m. newscast. If you’d like your thoughts shared on-air, follow me on Twitter: @NITweet.
Also, Ramsey defended Stanley for neglecting to tell him for three months about that little sex-and-blackmail scandal that was about to blow up. That allowed Stanley to remain as Commerce Committee chairman through the end of this year’s session. At his presser, Ramsey first claimed Stanley kept quiet under orders from state investigators. Told that isn’t true, he then maintained Stanley’s lips were sealed on the advice of his lawyers.
Whatever, senator. The fact remains that you are running for governor claiming a record as a strong leader. Yet all this–a Republican senator’s affair with his intern, an attempted blackmail, a TBI sting, an arrest, etc.–all this went on right under your nose. Voters might believe legitimately that you are either not telling the whole truth about what you knew and when you knew it, or you haven’t been paying attention.
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