Roy Exum: Our Tubman Goat-Roping

  • Sunday, November 23, 2014
  • Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Roy Exum

Every spring there comes a bright day on the ranch when the straw-boss decrees a goat-roping should take place. What really happens is the veteran cowboys arm the greenhorns with some lariats late in the afternoon and take them to the pen that holds some Billy goats. This is before they get into bigger beasts -- horses and cattle – yet what appears to be easy most certainly is not.

The fast goats dart, leap and even try to head-butt the startled ropers and the most hysterical melee you have ever seen unfolds, much to the delight of the veteran cowboys who jeer, share longneck beers, and laugh until their sides seem to split because they well remember their first goat-roping venture.

Thusly, I sense the demolition of the Harriett Tubman public-housing project has turned into one of the biggest goat-roping Chattanooga has ever seen. Mind you, the demolition is now just halfway completed but I can’t remember when so many sour people have fallen under the notion they are “entitled” to be so involved when, by every measure, they should be firmly told they have no skin in the game.

You may recall that a year ago the City of Chattanooga bought the outdated 36-acre parcel for $2.6 million and that Mayor Andy Berke, whose family has considerable real estate holdings in the area, destined it to become a mixed-use facility. It will hopefully bring new interest and future life into East Chattanooga where decay and abandoned properties blight the area.

But when Environmental Abatement, a company out of Hendersonville, Tn., got the $4.3 million bid to tear down the outdated buildings, the whiners and “money for nothing” crowd came out of the woodwork, demanding to be included in the jobs the project would require. The company reluctantly agreed, although it wasn’t exactly a bid item, but the whiners were skeptical. “Are we going to get a job?” said Thaddius Montgomery. who was quoted at the time “… let’s just see if we get a job.”

In August, Patrick Jackson, who has been convicted with a couple of felonies along the way, groused, "My felony throws my resume out the door. I'm getting tired of that. Being a felon doesn't make you a bad person,” he said at the time. “You're dumping felons on the street but there are no jobs," he told the Times Free Press.

Yet Environmental Abatement said, yes, they would consider hiring felons despite Mr. Jackson’s belief, “Chattanooga is not felon-friendly.”

Finally EA announced they would hire 13-to-16 of the Tubman crowd at $18.75 an hour. “Is that all?” cried Annette Thompson, who has lived in East Chattanooga for 40 years and is therefore entitled to comment on AE’s business plan, or whatever else comes to mind.

Well, the demolition finally started and it’s hard, demanding work. It’s really dusty and Tim Jackson, who was one of those hired, claims to have quit his job over his personal environmental concerns.  He alleged that some workers didn’t even have face masks and he worried that airborne asbestos wasn’t worth $18.75 an hour, not to mention the cold, heavy lifting and all else. For the record, one more of those hired from the prescribed 37406 zip code quit and four others were dismissed when they failed to make “production goals.” That’s darn-near half who were hired after all the hoopla they raised!

But it gets worse. Maggie Taylor, who lives about a block from the construction site, says she can no longer sit on her porch because, she claims, the dust makes her sinuses hurt and her nose run. Now it appears 37 people, including Maggie, have signed a petition that community activist Patrick Kellogg hopes will provide “independent confirmation that the dust … does not have asbestos in it.”

Everybody knows that when old buildings are razed there is considerable dust but the catch is that nobody heretofore can claim AE has done anything wrong, has taken a misstep or put anyone’s health in jeopardy. To the contrary, it appears that some who do not work seem to have an abundance of time on their hands.

Dennis Malone, an assistant city engineer, told the Times Free Press that there is no cause for alarm. A consulting company, S&ME, has monitored the demolition and also publicly stated there is no problem. Environmental Abatement actually specializes in asbestos removal and is of the solid belief there is nothing wrong and promises the dust will settle just like it has at every project they have done upon completion of the project.

But City Councilman Moses Freeman, based on the 37 signatures the whiners have gathered, will take the goat-roping public at 3:30 p.m. this Tuesday when an “informational” summit will be held at the City Council’s meeting room. He hopes to have engineers, lawyers, company representatives and other experts gathered. “Getting information out about the process ought to allay the concerns, because we don’t think there is an asbestos problem,” the councilman admitted.

Is this the nuttiest goat-roping ever?

Never mind practicality or common sense. Robert Schreane, who is the Hamilton County Coalition Housing manager, has already taken it upon himself to email the Environmental Protection Agency, saying the coalition makes no accusations of contamination but still believes the EPA should swoop in and put the general populace at ease. Oh my goodness, where do these people come from?

Face it, the wasted time and the money that is foolishly being spent against such frivolous claims and ghostly accusations is ridiculous. But the way certain “experts” in the neighborhood have acted is an embarrassment and while any individual’s input is both proper and important in the public realm, there comes a time when the persistent whining is worse than the demolition dust itself.

royexum@aol.com

 

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