Roy Exum
By my definition, stealing is taking somebody else’s money or valuables while they aren’t looking. Robbery is when you do it right before their eyes and they can’t do anything about it. If our courts weren’t so back-logged, I would beg the sheriff to get the paddy wagon and go to a place called ArtsBuild on Frazier Avenue and load it up. There is ample evidence that there are some there who are definitely guilty of attempted robbery in open daylight, punishable by 6-to-25 in the Bastille.
ArtsBuild, which has no space or dash when you type out the subpoenas, is the frou-frou name they picked when the Allied Arts moniker got stale. Unfortunately, our government’s latest grab-and-take style has now spread down to the crazies and, worse, they have some of our elected officials who are equally guilty as accessories to the crime.
ArtsBuild, in an idiotic disregard for public scorn, has approached the Hamilton County Commission with the idea of getting a further tax placed on every cigarette bought in Hamilton County. The problem is that most people who smoke don’t give a crushed butt about any ArtsBuild types and, if asked to sign a petition or form, would most likely kick the ask-ee directly in the ash.
In short, that’s stealing by taking somebody else’s money without their consent. It is most definitely robbery because the 20 percent of smokers in Chattanooga can’t do one solitary thing about it. I don’t care if you abhor second-hand smoke or if you dip snuff, you’ve got to ask yourself if we’ve reached the point where we add a further tax on a segment of people living here who have no voice.
In a week already soured by some tulip who freely admitted her idea was to “force smokers to quit” by outlawing smoke in the open air, the ArtsBuild grab-and-take scheme was worsened when Commissioner Tim Boyd – lord help us all – decided to give ArtsBuild some of his already-purloined cash. You’ll remember Boyd was a ring-leader when he and five other commissioners openly robbed the taxpayers of $900,000, this after our county mayor refused to include a historically shady discretionary fund in the budget.
That’s when the “Shady Six” commissioners robbed – in open air, I’m telling you -- the county’s rainy-day fund so each could use $100,000 apiece to curry favor and, obviously, buy votes for next time. A newspaper account said Boyd wanted to give a “grant” – I am not making this up – to ArtsBuild for $15,000. It ain’t any such thing as a grant. It is a tainted cash give-away, pure and simple. Please, look up money-laundering in your handbook.
Some other commissioners have done the same thing. With money purportedly stolen for use in their districts, several have instead given cash to Orange Grove Center thinking of it as a hand-washing exercise rather than a badly-needed boost to the beloved facility. What is troubling is that if their hearts were pure, they would decide as an entire commission to help Orange Grove rather than use the center as a helpless shield for their ill-gotten gain.
Since Boyd dreamed up the rainy-day fund robbery, it could well be he tipped ArtsBuild on the idea of smuggling pennies on each pack of smokes that would end up over a million dollars in less than a year. What these people don’t realize is the citizens of Chattanooga don’t like it at all. People are tired of lies, deception, and politicians, especially if the latter are openly stupid and enter into a conspiracy to increase and then highjack cigarette tax.
Smokers and non-smokers alike aren’t going to allow elected officials to put a “sin tax” on just 20 percent of the community. Not only is it unfair, any tax on anything never comes off. What’s next? Licensing all bicycles to pay for bike lanes that, to be candid, less that two percent of people in Hamilton County will ever use in their entire lifetime? I’m telling you, that’s the way the wackos are thinking these days as the incredulous lust for the innocent’s cash spreads from Washington.
It’s almost as bad as the tulip giggling she is going to “force” smokers to quit. The last guy who forced anybody to do anything was a German guy with the first name of Adolph. If you’ll look into it, not only did it work out very badly but to this very day he is the most reviled man in the history of all civilization. What the tulip is banking on is that 20 percent of those in Chattanooga and its surrounding communities can’t do squat about her depriving their right to the same open air. More unbelievably, she even got 11 area mayors to throw in!
All the tulip wants is to deprive others by foisting her prejudices against her neighbors. As a great friend of mine pointed out, there is an old Dilbert cartoon where the self-centered dog cries out, “You can’t save the Earth unless you’re willing to make other people sacrifice.” How else can you explain why every mayor in the area yearns to be on the tulip’s billboard with a lack of regard to some who they are sworn to represent?
Can’t you see? ArtsBuild has exactly the same stance. They want to prey on those who can do nothing about it, who have no voice, and will further suffer with increased costs for the sake of the ArtsBuild pastels, hues, and weirdos. That’s as wrong today as it will be tomorrow and for the rest of eternity.
Thank goodness for Commissioner Joe Graham’s wisdom in striking down the latest hare-brained idea by Boyd to bring his ArtsBuild ploy to the table. What is great is that Boyd and new commission chairman Chester Pinkston think they got even with Joe after he refused to accept his cut of the stolen discretionary cash.
Just to the opposite, now the belief is that every time Boyd opens his mouth it detracts from the sum total of human wisdom. Just look at the ArtsBuild ruse. What Tim needs to do is go down on Rossville Boulevard, walk in E.J.’s Tavern, and bellow from a stool, “Listen up! I got a petition right here where we are going to raise cigarette prices on behalf of the arts community … c’mon, sign up! Quit drinking that swill and get yourself over here!” He could even wear one of the infamous tutus he bought with other discretionary money.
Quite predictably, the gang down at E.J.’s would throw him out on his ash whether he wore his tutu or not.
royexum@aol.com