Jay GreesonFor the last six weeks, our county has wrestled with budgetary priorities, primarily about whether public schools would get a 10 percent boost in funds.
For Dalton Roberts, it was hardly a surprise.
"That's to be expected," said Roberts, who was Hamilton County executive from 1978-1994. "The school board wants to be listened to because they are closer to the problems. The county wants to be listened to because they are responsible for the money."
Roberts paid little mind to the predictable struggle. It was not out of a lack of interest, mind you. He simply had more pressing issues.
While our elected leaders were squabbling, Roberts was fighting for his life. He fell at his Dayton home earlier this spring and that spawned a scary spiral of worry. It was feared he had a stroke, and there was a serious bout of pneumonia.
After almost 40 days in the attentive care of Erlanger hospital and then Siskin Hospital for Physical Rehabilitation, Roberts hopes to return home soon. The tubes down his throat could not silence his humor, his melody or his memory.
"I'm really looking forward to my own bed - a Temper Posturepedic," he quipped.
"I've had a gospel song in my head," he added, "called 'All Heaven's Busted Loose.' I'm still working on it."
Thankfully, Roberts has been given more time to continue his myriad interests beyond mattresses or music. A true original, he is as comfortable balancing a nine-figure budget as he is writing a column on bluebirds or dogwoods, or performing on the stage at the Grand Ole Opry.
He's done them all, of course. And the imprint of his leadership in county government is visible across a large part of Hamilton County.
Today, Chattanooga is an example of what can be. That wasn't always the case.
The city was dirty and forlorn three-plus decades ago. It was depressing and depressed, with few prospects and fewer prospectors.
To Roberts, that was unacceptable. So he and a collection of dedicated folks decided to change it. Some of the names are forever familiar. Lupton, Probasco, Guerry, et al., committed to the change with their time and money.
For Roberts, the nascent renaissance meant running for office; his hand-painted campaign signs dried in hay fields near his house.
"I knew I was going to serve God and the people, in that order," he said last week from a wheelchair at Siskin, one of his familiar fedoras atop his head. "I knew if that I kept those two as my priority, there's nothing we couldn't do."
He was running county government when the foundations were laid for the sweeping changes coming to the city and county. He was part of the early group advocating for the Tennessee Aquarium that became the bedrock of downtown revitalization. He helped start the transformation of an old Army TNT plant into the industrial park where Volkswagen is today.
Even on the things he tried to do that missed the mark, such as a five-star resort and water park on an island in Lake Chickamauga, there was a level of passion and inventiveness that is hard to match today.
There's a huge difference between the leadership of idea hoopers and the determined focus of Roberts during his four terms as county executive.
He scoffed at the question whether he misses politics. It's a different game now, and Roberts knows it.
"It's difficult," he said, "because so many things today require both parties and both parties want to shine. But no one shines when nothing happens."
Roberts was no one's pushover - not unlike Jim Coppinger, who holds the county's top elected position today. He was what my grandfather liked to call "country dumb." Sure, the y'alls and the ma'ams can relax a crowd, but underestimate a soft-spoken "country dummy" at your own peril.
To that end, Roberts was known for standing firm and fighting for ideas, but he also was able to collaborate.
"Able men and women need to see the importance of cooperation," he said. "I lost many battles, and I learned one thing quickly: Don't fight a losing battle simply because of your pride.
"There's a time and a place for all things."
Amen.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and follow him on Twitter at @jgreesontfp. You can read his online column the "5-at-10" Monday through Friday at timesfreepress.com after 10 a.m.