So Hamilton County Commissioner Joe Graham wants to give his discretionary money back.
Good for you, Joe.
You know what they say though, no good deed goes unpunished.
Graham has been against the $100,000 discretionary/vote-buying account from the beginning. He - along with Greg Beck and Marty Haynes - voted against the "Sneaky Six" when they circumvented Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger's attempt to do away with the six-figure slush fund. Graham was the lone nay when the rest of the commission voted to override the budget to make sure the discretionary money was in there.
Now, after hearing from his constituents about their frustrations about the whole affair, Graham wants to put his funds back in the county's coffers.
Well-played Joe. There are far too many public servants worrying about getting served than serving the public.
For his right-minded and fiscally conservative discretion (see what I did there), Graham has now been put in governmental timeout by his colleagues.
Oh yes, politically speaking Graham is not being allowed to sit at the "cool" kids' table with the six tightly knit mini-conglomerate who jump-started this entire ordeal earlier this summer. Heck, Graham, a former chairman of the Finance Committee, was appointed to be the chairman of the Diversity and Equity Committee, which is the Outer Mongolia of committee assignments.
No worries though Joe. Sometimes doing the right thing can be unpopular among your peers.
Bad boys - Cleveland style
The Cleveland Police Department is slated to pick a new chief in coming days.
There are three candidates left - Jessie Brooks, a captain with the Tennessee Highway Patrol; Timothy Christol, Red Bank police chief; and Mark Gibson, who has been interim chief since March - and considering the recent trouble the department has faced, new leadership has not been needed this badly since Derek Dooley's final days in Knoxville.
Friday reports about a potential insurance scam - or worse - found another Cleveland officer being placed on administrative leave.
There was so much hanky-panky going on this summer, the original frontrunner to be the new chief should have been Hugh Hefner.
Friendly reminder
Bullying is a terrible part of the daily scene for far too many of our young people.
It's scarring and dangerous - for each side.
At the fabulous Mountain Education Foundation fundraiser this week, former NFL Pro Bowler and Georgia Bulldogs great Herschel Walker retold the famous tale about how he was bullied and tormented in grade school.
"Then I started to work out - 5,000 sit-ups and push-ups a day. And I'm not saying I'm holding a grudge," said Walker, who took a long pause before the sold-out crowd who delighted in his speech, "but Anthony Logan, I am Googling and Facebooking you."
As Paul Harvey would have said back in the day, now we know the rest of the story.
Saturday stars
Friday was the 14th anniversary of the darkest day in our nation's history for many of us.
Sept. 11 affects all of us differently, and those lasting images from New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa., will forever be remembered.
In that, today's stars are all of the first responders among us, regardless of the name of the organization on the badge.
Here's celebrating each of the people wearing them and willing to run into burning towers for the rest of us.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and 423-757-6343.