This week, I lowered the United States flag that I have faithfully flown at my home since I retired from the United States Air Force 20 years ago. I replaced it with the Tennessee state flag. It’s a small statement that few people other than my neighbors will notice, but it is hugely important to me.
I am sickened by the leadership of this nation on both sides of the political aisle and in all three branches of the federal government, along with the slanted news media that once served as the cornerstone of our democracy. Are the two candidates running for the highest office in the land the best we have to offer? They reflect a federal government that is corrupt, patronizing, polarizing and paralyzed. The Constitution holding us together that I once swore to defend with my life has become irrelevant.
That is why I will focus, until things change at the national level, on our community and state. With either presidential candidate, I do not see such change happening in the next four years. Millions of others are frustrated as well; otherwise, Republican primary voters would not have nominated a politically unshackled opportunist like Donald Trump to run against the potential felon, career politician and uber-liberal Hillary Clinton.
On the contrary, I see hope for Tennessee and Hamilton County for many reasons. There is truly something significant in the adage, “all politics are local.”
I shall begin with offering accolades for one of our outstanding Hamilton County public servants, Julie Chambers, manager of the Bonny Oaks Tag and Title Office. Few citizens walk into such an office optimistic that they will leave with their business satisfactorily completed. Otherwise, a vigilant police officer would not be stationed there in full view as an admonition for us to keep our frustration from reaching the boiling point.
However, I was recently blessed to find in Chambers a public servant who displayed empathy with my situation and actually took the initiative to use her authority to correct the problem. It was incredibly rewarding.
The problem precipitated when my wife and I applied for a title for a car I recently purchased in North Carolina as an anniversary gift. I was alone when I made the transaction with the dealer, so only my name appeared on the bill of sale. The unfortunate tag office clerk attempting to help us told us both our names could not be on the title since only my name was on the bill of sale. Instead, we would have to pay $16 to apply for a title in my name, send the paperwork to the state office, receive the new title in the mail, then come back to the tag office, pay another $16 and reapply for a title in both our names. Sound typical? I could almost sense the observant police officer preparing to go into action.
I asked the clerk if I could speak with a supervisor, and that is when Chambers came out. She patiently talked with her supervisors to find a solution, and she even provided me with a copy of the Tennessee statute that indeed documented the ridiculous situation. Most importantly, on her own initiative after we left, she called the dealer in North Carolina, explained the situation, and had him fax a new invoice including my wife’s name. She had the application paperwork prepared and ready for my wife to sign when she returned later. Problem solved.
There may not be hope in Washington, but there is in our local government, thanks to great public servants like Julie Chambers. Thank you. You are one reason the Tennessee flag waves proudly over my house.
Roger Smith, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, is an author and frequent contributor to the Times Free Press.