Pre-season football practice at Taft Youth Center.STATE OF THE STATE
Read the full text of the governor’s speech here.
NASHVILLE — Regional lawmakers from both parties are objecting a provision in Gov. Bill Haslam’s $30.08 billion spending plan that closes Taft Youth Center in Pikeville.
Rep. Bill Harmon, D-Dunlap, called the proposal, which area lawmakers hoped to keep from being included in the budget, a “total mistake.”
Everyone across the state is “jumping up and down about the gang problems,” Harmon said Monday. “And the governor’s starting a new gang program. Chattanooga’s trying to start a new gang program.”
Noting that “most gangs start with young people in their teens,” Harmon said, “we’re shutting down the facility that most gang members would wind up in and are afraid of.”