People who had a way with words in the news last week:
“This means that beginning July 1, more than 150,000 BlueCross BlueShield members in the Chattanooga area will no longer have access to CHI Memorial services.”
— Memorial hospital spokeswoman Karen Long, on a dispute between her hospital system and BlueCross.
“This is a criminal investigation; we don’t generally handle issues that are civil in nature.”
— Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Susan Niland, confirming an unspecified official misconduct investigation of Chattanooga Police Chief Celeste Murphy.
“I didn’t call the police because I knew in the past they won’t come out there anyways. There was nobody coming to save me.”
— Witness Katherine Garner, testifying at a hearing at which murder charges against Craig Jeffries were bound over to the grand jury in a shooting at a homeless encampment on Bonny Oaks Drive.
“Two of the couples wedded by the executive assistant provided investigators with evidence of their payments, $100 each, to the executive assistant. Investigators were unable to find any evidence that the executive assistant remitted any of the fees she collected back to the executive’s office.”
— State comptroller’s report on an executive assistant in Sequatchie County who allegedly performed weddings on county time, charged people for it, and pocketed the funds.
“He’s a very humble person. I think he has so many gifts and qualities to be the bishop of Knoxville. The concern I have for him is I know there are some challenges. It’s just going to be a tough responsibility. And my hope and prayer for him is that he will know peace and serenity in the midst of it. It’s not easy. It’s not easy administrating anything. But my gosh, he’s walking into it.”
— The Rev. Mike Johnston, former pastor of St. Henry Catholic Church in Nashville, regarding the appointment of the Rev. Mark Beckman as the new bishop of Knoxville.
“You’re constantly battling this on every front. They figure something out, we figure a way to prevent it. If they would only use this ingenuity for a legal means, they would probably be wealthy people.”
— Sheriff Austin Garrett, after five people were charged in an alleged plot to smuggle fentanyl into the Hamilton County Jail.
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