Fri
Oct 27 2006
09:54 am
Being a stranger here myself...
By: marat

Like many who post here, I'm not originally from Knoxville, or even from Tennessee. I've lived in so many places that it's become a bane to my dating life to have someone I've just met ask me where I'm from. Anyway, I found this in today's LA Times (yes, one of those places was Southern California), and even though I've lived here for quite a few years now, I have to admit I don't know much about the surrounding counties. Does this article accurately reflect the way native Tennesseans see this area? Or is this part of the 'fly-over bias' that I still allow myself to indulge in?

Topics:
R. Neal's picture

Overall, yes the article

Submitted by R. Neal on Fri, 2006/10/27 - 10:25am.

Overall, yes the article pretty accurately reflects how native Tennesseans see this area. Probably everybody in E TN has a Cocke Co. story.

Plenty of other counties have their own dirty laundry, but none in E TN are as notorious and widely publicized as Cocke Co. Whether it deserves all that attention, or whether other counties should be under similar scrutiny, or whether the feds are just obsessed with Cocke Co., I don't know.

P.S. As a bit of KnoxViews trivia, the "cockfighting" tag under "topics" is a running joke carried over from an earlier incarnation of this blog. It refers to the Knoxville News Sentinel's obsession with Cocke County cockfighting stories. Or as we used to say at the old blog, "All cockfighting, all the time!" You should add the "cockfighting" tag to your post.

Anonymous's picture

After 25 years, I'm not

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 2006/10/27 - 11:05am.

After 25 years, I'm not "from here" either. Want to meet and talk? I love the beauty of Cocke County but drive through it carefully on my way to Hot Springs, NC. I went downstairs in the corner market and found lots of doors and cameras in small hallways. I was spooked.

mpower1952's picture

Ten years and counting

Submitted by mpower1952 on Fri, 2006/10/27 - 12:08pm.

I've lived here 10 years and still don't feel at home. I think this quote from the story sums it up.
Sgt. Jonathan Morgan said the culture of his department was changing under Sheriff Claude Strange, a former state trooper.

In the last few years, Morgan, 29, has given the FBI evidence about three of the deputies prosecuted in Rose Thorn. His reward under then-Sheriff Ramsey was a transfer from drug investigations to night patrol — in effect, a trip to the doghouse.

Morgan never heard anyone in the department call it retaliation. And he can't say that he blames the ex-sheriff for all of the trouble.

"I don't know if 'blame' is the word," Morgan said. "It's just tradition."

To me that's like excusing bigotry because it's tradition. Like the rebel flag, tradition my eye. And actually with the brouhaha over the Mexican immigrant protests and their use of the Mexican flag being unAmerican, you'd think they would realize that the rebel flag is a flag from another country and denounce its use. Oh, I forgot they are not part of the reality based community.

Be a blessing to someone today.

Celestial Dung's picture

Cocke County Escapee

Submitted by Celestial Dung (not verified) on Fri, 2006/10/27 - 1:17pm.

Cocke County Escapee

I grew up in Cocke County and it's reputation is sort of a mix of deserved and undeserved. Yeah there's a lot of corruption going on that way but no it's not the creepy "we are all going to die town" that has been suggested. Most of the time if you leave a cockeian alone they will most happily leave you alone.

But yeah we've all known that the police were corrupt for a long time. The judge before John Bell let a lot of people off the hook if they were attractive enough. The police would call Brenda's, the local house of ill repute, and ask what the daily specials were. Sense of humor I guess. The cock fights were an accepted way of county life, some inhabitants were probably under the impression that they were legal.

I didn't leave Cocke county because of the assumed lawlessness and roughness, I left because Cocke County is the most trifling town in Tennessee. If you want to upset the good old boys down in East Tennessee all you have to do is do something different. We got more whiners when Lollapalooza come to down then when our pregnancy rate was first in the state. Hell when the local theater club put together a production of "Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean" there were protests over one of the characters having a teen pregnancy. Go figure.

Ironic moment. When I told my mom I was moving from Jefferson to Knoxville she was worried about all the bad things that was going to happen to me. Knoxville has a reputation in Cocke County would you believe.

Jeramy Hux? I wonder if he's a realative, my mom is a Hux.

bill young's picture

newport,newport,newport

Submitted by bill young on Fri, 2006/10/27 - 3:01pm.

Tonight my beloved Morristown West Trojans treck up to Newport & try to nail down a second straight 10-0 season..When I was in high school(MW'72)the basketball coach @ Newport was Pappy Crow (not sure of spelling)..when he thought a call went against the Fightin Cocks...with his back to the court,he would stand up on the bench..& hold his arms out like he was being crucified..Billy Lee,the gambler & owner of the Sportsman's Pool Hall in downtown Morristown was always rumored to have ties to Newport...Billy was stopped gettin on plane one time because he was carrin a gun;in his briefcase was 100,000...when ask why he had a gun..Billy replied"wouldn't you...if you we're carrin 100,000 dollars"...went to Walters State with the son of the guy that owned the infamous Thunderbird Grill..the grill was in Cocke County...right across the bridge from White Pine...I knew Catfish Sams of the THP in Cocke County whose brother was Tommy Sams,high sheriff of Hamblen County,who was always investagated but never indicted...when Tommy died his chief deputy,who they tried to linked to the chop shops of Newport,got elected...his opponent was accused of beating his wife..some thought the campaign slogan should be "I'll stop stealing cars ..when you stop beating your wife"...went to the Fox & Hound up in Newport once..it was wide open...i got concerned about the place gettin busted..with me there..a fellow pointed over @ a table..& said "With those three here this is the safest place in Tn."..those three were the sheriffs of Hamblen,Jefferson & Cocke..I went to MW with Zandy Buda..Newport native "Z" Buda's son..that Z Buda of pigeon forge fame...Z was short for Zig-Zag..a nickname he got from playin football @ Newport because he zig-zaged down the field..Z hung out in Vagas with the Bear of bama..& Z got elected mayor of Morristown..in '74 Z ran in the Republican primary for State Senate against the namesake of the late newport governor Ben Hooper..i voted in the primary for Hooper..who is now 4th Ciruit Judge Ben Hooper II...Remember,Newport,not Knoxville or Nashville, has elected a woman as mayor & a black as mayor..so up thar it dont matter if u b a man or a woman...black or white...what matters is "r u from around chere"..

redmondkr's picture

My mother was born and grew

Submitted by redmondkr on Fri, 2006/10/27 - 3:07pm.

My mother was born and grew up in Cocke County.  I have visited relatives there in my youth and ridden through it on a train many times.  It's a great place to ride through on a train. 

I need to change my tag line; the RNC has taken it as its mantra. "If a thing is worth having, it's worth cheating for." - W. C. Fields

JMorgan's picture

Apparently, you misunderstood

Submitted by JMorgan (not verified) on Tue, 2009/03/31 - 1:13am.

You may need to read the entire article... The question was, "Can one person be blamed for all the trouble?"
Please read the entire article before you place us all in a box, thanks!

Les Jones's picture

Cocke County is pretty rough

Submitted by Les Jones on Fri, 2006/10/27 - 11:17am.

I lived there when I worked for the park service and I've been to some of the illegal bars. At one time the chop shops were pretty extensive.

Hey, Les, why don't we just call each other assholes and get it over with. - Somebody on the old Southknoxbubba.net (if that was you, claim your quote and win net.fame!)

Anonymous's picture

Monroe County Escapee

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 2006/10/27 - 1:58pm.

It sounds like Cocke County is just one step below Monroe County.

Oh, the stories I could tell about living there...

Rachel's picture

Roane County is the new

Submitted by Rachel on Fri, 2006/10/27 - 2:08pm.

Roane County is the new Cocke County.  Or so says my sister, who lives there.

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