"I wanted some time to get what I needed in the office," Witt said. "It took me about three weeks to absorb everything."

ah...AH..achooobullshit..sniff sniff

Another example of " We'll do anything we want with the fee offices because we are the chosen ones, and the voters will forget before the 08 elections ". Sherry is just following the example of JJ, Fred, and John by hiring their old bosses back.

I read the goofy comments about Sherry Witt appointing Mr. Hall as her assistant. She's Register of Deeds. She has the authority to hire anybody she wants in this position. Since Mr. Hall was recently "elected" (overwhelmingly as he had been every 4 years since 1980), Knox County voters seem to think he's a pretty good choice to be in that office. Get over it. Personally, I felt disenfranchised when the TN Supreme Court reversed the recent elections. Steve Hall was on my ballot. I voted for Steve Hall. He was elected in a landslide. He was removed last month. Ms. Witt put him back in the office. Good for her!

Laughable, tin cup.

tin cup, I believe you are required to include the phrase "move on" sumewheres in there.

I am going to vote for the candidate in 2008 that vows, if elected, to thoroughly audit their departments staffing and salaries. A good look at who is related to whom would also be in order. This is just sickening.

Shame on Sherry Witt. Shame on Steve Hall.

D Mac, you are absolutely right. The taxpayers and voters need to support a candidate that will have a COMPLETE audit of staffing in the fee offices. What about kids of one office holder making a rather large salary while working in another fee office, and vice-versa ? It's you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours, and to hell with the tax payers.

How do you know Sherry Witt didn't do a COMPLETE audit of staffing and salary issues before hiring Steve Hall in this position? On second thought, Ms. Witt should have known better...she should have called Rocketsquirrel, D Mac, T Shepherd, et al and got their opinions first.

Here's the question: Is the Deeds office staying within its budget and providing the "services" to the public that it's supposed to be providing? From 1980 through January, 2007 (27 years), the voters OVERWHELMINGLY thought so. That's why they continued to RE-ELECT STEVE HALL every 4 years. If the fact that Ms. Witt hired Steve Hall is a deal killer for you voting for her in the next election, guess what? That's your choice -- vote for her opponent if she runs.

Here's the question: Is the Deeds office staying within its budget and providing the "services" to the public that it's supposed to be providing? From 1980 through January, 2007 (27 years), the voters OVERWHELMINGLY thought so. That's why they continued to RE-ELECT STEVE HALL every 4 years."

Cup, first everything you say is true in the above, the question is was there some dirty dealings in his return? When you consider all that went on with Cate, Jordon and the rest you have to cast a jaded eye in Mr. Hall's direction.

Looks like a story for Ms. Bean she could write about the vote counts when he won and IF the office really is inside the budget along with looking into just how his return came about.

You sound very REPUBLICAN and you are not welcome here if that is the case!

Troll=Stupid

I am sure that when the county budget battle begins and they have to find millions of dollars to fund the Sheriffs pension plan, there will be much scrutiny of all county offices. Either find where the fat is and excise it or increase taxes. Wonder which the public will want to do?

So, unless you're among those 80% who don't vote or those others who can't vote, explain yourself???"

great question!
Steve obviously did a very good job while in the job and just like the others who road back or in on family and friend's love, he is back.

Is it worth 69K to have his guidance return to the office? If it will keep the budget even it could be? Still that just looks like (to some posters here) a ton of money for someone to assist?

As for the low voter turn outs another great observation! Look at who is running the city now and tell me IF just 25% more people turned out which ones would still be there? The same holds true across the state, if our side had just showed up FORD would not be teaching school now. Everyone should encourage voters to get to the polls!!

Troll=Smart..uh ok REALLY stupid

Nick is notorious for surfing and posting anonymously- especially when you start launching attacks against Steve Hall (RoD).

Come on Nick...you posted fifty comments a day on caswalker.com...and were outed by Mike Arms. So, why do you still hide behind false usernames? Wouldn't it be something to track the IP address back to the CCB...specifically to the system that is maintained in the RoD's office by you.

I have lived away from Ktown for a number of years and am just catching up on the politics for about a year. Followed Don Williams here this week. Nice site. What are the chances that the next election will see most of the appointed crew gone? Or will apathy set in?

LadyVols, what difference does it make if I'm a Republican or Democrat or otherwise? Wait a minute, I forgot. Liberals only squawk about First Amendment rights when they're defending flag burning or gay parades and the like. Others need not apply.

Sym, I'm not Nick McBride either. First, I couldn't afford to take a $175K per year pay cut. Second, since he is a County Official, Nick could never get away with telling you to kiss his ass.

It sounds to me like Sherry Witt doesn't feel like she can do the job without somebody holding her hand.

Maybe, next time we should think about appointing people who are qualified to handle the position instead of appointing unqualified people and then hiring another person to do the job.

On the bright side, if the position was newly created at least they are creating new high paying jobs for Knoxville citizens.

KTB

"You sound very REPUBLICAN and you are not welcome here if that is the case!"

Well, I'm a Republican (former Party Chairman, I might add) and I've been around for a year, maybe two? I posted on South Knox Bubba, same song, first verse. I use my real name. This is pretty much the only blog I read or post on. Most everyone knows who I am. I see others who post on this blog on a regular basis, downtown and other places.

I realize many who post here don't agree with some of my politics. So what. It's never stopped me from having a friendly conversation or sharing a beer or two with those same folks.

Thanks to Randy for running an 'progressive' blog. The only downside is that in this area, with more readers and posting, you're likely to get a few more folks like me giving an 'alternative' view on some issues.

What kind of moron says that if a fee office is making money then all is well? Why not consider what contribution the office is making to the county coffers as opposed to what they could be contributing. According to my title attorney friends, it is important to have the office function competently but, the idea that as long as they do, they should be able to hire, fire, move or stay without input from the county constituents or their representatives is something that only a shill/troll could come up with. Or maybe Tin Cup likes paying higher county taxes so that the fee offices can have a lower contribution to the county coffers. It is fine that (s)he doesn't have any use for the (potentially) additional funds but, I can think of several uses off the top of my head.

Here is an idea Tin Cup, go the hell away and let the adults have a conversation. Explaining gravity is tiresome and we should not have to do it for every moron who gets a new computer/connection.

CAFKIA

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It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument.
  - William G. McAdoo

Sorry for getting you all riled up, CAFKIA. It takes a village of smart people like you and your attorney friends to figure things out for the rest of us.......

The only downside is that in this area, with more readers and posting, you're likely to get a few more folks like me giving an 'alternative' view on some issues."

How many do you think post here though? At times it feels like the same person is posting under more than a few screen names because they have a style that they just can't shake.

I would love an open blog (this one is close!) that would let everyone speak their mind and respect all opinions no matter how odd or stupid they sound to others.

Also how great would it be to see some of these posters face to face! Not much of a drinker here (wine at Baker Peters now and then) but if any want to gather then I would be glad to buy the first few rounds.

Former Stupid Troll

Hi,

Show of hands from everyone who has ever had a good experience dealing with H.R.!

LOL

Once upon a time, the county commission decided to fund a performance audit on the school system. Then someone, maybe Wanda Moody, suggested that they also audit the Sheriff, Assessor and fee offices.

The officeholders came en mass to a commission meeting and got an amendment to perform the audit AFTER the election.

Someone, maybe John Schmid, said but wouldn't the audit be more beneficial BEFORE the election so that anything found could be a campaign issue?

The silence was intense. -- s.

Tin Cup, after reading all the responses, you actually seem like the most intelligent one of the bunch.

By the way Patricia, do you have any proof of a minibar in Steve Hall's office? Of course NOT!!! Joke or not....NOT funny. How some of you people can defame other peoples character is beyond me! I guess it would not be as funny if someone was defaming you huh? I think that all ANYONE has in life is their character. I would make damn sure that I had facts not (he said she said) rumors before I would hurt anyone. What ever happened to Judge Not And Ye Shall Not Be Judged? (Wait...maybe that was too Republican to say) Patricia surely your not perfect right?

Your not-so-accusation that neither Patricia nor Tamara could possibly know what they are talking about sure seems like a judgement to me. Whatever happened to Judge Not ...?

Listen newby, it is the right and duty of citizens to question the behavior and character of those who are elected or appointed and paid with public monies. Your inane defense of the indefensible does little but mark you as a shill for the local rethug establishment. (Yea newby, I just judged you. Get over it)

When I was in the military in the mid 70s there were signs all over the place that said "Avoid even the appearance of conflict of interest". Pretty good advice doncha think? If it was good advice for a powerless hick kid from East Knoxville, it must be great advice for elected officials.

This situation needs to be investigated, scruitinized, analyzed and found to be either acceptable or unacceptable but, BUT what it doesn't need is to be swept away on the advice of shills of questionable morals and/or intellect.

Your turn

CAFKIA

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It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument.
  - William G. McAdoo

Over the last few months there have been many questions raised about the hiring practices, staff size and payroll in the Knox County Government Fee Offices. In particular, the Knox County Register of Deeds office has been reported to have a staff and payroll as large as or larger than other bigger counties in the state that do nearly double the volume of work and handle twice the amount of money. These questions deserve to be answered and they can be with the help of the fee office administrators. For these reasons I have filed (via certified mail) the following Freedom of Information Act request to Ms. Sherry Witt, Knox County Register of Deeds.

Scott Emge

Well, I didn't get a resonse from the Register of Deeds Office to my Freedom of Information Act request. Yesterday however, (3/6) I did get a letter from Mary Ann Stackhouse, Chief Deputy Law Director. Her letter reads...

Re: Your Freedom of Information Act Request to the Knox County Register of Deeds

Dear Mr. Emge:

Your Freedom of Information Act Request has been forwarded to me by the Register of Deeds Office. Under Tennessee law, this kind of request is governed by the *Tennessee Public Records Act.

The Register of Deeds Office is determining what gathering records back to 1980 will entail. It is believed that some records may be in archives.

I will be back in touch with you as soon as practicable. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me.

Very Truly Yours,

Mary Ann Stackhouse
Chief Deputy Law Director

* The Tennessee Public Records Act is found in T.C.A. § 10-7-101 et seq. For purposes of access to public records, the operative provision is found in T.C.A. § 10-7-503, which states in relevant part: “All state county and municipal records ... shall at all times, during business hours, be open for public inspection by any citizen of Tennessee, and those in charge of such records shall not refuse such right of inspection to any citizen, unless provided by state law.”
“Records” are defined as “all documents, papers, letters, maps, books, photographs, microfilms, electronic data processing files and output, films, sound recordings, or other material, regardless of physical form or characteristics made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business of any governmental agency.” T.C.A. § 10-7-301
Will the Register of Deeds Office actually produce any of the requested materials? We'll see.