A California man shot and killed a female store owner over a rainbow flag that stood outside the store.

The woman was 66 years old, well known in the fashion industry in which she worked for Kenneth Cole for 15 years. She had been married for 28 years and between them they have 9 children.

It's getting a scary out there. Getting killed over a rainbow flag? Man, you have to be very careful what you display these days.

In January, 2021, a new resident to Blount County from California wrote an article (“Leftists Are Colonizing Red Towns," published online Jan. 13) in a right-wing publication stating they have become “disillusioned” and “chagrined” about the state of affairs. Because I am not willing to read said publication or even mention it, I gathered information about the article from articles in the Maryville Daily Times. One of the articles was from a local citizen native to the area, another from a previous editor of the Daily Times and a local minister. There was another article by Steve Wildsmith, a long time writer for the Daily Times, but I cannot seem to find a link.

The new resident is from California via Austin, TX. Apparently Austin didn't fit their needs either. I suppose we can be proud to be compared to Austin, TX, such a creative and successful community. The new resident detected whiffs of “dysfunctional leftist governance.” Reported "Wokeness is everywhere". This person "then calls the sleeping residents, presumably conservatives, of this “uninformed” town to “action” to fight their own “complacency” and thus rout the “aggression by liberal activists.”

The former editor of the Daily Times said, the new resident "obviously a transplant who didn't do his homework, especially if he thought before moving here that Maryville College — a historic Presbyterian college — is like the Rush Limbaugh-praised Hillsdale College. Likewise, his relocation studies fell way short if he assumed that since the political demographic polled overwhelmingly Republican, its leadership and populace put partisanship over people." He also suggests the new resident "who is "not from around here," might be happier" elsewhere.

Yes, we do not need new residents to the area that bring hate and angry disruption.

Be careful out there.