Mon
Oct 9 2006
08:53 am
Ragsdale's fruit basket
By: Number9

You have to give Lee Tramel some credit, he knows how to respond to a put down. Last week when County Mayor Mike Ragsdale was on the Gene Patterson show "Tennessee This Week" he referred to Tramel as a, “a produce salesman.”

So what does Tramel do? He kindly sends the Mayor a fruit basket at his office on the sixth floor with a card that reads, “Best wishes from your old friend the Produce Man”.

Supposedly this fruit basket arrived within the hour of Lumpy Lambert's announcement of a County Commission investigation of Ragsdale. Rumors of fruit flying through the air soon followed. Some say that the Mayor has a problem with his temper. Only the janitor knows for sure.

Betty Bean chronicles all this and more in her article today in the Halls Shopper News, "Six days of ‘Harbergate’".

I wonder how many fruit baskets will arrive this week? Think Mike Chase will send one?

up
Topics:
Justin's picture

From BB's

Submitted by Justin on Mon, 2006/10/09 - 9:30am.

From BB's article...

 “They must think Ivan, Scoobie, Mark and I are punkins and gourds,” Lambert says.

 

LMAO....go Lumpy!

mongo's picture

Ragsdale's Fruit basket

Submitted by mongo on Mon, 2006/10/09 - 10:20am.

Is anybody concerned that our community is being led by two guys named Lumpy and Scooby?

redmondkr's picture

When we've got a guy the

Submitted by redmondkr on Mon, 2006/10/09 - 10:56am.

When we've got a guy the President calls Turd Blossom pulling the strings at the Whitehouse?

Toad In The Hole's picture

I'll Take Lumpy and Scoopy over a Bunch of Mikes anyday

Submitted by Toad In The Hole (not verified) on Mon, 2006/10/09 - 11:34am.

and throw in MoneyBoy and these goons do nothing but sit and spin for $100,000 grand a year. That's insane. What do they really do anyway?

Anonymous's picture

Harbergate

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 2006/10/09 - 11:42am.

Why doesn't Ragsdale simply release documentation showing the work that Harber did while in the employ of the county? Calling him a rogue employee creates the question as to why he was given a job and thus calls into question the administration's judgement.

If he at least showed what Harber worked on, everything else would be extraneous cause for termination...unless it is true and Harber was nothing more than a political hatchet man.

Number9's picture

From Fearless Leader, a cor-rection

Submitted by Number9 on Mon, 2006/10/09 - 12:20pm.

(link...)

Brian's Blog Source was In-Accurate

Here Brian's Blog reported that a source indicated that Commissioner Ivan Harmon had pulled his sponsorship of this resolution. On Friday October 6, 2006, Brian's Blog was informed that Commissioner Harmon had not withdrawn his support. Brian Hornback of Brian's Blog has talked with Commissioner Harmon this afternoon and he has indicated that he is still a sponsor.

This Brian's Blog correction is much better than anything the printed journalistic media in Knox County resort to. When Brian's Blog have a source that is in error, when we determine that we made an error, we always correct it.

Our apology to the Brian's Blog readers for getting this one wrong.

Patsy's picture

What is it with you people

Submitted by Patsy (not verified) on Mon, 2006/10/09 - 3:50pm.

What is it with you people and Ragsdale having Harbor do political stuff with these jobs. They all do it. Haslam has Lyons on his staff who has done more targeted voter lists and surveys than anyone could ever count. Grow up and smell the coffee. Investigate all you want. Just do it for the city side too.

Number9's picture

What is it with you you people

Submitted by Number9 on Mon, 2006/10/09 - 4:17pm.

What is it with you people and Ragsdale having Harbor do political stuff with these jobs. They all do it. Haslam has Lyons on his staff who has done more targeted voter lists and surveys than anyone could ever count. Grow up and smell the coffee. Investigate all you want. Just do it for the city side too.

There is no way Tyler Harber and Bill Lyons can be compared. Bill earns his salary. We may disagree on some things but Bill works very hard for the City. He has not defrauded the taxpayers. I know he works evenings and weekends because we argue online. I would think he easily works over 60 hours a week.

I could go further and say it would be difficult to compare Mike Ragsdale and Bill Haslam. Bill Haslam is a popular Mayor and may have a political future beyond being Mayor of Knoxville.

Targeted voter lists and surveys are ethical and fine. If that was all there was there would not need to be an investigation.

Stealing referendum petitions, hacking computers, stealing email, and defrauding taxpayers is not legal, ethical, moral, or acceptable. Not to mention the unexplained 87 keys or not requiring Witt to pay for the Crowne Vic that was totaled.

However, the idea that some form of ethical standards need to be set in place does has merit. If that is what you mean then you have a point.

The easiest thing to do is to adopt the ASPA code of ethics for both the City of Knoxville and Knox County government.

Maybe Lumpy, Scoobie, Mark Cawood, Ivan Harmon, and Steve Hall will do just that. Apparently they are the only ones that have any political courage. It is curious that the list of the courageous seems to be growing. Maybe members of the media other than Betty Bean and Gene Patterson will join in.

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

TN Progressive

TN Politics

Knox TN Today

Local TV News

News Sentinel

    State News

    Wire Reports

    Lost Medicaid Funding

    To date, the failure to expand Medicaid/TennCare has cost the State of Tennessee ? in lost federal funding. (Source)

    Search and Archives