Recent editorials from Tennessee newspapers:
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March 10
The Kingsport Times News on a proposed bill similar to Caylee’s Law in Florida that would make it illegal for parents or guardians to fail to report a missing child:
When Casey Anthony was found not guilty in the death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in 2011, many felt justice had not been served. But at the least she might have spent time in prison had Caylee’s Law been in place in Florida then, as it is now.
Caylee’s Law is the unofficial name for bills proposed in various states after the Anthony case. Those bills make it a felony for a parent or legal guardian to fail to report a missing child where the parent knew or should have known that the child was in possible danger.
In Tennessee, that law has been introduced as Evelyn’s Law after the disappearance of 15-month-old Evelyn Boswell of Blountville.
Evelyn Boswell’s grandfather reported her missing on Feb. 18. The last confirmed sighting of Evelyn was Dec. 11 by a babysitter. The child’s mother, Megan Boswell, did not report her missing and was arrested after providing “conflicting, inaccurate statements,” according to Sullivan County Sheriff Jeff Cassidy. “Many of the statements Megan made delayed our investigation and also impeded our investigation on trying to find Evelyn,” said Cassidy.
Introduced by local state Reps. Timothy Hill, John Crawford and Bud Hulsey, Evelyn’s Law would apply in instances when a child’s whereabouts are unknown to a parent or guardian and that individual knows, believes or has substantial reason to believe the child’s whereabouts are unknown to any other individual tasked with temporarily supervising a child. Situations where there is knowledge that a child has been abducted; has suffered serious bodily harm, abuse, or sexual exploitation; or who has run away, would also be included in reporting requirements outlined under Evelyn’s Law.
Some version of Caylee’s Law is on the books or awaiting action in 12 states. In Louisiana, conviction for violating it is punishable by up to a year in prison, while in Florida it’s up to five years, and in Alabama up to 10 years.
Evelyn’s Law would make it one year, and in that and other respects, it is deficient.
It should be a felony. Period. And punishment, at the least, should be up to 10 years. We’re talking protection for the young who cannot protect themselves.
Online: https://www.timesnews.net/
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March 9
The Cookeville Herald-Citizen on a tornado that killed 24 people on March 3:
Tornado sirens have sounded arguably numerous times since the deadly tornadoes of 1974 killed 11 people in Putnam County.
On the 30th anniversary of that storm in 2004, Putnam Emergency Management Agency Director Tyler Smith said the death and destruction Putnam Countians experienced was sort of a wake-up call to help get the ball rolling toward becoming a “storm ready” county.
No one could have imagined how important that would be just hours before daylight Tuesday morning.
Sirens sounded to alert residents to 175 mile-per-hour winds, and many people did take cover and survive. Women in the Next Step Transitional House made it to the basement just before the roof ripped off their Highway 70 home.
Others made it to bathrooms and hallways, where their lives were spared, but their homes were not.
And yet, the timing of the 2 a.m. storms and the short notice ended with the deaths of five children and 13 adults, and 88 others injured.
We know it could have been much worse.
Many of our leaders, including State Rep. Ryan Williams, said that God was not in that tornado, but He has been part of the response.
Our emergency responders and community leaders sprang into action in the minutes and hours that followed the 10-minute storm that cut a quarter-mile-wide, two-mile path down neighborhoods along Highway 70.
They searched for the deceased, the injured, who were transported to Cookeville Regional Medical Center, where nurses and doctors held hands and saved lives.
Our leaders solemnly stood beyond a podium every few hours to give updates on the dead, the injured and the missing as well as what those of use who felt helpless could do to help.
Every person in our newsroom knew someone affected by the storm. Someone who died. Someone who lost everything. Someone who is still recovering.
We have all watched the devastation of severe weather elsewhere while we continue on with our lives. But this time, it was us. There have been moments where we’ve felt paralyzed, but we kept moving because we didn’t know what else to do.
Funerals for the deceased begin today. We continue to grieve and attempt to heal. We will never forget.
Online: http://herald-citizen.com/
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March 8
The Johnson City Press on State Rep. Gloria Johnson’s, D-Knoxville, comments regarding Ballad Health CEO Alan Levine:
Words matter. Using them responsibly and accurately, especially in public forums, matters most. Once something is uttered, it takes on a life of its own. No matter how vehemently it’s rebutted, corrected or retracted, it can be shared, tweeted, repeated and finally engrained in truth in many minds.
Social media has made haphazard assertion especially dangerous, given how easy it is to spread with a click on a computer or smartphone. We carry some of the mightiest weapons ever known to humankind in our pockets, and they don’t even need a firing pin.
All of us must take greater care to scrutinize what we hear and read before we repeat it. That’s especially true for those we entrust with governance.
State Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, failed miserably in that regard Feb. 24 when she misrepresented Ballad Health CEO Alan Levine’s record in health care administration - both with a former employer involved in a fraud case and at Ballad.
Her statements were made on the floor of the state House during discussion about Levine’s appointment to Tennessee’s charter schools commission. The statements were part of that day’s record in the Legislature. The comments were recorded, posted to social media and shared virally - with Ballad’s detractors giving her pats on the back.
Johnson should know better, as should all lawmakers, than to insert unvetted information into a debate. It’s especially problematic in an official forum, where it can easily be interpreted as truth. She failed to do the necessary diligence we expect from our elected officials. Doing simple research with reliable sourcing could have avoided her misstep.
In an interview Monday with Press Staff Writer David Floyd, Johnson acknowledged that she had misstated Levine’s position with his former employer and had corrected a related Facebook post. She stopped short of correcting other elements of her speech, calling them a disagreement about how she presented the details.
That’s not enough. Such incendiary remarks, especially when they hint at wrongdoing, must be retracted in the same fashion and forum in which they were unleashed. Johnson owes Levine a public apology on the House floor. We doubt he’s holding his breath.
Johnson is not the first legislator to perpetuate falsehoods in the state House.
State Rep. Micah Van Huss, R-Jonesborough, infamously cited a parody article from The Onion, a satire publication and website, during a 2018 debate about college hazing. Even worse, Van Huss misquoted the parody.
Tennessee deserves better than inserting unvetted and bogus content into public policy discourse. In their zeal to win an argument, lawmakers may take shortcuts without confirming details that could unduly influence decisions.
The flip-side result, though, is that they often wind up discrediting themselves and undermining their own positions on the issues at hand.
Johnson allowed her opposition to charter schools and the fervor of Ballad’s detractors to cloud her judgment. Arguing on merit would serve her better.
Online: https://www.johnsoncitypress.com/
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