By Clint Confehr FRANKLIN, TN — The Tennessee Tribune was recognized by the Tennessee Press Association as an award-winning newspaper, according to results released during the TPA’s summer convention in the Cool Springs Conference Center. Tennessee Tribune journalist Peter White is congratulated for a series of investigative stories on Fort Negley, exposing shenanigans by Metro Nashville officials and developers in their attempt to capitalize on property dedicated as public park land. White’s work was deemed a “Public Service.” “Peter’s work at the Tribune has brought a new dimension to our news coverage,” Tribune Publisher Rosetta Miller Perry said. “Our readers…
Author: Clint Confehr
Clint Confehr
Clint Confehr — an American journalist since 1972 — first wrote for The Tennessee Tribune in 1999. His news writing and photography in South Central Tennessee and the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area began in the summer of 1980. Clint's covered news in several Southern states at newspapers, radio stations and one TV station. Married since 1982, he's a grandfather and is semi-retired from daily news work.
By Clint Confehr NASHVILLE, TN — Bad experiences with metro planners were aired Saturday at a OneNashville meeting where several Edgehill property owners and neighbors said a zoning plan should be sent back to the drawing board. “We need to go back to the table and do something better,” John Moore said of a proposed “conservation overlay” that would affect 43 acres. I’ve see the historic planning commission in action. They denied everything and I don’t like the restrictions.” Restrictions on building height, roofline and appearance might be imposed to provide some consistency of structures’ design to maintain, or conserve,…
By Clint Confehr Tennessee State House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh has a path to victory in his campaign for governor, observers recently said on his campaign trail. It may be a hopeful hypothesis, but Fitzhugh looks like a dark horse candidate, given conventional wisdom — that money is the mother’s milk of politics. So, the state representative from Ripley, Tenn., is seen as an unlikely winner in August. Here’s why he can win. As a West Tennessee resident, Fitzhugh is likened to Ned Ray McWherter. While the former Democratic governor was a majority leader, they both worked in the state…
By Clint Confehr President Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy threatens civil rights and health care, opponents said this week. Furthermore, it looks like he’s trying to protect himself from the special counsel’s Russia investigation. “This president is under investigation and should not be in a position to pick an individual who ultimately will have to decide his fate,” NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said Tuesday. Trump “feels like he’s above the law,” Johnson said. U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper of Nashville said, “Kavanaugh was … rejected … in 2003 and 2005 for judgeships; I…
By Clint Confehr NASHVILLE, TN — Property values versus freedom from government control have many Edgehill neighbors in an uproar over a controversial proposal to restrict property development. While metro planning commissioners met June 28 in a conference hall, nearly 50 people argued in the lobby for and against restrictions recommended by the historic zoning board. Controls are presented as how to preserve the appearance of homes in the neighborhood. With his back practically up against a wall, Councilman Colby Sledge explained government procedures, heard differing views, and ultimately asked Planning Commission Chairman Greg Adkins to postpone a public hearing…
By Clint Confehr NASHVILLE, TN — She wants to be a civil rights lawyer. He wants to be a surgeon. She’s 15. He’s 14. “When I was little, I wanted to help my grandmother” who had heart surgery, says Stephan Johnson-Taylor of Madison. He was in first grade then. Stephan will be studying at Hunters Lane High School in the fall. Aaneissa Shannon of Bellevue wants to fight for and defend people in court. She’s studying at Martin Luther King Magnet at Pearl High School this fall. This summer they’re in a class taught by Ebony Cole at Goodwill Career…
By Clint Confehr BROWNSVILLE, TN — Bill Rawls is “very proud” to be the first African American mayor here where nearly 61 percent of the residents are black. And now, Rawls is the first mayor elected without opposition in this West Tennessee town of 10,000 people with a median household income of $27,274, or 56 percent of the state figure; $48,547. The upside of those statistics is the 4,100-acre Memphis Regional Megasite awaiting industrial development, backed by a $106 million state infrastructure investment. It’s about 15 miles southwest of City Hall. “We’re a little town with a big future,” Rawls…
By Clint Confehr NASHVILLE, TN — A Georgia teenager organized thousands of people on social media to protest gun violence recently, including Middle Tennesseans who demonstrated on the Legislative Plaza. And, before that national anti-gun violence die-in demonstration, protest organizer Nurah Abdulhaqq, 14, Atlanta, said one cause of mass shootings is “white privilege … white boys get everything handed to them.” A perception of disrespect triggers reactions, she and others agreed. However, guns are the chief issue. Asked why mass shooters are usually white males, Abdulhaqq replied white privilege is a reason believed by many. “It’s not frequently expressed, but…
By Clint Confehr NASHVILE, TN — McCullough Law, a Memphis-based boutique-civil law firm, was welcomed recently to Music City USA in Jubilee Hall at Fisk University by The Tennessee Tribune and CapStar Bank. “When we first decided to take a chance on Nashville, I saw The Tennessee Tribune Building while driving on Jefferson Street,” said Carlee McCullough, Esq., founder of the firm whose suite of offices is located in an elegantly restored Victorian Memphis home. When McCullough entered the newspaper office, “She embraced us,” McCullough said of Tribune Publisher /CEO Rosetta Miller Perry. “It touched my heart for her and…
By Clint Confehr COLUMBIA, TN — Donald Trump’s election and administration show progress on civil rights wasn’t as successful as people thought, but it’s not too late to keep history from repeating itself. That’s according to Dr. Bernard LaFayette Jr., national board chairman of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference who spoke recently at the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church. It’s not too late because civil rights workers of the 1960s are still working on the cause and teaching non-violence tactics, Dr. LaFayette said. He spoke to the African American Heritage Society of Maury County. It says LaFayette “has devoted his life…