Author: Clint Confehr

By Clint Confehr NASHVILLE, TN — Warning that federal aid to combat Covid-19 ends soon, U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper on Monday revealed how the money’s being spent, and criticized President Trump’s hollow threat to defund schools that don’t reopen. “It’s called extortion,” Cooper said after an on-line report on the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, “to threaten to withhold vital federal funding from schools just because the President wants to veto local school board decisions, in this case to prioritize the health of children, teachers and staff.” Trump could veto aid to schools. That would hurt all schools…

By Clint Confehr COLUMBIA, TN — Officials are investigating a fire that destroyed an historic Rosenwald school in the Canaan community. The sheriff cautiously said “no indicator … of foul play” had been found. He and community leaders don’t want to jump to a conclusion. “There so much going on that it’s hard to … speculate. It was a tragic loss,” said the Rev. Tylan Orr, pastor of Canaan AME Church which insured the school across Ashwood Road from the church. “I’m not sure what the cause is, so I’d rather not say anything and then be wrong.” Maury County…

By Clint Confehr FRANKLIN, TN — With citizen groups talking about disrupting bias and why it’s hard for white people to talk about racism, another group has reached its $150,000 goal toward placing a bronze statue of a Black Union Army soldier at Williamson County’s historic courthouse.  That building faces this town’s traffic circle. It’s centerpiece is a monument — nearly 38-feet-tall — owned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The monument includes an Italian marble statue of a Confederate soldier, nicknamed “Chip” because part of the brim of his hat chipped off during installation in 1899.  Now, Columbus,…

By Clint Confehr  MURFREESBORO, TN — Having pastored Walnut Grove Missionary Baptist Church for 40 years, the Rev. Richard Sibert has retired. “Don’t Count Me Out” was his parting message. Rev. Sibert spoke June 28 to more than 100 people in the Smith Fork District Association building here with a story about perseverance in the face of adversity and contagious disease. “The Bible only talks about four lepers,” he said. “They … refused to resign themselves to a life of ‘less than.’ They were not going to be counted out… They refused to allow their condition to set the stage…

By Clint Confehr COLUMBIA, TN — Several Maury County residents want to rename Carmack Boulevard “because of Edward Carmack’s racist history.” Knowing the late U.S. senator’s record, the mayor offered alternatives. “Instead of a change,” Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder asks, “why not acquire property for a civil right’s history museum?” The 1.7-mile part of U.S. Route 31 might be declared Cordie Cheek Memorial Highway the way East 7th Street is also Rosa Parks Memorial Parkway, Molder said. Perry-Winn Hunt of Mt. Pleasant is related to Cheek who was lynched in 1933. In 2017, Hunt opposed changing Negro Creek Road’s name.…

By Clint Confehr Refuse Fascism, a self-described movement of people, marched against the Trump Administration in Tulsa, Okla. the day after Juneteenth to drive that regime “from power through non-violent protests.” “Vote with your feet in the street,” says “Coco Das,” an Austin, Tex.-area resident who: admits to using a pseudonym; reports some Refuse Fascism activists have received death threats; and says she wishes she wrote the slogan. Das is Refuse Fascism’s national spokesperson and a member of the group’s editorial board. Massive protests, she says, are a way to show influential people that the masses and like-minded citizens outnumber…

By Clint Confehr ANTIOCH, TN — An Aquinas College Nursing School graduate feels obliged to warn people about COVID-19 because of an oath she made upon graduating six years ago. The Davidson County mother of four recently recovered from COVID-19, as did her husband who got it from her. She’s a nurse who contracted the disease from a patient. She says: Health care workers shouldn’t wear the same mask for 12-hours; Patients should be tested before they’re admitted; Home schooling may be better than crowded classes; And COVID-19 pain feels like being eaten by a grizzly bear. “Nursing is teaching,”…

By Clint Confehr Spending less on police could start at the 911 dispatcher’s desk. First responders might best be mental health workers not law enforcers, authorities say in a report on-line now. “You can’t arrest your way out of every situation,” says U.S. Rep. Val Demings (D-FL). Elected in 2017, she’s been a Jacksonville social worker protecting foster children, and rose through Orlando police ranks to be their first female police chief. As a House Judiciary Committee member, Demings said June 17, families of police violence victims deserve better from government. She’s in a PBS News Hour Weekend Special, “America…

Refuse Fascism’s Emma Kaplan speaks in Tulsa’s Deco District before the president’s rally. The group wants non-violent protests to prompt Donald Trump’s ouster. Refuse Fascism photo By Clint Confehr Refuse Fascism, a self-described “movement of people,” marched against the Trump Administration in Tulsa, Okla. last weekend to drive that regime “from power through non-violent protests.” “Vote with your feet in the street,” says “Coco Das,” an Austin, Tex.-area resident who: admits to using a pseudonym; reports some Refuse Fascism activists have received death threats; and says she wishes she wrote the slogan. Das, Refuse Fascism’s national spokesperson, is a member…

Commentary by Clint Confehr An accomplished lady recently reminded me that big events, including Covid-19 and its quarantine, create winners, losers and opportunity. People were forced to change, but adjustments can be good. Nashville-area motorists noticed a dramatic reduction in traffic jams because of the quarantine and more people working from home for employers who continued business. School closures forced parents to spend more time with their children. Aren’t those worthwhile unintended consequences? America’s agrarian economy framed school calendars, but times have changed. Year-round school was available as close as the Franklin Special School District. It’s not the perfect model,…