Monday, January 7, 2013

Hey, hey! Goodbye!


Mt. Juliet removes traffic cameras!
Effective today, red light cameras in my town of residence, Mount Juliet, TN are no longer. My friend, City Councilman (District 2), and Vice Mayor of Mt. Juliet; James Maness; was instrumental in the removal of the cameras.

Vice Mayor Maness ran for city council largely on the issue of the red light cameras. Former commissioner Will Sellars had helped vote the draconian nanny-state revenue sappers into being in the city. Maness ran a guerrilla campaign like few I've ever witnessed (with only minor help from yours-truly), and ousted the long-time incumbent and sitting Vice-Mayor at the time. Maness not only won, but did so in convincing fashion.

To defeat an incumbent in a small town - especially one who had been in office for some time - is no small feat. This goes to show how We the People of the city of Mt. Juliet were so disturbed by the red light cameras, as well as a few other issues of attempted big-government. Incidentally, Sellers had also voted to ban HCP holders from legally carrying in Mt. Juliet parks (the vote failed, and we can carry in local parks).

One of the first things Maness did once in office was to propose a bill that would non-renew the contract with the company that operates the red light cameras. That bill passed overwhelmingly, and today's date was the non-renewal day!

"January 7 is the last day," Maness gladly told me. 

A previous conversation with another friend, former Gubernatorial candidate, Joe Kirkpatrick, revealed his disgust with the nanny-state contraptions. Had he been elected, Kirkpatrick wanted to specifically request the State House of Representatives to make red light cameras illegal in Tennessee. Sitting Governor, Haslam, has all but backhanded the topic away, as one might swat at a fly. So the issue is left to local municipalities... many of whom were lured by promises of increased revenues.


Red Bank to remove their cameras!
In a similar move, Red Bank, Tennessee (where Pops lives) is also set to allow their red light camera contract to expire on January 19. My friend, Red Bank Mayor John Roberts, was equally disgusted with such draconian laws. The red light camera issue was among those larger issues of government intrusion into the private citizen's life that prompted Roberts to initially run for office.

"You have no Earthly idea how glad I am to get rid of these things!" Roberts exclaimed in conversation with me, speaking directly about the red light cameras.


A bit of freedom is restored in a small American city today. And again on January 19!
Thank you, Mr. Maness, and your work on this, and other freedom-restoring endeavors!
The people of Red Bank thank Mr. Roberts for his work for freedom!

(I'm sitting here having a hard time calling them Mr. Roberts, Mr. Maness, and Mr. Kirkpatrick. They are John, James, and Joe to me, respectively)


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