I am obviously saddened by the loss of Richard Casavant in the County Commission race. I have great respect for Richard and his service to our town and county. Without Richard we would not have a high school on Signal Mountain according to Claude Ramsey (along with Chip Baker and the many, many friends of the High School).
I do congratulate Jim Fields on his victory and compliment him for his gracious comments about Dr. Casavant after the election.
As you should know, Mr. Fields will be running against David Cantrell in the general election on August 5. I honestly don't know Mr. Cantrell well at all, I've probably never said more than hello to him. I have had my differences with his wife, Melissa Cantrell who is the chair of the Planning Commission, though I realize that shouldn't reflect on him. I do know that he and his wife were strong supporters of and campaign workers for Joe Dumas during Joe's last political campaign which clearly raises red flags in regards to his support for public education. Other than the initial announcement article in the Chattanoogan:( http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_171610.asp )I have heard nothing of what his positions are or his reasons for running. I am, of course always curious about reasons why someone runs as an "independent". I really don't know his politics except that his wife once implied to me that they were Democrats (in an email from Ms. Cantrell she said to me "I've even been told that you are a Democrat - not a bad thing in my household"). Clearly if he was to run as a Democrat the primary field would have been clear. So, that is a question I would like to ask.
I was quite appalled at the lack of opportunity for the candidates to present their views to the voters. As you know, I put together a last minute forum for the two Republican candidates which suffered from being last minute. I plan to work towards putting together a forum this summer for Mr. Fields and Mr. Cantrell to present their views to the public. Details are pending, but I will work at publicizing it as much as possible.
Finally, I was also appalled at the pitiful turnout for this election. Less than 8.5% of Hamilton County voters voted. That is shameful. Stuart James commented on this on his blog:
http://www.truthfactor.org/articles_details.php?The-Death-of-Our-Republic-538 . I hope that we can get better attention on the upcoming general election this summer (August 5) and fall.
This blog is dedicated to issues facing the Signal Mountain, Tennessee community.
4 comments:
Hi Paul,
You can find out about David Cantrell at his website or on facebook. His site is: http://davidcantrell.org
On his site, it states his positions: a supporter of public education, an advocate of using tax dollars wisely and implementing ways to stop abuse and fraud, an advocate for wise and responsible long term growth planning, and many other things.
He is easily accessible. Please call him up if you want more information or answers to the red flags that concern you.
Thanks, Sandy. I have tried to find a website on him, but google apparently failed me! I will check that out. I do hope for more specifics, though.
Paul M. Hendricks
Paul - If you put David Cantrell Signal Mountain in Google, his website appears on the first page that pops up. A statement on his support of education is under Goals. His son was educated in the public education system. It is troubling that you state you "really don't know his politics," but imply he is a Democrat due to an e-mail comment from is wife. Looking at the comment on your blog, I fail to see how you can jump from this comment to tying him to the Democratic party. Stating that Democrats are not a bad thing in her household reveals that the Cantrell's are open to and welcome opinions and views from everyone, regardless of political affiliation, including Democrats.
Claire Griesinger
Claire, I just tried that (again) and it didn't come up in the first 50 responses. As to his wife's comment, I know the context and I think that my assumption was reasonable. Nonetheless, it is up to him to establish his positions and affiliations. My point is that little is known about him. Many people don't even realize there is a general election, they thought that Fields was elected by the primary.
As to public education, my understanding was that they pulled their son out of Hamilton County Public Schools soon after moving here, but that is their business. We all have to do what is the right thing for our children. However, his comments of support for public education only go so far. Everyone is "for" education, that's like being for Mom and apple pie, but I know that people want specifics. How will he support education? More funding? More teachers? Better salaries? More textbooks for Orchard Knob Middle School? I've been at this long enough to look beyond the rhetoric and ask for specifics. That is why I'm holding this forum. I hope you can come.
Paul M. Hendricks, MD
PS: I tried David W. Cantrell Signal Mountain and did get a hit on a section of his website about 5listings down. I would think he would be interested in knowing how hard it is to get info on him if he is running seriously. This information should be helpful to him and, if false info is out there he needs to know so he can counter it. I know about that!
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