Come to find out, I was a one man terror at the meeting, according to social media. George Bove took to his Facebook page to criticize my actions at the meeting. Shortly there after, Lenoir City councilwoman, Jennifer Wampler picked up on the issue and added her own spin. Then the big fish, Jimmy Epperson, he's the guy with the eye patch, took things to a whole weird level.
According to Wampler, I made obscene gestures throughout the meeting, had my boots on the chairs and committed childish and unacceptable behavior. Bove just keeps saying I was SMOKINGGG. Of course it didn't happen. Bove even posted a security camera shot of what he said was me flipping a middle finger at someone. That didn't happen either, unless now you use five fingers to flip someone off. But Epperson wins the prize. According to him, while he and Bove were screaming and yelling outside city hall, I was so scared I was shaking in my shoes.
Until that meeting, I had never met or talked to Bove or Epperson. Still don't know them nor do I care to. Mr. Bove is the Knox County representative on the LCUB board even though he lives in Lenoir City. The only thing I know about the eye patch guy is, he and councilwoman Jennifer Wampler are both registered to vote at the same East Third Avenue address. Maybe he rents a room there, I have no idea.
Coincidently, I was sitting beside one of Lenoir City's senior police officers, three citizens sitting behind me, the police chief nearby and all the council, mayor, city attorney, city manager and the treasure recorder right in front of me. Surely if my conduct had been so abhorrent, at least one of these would have called me down.
The meeting where all this took place was on August
22. You would think with all the outrageous actions I had committed,
Bove, Wampler and Epperson, would have been so upset they would have
gone right to their Facebook pages to let me have it that night or at
least the next day. But no, not the next day, or the next or even the
next. In fact, it took them a whole week to get all slathered up. And to
be exact, their anger didn't seem to show up at all until I did a story
on the 29th about
little
incident at city hall. I wonder
if my story had something to do with their sudden, simultaneous, delayed
anger.
Oddly, none of them mentioned what actions the mayor/council took at that meeting. Of course, that was the meeting where they raised the new judge's salary from $7,200.00 to $75,000.00. None of the three seemed to have any issue with that.
I have no idea what sparked so much anger among these three, but the only common denominator I know of between the three is, they were all huge supporters of my opponent in the recent election. Maybe they're just having a hard time coming to grips with the election outcome. It's hard to forget the meeting when councilwoman Wampler was caught on a hot mic so excited about Eddie Simpson running against me and how the council needed to get out and "beat the bushes" for him. See below.
Maybe it's just that simple, sour politics?
From 8/16/2021
Living Rent Free
In Their Heads
| Rush Limbaugh had a saying he used to use a
lot. He talked about living "rent free in their head". He used
it a lot when talking about people who didn't like him. He also
used it a lot about President Trump. He would talk about Trump
having the democrats so tore up, he was living rent free in
their heads. Essentially, referring to people who are obsessed
with Trump looks like I may very well be living rent free is
some heads. At last week's city council
meeting, much of the discussion was on the Adequate Schools
Facility Tax, ASFT, and how ONE commissioner had misled all the
other commissioners to vote to give the county schools more
funding from the ASFT. More The best part of the meeting was before it even began. One of the new things we've all had to adapt to in zoom meetings and live streaming meetings. New audio and video equipment has been installed in many meeting rooms just for live stream. Currently, in any meeting, one needs to be aware that you're being recorded, at all times. Brings us to the story. Before the city council meeting began, council persons and others were just having various conversations. The good one was the conversation between councilwoman Jennifer Wampler and councilman Mike Henline.
Wampler: You heard Eddie's going to run against Van? Henline: Nods Wampler: We got to start beating the bushes Henline: Nods Wampler: Our lives would be so much easier Henline: The only way to beat Van.... Wampler: I told Eddie, all you gotta do is ask him, name one thing you've done, since you've been there that benefitted or advanced our lives in any way at all...not a da** thing Mayor Aikens: Call the meeting to order. Boy, there's a lot to unpack here. Let's start from the top. Ms. Wampler was almost giddy when asking Mr. Henline if he knew Eddie (Simpson) was going to run against me. Then, as vice mayor tells Henline, "we gotta start beating the bushes". I assume she means she and the city council have to start campaigning for Simpson. Would anybody expect less? Guess I'll be running against the whole Lenoir City political machine in the next election, and I'm OK with that. As I said before, I've never had a political opponent I've ever been more comfortable with comparing voting records with. Then Ms. Wampler says, "our lives would be so much easier". A lot to take in there. Who's lives would be easier? I assume she's referring to city government? Their lives would be so much easier if, Simpson runs against me? If Simpson beats me and is on commission and city council? I'm not sure how me being on commission makes their lives hard. Maybe she thinks if I'm not on commission, I won't still hold them accountable for their actions on my website? Maybe if Simpson is on county commission, he can somehow help Lenoir City government have more control of county commission? I wish I could have heard the rest of Henline's "The only way to beat Van...." but there was too much background noise. If I knew the only way to beat me, I could just avoid it. Finally, she's apparently Simpson's campaign advisor too. She telling Henline the advice she gave Simpson about how to defeat me. "name one thing you've done, since you've been there that benefitted or advanced our lives in any way at all...not a da** thing". To Ms. Wampler, I'll let the residents of the fifth district speak to whether or not I have been a good representative for them, but I'd like to introduce you and the rest of city officials to a concept you're apparently not familiar with. It's not just what you DO for people, sometimes it's what you DON'T DO to people.
Maybe you and the council should worry more about what you've done to people, rather than what you've done for people. As far as the rest of the meeting, mayor Aikens and others kept referring to that "one commissioner" who misled the other commissioners in voting for the change to the ASFT. I'll be honest I don't believe that any of my fellow commissioners believe I, or for that matter, any other commissioner would ever intentionally try to mislead them on anything. That's not how we do business. Click Here For Video Of Entire Meeting The good parts are at 1:19-1:57, 5:51-13:59, 24:10-35:10 |
