Day: February 8, 2019

New Poll Shows Tennesseans Overwhelmingly Support Education Savings Accounts

Laura Baigert

A new statewide poll released Thursday by the Tennessee Federation for Children shows that when voters receive information about Education Savings Accounts, they are overwhelmingly supportive of a program being passed by the Tennessee Legislature. The poll by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc. of 625 registered Tennessee voters was conducted between January 31 and February 4, and has a margin of error of +/- 4 percent. Six survey questions were asked during the telephone interview, in addition to participant demographics such as the region of the state, sex, age, race and party identification. The initial question presented to interviewees, “Education Savings Accounts, also known as E-S-A-s, allows parents to use their education tax dollars to customize their child’s learning and development. Approved ESA expenses include technical training, K-12 school tuition, or even special needs therapies from an array of providers, including public and private schools or tutors. Knowing this, would you support or oppose the Legislature passing an ESA program in Tennessee? “ An overwhelming 78 percent of respondents statewide said they support ESAs, of which 54 percent said they “strongly support” the Legislature passing an ESA program. The highest support came from East Tennessee, where 57 percent “strongly support”…

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Commentary: The Virginia Democrats’ Minstrel Show

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by George Rasley   No one can be sure when the first white man “blackened up” to play an African American on stage; however, Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice developed the first popularly known blackface minstrel character called “Jim Crow” in 1830.* Rice’s imitation of a black man and perpetuation of stereotypes was extremely popular with whites in both the North and South. Minstrel music was often inspired by Anglo-Celtic songs, but the performance, singing, and speech mimicked and mocked African American vernacular. Some white performers even augmented their noses and other features when performing to look more stereotypically “black.”* Judging by the revelations of the past week, it appears Mr. Rice’s theatrical descendants are governing the Commonwealth of Virginia, as both Democrat Governor Ralph Northam and Democrat Attorney General Mark Herring have been exposed appearing in blackface during the 1980s. And let’s be clear about what was going on in their appearances: Neither Northam nor Herring were appearing in “make-up” to play the African character in Shakespeare’s Othello or as a traditionally African character like “Zwarte Piet” in old Dutch Christmas pageants. They were blacked-up in the worst tradition of minstrelsy to mock and belittle African-Americans. When the website Big…

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Deadline Passes for Filing of Bills to Be Considered This Year in the Tennessee General Assembly

Laura Baigert

Thursday marked the end of a hectic week for Tennessee lawmakers as the deadline for filing bills to be heard in the first session of the 111th General Assembly approached. The two houses of the General Assembly had their own respective deadline, with the House being on Wednesday and the Senate being Thursday by 3:30 p.m. each day. State Representatives are limited to a maximum of 15 bills each, with the exception of committee chairs, who are allotted an additional five bills each, provided that they pertain to the subject of the committee they chair. There are no limits as to the number of bills a member of the State Senate may carry. By end of business Thursday, the index of legislation on the Tennessee General Assembly website showed that House bills filed numbered through 1499 (HB 1499) and Senate bills filed numbered through 1508 (SB 1508). With bill submission deadlines strictly adhered to, any bill sponsor from either house who was unable to find a sponsor in the other house of the General Assembly, thereby lacking the required companion bill, will not have their bill heard this year. In addition to the bills that were filed, House Joint Resolutions…

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Nashville Police Morale Reportedly Suffers Because of Community Oversight Board

Chris Butler
Nashville Police

Metro Nashville Police officers are writing fewer traffic tickets, and the city loses about $50,000 a month because of it, according to WSMV. “The trend began in August, not long after two key events: police lost their cost-of-living raises, and an officer became the subject of a TBI investigation after he shot and killed a man after a traffic stop,” the Nashville-based TV station reported. MNPD statistics reveal traffic stops “declined dramatically from 2018 compared to 2017,” the station reported. Nashville Fraternal Order of Police President James Smallwood reportedly told the station officers think twice before risking their lives and careers on a traffic stop. “The News4 I-Team also found that the dramatic drop in traffic stops began in August, right after Mayor David Briley’s administration cut officers’ cost-of-living increases,” WSMV reported. Smallwood said rescinded pay raises were only part of what is going on. “According to Smallwood, police are under scrutiny like never before and Nashville officers are anxious right now because Nashville DA Glen Funk is currently prosecuting one of their fellow officers, Andrew Delke, for murder,” the station said. Smallwood explained the officers’ trepidations this way: “They’re reconsidering whether taking that proactive step is worth risking everything,…

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Colorado School Superintendent Recommends Dismissing Teacher Who Called Wrong Covington Boy Part of ‘Hitler Youth’

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by Neetu Chandak   A Colorado school district superintendent recommended dismissing the middle school teacher who allegedly claimed on Twitter that a random student was part of the “Hitler Youth,” mistaking him for one of the Covington Catholic High School boys caught in the viral encounter with American Indian activist Nathan Phillips. Michelle Grissom, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Mountain Ridge Middle School (MRMS) in Colorado, allegedly named and posted a picture of Covington Catholic student Jay Jackson as one of the boys wearing Make America Great Again (MAGA) hats in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 18. Jackson was not in Washington at the time of the incident that went viral on social media. Jackson’s dad, John Jackson, repeatedly asked Grissom to take down the tweets, but she only removed them once the district was contacted. “I made a recommendation to the Douglas County School District (DCSD) Board of Education that Ms. Grissom be dismissed,” DSCD superintendent Thomas Tucker said in a Tuesday statement. Grissom remains on paid administrative leave, DCSD Public Information Officer Paula Hans said to The Daily Caller News Foundation over email. The social studies teacher has the right to request for “a hearing on the basis…

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Trump Plans to Declare ‘100 Percent’ Victory Over Islamic State Caliphate

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by Jeff Seldin   U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he expected to formally declare victory over the Islamic State terror group’s self-declared caliphate in the next week. “Nobody thought it was possible to do it this quickly,” Trump told members of the global coalition to defeat the Islamic State group, who were meeting in Washington. “It should be formally announced, probably sometime next week, that we will have 100 percent of the caliphate,” he added. “We’ve had victory after victory.” U.S. defense and intelligence officials believe that up to 1,500 IS fighters are still clinging to a 50-square-kilometer patch of land in Syria, but have been more cautious in their assessments. In just the past week, they have described the fighting as tough, saying coalition-backed forces were pushing through booby-trapped streets and settlements. And they warned that even once the last of the IS-held territory was liberated, the terror group still would have as many as another 30,000 fighters and supporters dispersed throughout Syria and Iraq. Yet despite more wary assessments from top military and intelligence officials, Trump said Wednesday that the terror organization had been decimated, losing tens of thousands of fighters and more than 60 high-ranking…

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Bill Introduced By State Representative Bruce Griffey and Senator Joey Hensley to Help Fund Trump’s Border Wall Catches Attention of Laura Ingraham

Laura Baigert

The day after State Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) filed a bill intended to help fund President Trump’s wall on the southern border, conservative radio and talk show host Laura Ingraham tweeted about it. Griffey’s bill HB 0562, which is being sponsored in the State Senate by Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) as SB 1504, is “calling for the imposition of fees on the transfer of any money from Tennessee to Mexico and calling for the fees generated to be set aside to fund the border wall proposed by Trump,” according to a statement issued Thursday about the bill. The news prompted a tweet by Laura Ingraham, “YES: Tennessee lawmaker introduces bill he says will help fund Trump’s border wall,” and included a link to a story in The Tennessean with the same title. If the bill is passed into law, all qualifying transactions after January 1, 2020, would be subject to a $10 per transaction fee plus 10 percent on amounts over $500. Those licensed in the business of money transmissions, referred to as the licensee, can keep a half percent as compensation for accounting and remitting the fee to the state’s Department of Revenue. The Department of Revenue will retain one…

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Maplewood Lady Panthers Eye Long State Playoff Run

Scott Wallace

NASHVILLE- As you walk in Maplewood High School’s gym, you can’t miss the wall behind the south end that has two panther eyes. This Friday, those eyes and the eyes of District 10 AA will be on a crucial girls’ basketball match-up between the East Nashville Lady Eagles (23-2 overall, 10-1 District 10AA) and the Maplewood Lady Panthers (15-3, 11-0). A victory by Maplewood will clinch the district for the first time and give them a season sweep of the powerful East Nashville squad in both teams’ last regular season game. “This game is very important,” said Lady Panther head coach Tristin Williams. “A win will put us in a good position for the tournament and we expect to see them again in the (district) championship. We have been focused on the task at hand all year. Our goal is to get to Murfreesboro this year. We are trying to get where they are. Coach (Missy) Donaldson does a great job. I have respect for the players and coaches over there. They work extremely hard.” Another daunting image when you walk in the gym are the banners hanging with championships on the wall. In recent years, the boys’ program coached…

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General Assembly Considers Bill Requiring Police to Take Diversity Training

Jason M. Reynolds

It seems Tennessee’s police officers need diversity training, one lawmaker believes, and he has filed a bill in the General Assembly to force that training. State Rep. Yusuf Hakeem (D-TN-28) of Chattanooga on Jan. 30 filed HB0321. The bill’s caption says it would require “law enforcement officers to satisfactorily complete a diversity training program created by the peace officer standards and training commission by July 1, 2021, or within six months of the officer’s date of employment.” State Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R-TN-10) of Chattanooga is the Senate sponsor. The Chattanooga Times Free Press says the bill would require the training to take place every year. The bill caption does not mention annual training. According to the Times Free Press: “There is a concern within the city, and our community, as to what is perceived as excessive force,” said Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, a Democrat and the lone black member of Hamilton County’s legislative delegation. “I think part of the problem is that people don’t really know each other.” The legislation is in response to several encounters between police and black suspects. However, Hakeem’s and Gardenhire’s bills could be redundant in nature. Some skeptics say a directive from former Gov. Bill Haslam…

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Green New Deal Outline Released, Calls for ‘Repairing Historic Oppression’

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by Michael Bastasch   New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez released a resolution that outlines the “Green New Deal” that’s become a central part of the Democratic agenda, including backing from 2020 candidates. The “Green New Deal” resolution calls for “10-year national mobilizations” towards a series of goals aimed at fighting global warming, according to a copy of the bill obtained by NPR. A separate fact-sheet claims the plan would “mobilize every aspect of American society on a scale not seen since World War 2.” That includes getting all our energy needs from “clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources” by “dramatically expanding and upgrading existing renewable power sources.” Ocasio-Cortez’s non-binding resolution calls for a variety of social justice and welfare state goals, including “a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations and retirement security” and “high-quality health care” benefits for Americans. The resolution calls for “repairing historic oppression” among certain groups, including minorities, immigrants, women, low-income workers, indigenous people and youth collectively called “frontline and vulnerable communities.” The call to “promote justice and equity” among those groups is seen as one of the “Green New Deal’s” primary goals by its architects. The House resolution has more than 20 cosponsors,…

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First Climate Change Hearing in Years Relied on Testimony from Activists and Religious Leaders

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by Michael Bastasch   Top House Democrats finally got their wish to hold the first hearings on global warming in six years Wednesday, but both committee hearings meandered into discussions of civil rights, race and apocalyptic warnings without much talk about science. The House Committee on Natural Resources hearing started off with testimony from Govs. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, a Democrat, and Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, a Republican — both of whom support liberal climate policies. During that time, Utah Rep. Rob Bishop questioned whether or not the climate hearing broke committee rules. Bishop, the committee’s ranking Republican, also wondered why the committee held a hearing on an issue outside its jurisdiction. “Are these hearings simply for those of us around the horseshoe who are going to make legislation, or are these hearings designed for that group sitting at a table in the corner so they can write cute stories?” Bishop asked, pointing to where reporters sat in the hearing room. The committee chairman, Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, responded that global warming “significance and consequences over all our jurisdictions.” Bishop said he wanted a hearing “focused on solutions and not just empty rhetoric and fear mongering.” So,…

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Metro Councilman John Cooper Will Not Challenge Nashville Mayor David Briley, May not Seek Re-Election to Council

Jason M. Reynolds
John Cooper

Metro At-Large Councilman John Cooper will not run against Nashville Mayor David Briley in August and may not seek re-election to the council, he said Thursday. According to the Nashville Scene, Cooper said it is good to have a rotation of leaders in government. State Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-TN-55) is the only candidate running against Briley. According to the Scene: “Rotation of personnel in citizen government is a good thing,” Cooper told the Post. “Having a bench of personnel who have gone through this learning experience is also super for a community.” To that point, two new names have recently appointed treasurers to run for one of five at-large seats on the Metro Council: former state Rep. Gary Moore and Zulfat Suara, a controller at Meharry Medical College and chair of the American Muslin Advisory Council. Constitutional lawyer and civil libertarian Daniel A. Horwitz tweeted, “I’m very sad about this news.  However, it makes going all in for @JRClemmons easy as can be.  Everyone should be grateful for @JCooper4Council’s service on the Council and his contribution to an otherwise insane and clueless body.” https://twitter.com/Scot_Blog/status/1093611519202545664 Cooper is the brother of U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN-05) and the son of former…

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North Carolina Lt. Governor Lambasts NY, VA Infanticide Bills: ‘A Brutal, Horrible Death’, and ‘Democrats Should Be Ashamed’

A.P. Dillon

In a radio interview, North Carolina’s Lt. Governor Dan Forest spoke truth to power about the Democrat push of bills in New York and Virginia which remove all limits on abortion and open the door to infanticide. Forest, who has started a gubernatorial exploratory committee, told K.C. O’Dea on O’Dea’s morning radio show that all limits on abortion are being ‘thrown out the window’ by the Democrats. “They are completely fearless on this issue now,” said the Lt. Governor. “What was their term? It was going to be ‘ rare and safe and legal’ and whatever? They don’t care about that at all. They’ve thrown that all of those things out the window.” “They took everything off… all limits off. Basically, if the mother’s having a bad day and doesn’t feel like having that baby up to the very last second right before it’s born, they can kill it,” said Forest. “And that’s a brutal, horrible death.” The Lt. Governor Forest slammed the Democrats for pointing to science but ignoring that science shows a baby feels pain very early in its development. Forest also described the process and that Democrats should be ashamed. “Inject poison into the baby’s brain and…

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Commentary: Donald Trump’s Annihilation of the Democratic Party

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by Conrad Black   The nadir of the amoral egotism of what might broadly be called “Me-ism” has been reached by the avant-garde of the Democratic Party in their race to the bottom of the electoral depths. The renunciation of any notions of sacrifice, patriotic pride, the spirituality of life, or the recognition of anything except the smash-and-grab politics of endless atomized grievances and instant gratification of convenience, has reached what must, in its way, be the end of history. The governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, a pediatric neurologist, led the way downwards with an unctuous statement on the virtues of delivering children, assuring their survival as live babies, and then determining in discussion with the mother (of course) whether they deserved to be allowed to survive. This was an attitude that appalled a large section of opinion in 5th century B.C. Athens. In espousing it, far more than the utter moral vacuity of the cutting edge of the Democratic Party has been exposed. When running for governor, Northam called his opponent a racist and President Trump a “narcissistic maniac.” The Bigger Fight The informal, spontaneous, emergent strategy of the Democrats is finally erupting and foaming from the mouths and…

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Minnesota University Facing Backlash for Extending Suspension of Professor Who Used Racial Slur in Discussion

Anthony Gockowski

Minnesota’s Augsburg University is facing backlash after extending a professor’s suspension while it conducts a formal review of his use of the n-word in a class discussion. Professor Phillip Adamo was suspended from his teaching duties in October when students complained about his use of the word through the school’s bias-reporting system. Adamo used the word while reading from a James Baldwin book, and later shared essays with his students about using the word in academic discussions. “I see a distinction between use and mention,” Adamo recently told Inside Higher Ed. “To use the word, to inflict pain or harm, is unacceptable. To mention the word, in a discussion of how the word is used, is necessary for honest discourse.” Adamo later took medical leave because of the stress of the situation, and now the university has announced that his suspension will be extended through the spring semester while it conducts a formal review. In a February 1 statement, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) expressed concern that Adamo’s suspension “was a violation of his academic freedom, as it appears to have been primarily based on classroom speech that was clearly protected by principles of academic freedom.” “Professor Adamo’s…

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Kenton County, Kentucky Attorney General: FBI Assisting in Reviewing Threats Against Covington Catholic Students

Andrew Shirley

The advocacy efforts of one Ohio Christian organization may have confirmed that the FBI is now involved in an investigation into threats made against Covington Catholic High School students. On January 18th, at the March for Life rally, in Washington D.C., students from Kentucky’s Covington Catholic High School were viewing the monuments before returning to their bus. On their way, they passed a group of Black Hebrew Israelites, an organization that the Sothern Poverty Law Center classifies as an; extremist sector within the Hebrew Israelite movement whose adherents believe that Jews are devilish impostors and who openly condemn whites as evil personified, deserving only death or slavery, This group began “preaching” directly act the boys; calling them “Donald Trump incest babies” and warning one of the black students that his white classmates would steal his organs. The full video of their “sermon,” and the incident that followed, can be found here. In response, the students mainly laughed off the criticism but many were visibly unnerved. The chaperones encouraged the students to begin singing school chants, presumably to drown out the proselytizing, which they did. At that point, a group of Native Americans engaged in a separate rally, stepped in between the two groups…

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Omar, Tlaib and Ocasio-Cortez Turn on the Waterworks at Press Conference to Defund ICE

Anthony Gockowski

Several new progressive members of the U.S. House made emotional appeals to defund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a Thursday morning press conference organized by MoveOn. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14), Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-13) spoke at the press conference behind a podium with a banner of: “Defund the deportation force.” “Earlier this week we were here and we were hearing inside that Capitol the State of the Union. The president said something. He said and spoke of the idea that he likes quote-unquote legal immigration. But that is a lie. The president does not like any form of immigration,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Now he is asking for $5 billion to continue to militarize and weaponize a force that has zero accountability, whose director and whose secretary has no idea when she goes in front of a hearing how many children are dying in her own care, under her own watch, and they have the audacity to ask for more money to fund that. I don’t think so,” she continued. She went on to say that ICE “does not deserve a dime” because it “repeatedly and systematically violates human rights.” Rep. @AOC is calling on Congress to cut…

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DeWine Appointed Committee Recommends Gas Tax Hike for Ohio

Andrew Shirley

After two meetings and two hours of public testimony, the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Transportation has, so far, agreed on only one thing to save Ohio’s roads and bridges: raise taxes. As previously reported, the committee was officially launched on January 31st. Hand-picked by Governor Mike DeWine, the bipartisan committee of industry leaders, advisers, and infrastructure experts was assigned the review the current infrastructure needs and explore creative and unique solutions. While they have yet to make their final report, these initial findings are sure to disappoint many of DeWine’s voters, should they be adopted. The current gas tax was set at 28-cents-a-gallon on July 1st, 2005. These revenues are intended to directly fund the maintenance, repair, and expansion of roads and bridges throughout the state. Over time, two primary factors have greatly diminished their ability to do so. The first is that, as cars have become more efficient and achieve higher miles-per-gallon, revenues have decreased. In addition, the higher demand and proliferation of electric vehicles has had an effect that will significantly increase over time. Until this problem is addressed, the more ubiquitous electric cars become, the harder it is to maintain the roads all drivers use. The second factor is…

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Venezuela Barricades Key Border Crossing to Block Humanitarian Aid

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Venezuelan soldiers have blocked a key border crossing to prevent the delivery of humanitarian aid from the United States and other foreign nations. A giant orange tanker and two large blue shipping containers were moved into the middle of a bridge connecting Venezuela to Colombia Wednesday, with armed guards patrolling the area to turn back any attempt to cross the border. The U.S. has pledged $20 million in aid to Venezuela, including desperately needed food and medicine, but President Nicolas Maduro has rejected the aid, arguing that Venezuela is not a nation of “beggars” and would pave the way towards a U.S. military invasion. Venezuela’s oil-backed economy is in tatters due to a collapse of world energy prices, corruption and failed socialist policies. Food, fuel, and many basic goods are in severely short supply and inflation is out of control, forcing millions of Venezuelans to flee to neighboring Colombia. The blocked humanitarian aid marks another chapter in the standoff between Maduro and Juan Guaido, the president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly who has declared himself the country’s interim president. More than 40 nations, including the U.S., Canada and many members of the European Union, have backed Guaido’s claim that he…

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GOP Rep Sean Duffy Calls Out Democratic Pastors for Siding With Liberals on Abortion

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by Nick Givas   Republican Rep. Sean Duffy of Wisconsin criticized Democratic pastors for siding with liberals on the issue of abortion following President Trump’s State of The Union address. “If I can just join in, I think there’s no more noble cause than to fight for the most defenseless that we have in our society, which are newborn babies or babies in the womb,” Duffy said Wednesday on “Fox & Friends.” “And again, we believe in life at conception. We’re talking about late-term abortion that Democrats are now supportive of. And, again, I agree, it was a disheartening moment. But it shows how far and extreme the Democrats have gotten where they are proponents of infanticide? And what’s also disheartening too, there’s a lot of pastors in the Democrat Party. A lot of pastors who are people of faith, who then say ‘we’re going to support these kind of issues.’ Unbelievable.” Co-host Brian Kilmeade said Democrats didn’t understand the impact abortion could have on the electorate and highlighted Democratic Govs. Ralph Northam or Virginia and Andrew Cuomo of New York as prime examples. “Sean, I just don’t think they understand. They didn’t know what they were getting into,” Kilmeade…

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Commentary: Jonathan Mayhew Was America’s First Revolutionary Preacher-Patriot

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by Gary M Galles   Ministers, “watchmen on…the wall of liberty,” according to Franklin Cole, editor of They Preached Liberty, were among America’s greatest revolutionary influences. The most influential was Boston Congregationalist minister Jonathan Mayhew (1720-1766). Declaration of Independence signer Robert Treat Paine called Mayhew America’s “Father of Civil and Religious Liberty.” Especially important was his January 30, 1750, address, which was widely printed and read. Given for the centennial of Charles I’s execution, Mayhew argued that obedience is not the due of oppressive governments because such tyranny violates the divinely-instituted purpose of government to benefit the people. And if rebellion against Charles for eviscerating British liberty was justifiable, the same arguments applied to Americans’ loss of liberty under George III. As we commemorate Mayhew, reconsider his argument for our liberty, which is safe only when we recognize its fundamental importance—an argument so important John Adams called it “the spark that ignited the American Revolution.” “Such as really performed the duty of magistrates would be enemies only to the evil actions of men…But how is this an argument that we must honor and submit to…such as are not a common blessing, but a common curse, to society…If magistrates are unrighteous…the…

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February 13th: Concerned Parents and Grassroots Organization Call for School Choice in Response To Failing Public Schools in Ohio

Andrew Shirley

On February 13th, the Citizens for Community Values will join with a group of concerned parents to hold a press conference, imploring the Ohio legislature to expand access to EDChoice Scholarships. Since 2005, EdChoice scholarships have existed been a statewide initiative that gives students the opportunity to receive scholarships to attend private schools, should their local public school perform poorly. The Ohio Department of Education rates each school and district on six components then assigns an overall grade. Overall, Toledo public high schools currently have an “F.” In four of six categories; Achievement, Gap Closing, Graduation Rate, and Prepared for Success, Toledo also has an F. In the remaining 2; Improving At-Risk K-3 Readers and Progress, the district received a “D.” Many local parents have reservations in sending their children to these schools. The concerned parents organizing the press conference all have children who attend private schools local to Toledo, many of which will be entering high school soon. Due to a provision within the law, these private school students, who are not currently receiving scholarships, are ineligible to receive these funds for high school. Therefore, they would have no choice to attend the local public schools or try to pay out-of-pocket, which is an unrealistic expense…

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Box 55 Nonprofit, Helping Emergency Responders, Receives Generous Donations from Twice Daily

Chris Butler

Officials with the Twice Daily convenience store chain announced Thursday they donated several supplies to Box 55, a nonprofit that provides Nashville’s emergency responders with snacks and other essentials while they’re working in the field. This, according to a press release from Box 55 organizers and Twice Daily officials. Box 55 is a 501(c) (3). The nonprofit offers these supplies and other help to first responders, including those in fire, police, and Emergency Medical Services without any government funding, said spokesman Norm Partin. Box 55 volunteers, for instance, assisted first responders during the search for the Waffle House shooter in April of last year, Partin said. “Just imagine a multiple alarm fire that requires an extended stay, whether it is a fire or police issue, or Haz-Mat. It’s not a ‘Wrap it up and get out of here’ situation, but it’s an extended stay. Our volunteers assist the firemen and the police,” Partin told The Tennessee Star. “You are out in the heat for an extended amount of time. You have to take a break and get some refreshment. That is their (the volunteers’) primary goal, to keep everybody hydrated, warm or cold or dry or whatever they can do…

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