Congratulations

Do you ever sit back and want to be congratulated?  Even if its for the most mundane thing, such as remembering to floss or not scraping the curb when you parallel parked this morning?  Just a tiny reminder that the small things need to be applauded too?  Well I do.  So congratulations to all you who simply go about your days getting your tires rotated, remembering to thaw out the chicken for dinner, return movies on time as to avoid a $42 late fee, (yes, that can actually happen) and bleaching the bathroom.  

And congratulations to all you Knoxvillians out there who like to speak up.  You made us feel wildly excited here at the pulse, okay so maybe just mildly happy, with the sudden increase of comments on Metropulse.com.  And we're listening!  So here are some of the Mosts that you eagerly commented on and the events  of the day.

Most emailed

Cas Walker: Hillbilly Colossus By Betty Bean

On a hot afternoon in late September 1998, I was sitting in the back seat of Johnny Strange's Cadillac in the parking lot of Mynatt's Funeral Home. Bobby Toole was riding shotgun and we were five or six cars back from the hearse that would carry Cas Walker's body across town to South Knoxville to be buried in Woodlawn Cemetery next to his wife, Virginia. Bobby and Johnny were two of Cas's closest friends, and they'd kindly offered me a ride.

Backpedaling By Frank Cagle

This is our government....                                                                                                                                       The first thing the new chair of the state Republican Party will have to do is to learn how to ride a bicycle backwards. Backpedaling is a difficult skill to learn, but it is essential if Chris Devaney is to get the state GOP back from the edge of a precipice.

Our Lawless Law Director By Jack Neely                                                                                                             And this is our local government.....                                                                                                                      This column isn't about whether Knox County Law Director Bill Lockett should resign. Of course he should. It's hard to argue otherwise without sounding like a crony. He shouldn't have run for the office to begin with. Resigning is the closest he can come to doing the right thing, even if the right thing seems not to be his primary concern.  Lockett reportedly admitted embezzling thousands of dollars from the law firm that employed him. His several friends in county government claim it's a personal matter between him and his victims. It's an old East Tennessee tradition to regard a spectrum of felonies as none of the government's business.

Most commented

Our Monster; Henley Street By Jack Neely

In which a deeply concerned commenter voices his displeasure with the maintenance of the area                           In World's Fair Park last week, I blundered into the midst of a group of Koreans launching lifelike mechanical birds into the air. Destination Imagination's annual tournament is one week when the convention center seems to earn its keep.  But once again, being over there points out the essential dysfunction of the convention center, especially in regard to its location.

Unemployed and Uninsured in Knoxville, Tennessee By Leslie Wylie

Zo Howell, age 2, flashes a gummy grin, his tiny mouth full of cream cheese. Eight-year-old Taye is across the room, play-wrestling a Great Dane.  Heather sighs bemusedly, watching her two sons.  Though she can barely conceal her smile, there is exhaustion in the 28-year-old single mother's voice. The past few months have taken a toll on her, she explains. It began when she lost her job at United Healthcare in a round of layoffs last October. "It was a shock," she recalls. "It was frightening. I've never been fired before, not from any job."

Events

Science Cafe: What's New in the Woods, Ijams Nature Center, 5:30pm

Energy Future: My 40 Year Perspective, Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 7 p.m.

Mitch Rutman, Downtown Grill & Brewery, 9:30 p.m.

Kit Rodgers and the Plan, Preservation Pub, 10 p.m.,  $3