, the threat of a state income tax, TennCare funds cut, etc.; then the next day the big news is the state senators and representatives taking thousands of dollars in gas allowance that they did not need -- one representative, Sherry Jones,Nashville, was paid over $29,000 this past year.

Is the justification because the annual pay is a modest amount? The mileage fee is included in $104 per day for 'expenses'.

Of course, these thousands 'unearned' dollars is no where close to the millions needed to sustain TennCare, but I can't help feeling displeased with these lawmakers' attitude.

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County Mayor Glen Harold Donoho and his wife Polly were among a party from this area to visit our congressmen in Washington, D.C., during last week. He consented to write a report on the trip that is printed in this week's edition.

Polly stated that it was a very productive trip. She said that she wasn't able to enjoy it very much since she had pneumonia at the time -- and as of this past Monday she hasn't recovered from it.

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A few weeks ago I wrote about my new mailbox -- big deal to me. Since that time I have been looking at my old mailbox that I've stored behind my garage and wondering if there wasn't something useful that I could make out of it. The only thing wrong with it is a slightly cracked door.

I decided on a birdhouse -- but it would be too big for one family of birds, so I installed a partition half way down the box to form two 'condos'. I plan to write about our birdhouses in the upcoming Spring home improvement-gardening tabloid at the end of this month, throwing in a few photos.

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The University Of Tennessee has to pay now former men's basketball coach Buzz Peterson a measley 1.36 million dollars within a month's time. The 41-year-old coach won two more games that he lost while at the helm of the Volunteers.

There is a sum of money that was in dispute currently due to the coach before Peterson, Jerry Green.