Thursday, September 30, 2010Opinion

The Brownsville States-Graphic

page A4

By 28th Judicial District Circuit Court Judge Clayburn Peeples

Calvin's Corner

By Calvin Carter, Staff Writer

The Brownsville States-Graphic(USPS ISSN 08909938) is published weekly by Haywood County Newspapers

L.L.C., 42 South Washington, P.O. Box 59, Brownsville TN 38012.

Periodicals postage paid at Brownsville, TN.POSTMASTER: Send address changes to

The Brownsville States-Graphic, P.O. Box 59, Brownsville, TN 38012

“A publication of American Hometown Publishing”DEADLINES:

News, Monday at Noon • Advertising, Monday at NoonClassifi ed Advertising, Monday at Noon

Society news, Monday at Noon Legals, Monday at Noon

SUBSCRIPTIONS (PER YEAR):Haywood County $35; In-state $42; Out-of-state $49

Communications with the newspaper

must include the author’s signature,

address and telephone number. All letters to the editor refl ect the opinions of the

writer and are not necessarily those of the newspaper. The newspaper is

not responsible for unsolicited material. We reserve the right to reject or shorten letter to the editor.

731-772-1172

BrownsvilleSTATES-GRAPHICSTATES-GRAPHIC

Scott Whaley,Editor & Publisher

Calvin Carter,Rebecca GrayStaff Writer

Sara Clark,Josh AndersonGraphic Design

Terry ThompsonSales Manager

Leticia OrozcoReceptionist

Vicky Fawcett,Office Manager

Scott Whaley,Editor & Publisher

Vicky Fawcett,Offi ce Manager

Terry ThompsonSales Manager

Ceree Peace PostonReceptionist

Calvin Carter,Staff Writer

Julie Pickard,Staff Writer

Matt GarrettGraphic Designer

The Brownsville States-Graphic(USPS ISSN 08909938) is published weekly by Haywood County Newspapers

L.L.C., 42 South Washington, P.O. Box 59, Brownsville TN 38012.

Periodicals postage paid at Brownsville, TN.POSTMASTER: Send address changes to

The Brownsville States-Graphic, P.O. Box 59, Brownsville, TN 38012

“A publication of American Hometown Publishing”DEADLINES:

News, Monday at Noon • Advertising, Monday at NoonClassifi ed Advertising, Monday at Noon

Society news, Monday at Noon Legals, Monday at Noon

SUBSCRIPTIONS (PER YEAR):Haywood County $35; In-state $42; Out-of-state $49

Communications with the newspaper

must include the author’s signature,

address and telephone number. All letters to the editor refl ect the opinions of the

writer and are not necessarily those of the newspaper. The newspaper is

not responsible for unsolicited material. We reserve the right to reject or shorten letter to the editor.

731-772-1172

BrownsvilleSTATES-GRAPHICSTATES-GRAPHIC

Scott Whaley,Editor & Publisher

Calvin Carter,Rebecca GrayStaff Writer

Sara Clark,Josh AndersonGraphic Design

Terry ThompsonSales Manager

Leticia OrozcoReceptionist

Vicky Fawcett,Office Manager

Scott Whaley,Editor & Publisher

Vicky Fawcett,Offi ce Manager

Terry ThompsonSales Manager

Ceree Peace PostonReceptionist

Calvin Carter,Staff Writer

Julie Pickard,Staff Writer

Matt GarrettGraphic Designer

Jeff PerrySports Writer

I think it was some kindly of a contest to see who can take that punkin and run from one end of that cow pasture to the other’n without either gittin’ knocked down or steppin’ in somethin’.

What it Was, Was Football — Andy Griffith

Several years ago I watched a sermon on television by a Memphis minister whose congregation was sometimes criticized for emotional demonstrations of faith. He took note that there were those who didn’t like such outbursts and enthusiasms, but then he paused and said, “I was at the Memphis/UT game last week. Now that was an emotional crowd. Grown men who wouldn’t dare to whisper so much as an ‘Amen’ in church were out there jumping up and down and screaming their heads off.”

“But nobody criticized them,” he continued, “because even though some of us expect Christians to be quiet about our enthusiasms, we allow, and even applaud, as sports fans make absolute fools of themselves.”

Welcome to college football in the South, preacher.

Especially in the SEC. “Listen,” one of my classmates said in law school. “I went to Michigan State, and you know we love football. But I’ve never seen anything like this place. You guys act like beating Auburn is a matter of life and death.”

Well. Isn’t it?Isn’t that what we were

taught on thousands of playgrounds across the South? Didn’t our dads and granddads show us that countless times around the radio or in front of the television?

And let’s get something straight. For Southern football fans, it isn’t how you play the game, it’s whether you win or lose. I once heard Johnny Majors say, “UT fans are the best in the world; they’re with you

whether you win or whether you tie.”

Cute comment coach, but it’s incorrect. We’re with you whether you win or whether you win big. Life, for the real Southern football fan, is far too short to have a losing football team, and athletic departments must agree, because every team in the league, except Vanderbilt, has been on NCAA probation at least once during the last 25 years.

So why are we willing to overlook just about anything, including serious criminal records if a player is really, really good, just for a chance to have a great football team? Theories abound. One, advanced by an Oklahoma college professor who once studied in South Carolina, is that there is something called “Southern exceptionalism” caused by our losing the Civil War. Southerners feel things differently, he argues, and our history, he says, has caused us to have a regional inferiority complex that has led us to embrace college football, because it is an area where we can win something.

Well, he’s at least right about college football being an area where we can win something. How about 20 out of 32? That’s how many NCAA national champions have come out of the South since 1978. Eleven of them were SEC teams. Since the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) began in 1998, the SEC has won exactly half of its ultimate trophies. For the last two years, the SEC Championship game has pitted the number one and two teams in the country.

Not surprisingly, the SEC has more fans than any other conference. Game attendance across the conference averages 75,400. That’s 97 percent of seat capacity. Even Mississippi, which hasn’t won an SEC title in 47 years, sells 50,000 season tickets a year. We love our football teams

in the South.That’s one reason why,

percentage wise, more high school boys play the sport in Mississippi and Alabama than in the rest of the country. And it’s why, as a percentage of the population, Southern colleges send more players to the pros. The six top states represented in the NFL — Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama, Florida and Georgia.

It’s why Louisiana, with one-third the population of Pennsylvania, has 45 percent more native sons playing in the NFL than Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania is a great football state. True story: in the wake of Hurricane Katrina an LSU fan was trying to console himself about his losses. “I might lose my house,” he said to his wife, “but I won’t lose my season tickets.”

Someone once remarked that there are three seasons in the South; football season, recruiting season and spring practice. Now, of course, we are in the middle of “football season”, and every Saturday, even against teams like Alabama Birmingham, Vol fans are as nervous, to use former Texas coach Darrell Royal’s phrase, as a pig in a packing plant.

Right down to the end of the second overtime. But that’s all right.

This year, that is. This year we’re rebuilding, but next year of course we’ll expect at least nine wins, and then, of course, nothing will do but a national championship and an undefeated season. Every coach knows he has to win every game, because as the great General Robert Neyland once said about Tennessee fans, “When they look back at that 9 – 1 season, they don’t ask who the nine were.”

And he was right, but that’s not something we’re going to have to worry about for the time being.

More Than a Game

The state recently revealed plans for its “EV Project,” a $230 million plan that deploys a charging network meant to help the first batch of all electric cars that will be hitting nation showrooms.

Perhaps under normal circumstances this green project wouldn’t be mired in any controversy; however, if you’re a resident of West Tennessee, the project feels like a slap in the face.

A map detailing the planned locations for the charging station hit most of the middle and east portions of Tennessee. The west side is left out.

Worse is that decision-makers in the project, California company ECOtaility, are not revealing why West Tennessee was left off of the plan.

Besides serving as a slap in the face to residents in the west area, leaving West Tennessee out of the picture is a major mistake for the state.

Tennessee is one of five states involved in the EV Project; however, could anyone really deem this project as a pure state effort? You’ve only got 2/3 of the state involved. And that third of Tennessee being left out is no small portion, nor devoid of any major cities (Memphis and Jackson). It is true that West Tennessee’s population is smaller compared to Middle and East—West only counts for 25.6 percent of the state’s population—but that’s still a significant number of people. You must also take into consideration commuters who often ride from West to Middle, or even East on a regular basis.

These plans are in their early stages so it doesn’t mean that West Tennessee could never have their own charging stations.

“As other Tennessee communities express increased interest in establishing an electric

vehicle market and infrastructure, we plan to work with them the (power) distributors, the state, the automobile companies and other stakeholders to invest options for expanding statewide,” TVA Spokesman Mike Bradley was quoted saying in the Commercial Appeal.

So am I to believe that the planned building for the Solar Farm isn’t a gleam that subtlety hints: “Hey, we’re interested.” Or am I being too greedy to ask for more positive economic and environmental opportunities?

Some may argue of West Tennessee’s current lackluster economic and environmental state as a reason we were looked over. Statewide, we’ve been hurting for jobs, struggling with limited budgets and business losses. With the exception of perhaps recycling—which Haywood County has shone the brightest in for the past few years—the west side hasn’t particularly shown its desire to be greener.

With the megasite and the solar farm though decision-makers on this project are missing out on one key factor: opportunity.

Much pressure is stemming from the megasite and solar to both, directly and indirectly, to resuscitate a dying job market, as well as truly transcend this portion into the 21st century. The state and even the nation could lose out on these deals, as they were primary investors.

I realize that the state honestly had no say on the electric charge stations. And maybe their seemly lax approach on the matter stems from how much they’ve already invested into West Tennessee recently. And maybe, once looking past irate glasses, I should see that they’re really just waiting on West Tennessee to deliver.

Still, one can’t quite ignore the sting that hits from this. I’m so use to West Tennessee being left out of opportunities from the rest of the state. And I’m also, simply tired of it.

No charge