The Del Rio community is about 42 miles east of Knoxville, on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Following the French Broad River, the winding road leading to Del Rio is surrounded by lush mountains, rocky cliffs and remnants of a bygone era — dilapidated buildings and trailers that once served as truck stops and restaurants.
...
Many are given their first fighting cock as soon as they're able to handle them, at ages 8 to 10, and see the bird as a symbol of their emerging manhood.

"I got my first chicken when I was 7 years old, and I'm 46 now," said Pat Martin, a Cocke County native. "They're more than pets and you really take it to heart when you lose one of them. Just about everyone in the county has done it sometime or another."
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Many breeders say they take better care of their birds than they do themselves.

Metal spurs called gaffs or knives are placed on the birds' natural spurs. While many breeders oppose the use of knives, most insist that even without the metal gaffs, the losers would die of infection from their injuries.

A fight can last seconds or hours and is overseen by a referee who enforces a detailed rule book, called Wortham's Rules, which is revised annually.
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Dedicated rooster breeders in the county pass on their top birds to their children and view the roosters as symbols of their family's heritage and pride.

Many are given their first fighting cock as soon as they're able to handle them, at ages 8 to 10, and see the bird as a symbol of their emerging manhood.

"I got my first chicken when I was 7 years old, and I'm 46 now," said Pat Martin, a Cocke County native. "They're more than pets and you really take it to heart when you lose one of them. Just about everyone in the county has done it sometime or another."

Students at Cocke County High School take great pride in their football team and mascot, the Fighting Cocks. For many students, the name symbolizes strength and courage, not cruelty. (The county is named after William Cocke, an early Tennessee statesman.)
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"It's part of our life and part of our culture," said Jessica Turner of Newport, who will be a senior at the high school this year. "When a chicken wins, it's treated like a king."

Cockfighting enthusiasts view a rooster match as a test of gameness, or the willingness to keep fighting even when the birds are near death.

Many game fowl breeders and cockfighters in the area say roosters have a fundamental right to express their "gameness" in battle, and people have a basic right to allow the birds to test their strength in battle.
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"It brings a lot of money into the county, especially for the hotels and restaurants. It's really going to hurt the county if it goes away."

Just amazing in all its backwoods white trash glory.. I am speechless for once.

Cockfights pit law against way of life

What an ass clown...

Many lawmakers, both Republican and Democratic, around the country see wind power as a clean, safe alternative to other sources of electricity.

But don’t tell Sen. Lamar Alexander.

The Tennessee Republican has been furiously opposing wind power as the Senate debates sweeping energy policy legislation, saying federal subsidies for wind energy waste money and that the turbines clutter up scenic views such as the ones Alexander grew up near in the Great Smoky Mountains.
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Critics also see the possibility of a conflict of interest. Senate financial disclosure forms released this week show that Alexander and his wife own undeveloped land worth between $1 million and $2 million on Nantucket, Mass., near the proposed site of a controversial offshore wind farm that has drawn fierce opposition from residents. The 130 turbines would each be 420 feet tall.

Joined by Reps. Bart Gordon, a Murfreesboro Democrat, and John Duncan, a Knoxville Republican, Alexander has introduced legislation to ban federal tax credits from being used to pay for windmills in national parks or “highly scenic areas” such as seashores. It would also give local communities more say in whether big wind projects are developed nearby.

Alexander stirs up fuss to fight wind energy

I think even the Psychic friends network could have seen this coming... Luckily, nobody lost an ear this time around.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mike Tyson's career apparently ended in yet another shocker Saturday night when he quit on the stool after taking a beating in a foul-filled sixth round against unheralded Kevin McBride.

Tyson lost for the third time in his last four fights, and once again he faded badly as the rounds went on before deliberately head butting McBride in a desperate attempt to end the fight in the sixth round.

"I don't have the stomach for this anymore," Tyson said. "I most likely won't fight anymore. I'm not going to disrespect the sport by losing to this caliber of fighters."

Tyson was out of gas when he was pushed to the canvas as the sixth round ended, his head stuck between the first and second ropes. He stayed there for several seconds before finally untangling himself from the ropes and wobbling back to his corner.

Tyson's career likely over after defeat

Sounds like the gentleman from Memphis has spent a little too much time smoking crack with former DC mayor Marion Barry.....

MEMPHIS — Former state Sen. John Ford entered a not guilty plea in federal court on corruption charges today, saying it is the government that is corrupt.

“The government has tried to show me and others as being corrupt and villains when in essence they’re the ones that are corrupt. They’re the villains,” Ford said.

“They’re the ones who have been disingenuous all along. They’re the ones who set up a fictitious, illegal, phony apparatus,” Ford said.

The Memphis Democrat is among the lawmakers charged with taking bribes from that “phony apparatus,” a fake company set up by the FBI called E-Cycle. Representatives of the company, who were really undercover federal agents, paid him to promote legislation that would have benefited its “business” of recycling computer equipment, according to federal court papers.

The former senator, who resigned his seat after being charged in late May, also questioned the timing of his arrest two weeks ago, saying it came just one day after his nephew U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. filed papers to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Bill Frist.

He was also suspicious because he and co-defendants Sen. Ward Crutchfield and Sen. Kathryn Bowers had been working during the legislative session to try to prevent Tennesseans from being kicked off TennCare, the state’s troubled health insurance program for the poor and uninsured.

Ford says government, not he, is corrupt

(CNN) -- A 14-year-old boy who allegedly stole a bulldozer and led Tucson, Arizona, police on a 15-mile chase was critically wounded Thursday night when officers fired on the tractor as it sped toward them, a police official said.

The unidentified teen was in critical condition after being airlifted to a hospital, according to Tucson Assistant Police Chief Kermit Miller.
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He said the teen drove the construction vehicle up to 30 miles per hour at times with as many as 15 police cruisers chasing him.

After a 15-mile chase, the bulldozer turned around in an eastside Tucson residential area and began driving downhill toward the police cruisers, Miller said. That was when two officers fired shots, with at least one round hitting the teen, Miller said.

It's been a little while since I did any excavation work but in my experience, a normal Caterpillar bulldozer shouldn't even be able to approach 1/2 of that speed without a big hill to descend with a 100+ mph tailwind.

Police shoot teen to end bulldozer chase

There's that old saying.. How can you tell if a Lawyer/Salesman/Politician is lying? If their lips are moving, they probably are.

MEMPHIS — Former state Sen. John Ford said his resignation from his Senate seat Saturday was not connected to his arrest on bribery charges two days before.

Ford, who entered the Memphis federal courthouse today for a hearing, said his Senate resignation on the last day of the session had nothing to do with the corruption charges. He said he began planning his resignation after the legislature passed measures making it illegal for lawmakers to work as paid consultants.

"I made up my mind then it was time to go," Ford said. "I didn't need to resign from the Senate because of these charges."
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Ford, a 31-year veteran of the state Senate, is charged with taking $55,000 in payoffs from undercover agents during a government sting called "Tennessee Waltz."

The Background Story

Ford says resignation not connected to bribery charges

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- An 86-year-old woman was jailed after police said she called 911 dispatchers 20 times in a little more than a half-hour -- all to complain that a pizza parlor wouldn't deliver.

Dorothy Densmore was charged with misusing the 911 system, a jail spokeswoman said.

She told dispatchers Sunday that a local pizza shop refused to deliver a pie to her south Charlotte apartment, said Officer Mandy Giannini. She also complained that someone at the shop called her a "crazy old coot," Giannini said.

Densmore wanted them arrested. Instead, police came to arrest her, and she resisted, Giannini said.

It's unusual for someone to face charges for nonemergency calls, Giannini said. But on Sunday, Densmore kept calling 911, even after she was told to stop, Giannini said.

When an officer arrived at her apartment, the 5-foot-tall, 98-pound woman attacked him, Giannini said. Densmore scratched him, kicked and bit his hand, she said.

86 yr old woman calls 911 with pizza complaint

I see a federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison in Sen. Ford's future..

Since state Sen. John Ford was first elected 31 years ago, the Memphis Democrat's name has been at the center of numerous controversies. Below is a recap of some of the most notorious episodes in his legislative career.

Controversy: In October 1990, Ford was charged with shooting at a trucker on Interstate 40 near Lexington. He was indicted and pleaded not guilty.
Controversy: In 2003, a survey of Ford's Federal Express charges on his state account revealed that he had used the account to send numerous personal packages.
Controversy: Ford was ac-cused earlier this year of receiving a $15,000 contract from Johnson Controls, a major electronics manufacturer. Johnson Controls, based in Wisconsin, paid Ford a one-time consulting fee in September 2001 to help the company obtain energy-efficiency contracts for state buildings in 2003.
Controversy: Ford was ac-cused earlier this year of using campaign funds to pay for his daughter's wedding reception in 2003. Ford spent $15,320, claiming it was a legitimate election expense because 100 of his constituents were invited to the reception. The state Registry of Election Finance ruled the expenditure improper and fined him $10,000 this month.
Controversy: Information emerged earlier this year that Doral Dental, which holds a TennCare dental benefits management contract, paid Pennsylvania-based Managed Care Services Group Inc. $40,000 a month for about two years. Ford is a partner in a similarly named company with the same address. On his tax returns, Ford reported that a company called "Managed Care Services Group 1" paid him more than $237,000 in 2002 and 2003.
Controversy: During a January 2005 hearing in a child-support lawsuit brought by a North Carolina woman with whom Ford fathered a daughter, the senator claimed he should not have to pay more than $500 per month in support for the 10-year-old girl. It was at this hearing that Ford said he lived in two separate homes with two women whose children he fathered. Neither of the homes is in his Senate district.

Latest indictment adds to Sen. Ford's checkered public record

Right in keepping with his character... Ultimate scum bag public servant.

The Memphis Democrat and six others have been indicted in ''Operation Tennessee Waltz,'' which is rocking the Capitol.

The Tennessean

MEMPHIS — State Sen. John Ford may ask for a public defender to represent him, so the taxpayers can pay for his defense against charges of bribery, conspiracy and witness intimidation.

The colorful Memphis Democrat, who appeared in federal court today handcuffed and shackled at the ankles, had interviewed three lawyers earlier today and had interviews with two others scheduled for later in the day, his lawyer Martin Grusin said in court today.

Sen. Ford may seek public defender

Shel Silverstein was definitely warped enough to be my favorite children's author.. Several hardcover editions still share space on my own old fart bookshelf although I never knew about him until college. Definitely my loss there.

His spare, black and white drawings are messy, often perverse. The inked lines seem carelessly tossed onto the page, belying HarperCollins' executive editor Antonia Markiet's memory of Silverstein as an "untiring perfectionist."

"Every word mattered, every line in a drawing mattered, no matter how small," Markiet explained in an interview she insisted be conducted by way of e-mail.

"Children in particular are very aware of when they are being condescended to. Shel never did that. He did not try to guess what a kid might like because he knew what HE liked and he trusted that connection," Markiet said in her e-mail. "He didn't think anything was beyond his audience, or too hard for them, or too complex for them."

Remembering Shel Silverstein