Senior Olympics, Bravery, TVA Shame

THUMBS UP TO:

Local seniors who brought home honors

Some local seniors won big prizes at the Tennessee Senior Olympics last week, including Carol Hicks of Kingsport, Tenn., who was a repeat champion in the 100-meter run. Hicks, 64, also won the 200-meter run in her first year competing in that event.

A volleyball team comprised of members from Bristol and Kingsport won the gold medal; Hicks is a member of that team, along with Nancy Hall, Jackie Slagle, DeeDee Mullins and DeWanna Calhoun. The team is coached by Sara Lauderback. The full results from the Tennessee Senior Olympics can be viewed at http://www.tnseniorolympics.com. But know too that Hicks and Joyce Manis, 71, also of Kingsport, left Wednesday to travel to San Francisco to compete in the National Senior Olympics. We wish them every success as they represent our region at that athletic event.

Brave teens who pulled a girl to safety

The paddle boats at Steele Creek Park are a big draw for people of all ages. But on Monday, July 20, during Camp Challenge, an event run by the Bristol Tennessee Police Department, two teenagers were tested when a moment of fun turned decidedly frightening.

A girl in one of the paddle boats passed out due to a medical condition and fell into the lake, still unconscious. Mikey Tatham and Austin Davidson, who were nearby, quickly paddled over, pulled the girl into their boat, then brought her to the bank. There, emergency workers took over and transported her to the hospital.

We give a big thumbs up to Tatham and Davidson for acting quickly to help another person and for the emergency personnel who quickly transported her to the hospital. It was a frightening moment at Camp Challenge, but a moment of reality for young people who aim to enter careers in law enforcement and emergency medical services work.

THUMBS DOWN TO:

TVA inaction on coal ash spill

A report from the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Inspector General concludes that the federal utility failed for more than 20 years to heed warnings that might have prevented a massive coal ash spill in Kingston, Tenn.

The report released Tuesday said that earlier this year the utility allowed its lawyers access to a $3 million study into the cause of the disaster to limit its legal liability. About 54 million cubic yards of coal ash from holding ponds at the TVA’s Kingston Fossil Plant poured into the Emory River and damaged more than 20 homes nearby in December. The accident raised questions about the risks and lack of regulation over hundreds of other similar sites nationwide.

It is a miracle that no one was killed when the breach dumped coal ash and slurry for miles.

Now, the public has learned that TVA’s own inspector general believes the agency failed to heed its own warnings for more than two decades. These failures are unforgivable.

The estimated cost for this toxic cleanup is at least $1 billion. And TVA, by its own reports, was negligent in preventing this terrible environmental damage.

Tennessee’s poor showing on health

Tennessee did poorly in the annual Kids Count review released this week; the state ranks 46 when it comes to the health and well-being of children and teens, based on several factors.

The state was in the bottom 10 for the teen death rate, teen birth rate, percentage of children on poverty, and percentage of children in single-parent homes.

Those are troubling statistics for the state, and they will make it difficult for Tennessee to grow a new generation of successful adults.

Tennessee is improving in some areas – school dropouts and fewer youth who are neither in school nor working. But clearly, the state is failing to make the policy adjustments necessary for greater change.