What Howley, Bennett And SMMHS Didn't Know

  • Friday, October 31, 2014

HCDE board policy prohibits political signs on school property, including athletic fields. The Hamilton County government prohibits political signs on all county property.

But who knew? And who should have known better? 

Apparently the SMMHS athletic department didn’t know. Mr. Howley (treasurer of the SMMHS Sports Boosters) says that they told him that any candidate who wanted a sign could have one. 

The SMMHS football club didn’t know. The club told Mr. Howley that the rule was he could advertise as long as the same “opportunity” was available to all candidates. The football club obviously discussed their rules before they agreed on their policy. Who can provide a copy of their policy? 

The principal, Ms. Robin Copp, didn’t know. Mr. Howley’s campaign banner has been displayed under the scoreboard the entire football season. Either Ms. Copp and other administrators ignored it, never attended games at the field or never needed to check the scoreboard during the games. 

Mr. Scott Bennett, HCDE attorney, didn’t know the political sign was displayed on the fence under the scoreboard, even though he stated that he regularly attends games at the school. He also admitted that the board does not allow political signs on school property. One of Mr. Bennett’s talents would seem to be an ability to keep track of yardage in his head during a game. Otherwise you would think that he would have seen the sign, placed in prime position under the scoreboard, and advised that it should be taken down ASAP. 

A few days ago Mr. Howley was told that there was a complaint and he had to remove his sign. Is SMMHS sign policy complaint driven? No complaint, no foul? 

Ms. Copp immediately distributed the board policy that was violated to the club and to staff members as soon as she became aware of the violation. According to Mr. Bennett, she then took down the banner. This is confusing as Mr. Howley says that he took the sign down. 

Mr. Howley claims that he is completely taken back by this controversy and states that his opponents could have done the same thing. They could have joined him in violating regulations? 

As for Mr. Howley’s comment that the school didn’t endorse him – having the announcer at school athletic functions give him a “plug” at home games might come across as an endorsement to the thousands of voters who have attended games over the past few months. Mr. Howley did more than just “buy an ad.” Did HCDE employees hear no violations as well as see no violations? 

We don’t know if our current council members have been to games or not. But we know that Mr. Howley has not been to town council meetings until he decided to run for office. Being on the town council requires many hours of work each month and council members have to allocate their time to cover the responsibilities they accepted when sworn in. Council members have to sacrifice social and family time to fulfill their obligations to all members of the community. 

We expect our council members to have integrity. We expect them to take responsibility if they violate policy. We don’t expect them to blame others. And we expect them to know basic policy. The welfare of our town depends on it. 

Claire and Elizabeth Griesinger
Signal Mountain

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