Roy Exum: My Garden This May

  • Friday, May 1, 2015
  • Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Roy Exum

As warm springtime sun bathes us on May Day, my monthly stroll through my garden shows the orchids are springing up with the onions. So as we pray for those in Baltimore, Nepal and points in between, here are some good and bad things that catch my interest:

AN ORCHID to Senator Bob Corker for impressing somebody to be picked on the list as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. That’s what growing up on Signal Mountain with the finest set of parents you ever saw will do for you.

AN ONION for Senator Bob Corker and every other Republican from Tennessee in Washington who refused to support the PAST Act, which would have helped eradicate the cruel soring on Tennessee Walking Horses. It had a majority of support from every other state in both the Senate and the House but strangely it never came up for a vote. And isn’t it ironic that the head of the “Big Lick,” a guy who has been cited for violating the federal Horse Protection Act named Steve B. Smith, is Lamar Alexander’s state campaign chairman?

AN ORCHID for Danna Bailey for pulling off a grand celebration at the Heart Association’s Women at the Red Luncheon and for the fact Gigi Johnson, the greatest nurse in the history of Erlanger Hospital before she was felled in a sleazy coup by the last regime, was in this year’s Circle of Red.

AN ONION for the United States Postal Service for issuing a beautiful new stamp honoring the great Maya Angelou with the quote, “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” What’s troubling is Maya never wrote that – the quote belongs to another poet, Joan Walsh Anglund, who wrote it two years before Angelou’s autobiography. (The original quote has ‘he’ instead of ‘it’.

AN ORCHID for Maya Angelou, who died in 2014, saying that the abbreviated quote on the Martin Luther King monument made Dr. King sound like an “arrogant twit.” The line read, “I was a drum major for justice, peace, and righteousness.” But what Dr. King actually said was far different: “Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for righteousness. And all the other shallow things will not matter.” (The Department of the Interior sandblasted the improper quote off the monument but USPS decided it just wouldn’t print any more Angelou stamps.)

AN ONION to the Hamilton County School Board for repeatedly promising Central High School an auditorium for 48 years and welching on that promise for just as long. C’mon, there are 1,000 kids who deserve it and somebody who needs detentions for not making it part of any conversation.

AN ORCHID for Orange Grove’s Roger Freshour, who captured the hearts of everybody at this year’s “Lunch of Champions,” and give Chattanooga sports columnist Mark Wiedmer another for revealing Roger’s girlfriend is named “Hope, of course.”

AN ONION to the members of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity from the University of Florida and Emory who taunted over 100 combat-wounded veterans at a Panama City resort on April 17. The punks shouted derogatory comments about the warrior’s injuries and the appearance of their wives, urinated on an American flag, and spit on one veteran and his service dog. Well … W. Kent Fuchs, the president of UofFlorida, sent personal apologies to the Warrior Beach Retreat, kicked three kids out of school and there is no longer a Zeta Beta Tau branch in Gainesville. Further, the patriotic folks in Panama City dare the fraternity boys to ever come back to their beach. 

AN ORCHID for Chattanooga Police Officer James Holloway who drives through some of Chattanooga’s poorest neighborhoods on patrol with – of all things -- dog food in his car. He says innocent pets are at the bottom of the food chain and love to see his police car coming. Sgt. Holloway was just honored at the McKamey Animal Center’s Humanitarian Awards Dinner where the Humanitarian of the Year was presented posthumously to the late Luther Massingill (who connected me with two dogs down through the years.)

AN ONION to the news Tennessee is one of three states, along with Texas and Florida, where a new synthetic drug has surfaced called Flakka, or “Gravel,” and the reviews are horrifying. The illegal drug is cheap, about $5 a pop, and it is said to heighten awareness and make people feel stronger. But then the paranoia sets in and it’s disastrous. One guy in Florida ran naked through a neighborhood, tried to have sex with a tree and told police he was the mythical god Thor. Two men have even tried to break into the police station in Fort Lauderdale, both convinced mobs were trying to kill them in two separate incidents. One scaled the 10-foot fence behind the police station and impaled himself through the buttocks – took two hours to get him off the fence. Another nude male told the cops hundreds of German Shepherds were chasing him. It can be snorted, injected, swallow or smoked in a vapor pipe but be warned – it “rewires the brain. A user has no control over his thoughts and can’t control their actions.” It can also kill you.

AN ORCHID for the effervescent Tina Cotreau-Gillot, picked as the Teacher of the Year by the senior class at Central. Tina, who just got her master’s degree, is adored by her students and if it bothers you that she was pictured with a skull on the Seniors Day program, rest easy – she teaches biology.

AN ONION to those who turned into criminals following the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore. Apparently not many people knew he had been arrested 19 different times in a career that began in 2008. Here’s his rap sheet from the Maryland Department of Justice:

  • March 20, 2015: Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance
  • March 13, 2015: Malicious destruction of property, second-degree assault
  • January 20, 2015: Fourth-degree burglary, trespassing
  • January 14, 2015: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute
  • December 31, 2014: Possession of narcotics with intent to distribute
  • December 14, 2014: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance
  • August 31, 2014: Illegal gambling, trespassing
  • January 25, 2014: Possession of marijuana
  • September 28, 2013: Distribution of narcotics, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, second-degree assault, second-degree escape
  • April 13, 2012: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, violation of probation
  • July 16, 2008: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession with intent to distribute
  • March 28, 2008: Unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance
  • March 14, 2008: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to manufacture and distribute
  • February 11, 2008: Unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a controlled dangerous substance
  • August 29, 2007: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, violation of probation
  • August 28, 2007: Possession of marijuana
  • August 23, 2007: False statement to a peace officer, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance
  • July 16, 2007: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance (2 counts)

royexum@aol.com

 

 

AN ORCHID to the brave boy in Baltimore who embodied "The Power of One" while rioting and burning was taking place. This picture, taken from the Facebook page of Bishop M. Cromartie, senior pastor at Prophetic Deliverance Ministries, has gone viral and has been in news accounts all over the world. Bishop Cromartie said in an interview, "He actually was the only one handing out water — that stood out by himself — and what was so intriguing was he was doing it on his own. It showed that he had a mind of his own that, despite everything that was going on, that he still wanted to make sure the police were okay and he may be realizing that someday he’s going to need the police. The police officer did not take the water and I didn’t expect him to. I would not take it considering what’s going on and how people are feeling.”
AN ORCHID to the brave boy in Baltimore who embodied "The Power of One" while rioting and burning was taking place. This picture, taken from the Facebook page of Bishop M. Cromartie, senior pastor at Prophetic Deliverance Ministries, has gone viral and has been in news accounts all over the world. Bishop Cromartie said in an interview, "He actually was the only one handing out water — that stood out by himself — and what was so intriguing was he was doing it on his own. It showed that he had a mind of his own that, despite everything that was going on, that he still wanted to make sure the police were okay and he may be realizing that someday he’s going to need the police. The police officer did not take the water and I didn’t expect him to. I would not take it considering what’s going on and how people are feeling.”
Latest Headlines
Opinion
Send Your Opinions To Chattanoogan.com; Include Your Full Name, Address, Phone Number For Verification
  • 3/29/2024

We welcome your opinions at Chattanoogan.com. Email to news@chattanoogan.com . We require your real first and last name and contact information. This includes your home address and phone ... more

Capitol Report From State Rep. Greg Vital For March 28
  • 3/28/2024

Budget becomes central focus in final weeks of 113th General Assembly Members of the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee this week were briefed by Finance and Administration Commissioner ... more