Before Clay Bennett there was Bruce Plante in Chattanooga. While going through the dust and accumulated materials in my law office in a futile effort to finally clean up my legal quarters in order to not be ashamed to meet with live persons outside the confines of a conference room, I came across a priceless treasure trove of cartoons titled “Predatory Plante” (2001) by former Chattanooga Times/Free Press cartoonist Bruce Plante. The cartoons were originally published in the Times Free Press after January 4, 1999, or the Times before January 4, 1999.
Bruce’s timely, controversial, and humorous caricatures about local, state, and federal politicians were good humor from 1985-2007 in the Chattanooga Times and Chattanooga Times Free Press before being hired away by the Tulsa World in Oklahoma as Editorial Cartoonist (2007-2020).
He currently draws one Oklahoma specific cartoon a week for The Frontier (www.readfrontier.org), a non-profit website specializing in investigative journalism.
Contacting Bruce at “planteink.com” produces a wealth of cartoons that combined with Clay Bennett’s additions give any reader some realistic insights into the serious and humorous hectic aspects of today’s World (no pun intended).
If copies of Bruce’s 2001 book can be located it is worth the purchase price.
“Keep ’em coming, Gentlemen!”
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Jerry Summers
(If you have additional information about one of Mr. Summers' articles or have suggestions or ideas about a future Chattanooga area historical piece, please contact Mr. Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com)