THE DRAGONATER WINS IN TRAFFIC COURT AT DEALS GAP, RAISES SPEED LIMIT TO 65 MPH ON THE DRAGON - NOLLE PROSEQUI BY BLOUNT COUNTY ATTORNEY GENERAL. NO TESTIMONY, HEARING NOR TRIAL WHATSOEVER. 60 MPH SPEEDING TICKET DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE, COSTS PAID BY THE STATE, IN BLOUNT COUNTY GENERAL SESSIONS COURT WITH JUDGE BREWER. THP TROOPER RANDALL HUCKEBY ADMITTED ON VIDEOTAPE DURING TRAFFIC STOP THAT ALL SPEEDING TICKETS NORTHBOUND ON US129 AT MILE MARKER 0.5 ARE FEDERAL JURISDICTION, NOT STATE JURISDICTION (VIDEO BY THE DRAGONATER). HUCKEBY WAS ALSO CAUGHT ON VIDEO SPEEDING AT 60 MPH ON THE DRAGON, WITHOUT THE MANDATORY EMERGENCY LIGHTS AND SIREN REQUIRED FOR IMMUNITY FROM PROSECUTION (VIDEO BY THE DRAGONATER). TDOT ADMITTED IN WRITING THAT THE MANDATORY TRAFFIC ENGINEERING SURVEY SPEED AUDIT WAS NEVER PERFORMED, IN VIOLATION OF TN CODE, THUS THE POSTED 30 MPH SPEED LIMIT ON THE DRAGON REVERTS TO THE DEFAULT 65 MPH IN TN CODE. THE DRAGONATER ALSO MADE VIDEO OF TROOPER HUCKEBY SPEEDING UP TO 60 MPH ON THE DRAGON IN A 30 MPH ZONE, WITHOUT MANDATORY EMERGENCY LIGHTS NOR SIREN, IN VIOLATION OF TN CODE, AND PERJURY IN HIS PERSONNEL FILE, WHICH SHOWED HIS $100,000+ SALARY. 2007 TDOT SAFETY AUDIT REPORT CONFESSED THAT THP'S JOB IS TO BAN ALL COMMERCIAL BUSINESSES ON THE DRAGON, SO THP TICKETS INCREASED 11,400% IN BLOUNT COUNTY. THP'S STALKER RADAR OPERATOR MANUAL CONFESSED THAT RADAR CANNOT MEASURE THE SPEED OF VEHICLES WITHIN 18 MPH OF ACTUAL SPEED. WATCH THIS SPACE FOR FULL EVIDENCE FILE. UPDATE 7 MARCH 2011
The Dragonater's Reply Brief to United States Attorney General's Reply Brief, United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, 22 November 2010
This informal pro se brief does not comply with the technical standards required for appellate briefs by lawyers, in the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. Frankly, that's still beyond my disabled mind's mental capacity. However, the online pro se appeal brief form supplied by US clerks of court is a guaranteed recipe for failure.
Brief includes Deals Gap Dragon, the constitutionally guaranteed right to travel as named in the Articles of Confederation, equal protection, selective enforcement, class of one, Brady, Jencks, Giglio motions for discovery, due process, destruction of evidence, perjury, prosecutorial misconduct, malicious prosecution, driver license, contract law, Georgia House Bill 875, motorcyclist, sportbike, superbike, trial by magistrate, trial by judge, waiver, constitutional law, credible evidence, PACER, Koubriti v. Convertino, United States v. Armstrong, Bolling v. Sharpe, Shapiro v Thompson, Village of Willowbrook v. Olech, Declaration of Independence, Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, speeding ticket, illegal passing, no passing zone, video, audio, circumstantial evidence, standard of review, citizen's arrest, Great Smokey Mountains National Park, Foothills Parkway, Versuslaw, local rules of court, petty offense, police corruption, park ranger, THP Tennessee Highway Patrol.
Blounty County sheriff James "I'll Burn Your House Down And Kill Your Family And Your Dog" Berrong wants $60,000 from you to add 60 parking spaces to the Blounty County Justice Center For Kiddie Porn*. Yet 80 parking spaces remain unused at a county building next door. The sheriff claimed to have no parking on jury selection day, but county commissioner Jim Folts saw only sheriff patrol cars in the public parking lot.
Note how the sheriff has to write $10-million in additional traffic tickets to cover the budget deficit in 2011...
*Google judicial commissioner Dustin Hatcher, convicted felon, son of ex-deputy court clerk Tom Hatcher
From: James Folts To: list@blounttn.net Subject: REPORT ON NOVEMBER COUNTY COMMISSION MEETINGS Date: Sun 11/21/10 10:29 PM
To My Fellow Blount County Citizens,
The Finance Director gave a presentation to the County Budget Committee saying that $10 million would have to be cut from the Budget, or there will be a double digit tax increase next year. Twenty four hours later, the Commission decided to consider a BUDGET INCREASE!
A summary of your County Commission's activities in the month of November is available on:
Please come to the Commission Meeting on Dec. 16 at 7 PM at the Courthouse room 430
Please pass this message on to those on your email list. Please send the email addresses of anyone you think would be interested in this information.
Thank you for your continuing support.
November 2010 Report
by Commissioner Jim Folts JimFolts.com
Finance Director Presentation to Budget Committee 11/8/2010 - Major problems ahead Finance Director Jennings made his first public presentation on the severe financial problems that face our County. The presentation was an improved version of the one given privately to each Commissioner, which I described in last month’s report to you.
Mr. Jennings told the Committee that the County will spend approximately $7 million more than it takes in, this year. If the current trend continues, the County will spend $10 million more than it takes in, next year.
The county has been making up these huge deficits by emptying its savings accounts (fund balances). Unfortunately, by the end of this year, there will be so little money left in the savings accounts that the County’s credit rating will be in danger. Since the County is carrying a very heavy load of debt ($230 million) and must refinance a $46 million balloon payment, a reduction in our credit rating could be a disaster.
The bottom line is that the budget games the County has been playing are over. The Commission must stop letting County expenses grow at 2.5 times the inflation rate. The County must either cut expenses and employees, or impose a major tax increase on the citizens in these tough economic times. But old, bad habits are hard to kill, and just one day after Mr. Jennings presentation, the Commission was hard at work talking about ADDING expenses to the budget. See below.
At last month’s Commission meeting a request for a $60,000 budget increase to provide 60 more parking spaces at the “Justice Center” was withdrawn, when it became clear that the money would be taken from the County’s dangerously low savings account. Unfortunately some Commissioners still don’t seem to grasp the idea that the County has serious budget problems. Commissioners Burchfield, Folts, Lail and Caylor voted against this spending madness. Commissioners French, Kirby, Burkhalter, Gamble, Samples, Carver, Greene, Lambert, Wright, Harrison, Lewis, Farmer, Hasty, Melton, Helton and Moon voted to put this budget increase back on the Commission agenda, despite Finance Director Jennings’ warnings at the Budget Committee meetings just 24 hours earlier.
The resolution to allow the Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) to opt out of State mandated training requirements came up again, with changes that limited the opt out period to this year only. This resolution stirred up my curiosity. I requested the training records of the Planning Commission and the BZA. The State requires that detailed records of this training to be kept for three years. John Lamb was able to produce most of the required records for the Planning Commission. Unfortunately, Roger Fields, the County Building Commissioner, could not produce a single record of any of the State required training, for himself or any member of the BZA. This lack of attention to training, and the law, may go a long way toward explaining some of the very poor decisions that have come out of the BZA, while Mr. Fields has been in charge.
I requested a new agenda item, providing for a regular report from the Mayor at each Commission meeting, highlighting good and bad budget performances by the various County departments. In view of the severe budget problems we face, I thought this would be a no-brainer. Instead, it was shuffled off to the Ad Hoc Committee on Commission rules.
Commission Meeting 11/18/2010 – It is easier to spend another $60,000 of taxpayer money, than to adjust a schedule
The major item to come up at this meeting was the request for the $60,000 budget increase to build a 60 space parking lot at the Justice Center. I produced an aerial photo that showed a substantial number of additional parking spaces had already been added to the “Justice Center” parking in recent months. None of these additions were mentioned in previous discussions. The bank next to the Justice Center built a 28 space parking expansion for the “Justice Center” in return for access to certain County-owned driveways. The bank also built a driveway connecting the “Justice Center” parking area to the old County Health Department building parking lot that contains nearly 90 parking spaces. Since this building has been vacated by all County agencies, these parking spots are available to the “Justice Center”. Why do we need to spend another $60,000 on this problem, I asked?
I was answered by a torrent of commentary from the inhabitants of the “Justice Center” (JC) (Sheriff’s Department, Circuit Court Clerk and the Judges) pointing to a huge traffic jam that had occurred, Tuesday, two days before the meeting. The jam was supposedly due to lack of parking. However, the discussion uncovered the fact that 300 potential jurors had been summoned to show up at the “Justice Center”, all at the same time, on Tuesday morning. This not only caused the traffic jam, the jury room was not big enough to handle the crowd. The JC inhabitants also admitted that even the 60 space addition would still not be sufficient to handle this crowd. I said I had visited the JC at 9:15 am on Tuesday morning, and enough people had already left, so that I could easily find a space. It seems to me that smarter scheduling would solve the parking problem, without any more taxpayer funds. For instance, if we asked 100 jurors to arrive at 9:00, 100 more at 10:00 and the rest at 11:00, the problem would be solved.
An indication of the real importance the JC inhabitants attach to this problem is that they did not include the new parking lot in this year’s budget. The inhabitants have a combined budget of more than $22 million. By taking just 0.3% out of their existing budgets, they could solve this problem without any additional taxpayer money. With all these facts, and the tough economic climate our taxpayers face, you would think the Commission would have summarily rejected this budget increase. Instead the Commission decided to send the request back to the Budget Committee for more discussion. Only Commissioner Helton and myself voted against this madness. If the Commission continues this casual attitude toward budget increases, how in the world are we going to cut $10 million from next year’s budget? Maybe some Commissioners think that voting for a double-digit tax increase will be easier than facing off with the Sheriff on budget cuts. I hope not. Call the Commissioners and tell them to get started on the hard work of cutting the budget.
Budget Committee 12/6/2010 - Budget options presented - still no decisions. $2.6 million problem in the insurance fund.
Last month Finance Director Jennings gave a presentation to the Budget Committee describing the serious financial problems faced by the County. The Finance Director asked the Budget Committee (Commissioners Lail, Melton, Lewis and Samples) for guidance in preparing the budget for the next fiscal year, which starts in June. His question was pretty simple. Should he prepare a budget that cuts expenses and people from the County payroll, or should he prepare a budget that includes a major (nearly 20 percent) increase in taxes. The Budget Committee avoided giving Mr. Jennings an answer. Instead, they asked him to prepare several "budget options" with different levels of spending cuts and tax increases.
At this month's Budget Committee meeting, the Mr. Jennings returned with four budget options, ranging from one which holds the existing tax rate and makes significant cuts to the County budget, to a 'business as usual' option that results in nearly a 20 percent tax increase. Once again, the Finance Director asked for guidance in preparing next year's budget.
The discussion in the Budget Committee was interesting. Concerns were voiced about cutting county workers. Concerns were voiced about asking County workers to contribute $50 per month to their medical plan costs (they currently contribute nothing). Comments were made about deeper cuts in the schools. Yet, not a word was voiced about closer scrutiny of other large budgets, like the Sheriff's department.
And, no one mentioned the terrible impact a major tax increase could have on the citizens of the County. Nearly 30 percent of the real estate transactions in the county involve foreclosed homes and properties. Ten percent of our citizens are unemployed. Nearly 20 percent of our citizens are on Food Stamps. A major tax increase will increase foreclosures and cause more small businesses to fail, further increasing unemployment. There is really no viable alternative to cutting the budget. Unfortunately, the Budget Committee again put off any decision until January.
Finance Director Jennings also brought another major financial problem to this meeting. The county self-insures for liability and workers compensation. It seems that our previous Financial Director did not do the actuarial reviews necessary to assure that there was enough money in these funds to pay our insurance claims. Worse, during the previous administration, nearly $900,000 in accounting "errors" were made in calculating the amount of money in these funds. These errors went undetected by the state auditors, until this year. After Jennings reviewed all these matters, he discovered there is no money in these funds, and it will take an injection of $2.6 million of taxpayers' hard earned money to make these funds sound. This led Commissioner Samples to openly wonder why the County is in the self-insurance business at all. Clearly, the County has not been managing their self-insurance very well.
A $40,000 budget transfer from the Civil Defense department to the Sheriff's department was discussed. It seems that the head of the Civil Defense department is a former Sheriff's deputy. He told the Commission he wanted the budget for his salary to be transferred to the Sheriff's department. He said this was necessary so that he could maintain his POST certification. He also said he would somehow continue to report to the Mayor, even though he would now be paid by the Sheriff. This sets a terrible precedent. Having a person paid out of one group, but responsible to a different group is something most well-run organizations try to avoid like the plague. Who evaluates the employee's performance? Who does the employee take orders from - the person who pays him, or the person who he is supposed to report to? Even worse, changing organizational structures and budgets to suit the convenience of an employee, makes no sense at all. Despite all these problems, the Commission voted to take this matter up at the Commission meeting. I was the only dissenting vote.
Commission Meeting 12/16/2010 – Canceled
The Courthouse was closed due to weather on Monday, December 13 and Thursday December 16. This resulted in the cancellation of the Commission meeting. If we are to address the pressing financial issues facing us, we certainly need to find a greater sense of urgency.
Because 100-million annual traffic tickets are 99% of what cops do...
Serial killings: A hidden trail -- Unsolved, and unpublicized, slayings of women fill FBI files. Scripps Howard survey of 525,742 homicides...
What's scarier, a bunch of serial killers on the loose, or an FBI that didn't even know how to read its own files?
Or...
Scripps supplemented these using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain detailed records of 15,322 killings that local police did not disclose to the federal government's entirely voluntary crime reporting system.
Or...185,000 unsolved homicides.
Or...
experts warn that the Scripps study is unlikely to detect mobile serial killers like homicidal truck drivers, a group that was targeted in the FBI's Highway Serial Killings Initiative.
Or...
"You start to realize that there are a lot of these people (serial killers) out there. One's bad. But to know that there are dozens or possibly even more … The general public has no idea."
Or...
Scripps Howard, in the early stages of the study, filed a Freedom of Information Act request with Illinois State Police seeking disclosure of the missing homicide records. The state denied the request on the grounds that the information does not exist because Illinois does not assemble computer files detailing murder victims.
Mob rule.
Actually, cops and Scripps forgot to include 150-MILLION homicides...
"The most stunning statistic, however, is that the total number of deaths caused by conventional medicine is an astounding 783,936 per year. It is now evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the US. Using Leape's 1997 medical and drug error rate would add another 216,000 deaths, for a total of 999,936 deaths annually. Our estimated 10-year total of 7.8 million iatrogenic* deaths is more than all the casualties from all the wars fought by the US throughout its entire history. Our considerably higher figure is equivalent to six jumbo jets are falling out of the sky each day." —Gary Null, PhD; Carolyn Dean MD, ND; Martin Feldman, MD; Debora Rasio, MD; Dorothy Smith, PhD, Death by Medicine, March 2004 (plus 1-Million annual aborticides in USA)
"Harold Shipman, the British family doctor who murdered more than 200 of his patients to become one of the worst serial killers of all time, hanged himself in his prison cell." —Reuters, Britain's worst serial killer Dr Death dies in prison, Jan 13, 2004
THE DRAGONATER WINS IN TRAFFIC COURT AT DEALS GAP, RAISES SPEED LIMIT TO 65 MPH ON THE DRAGON - NOLLE PROSEQUI BY BLOUNT COUNTY ATTORNEY GENERAL. NO TESTIMONY, HEARING NOR TRIAL WHATSOEVER. 60 MPH SPEEDING TICKET DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE, COSTS PAID BY THE STATE, IN BLOUNT COUNTY GENERAL SESSIONS COURT WITH JUDGE BREWER. THP TROOPER RANDALL HUCKEBY ADMITTED ON VIDEOTAPE DURING TRAFFIC STOP THAT ALL SPEEDING TICKETS NORTHBOUND ON US129 AT MILE MARKER 0.5 ARE FEDERAL JURISDICTION, NOT STATE JURISDICTION (VIDEO BY THE DRAGONATER). HUCKEBY WAS ALSO CAUGHT ON VIDEO SPEEDING AT 60 MPH ON THE DRAGON, WITHOUT THE MANDATORY EMERGENCY LIGHTS AND SIREN REQUIRED FOR IMMUNITY FROM PROSECUTION (VIDEO BY THE DRAGONATER). TDOT ADMITTED IN WRITING THAT THE MANDATORY TRAFFIC ENGINEERING SURVEY SPEED AUDIT WAS NEVER PERFORMED, IN VIOLATION OF TN CODE, THUS THE POSTED 30 MPH SPEED LIMIT ON THE DRAGON REVERTS TO THE DEFAULT 65 MPH IN TN CODE. THE DRAGONATER ALSO MADE VIDEO OF TROOPER HUCKEBY SPEEDING UP TO 60 MPH ON THE DRAGON IN A 30 MPH ZONE, WITHOUT MANDATORY EMERGENCY LIGHTS NOR SIREN, IN VIOLATION OF TN CODE, AND PERJURY IN HIS PERSONNEL FILE, WHICH SHOWED HIS $100,000+ SALARY. 2007 TDOT SAFETY AUDIT REPORT CONFESSED THAT THP'S JOB IS TO BAN ALL COMMERCIAL BUSINESSES ON THE DRAGON, SO THP TICKETS INCREASED 11,400% IN BLOUNT COUNTY. THP'S STALKER RADAR OPERATOR MANUAL CONFESSED THAT RADAR CANNOT MEASURE THE SPEED OF VEHICLES WITHIN 18 MPH OF ACTUAL SPEED. WATCH THIS SPACE FOR FULL EVIDENCE FILE. UPDATE 7 MARCH 2011
ALCOA, TENN. -- Bend over and spread your vagina and asshole wide for naked body scanners, and gaterape is occuring daily in airports nationwide, including McGhee Tyson Airport.
Anonymous Transportation Security Administration officials admit there is no law requiring naked body scanners, and no law requiring TSA in airports. "But bribery and extortion go a long way in government contracting," said an unidentified TSA official. "Eighty percent of TSA airport screeners are not US citizens, which makes it easy to get them to gaterape US citizens."
TSA officials would not say when the new gamma death ray machines will be installed at McGhee Tyson, but sheeple waiting for their flights already had an opinion on the subject.
"I'm a prostitute by profession, so I love getting gateraped by pedophiles in public," said Marla Varela. "It really gets my pussy wet, especially when I see a little girl or boy being gateraped for kiddie porn in public. It reminds me of my job at Bohemian Grove!"
If an alarm goes off when passengers walk through the scanner, or if a passenger refuses a body scan, or if a smokin hot babe or baby is in line, the only alternative is a pat down by private security guard of the same-sex, or opposite sex.
"Gamma rays are good for you," said an unidentified TSA official. "The Apollo moon walks proved that. See how old the looner astronots are -- except for the dozens of dead ones."
"I'm a homosexual, so I love having my penis stroked and a finger in my ass in public. Before naked body scanners and gaterape searches, I could only suck dick and eat shit in airport restrooms," said Larry Craig Baker.
TSA said its private security guards will be using a new technique that is even more of a turn on for homosexuals, rapists, pedophiles and serial killers.
TSA rapist and pedophiles declined to demonstrate an on-camera pat down for security purposes, in case undercover vice cops were watching.
"I'm a dick-sucking faggot who overstayed my visa, so I'm applying for a job at TSA," said Jay LaBlonde, a traveler on the Sex Offender List who was headed to Miami to rape little children.
Greg Tippton said he's had a happy ending with a pat down.
"I was pulled over to the see-through little room and I got the pat down in different directions and angles on my penis and anus. Thank Satan for Viagra," Tippton said. He added he got an 3-hour erection during the pat down, but other non-homosexual passengers said it is too much.
"The former secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, represents RAPEscan, the company which is selling these scammers to his former department," said Congressman Jimmy Duncan (R-TN). "There is already plenty of security at the airport, but now we are going to spend up to $300 million to install 1,000 scammers. A nationwide revolt is developing over the body scammers at the airports, and it should. I'm sponsoring a bill to eliminate TSA. Fukkin A, vote for me!"
"I kind of disagree with the pat down because it is perverted, but I'll never call the Blount County Sheriff Office nor District Attoreny General to get a homosexual rapist arrested" said Michael Redd, a preacher employed by Homeland Security's Clergy Response Team in a government-run 501c3 church. "Those jews running the IRS will be all up in my ass on April Fools Day, if I interfere with their RAPEscanners from The Holy Land. Besides, that Michael Chertoff scares the Hell out of me."
Israeli citizen Michael "Son Of The Devil" Chertoff was employed by US Dept of Justice to get accused Muslim AllCIAduh illegal alien terrorist bombers out of jail, then was promoted to director of US Dept of Homeland Security in charge of wide-open borders. Only jews are allowed to be citizens of Israel, where Christianity is a felony punished by genocide.
Rabbi Fester Weiner, an Israeli stockholder in RAPEscan, said his portfolio hit the Money Shot with TSA's order for more RAPEscanners. "I love goy preachers who tell their herds 'It's the Lord's will' to submit to Big Brother's advances. Romans 13, hahahaha! The Protocols of Zion were right, er, just a myth," the rabbi said. "I'm on my way to Jew York to suck the dick of a little jew baby during circumcision bris. Thank _od and Mayor Bloomberg for religious freedom! Heil the Master Race!"
Homeland Security director Guido Pistole announced by the end of the year 450 new gamma-ray naked body scanners will be installed. Pistole replied, "You's taxslaves is gonna lern who's da boss around here, and yer gonna pay me an my friends $300,000 for every stinkin scanner, capish?"
Another 500 death ray scanners will follow in 2011, if the homosexual Israeli jews have their way with the gullible goyim.
WATE was paid by Israeli RAPEscan TM to play RAPEscan's PR Video News Release (VNR) "interviews" of only 3 sheeple (3 paid actors?), with 100% love of gaterape by pedophile jewish naked body scanners. WATE refused to interview The Dragonater. It's illegal "propaganda" under US Code for TV news corporations to be paid advertising contracts then pretend that's "news".
"No part of any appropriation contained in this Act shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States not authorized before the date of the enactment of this Act by the Congress."
Dragonater Note: I discussed this on my radio show yesterday, with an elderly female caller who wants a massive police state to shut down transportation at Deals Gap. I told her she can go to McGhee Tyson airport and be a porn star or get her vagina petted and her boobies squeezed. Bloody tampons look like sticks of dynomite in TSA's X-ray naked body scanners...
The sheeple will get exactly what they want. Three days after my radio broadcast on WBCR 1470 am, TSA announced that McGhee Tyson will get the kosher Israeli pedophile RAPEscan TM naked body scanners, thanks to Al Qaeda Dictator Saddam Hussein Obama Bin Laden. Note that all dissenting comments are banned forever by WATETV.com PR propaganda service, including The Dragonater.
This is why The Dragonater always carries a declassified copy of Pentagon's OPERATION NORTHWOODS when flying by airline, along with an explanation by ABC News... OPERATION GLADIO is another useful carry-on.
(NEWSER) – Another day, another tale of the seeming absurdity of airport security. This one comes from a soldier coming home from Afghanistan on a military charter plane. The troops aboard the plane all went through security at Baghram Air Field, the soldier says in an email to RedState, passing through full-body scanners and having their bags inspected by bomb-sniffing dogs. Yet when the plane stopped in Indianapolis to let 100 National Guard members off, the TSA insisted on re-searching all the passengers. “It’s probably important to mention that we were ALL carrying weapons,” the soldier writes.
“All of us were carrying actual assault rifles, and some of us were also carrying pistols,” though they weren’t loaded, and everyone had already been searched for ammo. Yet when the TSA found nail clippers on one of the soldiers, they insisted on confiscating them. “You can’t take those on the plane,” the TSA official said. “They can be used as a weapon.” When the solider replied that he was permitted to take an actual weapon on the plane, the agent replied, "Yeah but you can’t use it to take over the plane. You don’t have bullets." Asked the soldier, "And I can take over the plane with nail clippers?" Apparently. He reboarded without them ... but with his weapon, along with 232 other gun-toting fliers.
A Knoxville man was killed in a single-vehicle crash along Gov. John Sevier Highway this afternoon, according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
James S. Hazenfield, 25, died when his 2006 Nissan Pathfinder veered off the eastbound lanes of Gov. John Sevier Highway, also known as state Highway 168, shortly before 3 p.m., jumped a small embankment, struck a guardrail and then, while still airborne, struck a tree as well, according to the THP incident report. The SUV continued down the embankment before it came to a final rest.
The victim was wearing a seat belt at the time, the report states. Blood tests for drugs and alcohol were requested as a matter of routine procedure.
More detail as they develop online and in Friday’s News Sentinel.
*The purpose of this word is to shock the conscience into consciousness. No disrespect intended. It's the opinion of the Dragonater that all 40,000 annual highway death photos be published, for the purpose of reducing the number of deaths. Same for faces of death from the 1-million murders by medical malpractice per year, plus the 10-million medical abortions per year in USA.
I respectfully request that you remove the statement, “I met a corpse today" from your blog on November 18, 2010. That corpse was my brother, Stewart, and he is terribly missed. I appreciate your interest in posting information on less than adequate safety measures on our roadways. In fact, had a more substantial guardrail been present, he may have been injured, at best, since he was wearing his seat belt. Also, had the grassy shoulder been maintained to be an even surface, his car may not have been launched in the first place. The police report states that he veered off the road, hit a dip or divot of some kind, became airborne, and then made contact with the guardrail. The guardrail tipped his vehicle’s windshield in direct line of the tree which is now obliterated. He was killed instantly and was so badly injured, that we were not allowed to see him. In short, I wish you the best in helping to make road travel safer for all, but hope that blogs regarding fatalities can be addressed with sensitivity.
Thank you for your time, Audra Hazenfield Huffstetler
I was forced to see your brother in a body bag on a gurney on the side of the highway. I wanted to know who this corpse was, so I googled. Your objection is duly noted, but in the interest of improving highway safety for those who don't know the victim, the "shocking" word shall remain. Thank you for your input. Sorry for your loss. Drive safe.
As for safer guardrails, I didn't find any designs that are high enough (triple rail) to prevent an SUV from climbing over them. It appears it's time for TDOT to design one.
Folks need to know that SUVs are very unstable compared to cars, and no vehicles have adequate "roll cage" protection. Look at the roll cage in any racecar to see what's required for safety, and even that requires wearing a helmet and neck-stabilization (Hans Device). Maybe its time to require all highway drivers to wear helmets, as currently required for all motorcyclists and bicyclists in Tennessee?
Boring road kills driver, public demands Police State target SUVs
Sorry no action photos by The Dragonater, I'd already had my fill of investigation for the day, and local PR, er, "news" corporations don't pay stringers for real news. Did you know that Blount County does NOT control the speed limit on the Dragon, Knoxville does?
It appears that the proximate cause of the fatal crash was the single-layer "guard" rail acting like a launching rail. Although this is a new state-of-the-art guardrail, it may still be defective according to traffic engineering standards. Does DOT's US DOT Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices require a double guardrail at the point of impact?
The car was invisible in a ravine on a straight highway. No obvious skid marks. Saw a large rescue op at 3 pm, THP, FD, Rural Metro, Floyds Wrecker. Zero sense of urgency. Passed again at 6 pm and they had the corpse in a body bag on a gurney, on the shoulder of the road. Zero sense of urgency.
Was the cause of death another slow response by Rural Metro Taxi Service, with trigger-puller cops refusing to provide first aid? Loss of concentration on a boring straight highway? Dodging a lane-crosser? Cell phone? Texting? Tire blowout? Deer attack? 4x4s can easily climb a single-row "guard" rail.
At least Rural Metro's stock went up today. Glad to hear the Euro owners are makin Euros on their trillion dollars. I guess charging $4,500 per mile really adds up.
The Dragonater is banned forever from posting these facts at Knoxville News Sentinel propaganda rag, whose owners Mr Scripps and Mr Howard perform snuff kiddie porn to Satan and run around naked holding Georgie Bush's penis at Bohemian Grove homosexual nudist compound.
Philadelphia, PA: In a unanimous decision last fall, a jury awarded a young man almost $32 million after he was permanently injured in a car accident. It may be one of the largest verdicts ever recorded for a motor vehicle accident case in the Superior Court of New Jersey but attorney John Dodig says considering the injuries suffered and the negligence involved, his client deserved every cent of it. “It is a lot of money, but the jury felt it was fair compensation and I couldn’t agree more,” he says.
Three years before, when Nicholas Anderson was just 18, he was driving down a county road when he was forced to swerve to avoid a head-on collision with a car that had wandered into his lane. A drop off in the pavement grabbed the car and smashed it into the end of metal safety guardrail.
That safety guardrail pierced the cabin of his vehicle and severed his leg. “He is only 22 now,” says Dodig. “He has had 34 surgeries and already has had medical bills close to $3 million. His right leg was severed at the scene of the accident and he will soon have one of his arms amputated.”
Nicholas Anderson will need another $15 million for medical services in the years to come. The remainder of the $32 million is for Anderson’s pain and suffering—the loss of life’s pleasures and the embarrassment and disfigurement that the he will endure for the rest of his life.
The jury found that the County of Camden, NJ had failed in its duty to repair the highway and a safety guardrail it knew was out-of-date and dangerous and should have been able to foresee the potential damage that could result.
Dodig argued first that the highway was hazardous. “There was a 6 inch drop off at the edge of the pavement – that is what caused my client’s car to go off the road in the first place,” says Dodig.
However, the biggest problem was the safety guardrail that Camden County knew could cause injuries in a crash. “That guardrail was dangerous because it was not up to code. In fact, it was 30 to 40 years out of code,” says Dodig. “It didn’t have any of the current safety features and it acted like a spear when it impacted with the driver’s compartment.”
During the trial Camden County admitted that it had a policy not to bring guardrails up to code unless they were specifically involved in an accident. “Then it would go after the driver who hit the guardrail and use their insurance money to bring the guardrail up to code,” says Dodig. “I don’t think the jury was impressed with that testimony.”
There are highways in poor states of repair and similar out-of-date safety guardrails on highways across the US. Since the Nicholas Anderson case, Dodig has heard from a number people about accidents with road guardrails. “Yes, there are a lot of cases out there,” says Dodig. “But since the verdict, New Jersey is doing a better job.”
Dodig has successfully obtained a number of eight figure verdicts for victims of motor vehicle accidents, medical negligence, product liability, consumer class actions and civil rights cases during his career.
John Dodig is a partner in the firm of Feldman, Shepherd, Wohlgelernt Tanner, Weinstock & Dodig in Philadelphia. He received his Bachelor of Science from Fairleigh Dickinson University and his law degree from Nova University. He also received an LLM in Trial Advocacy from Temple University. In 2004, he was awarded the President’s Award by the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association, in recognition of his work protecting the rights of innocent victims and maintaining their access to the court system.
TDOT Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices 2008 Edition - These rules shall govern the design and location of all signs, signals, markings and postings of traffic regulations on or along all streets and highways in the State of Tennessee, and no signs, signals, markings or postings of traffic regulations shall be located on any street or highway in the State of Tennessee regardless of type or class of the governmental agency having jurisdiction thereof except in conformity with the current edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), as adopted in these rules. The current edition of the United States Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways, 2003 Edition, is hereby adopted in its entirety and incorporated herein by reference. It is the intent of the Tennessee Department of Transportation to amend these rules as necessary to adopt future revisions of the MUTCD as may hereafter be approved by the United States Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. The provisions of the MUTCD set forth the basic principles that govern the design and usage of the most commonly used highway signs. Detailed specifications for the layout of these signs are provided in the latest edition of the United States Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Standard Highway Signs, which is incorporated by reference in the MUTCD. The Tennessee Department of Transportation authorizes the design and usage of the signs in the Tennessee Supplement to Standard Highway Signs. Signs on any street or highway open to public travel in the State of Tennessee shall be fabricated, installed and used in accordance with the specifications of the current edition of Standard Highway Signs and/or, for signs erected on state highways, the Tennessee Supplement to Standard Highway Signs.
South Dakota Road Design Manual - This manual consolidates road design policies, standards, and procedures in a convenient reference for designers and plan recipients. Designers and other users will follow the policies, standards, and procedures described in this manual. Huge guardrail section in Chapter 10 Roadside Safety: BARRIER TYPES: A barrier or guardrail is a device which provides a physical limitation to shield roadside obstacles or nontraverseable terrain features. It is intended to contain or redirect an errant vehicle. Steel beam guardrail should not be installed on a slope steeper than a 10:1. The MGS system is a W beam system where the splices are located between posts and the wood blockouts are deeper (horizontally, normal to the rail). The height would be at the same height as thrie beam guardrail. This system has more height tolerance than traditional W Beam. Double W-guardrail Figure 1a Attachment
Guardrail Transitions - US DOT Federal Highway Administration. Nationwide, most bridge guardrail transitions consist of a semi-rigid W-beam connecting to a rigid bridge rail. Some of these guardrail transitions have been recently crash tested in accordance with the guidelines in "National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 230." The initial test results were unsatisfactory, marginal or inconclusive. Common elements of the failed systems included the following: (1) A vertical concrete face or the toe of a concrete safety shape barrier which came in contact with the vehicle wheel resulted in snagging. (2) Inadequate guardrail stiffening (such as standard guardrail posts at 3 foot, 1½-inch spacing) resulted in substantial deflection of guardrail and subsequent snagging or poor redirection of the vehicle. Almost all existing W-beam guardrail systems that connect directly to a bridge rail without adequate blockouts or a rubrail near the bridge connection should be considered unsatisfactory because they can result in vehicle snagging, which in turn can contribute to a catastrophic accident. Not only are these hazardous transitions between the guardrail and bridge rail common, but many State standards still detail the transition without adequate blockouts, rubrail, or other features.
Day on Torts -- The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices defines the standards used by road managers and contractors nationwide to install and maintain traffic control devices on all streets and highways. The MUTCD is published by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) under 23 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 655, Subpart F. The MUTCD has been adopted as the law in Tennessee; violation of the MUTCD is negligence per se. If you have a case that involves an injury or death at a road construction site you will want to consult this manual to determine if the contractors involved followed the minimum standards established by this manual. The manual also applies to governmental entities and others placing road signs. Tennessee's supplement to the MUTCD, "Rules for Guide Signs on Freeways, Expressways and Conventional Highways", was adopted July, 2005. The Tennessee supplement is found in Chapter 1680-03-02 of the state rules and regulations. Be sure to check this site to find the addition rules applying to contractors working in Tennessee. I have been using the MUTCD in my practice for almost 20 years, and it is my perception that the standards have been weakened over the years to make it more difficult to use the standards against contractors and governmental entities in litigation. However, the MUTCD still sets the minimum standard, and therefore any research in this field needs to start with this document.
