LETTER: Response To Matthew Studd's Letter To The Editor

I was shocked when reading Mr. Studd’s recent letter that he would choose to belittle other members of the election commission committee.  It seemed so unprofessional of him and downright tacky to put a letter in the Courier about the way they voted on this matter. To settle the disagreement with other committee members, Studd should have done discussed the matter with other committee members in private and kept it out of the paper. The real reason they changed their mind on the original vote was because they were misinformed by the Administrator, Stan Dobson. It takes guts and backbone to admit you made a mistake and then take steps to reverse it, rather than go along with the good ole boy or buddy system we see a lot of today.  

In Studd’s letter, he mentioned that some citizens who attended the public meeting were rude or short-sighted.  I will agree that some may have been rude but Mr. Studd should tell the whole story and not just the parts that sound good. He failed to tell about Mr. Dobson cursing the Committee member, Sue Patrick, at the table where they sat. He also failed to tell about Mr. Dobson wanting the committee members to go into another room and have private discussions (which would have been against the Sunshine Law and Patrick made mention of to the other members). Studd also did not tell the readers about Mr. Dobson telling the citizens that there were going to ‘pay for this’ in an angry and hateful voice; nor was Mr. Dobson’s cursing fit mentioned that occurred when the members returned to the Election office and Dobson had to be put in his place by another committee member. I think he should have been fired that night for his insubordination. He acted worse that the citizens who attended the meeting.  

Studd said in his letter that ever citizen should work harder to look at the ‘Big Picture’ regarding taxes. If you are serious about the taxes in this county Mr. Studd, there is one simple and easy way that you can help. Dobson doesn’t live in Cannon County. He doesn’t pay taxes in our county and doesn’t have to buy wheel tax stickers either. I urge you to get together with the other committee members and find someone who owns a home and lives in Cannon County. You would be helping keep our tax dollars in the county. I admit that this will take guts and backbone to get it done but show Cannon County citizens it can be done!  

It makes me mad to think about Mr. Dobson having a job in a county building the taxpayers keep up and pay him $51,000 per year and he doesn’t even live in our County. Someone needs to do something about this because it is ridiculous. It is my understanding that a member of the McCall family was present for the meeting.  I don’t know what that was about, maybe for moral support or maybe he wanted the job, if Mr. Dobson wasn’t hired. I do know that the McCall’s do not need to come to our election meetings to persuade anyone about anything. We have citizens driving through town every morning going to Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Nashville, and Lavergne for their jobs. I would think that we could find jobs here in the county. I would think we could find one of those people qualified to be the Administrator of Elections instead of hiring someone out of our county.  We could keep our tax dollars in the county.  

I urge the commissioners in your next regular meeting to put something in place so this doesn’t happen again. I would like something put in place that anyone appointed or elected to an office in our county should live here, pay land taxes, buy wheel tax stickers, and not just have a PO Box in our county.  

To the good citizens of Cannon County, I urge you to attend the county meetings when you can because the paper can’t tell the whole story. Also, you need to call or see the committee members and commissioners let them know how you feel about someone living in Wilson County running our Elections office.  

Mr. Studd the letter that committee member Patrick prepared to send to Mark Goins in Nashville sums it all up.  The Election Administrator misled all of you about the law and about the second district voting illegally. I would like to commend the three committee members for standing up and making a mistake right again. These members not only stood up for Short Mtn but for all of the citizens of Cannon County. I think we should have more people like these three to stand up for our citizens. I personally thank each one of you. To the Short Mtn community, I thank all of you for helping; each of you should be proud of yourself for standing up and righting a wrong.  Lastly, a special thanks for our 4th District Commissioner, Tony Neal, for his support and help.  

Thanks, Ronald Lawson