November 10th, 2008
A new state senator Nov 08, 2008
It looks as if Sevier County will have an attentive state senator who will surely look after our needs as much as any nonresident possibly can. Rep. Doug Overbey defeated incumbent Raymond Finney in the August Republican primary, then easily won election on Tuesday as expected with an easy win over independent candidate Ira Lapides of Gatlinburg.
The Senate district includes all of Sevier and Blount counties. Because our population is so much smaller than Blount’s, it’s virtually impossible for us to have an elected senator who lives here. Until the district lines are redrawn one day, we’ll have to work hard to elect legislators who may not live here but will represent us well. Overbey appears destined to do that.
For one thing, he is indebted to this county for his election. Finney carried Blount County when the two met, and Overbey won the primary thanks to a strong showing in Sevier. One thing that really helped Overbey’s showing in Sevier was his 2007 vote against the new school funding formula that has hurt this county’s school system. Finney voted for it, though he later said he made a mistake. Overbey got the support of local school officials, and that was a key to his victory.
Overbey is a fiscal conservative with a voting record as a House member that should make conservative Sevier County happy. With Republicans now in charge of both the State House and State Senate, Sevier County looks to profit from such a power shift, since nobody can question our Republican bent.
Overbey has pledged to be responsive and accessible over the next four years. He campaigned extensively in Sevier County, which bodes well.
Congratulations to Overbey and our two House members, Richard Montgomery of Sevierville and Joe McCord of Maryville, who faced no opposition either in the GOP primary or the general election. The voting is over. Now let’s get to work solving our state’s financial problems.
© 2008 by mountainpress.southernheadlines.com. All rights reserved.
Posted in In The News |
November 5th, 2008
Article published Nov 5, 2008
Overbey relieved following victory
By Joel Davis
of The Daily Times Staff
State Rep. Doug Overbey, R-Maryville, looked tired.
At the end of the night, Overbey defeated Ira “Doc” Lapides, 61,227 to 13,682 in the state Senate 8th District race, which includes Blount and Sevier counties.
Facing the successful end of his campaign for the state Senate seat occupied by state Sen. Raymond Finney on Tuesday night, Overbey said he was relieved.
“I think the first sensation is relief,” Overbey said. “It’s been a long, hard campaign since we announced back in January. There has been a lot of hard work and effort put into the campaign by a lot of friends, supporters and family. Right now we’re happy that our message apparently resonated with the voters of Sevier and Blount Counties.”
Overbey’s successor in the 20th District House of Representatives seat is County Commissioner Robert Ramsey.
“I’m really happy for Bob Ramsey,” he said. “There is some irony in that in 1990 when I didn’t seek re-election to the County Commission he took my seat and now as I’m apparently leaving the House for the state Senate, he is taking my seat. I look forward to working with Bob along with Joe McCord and Richard Montgomery as a team for Blount Count and Sevier County.”
Overbey’s first priority is to reform the state Basic Education Program funding.
“The priority is the same one we’ve talked about during the campaign to bring some equity and balance to the state’s school funding formula. Our two counties were disadvantaged when BEP 2.0 was adopted.”
Overbey beat independent candidate Ira Lapides in the 8th State Senate District race after winning a heated primary campaign against incumbent state Sen. Raymond Finney.
First elected to the House of Representatives in 2000, Overbey is a member of the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee, Health and Human Resources Committee, the Select Committee on Ethics and the Joint Select Committee on Children and Youth. He is chairman of the House Health Care Facilities Subcommittee and a member of the Budget Subcommittee. He defeated Finney in the August primary.
At the end of the night, Overbey had one simple goal.
“I’d like to go hug my wife,” he said.
Posted in In The News |
November 3rd, 2008
State senate candidates respond on the issues
Nov 03, 2008
1. What skills and experiences would you bring to the office of state senator?
LAPIDES: I have been a teacher at the university level and have worked in government and private business and I have been a participant in the local economy for the past 30 years I have been in the area. I am not owned by any political interest group and can be involved in changing things.
OVERBEY: First, I bring a lifetime of commitment to my community. Over the past 30 years, I have worked to make a positive difference in my community through many charitable, community, church and civic organizations such as the Johnson Girls Group Home, the Blount County Library Board, the Blount County Children’s Advocacy Center, Success By Six, A Secret Safe Place for Newborns of Tennessee, the Knoxville Museum of Art, and the Chamber of Commerce. Second, I bring the experience of nearly 30 years in the practice of business law. As a practicing lawyer, I have the experience of standing up for and representing my clients. This sort of advocacy is exactly the experience needed in the State Senate. Third, I bring nearly two decades of experience as a Republican elected official. I served eight years on the Blount County Commission in the “80s and now eight years in the House of Representatives in the General Assembly. During my service as a State Representative, I have demonstrated an ability to work effectively with members of both Houses of the General Assembly and members of both parties to accomplish important conservative objectives, which contributed to my being rated as the most effective Republican representative in the legislature.
2. The 8th District is drawn so that a candidate from the more populous Blount County has an advantage over candidates from Sevier County. Is this fair and would you support a redrawing of the district lines during the next reapportionment?
LAPIDES: Without knowing more I can’t favor redrawing the lines since that would require changing the number of representatives in the Senate. Given the fact that I am today leading in Blount County by 52 to 48 percent, I am not sure the mountain between us is that big an obstacle although the needs of each county are different. What needs to happen more would be an effort to host more debates and give more coverage to both sides of the mountain.
OVERBEY: A State Senate district must be drawn in accordance with the principle of one person one vote and must have a certain amount of population by law. Blount and Sevier combined have the exact population for a Senate district and that likely will not change when the new census is taken in 2010. In addition, even in Sevier were combined with another county, it would still lack the population to be the majority of any Senate district. Since Sevier has to be combined with another county in order to reach the population threshold set by law, it is probably best paired with Blount since the people of Sevier and Blount Counties share many beliefs, like having the best schools possible, being able to drive our cars affordably and heat our homes as inexpensively as possible, and maintaining our quality of life. I have worked hard for each of these objectives during my eight years as a State Representative and before that as a county commissioner. I have worked to show the people of Sevier that I have demonstrated a commitment to their values during my three decades of public service, because I believe it is ultimately more important to share a county’s values than to simply share its address.
3. Sevier County Schools did not fare well when the state’s funding formula changed in 2007. Since it favored larger systems that are represented by more House and Senate members, it seems difficult to change. What can be done to make the funding formula fairer to Sevier County?
LAPIDES: I will do my very best to change the formula that is being used by including income distributions within the district as well as making it clear that it is through our tourism business that much of the state benefits and we have a right to reap more of the benefits since we are the ones sowing the seeds. In the current Blount County ballot initiative to raise sales taxes to make up the deficit I think there needs to be quality between the city and the county in terms of student radio.
OVERBEY: Laws change all the time, but they will not change if Sevier County’s state senator does not consistently speak up about the need for change. Since voting against this measure, I have continued to speak out for the need for fair treatment of the Sevier and Blount County school systems. I have continued to hold meetings with my legislative colleagues whose districts were adversely affected as we work together for a fairer system. We’ve held meetings with department officials and the Comptroller of the Treasury for a revised funding formula. I will take my ability to work with members of the General Assembly from both sides of the aisle and the Administration to bring about a fairer funding formula because if we can pass lawsuit reform in a Democrat House as we did this year, we can change this terrible school funding formula.
4. Sometimes legislators introduce or support bills that would help businesses or governments without naming them, using only population guidelines or vague descriptions. This happened in 2007 with a liquor bill for Sevierville. Would you ever support or introduce such a bill affecting Sevier County, and if you learned of one would you block it and tell the public about it?
LAPIDES: If I ever learn of any unnamed bills and private acts I will definitely come before the public and tell them about it. I am personally aware of the fairness doctrine which is used to keep me from speaking in many places when in fact there is no real law and what I’m facing is the fear-ness doctrine wherein folks are afraid to support the underdog in cases where the bigger dog wins. Keeping in mind that the legislation designed to increase taxes on cigars was called the small business assistance act of 2007 to raise taxes 20,000 percent, I don’t like the practice.
OVERBEY: First of all, I believe in openness of government and have always wanted the people to know about pending legislation that would affect them. It has been my consistent policy as a State Representative to sponsor private acts only when requested by a two-thirds vote of the local governing body affected by the legislation.
© 2008 by mountainpress.southernheadlines.com. All rights reserved.
Posted in In The News |
November 3rd, 2008
Overbey and Lapides face off for Senate seat
By ELLEN BROWN
Nov 03, 2008
Overbey, an attorney, has represented the 20th house district in the 102nd, 103rd, 104th and 105th General Assemblies. He is a member of the assembly’s Finance, Ways and Means Committee, Health and Human Resources Committee, Select Committee on Ethics and Joint Select Committee on Children and Youth. He is chairman of the House Health Care Facilities Subcommittee and a member of the Budget Subcommittee. Last year he was elected secretary of the Joint Study Committee on Long Term Care.
“I’ve been a state representative for the past eight years,” Overbey said. “Being involved in several charitable endeavors led to my running for office, and this (election) is a continuation.”
Lapides, owner of The Gatlin-Burlier tobacco shop and former economics professor, is running for the office as an independent. He has a doctorate degree in economics and created an economics consulting firm in 1976 that developed feasibility studies and wrote federal grants. He also served as head of the Retail Tobacco Dealers Association Committee to push for smokers’ rights and served two terms on the Gatlinburg Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
“We’ve been broken for a long time now,” Lapides said. “I have a creative mind for new solutions.”
Overbey’s platform includes changing the funding formula for state schools.
“I think the Basic Education Program unfairly penalizes Sevier County schools,” Overbey said. “The state should reward counties like Sevier and Blount for doing things well.”
Overbey also promises to advocate a good sales tax and property tax base, protect current jobs and create new jobs.
“We need to keep taxes as low as possible and not move toward the state income tax.”
Overbey added that he would make sure money was spent effectively in dealing with drug addiction and mental illness.
“We need to make sure it’s getting to the people who need it and that they’re getting the treatment they deserve.”
Lapides said he will advocate for more adequate law reform and health reform.
“I always see a long list of people being incarcerated. We’re criminalizing our society,” Lapides said. “I’m not soft on crime, but I know the difference between incarceration and torture when I see it.
“We’re also taking the ER and making it into a clinic for earaches and maintenance care and that’s a pretty expensive way to provide care,” Lapides continued. “We’re not doing any planning for the aging population; the waiting list for a nursing home in Sevier County is seven years. We need to start planning now.”
Lapides added that he was also in favor of education financing reform, as well as tax breaks and enhanced solar power.
© 2008 by mountainpress.southernheadlines.com. All rights reserved.
Posted in In The News |
October 30th, 2008
SIS shares new technology
|
Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press
Third-grade teacher Lisa Lister demonstrates how she conducts a class using the Prometheus Board. |
By ELLEN BROWN
Staff Writer
Rep. Doug Overbey and numerous area business leaders attended a presentation of the Promethean ActivBoard a high-tech, interactive whiteboard during Sevierville Intermediate School’s Open House Tuesday evening.
The “interactive whiteboard” offers students and teachers many things: it is considered a PC, a DVD player, PowerPoint, the Internet and more rolled into one system.
“It’s a great tool, and the kids enjoy it,” said Lisa Lister, an SIS third grade teacher who delivered the presentation. “There’s no way I could teach without it again.”
Three students helped Lister demonstrate how the ActivBoard was used in class. They used an Activpen, a battery-free, wireless pen, on the large screen for exercises in geography, math and spelling. Games like Jeopardy can be used to help students prepare for tests, and the program “Storyline Online” allows students to see and hear celebrities reading different books along with the book’s illustrations. Various videos can be shown on the screen, including the Animal Planet’s “Jeff Corwin Experience.”
“I can’t take them on a field trip across the world, so this does it for me,” Lister said of the program.
Other features include lesson development software that makes lesson planning more convenient; wire-free technology that allows the board to talk seamlessly with Promethean’s other products; and a low-glare screen.
SIS principal Terri Dodge said the school currently has 27 boards but is in need of 9 more. The cost of each board, with projector and tools, is $5,000.
Dodge said the school’s goal was to equip all of its classroom with the “best technology.”
“I was very impressed by the presentation and how comfortable the students were using it,” Overbey said. “It’s a great learning tool.”
The school’s open house also offered fingerprinting for children, information on car seat safety and other booths. Parents and other guests enjoyed dinner served by Bullfish Grill.
Dodge said that students will participate in the voting process by having their own Election Day on Monday.
For more information on the Promethean ActivBoard, visit www.prometheanworld.com.
ebrown@themountainpress.com
ebrown@themountainpress.com
© 2008 by mountainpress.southernheadlines.com. All rights reserved.
Posted in In The News |
August 12th, 2008
Dear Friend,
Last Thursday was a great night for our campaign. This was a tough and spirited primary, and I am convinced that the difference for us was the support I received from people like you. Let me thank you for all the phone calls, letters, emails and other means you used to spread our message to your friends and neighbors. Kay and I could not have done it without you.
Please know that I will continue to listen to your thoughts and concerns and work to see results produced. That’s why I ran in the first place — to bring effective leadership to the State Senate. I can’t promise to be perfect – I’m not — but I can promise to stand up for you, speak out for you, and make my vote count for you at the Capitol.
Once again, Kay and I are grateful for all you have done for our campaign. When we started this journey, no one gave me much of a chance. However, you believed in me and worked to ensure that in the end — the choice was clear. All I promise is to produce results — not just make statements. Thank you again for your support and may God bless you.
Sincerely,
Doug
p.s. If you have a yard sign, please take it up for now and put it back out on October 1st for the November 4th general election. Thanks!
Posted in Featured News, In The News |
Life-Long Republican