Dave Foulk Internet Flyer

 My daughter-in-law is a medical school student at Quillen College of Medicine, a fine school associated with East Tennessee State University.  From all that I hear she is making stellar marks, some reported to be the highest ever for board examinations in certain studies.   I have all the admiration in the world for this young woman.  She is brave to decide to enter the healing arts at a time when our nation is in such turmoil in medicine. 

There are some new ideas coming from these new doctors, and I have hope that our medical services will remain the benchmark for the world.   We must find a way to provide care for those who cannot afford it while we make sure those who are able to pay will take some responsibility for it.  Tenncare in Tennessee is broke..and broken.   I am not sure it can be fixed, and some one-third of a million people stand to be "gently" taken off the rolls.   What will these people do?  Some will die sooner than they should.  And don't you dare snort and say that just is not so. 

Later this month Remote Area Medical will parachute a team of doctors and clinicians to some mountain in Scott County.  Imagine...in 2005, we have to use a parachute team who live in tents to get medical care to people who live within a hundred miles of a level one trauma center, and three or four big hospitals.

And finally, there are our veterans.  I have a radical proposal for healthcare for these brave souls:

Abolish The Veterans Hospitals.  Close them.  Let the veterans have federally subsidized health care in local hospitals, provided by locally based VA doctors.   Here's my idea-

A doctor could become a member of the VA HMO plan.  These doctors could set up their practice in a town of their choosing, and in the specialty they desire.  Veterans would have a list of approved VA doctors.  This patient pool would be added to whatever kind of private practice the doctor might have.

In local hospitals, these doctors would be credentialed to see patients, perform surgeries, etc. , while the excellent nurse corps that is inside the VA hospitals now, would be added to the pool of available nurses.   The additional nurses would help the looming shortage of nurse and special care personnel.  Their salary could also be a combination of federal funds, and private hosital money, depending on the porportion of patients.

Some- not all veterans hospitals can be dismal places, where there is almost a pall of sadness.
These brave people deserve more than that.   Even in the old Soviet Union, old soldiers were honored and people gave up their seats on trains and busses for them.  They proudly wore their medals to show citizens their service.

Should it not be that in this country, the people who put their lives on-the-line for our freedom deserve the best, the closest, and the most competent care?  Our World War Two veterans are dying by the dozens each day, but there are Korean War, Vietnam,  and Gulf War One and Two Vets who will take their place in the ranks of those who need health care.

We would do well to think about them on this Memorial Day.  The ones who did not come home would want us to.

Forget embedded reporters.  Click on this link for blogs from the military.

tp://www.blackfive.net/main/2005/05/milblogs.html#more

From all that I have heard, the Knoxville Police Officers involved in a disturbance last night showed remarkable restraint after one of them was repeatedly kicked in the face. 

A kick to the head can easily be deadly by snapping the neckbone, skull fracture, concussion, or post-trauma brain bleed or blood clot.  The thug who kicked him should consider himself lucky that he wasn't dropped with a .40 caliber slug.

Law enforcement has tried and tried to reach out to the community inside "the gun zone" - the area designated for federal attention because of its number of violent gun crimes.

Some of the people who live there have worked with police to try and make the place safer for their families.  Others, from what I have seen in television interviews today, support those who would rather fight the police than comply with a lawful order.

The thugs ruin it for everybody who wants to live in a better place.

I have walked the streets of a housing project in Atlanta that was so violent, the bus wouldn't run, the power company wouldn't repair, and the mail carrier would not deliver. The decent people who could not afford to move out were literally trapped in their own homes.

Thanks to law officers in Knoxville, that has not happened here. I hope the three hurt last night will quickly recover.  And we should pray for the safety of all those who are watching while we sleep.

This week, there was apparently a problem at Karns Elementary School.  It should have stayed at Karns.  Instead, it has toppled into the national news spotlight- exactly where it stands to do the most damage.

I am not certain who is telling the accurate story at this point.  There is apparently a dispute over a child reading The Bible at school.  The principal says one thing, and the parents...wait a minute... not the parents..their lawyer is saying another thing.  Their lawyer!

We tried to get the mom and dad to tell their side of the story in an on-the-air interview.  The father apparently agreed and a time was set.  But when the appointed time came, he did not answer the cellular phone number he had given us.

By the next day, the story had time to simmer, and there was some doubt that the initial facts were quite correct. The principal of the school came on-the-air to explain her side.  We again tried to contact the mom and dad, but they were tied up doing a live interview on Fox And Friends.  Their attorney was with them.

On-the-air, the lawyer was asked repeatedly if he had been retained by the parents, and we never got a straight yes-or-no from him.  And as for an interview with us, in the town where the issue began- he said that he was not sure he wanted to subject the mom and dad to repeated questions.  Nothing like going on a national news program to make sure your client is not exposed to questions.

As a Christian, I read The Bible- more often than some might think.  I can't quote chapter and verse like some, but I think I have a good grasp of the contents.  There is one verse that says something about praying in secret rather than hollering about your faith on the street. That's a lesson I believe we would do well to study these days. 

And no, I am not objective. Nobody really is objective.  Robots and computers are objective.  I believe I am fair to everyone, and believe it is not my job to censor thought and the free exchange of ideas over the airwaves. I will tell you what I think if you ask.  But you didn't ask for my opinion in the news I cover, and you don't get it.

When we draw great attention to the issue over things such as school policy on Bible reading, we stand to ruin Bible reading that might be taking place in schools all over the district, maybe the state.

Why not settle the dispute quietly?  Outside of that, why not say yes, nod your head, and find a way for your kid to do the same thing in another way.  But when you draw national attention to the issue, you are putting the cause of all who work for The Lord inside schools- teachers, students, everybody- in peril.

Have I missed something in the years since my children were in elementary school?  It wasn't that many years ago when I watched my kids walk into the house from the school bus stop, met with the usual "How was your day?".

Disputes over school policy were settled with parent-teacher-principal meetings then.  I didn't have to get a lawyer to get me on The Today Show to complain about something at school.  There was the school board, the central office, and all kinds of supervisors for their mom and me to badger if we didn't get a satisfactory resolution to the matter. 

And my children were not always the best behaved,or the best students- so there were some pretty intense times at the schoolhouse.  Mainly for my son.  I can remember once, the assistant principal told me he was afraid I was going to beat Jon on the spot for an indiscretion.  (Sorry, son- I had to tell it.)

And there were teacher problems.  One time in Atlanta, a teacher apparently did not like me because of my work, my public life, or something, and she took it out on my daughter.  The principal intervened and moved her to another class.  There are a few folks who can't seem to separate my wife and kids from what I do.  But I never hired a lawyer.

And finally, then there is the argument that sometimes is easily dismissed by Christians, but I assure you there are people ready and waiting to say "If they can read The Bible, why not Pagan literature, or The Koran, or any other religion.

People in our nation have a right to believe anything they want to, and the right to teach their children any religious paradigm they wish.  I taught my children my beliefs, and to be well equipped to intellectually argue their point before others. They won't always have a Bible when they need one. They will have their faith no matter what.

Unfortunately, it is probably too late for this case.  The horse is out of the barn...rather- the lawyer is out of the office and into the studio.

This is a transcript of the White House Briefing following the emergency evacuation this week. You might be interested in reading more than the six-second sound bite.  

Q: Scott, yesterday the White House was on red alert, was evacuated. The first lady and Nancy Reagan were taken to a secure location. The Vice President was evacuated from the grounds. The Capitol building was evacuated. The continuity of government plan was initiated. And yet the president wasn't told of yesterday's events until after he finished his bike ride, about 36 minutes after the all-clear had been sent. Is he satisfied with the fact that he wasn't notified about this?

McCLELLAN: Yes. I think you just brought up a very good point -- the protocols that were in place after Sept. 11 were followed. The president was never considered to be in danger because he was at an off-site location. The president has a tremendous amount of trust in his Secret Service detail. ...

Q: The fact that the president wasn't in danger is one aspect of this. But he's also the commander in chief. There was a military operation underway. Other people were in contact with the White House. Shouldn't the commander in chief have been notified of what was going on?

McCLELLAN: John, the protocols that we put in place after Sept. 11 were being followed. They did not require presidential authority for this situation. I think you have to look at each situation and the circumstances surrounding the situation. And that's what officials here at the White House were doing. ...

Q: Even on a personal level, did nobody here at the White House think that calling the president to say, by the way, your wife has been evacuated from the White House, we just want to let you know everything is OK?

McCLELLAN: Actually, all the protocols were followed and people were -- officials that you point out were taken to secure locations or evacuated, in some cases. I think, again, you have to look at the circumstances surrounding the situation, and it depends on the situation and the circumstance. ...

Q: Nobody thought to say, by the way, this is going on, but it's all under control?

McCLELLAN: And I think it depends on each situation and the circumstances surrounding the situation when you're making those decisions.

Q: Isn't there a bit of an appearance problem, notwithstanding the president's safety was not in question, protocols were followed, that today, looking at it, he was enjoying a bike ride, and that recreation time was not considered expendable to inform him of this.

McCLELLAN: Well, I mean, John mentioned 36 minutes after the all-clear. Remember, this was a matter of minutes when all this was happening. ...

Q: But has the President even indicated that even if everything was followed that he would prefer to be notified, that if the choice is: tell the commander in chief or let him continue to exercise, that he would prefer to be informed?

MR. McCLELLAN: Again, it depends on the situation and the circumstances. And you have to take all that into account, and I think that's what people were doing here at the White House, as well as those people that were with the president.

Q: I think there's a disconnect here because, I mean, yesterday you had more than 30,000 people who were evacuated, you had millions of people who were watching this on television, and there was a sense at some point -- it was a short window, a 15-minute window, but there was a sense of confusion among some on the streets. There was a sense of fear. And people are wondering was this not a moment for the president to exercise some leadership, some guidance during that period of time?

MR. McCLELLAN: The president did lead, and the president did that after September the 11th when we put the protocols in place to make sure that situations like this were addressed before it was too late. And that was the case -- that was the case in this situation. ...

Q: I have one more question. When we walked out of this door yesterday, when those of us who heard that there was a situation, when we walked out of the door, we heard aircraft, jets overhead. There is a concern that that plane came closer to the White House than the White House said, more -- it came within the three-mile radius, it was closer than you --

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, I said that it came within three miles.

Q: OK, but you said three miles. How close --

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, it came within three miles.

Q: How close was it? Because someone has taken a picture of a plane being escorted on K street. How close was the plane?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, I mean, if the Department of Homeland Security or FAA has any additional information, I'm sure --

Q: Scott, how close was it?

McCLELLAN: April, it was within --

Q: You know how close it was. Please tell us.

McCLELLAN: Yes, within three miles. I don't know beyond that. Go ahead.

Q: Might there be something wrong with protocols that render the president unnecessary when the alarm is going off at his house?

McCLELLAN: That's not at all what occurred, Ken. And I would disagree strongly with the way you characterize it for the reasons I started earlier, and that I talked about. This was a situation where the president was in an off-site location. He was not in danger, a situation where protocols have been put in place to address the situation. The protocols were followed. ...

Q: And those protocols are OK with the president despite the fact that his wife was in a situation where she might have been endangered?

McCLELLAN: She was taken to a secure location, as were some other officials.

Q: And wouldn't he want to know about that as it was happening?

McCLELLAN: He was briefed about the situation.

Q: After it happened.

McCLELLAN: He was briefed about the situation, Ken. And I think that he wants to make sure that the protocols that are in place are followed. The protocols that were in place were followed.

Q: Scott, to follow on the same line of questioning, if there is a possibility that a plane may have to be shot down over Washington, doesn't the President want to be involved in that type of decision?

McCLELLAN: Well, Keith, I think again, it depends on the circumstances in the situation. You have to look at each individual situation and the circumstances surrounding that situation. There are protocols --

Q: Doesn't the President want to be involved in what could be a decision to shoot down a plane over Washington?

McCLELLAN: To answer your question, I was just getting ready to address exactly what you're bringing up. The protocols that were put in place after Sept. 11 include protocols for that, as well. And there are protocols there. They're classified. But they do not require presidential authority. ...

Q: They don't require presidential authority, but they don't obviate the need for presidential authority, do they? They don't say the president cannot be involved --

McCLELLAN: Like I said, that depends on --

Q: -- wouldn't he want to be involved --

McCLELLAN: It depends on the circumstances and it depends on the situation.

Q: And wasn't there a possibility that a plane headed for the White House, that this was the leading edge of some broader attack, isn't the president concerned that maybe he should have been alerted to the fact that this could have been the beginning of a general attack?

McCLELLAN: That was not the case, and I think the Department of Defense yesterday indicated that they didn't sense any hostile intent on the part of the plane, so again --

Q: How did they know -- how did they know this plane wasn't laden with WMD or some other type of weapons like that? Did they get reassurances from the pilot? Or how did they know that?

McCLELLAN: Well, again, if you want to give me a chance to respond, I'll be glad to. The protocols were followed. This situation, as you're well aware, turned out to be an accident. The Department of Defense pointed out yesterday that they didn't sense any hostile intent on the part of the plane. There were fighter jets scrambled. There was a Blackhawk helicopter scrambled, as well, to get in contact with the plane. ...

Q So if it was assessed that there was no hostile intent on the part of this aircraft, can you tell us why 30,000 people -- 35,000 people were told to run for their lives?

McCLELLAN: Because of the protocols that are in place, John. We want to make sure that the people in the area of the threat are protected. After --

Q: But what was the threat? You just said there was no threat.

McCLELLAN: John, after Sept. 11, we have to take into account the world that we live in. We live in a very different world than we did before Sept. 11. And the president is going to do everything in his power to make sure we are protecting the American people and to make sure that the people in areas that could be high-risk areas are protected, as well.

Q: Right, but there seems to be so many disconnects here. You've got a plane that was assessed as not being a threat, you've got 35,000 people evacuated, you've got a person who you claim is a hands-on commander in chief who is left to go ride his bicycle through the rural wildlands of Maryland while his wife is in some secure location somewhere, it's just not adding up.

McCLELLAN: Well, John, I disagree, and let me tell you why: You have highly skilled professionals who are involved in situations like this, in a variety of different fronts, from our Homeland Security officials to our National Security Council officials to our Secret Service officials and to others and to local officials, and they work very closely together. The protocols that were put in place were followed, and I think they were followed well.

There's word from a friend that carjackings are on the increase in some parts of Knoxville.  These thugs use pistols to swipe a car,clean it out of anything of value that could be inside- such as a laptop, purse, cellphone, etc.  They often ditch the autos after they strip what they can sell. 

You might get your car back.  But it will never be the same.  It'll be damaged from the thieves who rip out radios, steal wheels, even battery and engine parts.

Worse, you might lose your life.  The attacker could be an amped-up methheaed or crackhead with no compunction about shooting you if you try to fight.

There are some simple things you can do.  I drive through town at 4AM, but I never buy gas at that hour.  You are a sitting duck for someone to walk up and rob you, or steal your car.  Make all late night and early morning drives on the thur routes.

Make your commute stop-proof.  Again, you are a sitting duck at a red light on a lonely intersection. I can remember some of my early morning drives in Atlanta where hookers would jump in front of you and try to stop you along Piedmont Avenue.  I ran the express, and they had to jump out of my way like chickens.  No riders, no stops.

Drive with your doors locked.  If you see someone who appears to be in peril, use the cell phone and call 9-1-1.  The police can get there pronto.  The response time for city and county officers is very good when there is a crime in progress. 

Magnolia Avenue, Western Avenue,and downtown streets where there are a lot of stop lights are potential trouble spots. Also behind gas stations and in parking lots late at night seem to lure robbers. 

And they don't call that section around East Knoxville "The Gun Zone" without a reason.

***FOR SOME EXCELLENT CRIME PREVENTION TIPS, YOU CAN CONTACT THE KNOXVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT OR THE KNOX COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE.  THEY HAVE OFFICERS TRAINED TO GIVE PRESENTATIONS TO GROUPS ON SAFETY, INCLUDING NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH ORGINIZATION.***

I am a gun owner, and I would have no problem putting holes in someone trying to hurt me.  But the problem is that the bad guy always has the jump on you.  By the time you realize you're in trouble, it's too late.  Carjackers use the element of surprise. So do strong-arm robbers and gun bandits. 

One old police detective told me that you should fight with all you can if someone tries to kidnap you.  He told me that was because the chance of your survival greatly diminishes if someone wants to take you.  They are likely looking to eliminate a witness in addition to any sex crime they could have on their mind.

Now please folks, this is not my attempt to scare you.  If we live our lives in fear, the bad guys win.  And I am not about to go around cowed with my tail between my legs. But I want to live, and I want to protect my property.  You do too.

Watch where you are.  Keep your head up and your eyes moving when you are driving.  You will cut your chance of hitting something- and you will cut your chance of someone making a hit on you and your car.

Today lawmakers and visitors were literally chased out of the nation's capitol building.  People inside the White House had to scurry to secure places.  The seat of our nation's government was terribly disrupted.  Why?  Because of a couple of chowder head fliers who did not know where they were, and apparently had no idea what they were causing on the ground.

This has happened several times.  Our security forces are afraid Al Quaeda will strike again from the air, and they could be correct.  We have to be vigilant. 

But we do not have to be lenient.

The intrusions into the restricted air space have to be stopped long before an aircraft gets within three miles of The White House.   For a long time, NOTAMS, or notice to airmen have been posted warning abou the restricted airspace.

Al Quaeda is watching and taking note of how patient we are with violators.  It is a deadly patience that could be exploited by evil people.

The next time, we need to shoot first, and ask questions later.  Of course there should be warnings like flares, or even shots fired in front of the aircraft.  But no leniency.  Not when we are talking about the safety of the seat of government.

It sounds extremely cruel, harsh, uncaring.  But if our protective services shot one stray aircraft out of the sky, it would be a lesson learned for all of the meatheads who cannot read a map, and a lesson for those who might want to throw anthrax, cesium, or some other biological weapon out of the window, fire a missile at a building, or proceed with an unstoppable suicide plunge because we let them too close.

It is war.  We need to realize that.

Twenty-five years ago, a young man named Wayne Williams was sent off to state prison- convicted of two murders.  At the same time, investigators in Atlanta closed the books on several other killings and named Wayne Williams the lone killer in the more than twenty Atlanta Missing Children Cases. 

I never have believed investigators got to the bottom of all of the killings.  Recently, the new police chief in Dekalb County (on the east side of Atlanta) said nearly the same thing. The former member of the task force assembled to solve the killings has publicly called for at least five of the cases to be re-opened.

I knew Wayne Williams in a peripheral way.  He was a good television film photographer.  Wayne had a nice camera, and a Plymouth that looked exactly like a police car.  He would use his scanner radio to chase down crime and spot news and film it.  Wayne sold his footage to the television stations in Atlanta including WSB-TV.  At that time, the radio and television divisions were next door to each other and Wayne would come into the station early in the morning to borrow our radio scripts, photocopy them, then attach the scripts to the film cannisters so the assignment editors and producers would know what he had filmed.

He was a slightly built fellow, and in my opinion, no match for some of the older, wiry young men who had fallen victim to a killer during that period of time.  But there was fiber evidence found on some of the bodies, and it connected Wayne Williams with the murdered young people.  But we still do not know how many were connected by fiber evidence. 

Wayne might have had something to do with the murders, but again, I strongly believe that the task force wrote off too many of the deaths and closed the cases far too soon.  Some of the killings did not fit the general pattern.  One of the killings on the so called "list" was that of a young child taken from her house.  A female- abduction from inside a house- definitely not the signature pattern of the others.

I was assistant news director, and news director at WSB Radio during much of that time.  I was at so many of the crime scenes, one investigator confided to me that they had surveilance photos of me, and checked me out, along with dozens of other innocent people.  Nobody was left off the list of potential suspects.  It was that scary in Atlanta during that time.

GBI Director Phil Peters once told me that someday, he would tell me some of the "back story" to the investigation.  Unfortunately, Phil died of cancer at far too young of an age.  One investigator told me that he would like to tell me all he knew, but his career would be over if he told all of the truth.

Wayne Williams may be guilty of all of the killings.  Or, he could have simply been the body disposal man for someone else.  I think he has a story to tell.  Before some of the people involved in the investigation fade into nothingness, we need some answers.

The Dekalb County Police Chief needs to be heard.  Before they die, the parents of some of those murder victims deserve all of the truth, if it is there for them to hear.

They don't walk as briskly as they used to.  Their eyes are not as sharp. Instead, their eyes tell a lifetime of stories.  Some of them tell stories they would rather not recall.

Flying twenty-five thousand feet over Germany, a scared kid named Kenneth Drinnon hung below the belly of the most devastating war machine man had created to that date.  It was a B-17 Flying Fortress- massed with hundreds of others- hell bent on stopping Hitler's war machine.

But it took a toll.  Sometimes, when the Germans got the altitude dialed in correctly a burst of flak would hit one of the bombers right in the belly, or the fuel tank.  It would caused a blinding explosion- a bright flash, then tiny bits of aluminum and men floated through the cold air back to earth.  In an instant, ten lives would be snuffed out.

There was one mission when Ken was told he had to stay in the ball turret to watch one of the plane's engines in case there was a fire.  He had to hang in that plexiglass ball without his parachute.  If there was a fire, somebody would have to open his door for him, then he would slip into his chute and bail out.  Fat chance of that happening successfully.

And over and over again, men like Sgt. Drinnon made those missions.  Others on the ground slugged it out with the last gasp remnants of the German Army.

The old big band songs are played on this sixtieth anniversary of the end of World War Two.  People wear clothes that were the fashion of the day.  There are American flags in seemingly odd places this week. 

But to get the real story, talk to someone who was there.  And watch the story in their eyes.

Thanks vets.  You are remembered.