Tired of High Gas Prices?

Declare Independence! Don’t drive as much. But, you say you have-to for work and for other necessities. Let me guess. Most of you drive to Knoxville or Oak Ridge for work, or know someone in your family who does. Ever wonder why that is? It’s because we here in Campbell County have 40% fewer job opportunites than the average county in TN. On average, we have a 25% longer commute time too! The two go hand in hand. If we had just an average level of industry here we wouldn’t have to spend so much time congesting the roads, and so much money- filling our tanks!

Recently there was a Tourism Summit for Campbell County held at Cove Lake. The State Commissioner for Tourism, Susan Whitaker, was there to deliver the keynote address. She announced that TN, with $11.4 billion in 2005, is now 11th in the country in tourism business, moving up from 12th in 2004! Contrary to common notions, this business is most definitely as much a bonafide industry as coal, manufacturing or agriculture, etc. It has created over 170,000 real jobs for Tenneseans statewide. If we here in Campbell County just had our fair share of those tourism-jobs our employment statistics would miraculously climb from their current doldrums to about the state’s average.

Whitaker applauded the efforts of our new Tourism Council, which sponsored the ground-breaking Event, and offered a few suggestions. A “Brand,” or Trademark Name needs to be given to our area for quick and easy identification regarding our tourist-related amenities “Leisure Travelers,” East TN’s biggest tourist segment, need a consistent and frequent reminder of what we have to offer. A message that includes our Brand needs to be posted on highway signs and used in all of our tourist advertising.

The new Tourism Council has the will but needs money to formulate and put into practice these suggestions. Just like Anderson County, we need to dedicate a substantial budget amount for our Tourism Council. In Anderson, 80% of the proceeds from their Hotel/Motel tax goes back to the Council for further investment. According to Commissioner Whitaker- for every dollar invested in tourism there’s a return in tax revenue of at least $14. Out of that revenue- which increases with each new investment in Tourism- 50% forms the basis for funding our Educational system! So, more tourism equals more jobs, shorter commutes, less rush-hour traffic, an emerging Industry to supplant our growing, (generational), Welfare-dependency, and, finally, more money to help rescue our failing schools!

This Industry has the bonus of being a clean industry too. What would you prefer- more
tourists, or a renewed coal mining operation in the county to further level our mountains and pollute our streams? Beggars can’t be choosers, and right now there aren’t a whole lot of economic opportunities lining-up and knocking at our door!

The income for our area is 35% lower than the state average. The value of our homes is 30% less than the state average. In Campbell County we have 70% more people living below the poverty line, and 40% more people who work in government, (Welfare bureaucracies, etc.), as opposed to private industry. Retail sales, part of the Tourism business, are 37% less here than the average. High School graduation rates and literacy rates stand around the 50% level. The average TN county has 1/3 more High School graduates and well over twice as many citizens who can read! That’s appalling!

The other bonus to a Tourism Industry for Campbell County is the emphasis on shorter vacation destinations now that gas prices are so high. If we work now on increasing our
efforts for building a tourism industry, we can expect more opportunites in the future from prospective vacationers living within a short-drive from our area. Why not? According to Commissioner Whitaker we have so much more to offer here than most TN counties. The beautiful, true-natural landscapes of the Cumberland Mountains and Norris Lake are like a godsend, and so, we should take advantage of these resources while simultaneously taking a blow against the big oil companies. The prospects of $3 per gallon gas should finally wake us all up to the ugly truth we’ve been hiding from for far too long- our Welfare-addiction, the hatred of “Yankee-tourists,” and the lack ofindustrial growth is just too costly for us to ignore any longer. (send comments to WFC83197@aol.com