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DeVol to discuss getting ‘better control’ of AC government on Tuesday

Posted at 1:35 pm September 7, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff 1 Comment

Mark DeVol

Mark DeVol

Getting “better control” of Anderson County government will be the focus of an Anderson County Tea Party meeting on Tuesday, a press release said.

Mark DeVol will be the featured speaker.

The monthly meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Tuesday, September 8, at the Clinton Church of God at 635 Hillcrest Street in Clinton. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Front Page News, Government, Meetings and Events Tagged With: Anderson County, Anderson County Tea Party, Clinton Church of God, government, Mark DeVol

Letter: Recommends Anderson County establish fire district

Posted at 8:37 pm May 19, 2013
By Oak Ridge Today Letters Leave a Comment

To the Editor:

This month’s Operations Committee meeting included discussion on a proposed resolution that would disqualify any fee- or membership-based fire department from participating in Anderson County’s annual appropriations plan for major asset purchases. Under the current agreement, property taxes fund equipment purchases for both the municipal and volunteer fire departments on a yearly rotational basis.

According to current state statutes, local governments have only two options available to fund or contribute to the county fire departments. Either a county fire district is established, whereby a separate account is created (for funding purposes), which allows for oversight and accountability, or the source of funding is limited to a donation which allows little input from the legislative body. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Letters Tagged With: Anderson County, county fire district, equipment, fire department, fire district, funding, Mark DeVol, Operations Committee, volunteer fire departments

Guest column: ‘For The Common Good’

Posted at 11:57 am April 9, 2013
By Mark DeVol 15 Comments

The progressive and socialist vision for the direction of this country is an ordered society where poverty is eliminated, and healthcare and pensions for life are provided by a central authority or government. The foundation for this structure is rooted in utopian theories that are based on the premise that in a free market society, people fear for basic necessities and lack the opportunities to obtain equality. Regrettably however, ordered societies have never proven viable…which we know is accurate because had they succeeded and flourish; we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

There are two significant reasons why ordered societies fail. The first is the central authority’s inability to accurately allocate and distribute scarce resources for the production of goods and services, which over time diminishes the methods of production that result in a reduced standard of living—the opposite of what was promised. Using the current administration policies regarding energy as an example, the central government declared solar and wind a priority over gas and oil production. Billions were redirected to solar and wind and nothing was produced, except a resulting consequence of increased gas and oil prices. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Guest Columns Tagged With: central authority, energy, government, guns, Mark DeVol, ordered societies, power, progressive, socialist, states, tyranny, vision

Letter: Americans have right, responsibility to protect selves, property

Posted at 7:05 pm January 1, 2013
By Oak Ridge Today Letters 1 Comment

By Mark DeVol

Who is responsible for our safety?

The Militia Act of 1903 was initiated by U.S. Secretary of War Elihu Root following the Spanish American War. H.R. 11654 established the “regular army”; the “organized militia,” henceforth known as the National Guard; and the “unorganized militia.”

H.R. 11654 defined the unorganized militia as “every able-bodied male between the ages of 18 and 45.” It further established that all members of the “unorganized militia” have the absolute personal right and Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms of any measure and type.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Letters Tagged With: citizen protection, gun owners, Mark DeVol, Militia Act of 1903, protect, Reid v. Covert, safety, Second Amendment, U.S. Constitution, unorganized militia, Warren v. District of Columbia

Letter: Weighting the polling sample

Posted at 7:41 pm October 6, 2012
By Oak Ridge Today Letters Leave a Comment

To the Editor:

Polls are based on responses and statistical data using smaller, random samples to draw conclusions about the opinions of much larger populations. This explains how polling companies can use a sampling of 900 people to justify their assertions as to how 130 million people will vote on Nov. 6.

To make the poll statistically representative, a process called “weighting” is applied, which factors a large range of variables, such as party identification, age, race, gender, etc. The various subgroups are assigned a number or value (based on current data), and the polling result for each subgroup is multiplied by its value and then combined to produce the final result that is reported by the media.

  • In 2008, Democrats had a 3 percent voter turnout advantage over the Republicans, where 40.3 percent voted as Democrats and 33.3 percent as Republicans.
  • In 2012, as reported by Rasmussen Reports, 33.3 percent of the country aligns itself with the Democrat Party and 37.6 percent with the Republican Party.

In this year’s election cycle, however, the integrity of the national media’s polling has become suspect.

According to their own data, the latest New York Times, Quinnipiac, and CBS News polls are oversampling Democrats and using statistical data from 2008, ignoring the 2010 elections and recent polling data.

Consider the following…

In this year’s election, who is more likely to re-consider their vote—people who supported the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2010, or people who support the Republican Party? This year’s election is NOT about any one person or party, it’s about the direction in which the country is being led!

Mark DeVol

Anderson County

Filed Under: 2012 Election, Letters Tagged With: election, Mark DeVol, polling

Letter: New ‘taxes’ imposed by Affordable Care Act

Posted at 8:17 am August 30, 2012
By Oak Ridge Today Letters 2 Comments

Now that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the sanctioned law of the land, let’s take a closer look at how it will affect us as a nation.

In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court declared ACA to be tax. As the federal Congress has the authority to lay and collect taxes, they are, however, restricted to four types: excise, tariff, income, and direct.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Letters Tagged With: Affordable Care Act, Mark DeVol, taxes

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Classifieds

Availability of the draft environmental assessment for off-site depleted uranium manufacturing (DOE/EA-2252)

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announces the … [Read More...]

Public Notice: NNSA announces no significant impact of Y-12 Development Organization operations at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

ADFAC seeks contractors for five homes

Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC) is a non-profit community based agency, … [Read More...]

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