Greg Johnson

• Greg Johnson: Somebody must know something about IRS Published 05/24/2013 at 3 a.m.

  A couple of Tennessee Republican congressmen this week questioned officials involved in the Gestapo-esque targeting of groups disloyal to the Fuehrer, er, president, by the Internal Revenue Service. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., after quoting President Barack Obama and the ...

• Greg Johnson: Dissent takes a hit in Pigeon Forge election Published 05/22/2013 at 4 a.m.

  Dissent, in America anyway, dies of apathy, either an apathy brought on by affluence and its attendant complacency or an apathy born of resignation because whatever can go wrong has or will.

• Greg Johnson: Tennessee senators keep pushing president Published 05/17/2013 at 3 a.m.

  Forty years ago today, televised hearings of the Senate Watergate Committee started, hearings in which the gentleman from Tennessee, U.S. Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr., famously asked, “What did the president know, and when did he know it?”

• Greg Johnson: Tribute honors man, aids church Published 05/15/2013 at 4 a.m.

  Shaded by the leafy contours of Burden Hill, in a sharp bend of Middle Creek off Eastgate Road in Sevierville, New Salem Baptist Church resists the ravages of time.

• Greg Johnson: Environmentalists' agriculture policies hurting world's poor Published 05/11/2013 at 6 p.m.

  There are moral superiors among us whose anti-scientific ideological positions are so entrenched they continue to callously push long-discredited theories that do significant harm to vast numbers of people around the globe, especially the poor. Hardhearted conservatives? Hardly.

• Greg Johnson: Conservatives must address obesity Published 05/10/2013 at 3 a.m.

  Conservatives choked on New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s heavy-handed efforts to ban Big Gulp-sized soft drinks in the Big Apple. And some of my right-leaning friends see the Obama administration’s nagging and not-so-subtle nudging for Americans to shape up as ...

• Greg Johnson: Online sales tax collection an 'issue of fairness' Published 05/08/2013 at 4 a.m.

  Thanks to my cost-conscious, coupon-clipping wife, the Johnsons saved 10 percent when we braved Sevier County outlet mall crowds on one of my infrequent sartorial shopping excursions last weekend. As the clerk bagged our bargains, I asked if the coupon ...

• Greg Johnson: Guaranteed raises foster mediocrity Published 05/03/2013 at 3 a.m.

  Easy Way runs off Westland Drive, not far from the Knoxville First Church of God. Easy Way is not to be confused with Easy Street, which, apparently, runs through the Knoxville City Council meeting room and connects city employees with ...

• Greg Johnson: The pitfalls of football infatuation Published 05/01/2013 at 4 a.m.

  Hustling into a guest speaking engagement at the Knoxville Kiwanis Club last month, I did a double-take. I didn’t want to be late because civic clubs frequently fine latecomers, so it took a second glance to recognize my high school ...

• Greg Johnson: Syria deteriorating while U.S. dithers Updated 04/26/2013 at 5:55 a.m.

  The Boston bombings enraged a nation and virtually emptied a city for a day or so while the manhunt for the bombers enthralled America. Three died. Almost 200 were injured, including multiple survivors who lost limbs. Now, consider Syria.

• Bumper crop: Sevier County planting the seeds for tourism renewal Published 03/04/2013 at 4 a.m.

  Snow still stripes the top of Mount LeConte on cold days, but as spring draws nigh, outdoors lovers anticipate the mountains shedding their white, dormant hardwoods beginning to bud and verdant color returning to the Smokies.

• Longtime partnership binds East Tennessee and Romania ministries Published 12/30/2011 at 6 p.m.

  TIMISOARA, Romania — East Tennessean Alec Woodhull listened intently as Pastor Eugen Groza told the dramatic story of the Velvet Revolution on Victory Square, the plaza where 100,000 people gathered in December 1989 in an uprising that led to the ...

• Will Hatch bring change in Sevier Published 04/07/2010 at midnight

  Yes, the latest brouhaha brewing in Sevier County has again been instigated by, as county Mayor Larry Waters and Sevier County Commissioner Gary Cole have called them, “a group of disgruntled citizens.”

• Johnson: Service with a smile Published 11/25/2009 at midnight

  At 4:02 p.m. on Monday, a difficult day done, Steve Streibig called all volunteers and staff to the front desk of the Sevier County Food Ministries.

• Johnson: Bashing small business hurts the little guy Published 10/23/2009 at midnight

  We'd taken the S40 in for its 105,000-mile service, and a call from Arnold usually means, "Uh-oh, this is going to cost some money." Arnold told us the service schedule called for replacing the timing belt, but he'd pulled our ...

• Johnson: A few hints for Sanford on his sojourn Published 06/24/2009 at midnight

  If the last chaotic days of South Carolina's legislative session are anything like here in Tennessee, one can certainly understand the call of the wild for a governor up to his eyeballs in deals and deadlines and budget deficits. And ...

• Johnson: Taxpayers in hole as Sevierville CBID short Published 06/17/2009 at midnight

  First, the good news. Four years after forming the most unusual Central Business Improvement District in Tennessee, Sevierville finally collected enough tax revenue to make principal and interest payments on the approximately $150 million in bonds it issued to buy ...

• Johnson: To the Great Smokies, with love, on the 75th Published 06/14/2009 at midnight

  When I was a boy of unremembered age, my parents hauled me to Virginia. I went willingly, as pre-school-age kids are wont to do, and enjoyed the adventure of staring at the back of the front seat of our family's ...

• Johnson: Supreme guidance for Tennessee judicial selection Published 06/12/2009 at midnight

  "The right to a fair hearing before an impartial judge, untainted by money or special interests, is at the heart of the nation's justice system and the rule of law," wrote The New York Times after the United States Supreme ...

• Johnson: Vision, sacrifice made park possible Published 06/10/2009 at midnight

  Vision and sacrifice. Dale Ditmanson, superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, uses those words often during this 75th anniversary year of the most visited national park in America.

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