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Are you talking about the same mayor littlefield that keeps insisting there is no gang problem in Chattanooga? The same one that keeps asking the police department to do more with less money ... while going on paid business junkets? Is this the same mayor that wants to create a metropolis with all of Hamilton county and can't even manage the city he is responsible for running? You don't say? /sarcasm

Actually the author is from the Tennesean and has posted here several times asking for our opinion: Brian Haas.

Sad we have to resort to euphemisms to describe a blatant problem. That is the real issue that nobody wants to touch.

I made that mistake once ... buying .357 SIG instead of Magnum, gave it to my neighbor who is a cop and asked him to give it to someone that has that caliber. You know what they say about casting your bread on the waters and it comes back tenfold? I got some nice 12 ga. ammo out of that ... totally unexpected.

GoMoney card or GreenDot card. Buy one at walmart ... go to persons Paypal acct and put money in. Reason for transaction ... "parts" I like this because it insulates the Debit/Credit card from ID Theft. No recourse if you get ripped off ...

You get what you pay for, those 35 to 100 dollar surge suppressors are pretty limited with what they can do. Surge suppression technology has come a long ways. It started with spark gap arresters in the old telephone operator days when they would get electrocuted from lightning strikes on the lines. MOV's were a step up but even those have their limitations that Lester described quite eloquently. A good whole house surge suppresson system employs a combination of technologies to protect from different waveforms and types of surges. MOV's combined with silicon avalanching diodes and spark gap arresters depending on voltage and application. Data lines use neon tube where the gas gets ionized and conducts to ground. One of the best whole house protectors is made by a company called Erico, their line of surge protection is called Critec. I bought the TDX100 for my house and it cost a bit over $600. There are cheaper models that do the same job but you cannot replace the components. Linky => CRITEC Any surge protection device is useless without a ground wire. It is legal according to NEC code to run an insulated green conductor to the bonding point in your service entrance for that outlet. I owned a house about ten years ago where I called the city electrical inspector and spent about a half hour speaking to him about my options. For part of my house, that was the only solution because it meant ripping the walls and some masonry out to replace that old two wire romex. I just had to tie the green conductor using zip ties every 16 inches or two feet ... I forget which, but the point is he approved the job. Why surge protect the whole house? Well all these new fancy appliances now come with electronics boards that cost upwards of $300 and you have to wait for a month for them to come in. Then you have to schedule a repair visit ... is the person competent ... will they fix it ... or has the surge weakened another component so that it fails again a month later? Also, how do you surge protect a 220V appliance ... gets interesting don't it? Bottom line is the insurance companies have pushed and mandated the NEC 2011 to have mandatory surge suppression on all new constructions. However, most municipalities have not adopted that section yet because of contractors and homeowners screaming about additional cost. Yet one thunderstorm can create a several thousand dollar claim. Lightning does not have to strike a wire to create a surge ... lightning strike is several million volts. Everytime you have current, an EMF field is generated around the lighning bolt. This EMF field radiates out and contacts a wire which turns it into electricity again. Basic physics. Also there is no one surge suppressor that can handle it all. They work best when you layer them. You put one at the service entrance and then another one at point of use, whatever slips through the first one will be covered and dealt with by the second one. Do it right the first time ... lay a grounding conductor to the bonding point of your service entrance. Get a good whole house protector and then use the one you bought at your television. The old relay type washing machines are pretty bullet proof, however if you have one of these new fancy schmancy appliances that have circuit boards which by the way work on 5 volts DC, you may want to rethink your approach to protecting your investment.

Been spending just about every weekend doing tornado recovery cleanup in the Apison-Cleveland-Ringgold area. Got well over 150 hours in, along with meeting some very grateful people. The church groups are phenomenal people to work with.

Lots of property damage and injuries. Got a friend in sand mountain that I am worried about. They got hit HARD! Even the ole timers have never seen it hit so much and so hard in a short period of time. So far I am blessed ... Fingers-crossed and praying.

Funny you took the post so seriously ... My office is in Chattanooga, three quarters of my clients are in chattanooga ... there is no arrogance on my part by making that statement nor is there any sense of superiority. In fact, I have a fair number of my clients that agree with the assessment. What that statement is based on is fear ... founded or unfounded ... who cares? It comes from driving certain streets after dark helping some clients out. It comes from stopping at a red light and seeing people moving to your car because I am the wrong color to be in that neighborhood. Red light be damned, I just stepped on the gas and got the hell out of there. See ... Mayor Littlefield says that Chattanooga does not have a gang problem ... says so on the newspapers and internets ... so it must be true. /sarcasm The point that I am trying to make without offending your sensibilities is that I CHOOSE to do my business where I don't have to worry about predatory animals, predatory tow truck drivers and non-existant gang members. It is not because I am better or above these people. Chattanooga now ranks ninth in dangerous cities. The cops know it, the newspapers know it, heck, the citizens know it. The problem areas are clearly defined in the TFP website; http://www.timesfreepress.com/content/right2know/ The overwhelming majority of people in the city of Chattanooga and their suburbs are honest, law-abiding citizens who are watching a great city lose its grasp on crime. My attitude and decision came about one day last fall, when I picked up a couple of spent bullets in my office parking lot ... not shell casings ... spent bullets. As long as Littlefield and his little coterie stays in place feuding with the police department and ticking off the tax payers with his bullying and ambush tactics ... I CHOOSE to do my business in Cleveland. Being halfway between Cleveland and Chattanooga makes it an easy decision. I hope you now have a clearer picture why I said what I said. It certainly was not directed at you or the majority of the citizens of Chattanooga.

RIP Sgt. James Timothy Chapin ... a couple of years ago, he donated a kidney to a fellow officer that was dying of kidney disease. Quote from the Chattanoogan: I also was at the Cleveland Pawn store this morning, I refuse to go to Chattanooga unless I absolutely have to because it is a cesspool. I spend my money where I feel safe ...

Been inferred but not said outright ... Being caught with a firearm illegally while committing misdemeanors or even a speeding ticket can elevate the charge to felony status. Then one cannot own or be in proximity to a firearm for the rest of their life. <SHRUGS>

+1 Shooting .38 Special is a lot of fun. To give you an idea how accurate I got with this revolver, I got really bored shooting targets with it. We used to shoot in gravel pits and we would stand up all the spent shotgun shells we could find. We would then walk and snap shoot the shells. It was easy to distinguish a miss from a hit. A miss would skitter the shell on the ground and a hit would make the shell "disappear" to the shooter. It would fly 30+ feet in the air. It was a great instinctive shooting exercise. As for safety backdrops, these gravel pits were located in the middle of nowheres and typically had 50+ foot walls. Only rule was to not shoot glass bottles for obvious reasons.

The security 6 was the first handgun I ever purchased in the mid 70's. I still have it. I have put well over 25k rounds through it. Most of those rounds were .38 special reloads with semiwadcutters. It looks like hell because I sold it to my brother and he neglected it and I purchased it back 5 years later covered with rust spots. It is an incredible and reliable revolver. Not glamorous like a colt python, but a solid performer that will go bang every time for a lifetime.

You can't fix crazy. You cannot change another person, I don't care if you spend millions of dollars trying to do it. Only they have the power to change. Expecting different results from the same behavior is the definition of insanity. Things will not change, they will only get worse. I was married for 5 years and my divorce set me back ten years financially and materially. Every pre-existing relationship I had before getting married was either destroyed or severely strained. Being married to a control freak or someone constantly making up your mind will make you crazy. Run ... run like hell and never look back. Trust me.

May I suggest one with bedbugs?

I don't have to roll and rewrap, I am a moderator on another forum with admin priveleges. This forum was purchased by vertical scope of motorcycle dot com fame. One of the first hacks they installed is PM Workbench and locked out the admins and mods. Do a little bit of research and check out the capabilities of that little hack. Second, assuming that all your tracks on the internet are recorded is not "foilhat" territory. They can even track where you are located if you surf using your mobile devices and some companies are using this capability to quite successfully to monitor their employees. Third, if you are at work, rest assured that most major companies are tracking internet usage, you will be quite surprised at the level of detail they record. Finally, in one of my masters classes ... wonder what field is my masters ... I had a classmate that worked for a three letter agency and he commented that the paper I wrote on this very subject and asked him to critique is not far off base. My son is finalizing his PhD in Computer Science and makes a living off of this chit. So saying that I wear a tin foil hat for making the statements that I did is uncalled for and quite ignorant and rude. Whether David has PM Workbench installed in VBulletin or not is none of my business. I don't care and my behavior and what I write always assumes that kind of software is available and installed. It is common sense to proceed and guard your behavior and words accordingly because they will come back to haunt you. These are my last words on this subject.

Nothing is private on the internet ... nothing. There are mods/hacks an administrator can apply to forum software that will access PM's. Whether it is applied here ... I don't know. Current technology, search engines and web browsers now have the ability to track every mouse click you make on the internet. Not a joke and proceed accordingly.

Any problem really making it hers? Just asking ... On condition she never sells it.

I qualified with my Buckmark. At the closest range, I shot eyes, triangle for a nose and the workings of a crooked smile and as the target got further, I focused on center of mass. Scored a hundred very easily. The instructor raised an eyebrow and grinned at me when evaluating my "artwork".

I don't order Domino's anymore ... not because of your experiences but because of my experiences. Your experience just affirms that I made the right decision. All the money they spend on advertising is wasted on me ... for some strange reason, I find great delight in that!

Wind energy is raising eyebrows when the hidden costs are revealed. Maine started a windfarm fast track program and now seeing these issues arise and are having second thoughts. Those people that live next to the wind generators are bothered by the noise and their real estate values plummeted as a result of this. Once you factor in the costs of bringing the energy to market; wind farms have to be in remote areas, the costs make it not worth it. Solar is getting more efficient and is perfect as a secondary powersource. Its highest production is at the time of the highest demand and with the incentives given, will make it more attractive in the coming years.

Pawn shops and gun shows are a waste of time. I will check those two out in Chattanooga ... who knows? Like most have said here, I have seen used guns go for more than what they sell for new. <shrugs> I just walk out shaking my head.

Plus Goodman is a TN company located in Dayton ... take care of your own, don't sponsor "made in xxxxxxx" because the labor or whatever is cheaper over there. Voting with our dollars is the only way we can turn this mess around.

Don't under estimate that .22, knowing that you can put those holes exactly where you want them is more important than carrying something you never shoot. CCI Stingers make a nasty hole. Back on topic, wife now wants her HCP. I will start her off with the Buckmark and let her pick out what she wants after she has tried a couple of dozen of them.

ATT has quite the following on this board ... that is why every one is switching to Verizon. It is called customer service ... it does make a vendor stand out.