Story Archive

Be Very, Very Quiet

Mount Pleasant, Tenn., residents have been complaining about local water quality for months; they say the cloudy, odd-tasting fluid that comes from their taps has made kids sick. “I pray before the first sip,” said Joycelene Johns, 68. But Johns said a water official’s response at a community meeting was worse. “We take water quality very seriously. Very, very seriously,” claimed the deputy director of Tennessee’s Division of Water Resources, Sherwin Smith. “But you need to make sure that when you make water quality complaints you have a basis, because federally, if there’s no water quality issues, that can be considered under Homeland Security an act of terrorism.” Smith was subsequently demoted. (AC/Nashville Tennessean) ...You need to make sure that when you threaten terrorism charges, you have a basis, because if there is no terrorism involved, that can be considered an attack on our freedom.