Ms. Strange says she was fired by mayor Tony Aikens. Strange took her displeasure of being fired to the street. Yesterday, she was walking along Broadway in front of city hall carrying a sign to state her case. One side of her sign stated,

"I got fired by Tony Aikens with an exemplary record: Can't wait to tell my family's story"

The other side of the sign stated:

"Tony Aikens just fired me from the city. He already got my son and husband!"

What makes this even more compelling is the fact that Ms. Strange is the wife of Mike Strange. Mike Strange, twenty-seven year employee with the utility, was the LCUB foreman who left his job earlier this month when he and other LCUB employees were found to be at Mr. Strange's property doing work on LCUB time. And according to Ms. Strange, her son, who was working a summer intern position with LCUB was also let go about the same time his father left LCUB.

If Ms. Strange wants to tell her family's story uncut and unedited, I'll be glad to give her that opportunity.

I guess it's time to ask, what's going on at Lenoir City. I'm sure it's not uncommon for municipal employees to be terminated from time to time but it seems Lenoir City has an awful lot of that going on right now.

Just back in January, codes officer, Leslie Johnson was terminated under what could best be described as questionable circumstances after an "internal investigation." Then in March, parks and rec's then number two man, Jason Simon, "resigned" after an "internal investigation." Then there was the whole LCUB work crew thing where Mr. Strange "resigned" after an "internal investigation." I also understand that a second, long time, LCUB employee who was also involved in the private work issue chose termination over forced resignation. Supposedly, he has hired an attorney.

These are just a few we've all heard about. There may be more.

I don't know what's going on, if anything, but it sure seems like a lot of folks are getting the boot right now.