Ask Schwall
Ken Schwall has made an art out of asking tough provoking questions to the citizens of East Tennessee.
Here is your chance to Ask Schwall a question and read responses to other WBIR viewer's questions.
Questions
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The Obama administration is thinking about selling
TVA. What do you think?
Randall, Knoxville
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I don't know. Depends on how much they're asking. I know it does have a lot of lake frontage.
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As a journalist, are you afraid that the federal government might seize your phone records like they did with A-P and Fox News?
Kevin, Knoxville
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I'm guessing that my phone records are somewhat less interesting that those of journalists at A-P and Fox. After getting your question I did a quick review of my recent phone calls. They include a call to a local
diner inquiring about the daily special, a quick call to Neal Denton to get his opinion on my idea of crossing a tomato plant with a radish plant (apparently it's a no-go) and a call to Mrs. Schwall asking if I'm supposed to pick up a loaf of white or
whole wheat. That's not really the kind of stuff that Eric Holder and his folks would salivate over. Additionally that quick review of my own phone records
confirmed what a dull life I lead. Thanks.
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Were you a hippy in your younger days?
Jacob, Loudon
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No I wasn't. And that's odd since I lived 10 miles from the heart of the University of Michigan campus. Back in those days U-M was a center of the protest movement and there was a demonstration about every
other day. I never joined in but they were fun to watch, especially when the Washtenaw County Sheriff's
guys showed up in riot gear and their "less-than-gentle-tactics".
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Why do they keep building those traffic circles around here? They're so confusing. I'll go blocks out of my
way to avoid them.
Sandra, Knoxville
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Traffic circles, or roundabouts (they're different but I don't know how) seem to be the wave of the future. But you're not alone in your confusion. I'm hearing that complaint a lot. But highway engineers all say the same thing: "you'll get used to it". I think the problem could be that it's a European concept and we just don't think like they do. I'm comfortable with he ones around there because they're not that busy. But I dread going through the one at Clearwater Beach. With nearly 60,000 cars driving through each day, you know it can get hectic.
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I'm confused. I'm watching the network news coverage of Benghazi, the IRS profiling of conservative groups and the Justice Department snooping through the phone records of reporters. Depending on whether I'm watching FOX or MSNBC they're either scandals or they're not scandals. Which to you think?
John, Knoxville
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I'm gonna go with scandals in at least two out of the three. Benghazi and the IRS are definitely scandal quality. I think that most supporters of the Obama administration would say that there are no scandals here. But that reminds me of Nixon Press Secretary
Ron Ziegler referring to Watergate as just a "third rate burglary". It wasn't long until we found out that there was a little bit more to it.
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Ken:
...Why would anyone pay 2M for that cheap Gatlinburgish topless painting of Bea Arthur???!!!
Steve, K-Town
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I've heard a little bit about that deal. The only
reason I can think of is that the purchaser bought it as a public service just to get it out of sight.
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Will Schaad Road in Knoxville ever get repaired. . . really? I don't mean widen I mean repaired. It's been a hazard way to long.
Nancy, Powell
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I'm afraid I can't help you. I used to have a friend at T-DOT but he left to work for a federal agency (not the IRS). And to be honest, I can't remember the last time I was on Schaad Rd. But I do know that bad roads are among the things that make Americans the maddest.
I assume that T-DOT has a hotline or at least a phone and if I were you I'd be calling it on a regular basis. And I'd be having all my friends do the same. The old saying "The squeaky wheel gets the grease" is true. The goal is to make those boys down at T-DOT so
tired of hearing the sound of your nagging voice that they'll do anything to stop it. Even to the point of
fixing that road.
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Why do restaurants insist on serving us such huge portions? Pass by most any restaurant and you'll see people walking out carrying those styrofoam containers with about half their meals in them. Why can't they just service smaller portions and charge us less money?
Larry, Knoxville
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"Charge us less money??????????" I think you've
answered your own question. Can you imagine an employee
at Ruby Tuesday's headquarters walking in and saying to his boss "I've got a great idea...let's charge people less for their meals!!!" Nope. The markup on food is so great that serving less and charging less
would not be a good idea...at least for the restaurant.
Now your fancy restaurants do serve smaller portions...but that's because goose liver and caviar cost more to fix than chicken and steak.
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Was my sister kidding this morning when she told me that they've banned butter from school cafeterias in New York?
Cindy, Knoxville
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Nope, sis was serious. Just when we thought that things couldn't get nuttier in New York, we learn
that butter is soon to be a thing of the past in cafeterias run by the New York City Department of Education. It's a little murky in that officials deny
any butter ban. But school cooks note that recipes, which come to them from the central office, no longer contain butter as an ingredient. And it's no longer to be offered with bread. And several schools who stuck with butter have received disciplinary notices. So butter is not banned...they just can't use it. New York City logic.
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Why do men always leave the toilet seat up???
Peg, Knoxville
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To give women something to complain about...just in case leaving their socks on the floor, not listening to you, whining that the chicken is over/under cooked, forgetting your birthday or wearing socks with sandals don't work.
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Do you get your wife anything for Mothers Day?
Rachel, Knoxville
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OOOOOOOPS!!!!!!! Thanks for the reminder.
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Do you have a favorite poem?
Noel, Knoxville
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I have a few, but space limitations make it impossible
for me to relate them here. So I'll mention my favorite short poems. The shortest I know is "Fleas" by Ogden Nash. It goes: Adam Had 'em. There's another I've always like. It deals with air pollution but I don't know the title or writer. But here it is: I shot an arrow in the air. And it stayed there.
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What about that sheriff down in Florida who's asking people to let him know if a neighbor hates the government. I realize it's meant to head off trouble but isn't it going a little bit too far?
Robert, Loudon
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I appreciate what Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw is is trying to do but it reminds me of a satirical song from back in the 1950's called "The John Birch Society", referring to the anti-communist group by that name. One line goes "You cannot trust your neighbor or even next of kin.....if mommy is a commie then ya gotta turn her in."
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Reese Witherspoon got arrested? Tell me it ain't so. I love her. She's my favorite actress. She was always so sweet and innocent. I had no idea she had a drinking problem. What happens to people?
Donald, Knoxville
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I liked Reese Witherspoon's explanation of her behavior.....that
she "clearly had one too many". I'm no expert but after reading the transcript of her conversation with the officer, I'd say she had more than just one too many. As for what happens to people, it's hard to say. Who knows if she'd have had "one too many" if she wasn't a famous actress. Or if she'd have felt comfortable harassing the cop if she was just some average citizen. The fact that she said " do you know my name?........you are about to find out" might give us a clue. Anyway, it's hard to pass judgement. "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." And believe me, Reese was already pretty stoned.
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one of the women in our office is driving me crazy with her
gossipy ways. she'll come to my little cubicle at least three times
a week and pass along what she's heard about a coworker. she'll just bend over close to me and whisper and i know that the other folks in the office are aware of what she's doing. and i'm sure they think that i'm a gossip too. but i'm not. i just don't know how to tell her to stop. any ideas?
jill, knoxville
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Office gossips have been around as long as offices have. I've even heard a juicy tidbit or three around the old newsroom. Of course news people are naturally gossipy...that's why we got into the news business. All news is is glorified gossip...plus you can tell the whole town all at once. It's just mass gossipping. But since you don't want to hear it, just tell her to stop. It might be awkward but once you've told her that you're really not interested in hearing about your co-workers, it should stop.
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Is it my imagination or are kids today not as polite as kids used to be? In fact some of them seem downright rude.
Cindy, Knoxville
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Actually we were just talking about that at our weekly coffee club meeting down in the Peacock Cafe. It was a unanimous vote that, in fact, kids today don't seem to have the manners of previous generations. When I moved south in 1975, one of the things I noticed (in addition to how nicely women dressed to go to the mall...but that's for another discussion) was how polite southern kids were. Kids in the north generally didn't say "yes m'am" or "yes sir". It was more like "yep" or "nope". "Please" "thank you"
and "you’re welcome" seem to be things of the past. It's easy to get irritated at the kids but my guess is the parents are at fault for not teaching and/or demanding better.
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According to People Magazine, Gwyneth Paltrow is the most beautiful woman in the world. Do you agree? I don't.
Terry, Knoxville
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Top be honest, I had to look her up on the Google to find out what she looked like. And, no, I wouldn't
consider her the most beautiful woman in the world. I really wouldn't even consider her beatiful. She's more cute than beautiful. She may even be the cutest woman in the world. When I think of beautiful I think of the way Sophia Loren and Liz Taylor looked back in the 1960's. But mainly I think of Mrs. Schwall. (New husbands, take note.)
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Who was you're favorite superhero when you were a
kid?
Don, Lenoir City
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That would be the Man of Steel himself...Superman. Who could be an more super? "Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound"? Top that Batman. Actually there is one Superhero I liked better. That was Chickenman. Who was Chickenman, you
ask? He's just the greatest crimefighter the world has ever known. Just go to Youtube and type in "CHICKENMAN RADIO SERIES - "HOW HE CHOSE HIS COSTUME" EPISODE".
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My husband's flight home was delayed for two hours yesterday because of the FAA cutbacks. They told passengers that it was due to cuts from the sequester.
My husband doesn't believe it. What do you think?
Tracy, Knoxville
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Now I know very little about the airline business but from all I've heard this whole 'flights delayed due to the sequester" thing is a crock. Shortly after that
sequester took effect, Charles Brown of the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said his
idea for lessening the blow on his agency was met with an e-mail from higher-ups telling him: "however you manage that reduction, you need to make sure you are not contradicting what we said the impact would be”...meaning "if the Prez said it's going to be bad, it had better be bad." Same goes for the FAA!
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I need help with my teenage son. His problem is sarcasm. He's just sarcastic about everything and it drives me crazy. I hate sarcasm. Do you have any suggestions?
Deb, Knoxville
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I do have one suggestion...tell him to apply for my
job when I retire. Sounds like he has what it takes.
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