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Dept. CDR's Update (November 9th)

  • Writer: Todd McKinley
    Todd McKinley
  • 4 days ago
  • 5 min read

Updated: 12 minutes ago

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This week's shout out goes to our National Executive Committeeman (NEC) & Department Membership Chairman Lanny Culver for his tireless efforts working membership. As NEC he's off and running, he did a great job transporting our National Commander during his department visit in early October and represented us at the fall NEC meetings.


This past week has been busier than the previous two or so, but life is ebb and flow. I began the week tending to my school board duties with a meeting on November 3rd. On Tuesday, I participated in a Veterans appreciation walk at East Lawn Memorial Garden in Kingsport, and I held a Dept. CDR's chat. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I attended the 3rd, 1st, & 2nd district meetings respectively. Additionally, on Friday, I participated in an awards ceremony at Mountain Home VA and donated blood at Sullivan East High School. On Sunday, I'll lead a cleanup of the Sullivan County Veterans Park in preparation for Veterans Day where I'll also be the keynote speaker.


Weekly Schedule

November 9th: Sullivan County Veterans Park Cleanup www.facebook.com/share/17BK8uDQcp/

November 11th: Knoxville Veterans Day Parade www.facebook.com/share/1A2EE5Z4AE/

November 11th: Keynote Speaker: Sullivan County Veterans Day www.facebook.com/share/1FQ5YyPQPf/

November 13th: 4th District Meeting

November 14th: 5th District Meeting

November 15th: 6th District Meeting


Membership

The November 7th membership report showed that as a department we've met the November 13th deadline of 65%, in fact we met it at least 10-11 days ahead of schedule. Does this mean we're going to meet our annual goal, well not in the slightest. Historically, the department has made its membership goals into the 95-97% range every year, it's always those last 3-5% that are most often elusive. I hope that by me providing these membership updates you'll be able to have an understanding as to where we sit nationally and regionally. My hope is, this will spark that competition bug and we'll get on a hot streak and be competitive down to the wire. Additionally, we're 2nd place in the Central Region behind Wisconsin, which is overall a larger deparmtent in total numbers, but I truly want to eclipse them percentage wise, especially given our region's National Vice Commander Stephen Weisman is from our department. It's bragging rights for him and all of us really.


November 7th report by the numbers:

National Membership Rank: 21st Place (20 spots in the upwards direction to go!)

National Membership Goal: 19,748 (Let's shoot for 20K members.)

Current Membership #'s: 13,093 (Post leaders: See next section.)

Percent of year end goal: 66.30%

2026 Renewal Percentage: 65.92%


Note to Post Leadership

Post Leaders,


Guess what, if you're reading this you're a Post Leader!


To make our membership goal this year, everyone needs to begin to dig in now, work as a team, activate your Post membership teams, motivate them, assist them and let them amaze you. Remember, it's hard to get folks to sign up for things these days, and it's especially harder during winter. So please, let's take advantage of the fall season before the weather turns frigid.


While our membership goal for the year is 19,748, and with 1978 being my birth year, I think it's a sign we can make this goal. However, my true goal is to end the year with at least 20K members. This is attainable, as long as everyone does their part in a positive manner, working the programs, being a value added in your communities, then membership will come, especially if you add in a little recruiting into your routine.

Donating

In addition to membership and corporate sponsors funding the American Legion, did you know you can donate directly? Also, did you know that your donation is tax deductible? Remember, the American Legion is a 50(c)(19). Speaking of taxes, if your Post isn't tax exempt amongst other things, please rectify this at once.


Rebranding

I'm not the type to go around trouble shooting, but we have dozens of Post throughout the Department who are in major violation of trademark laws. However, I have a solution, simply click on the link below and begin using the logos provided. Avoid any negative repercussions and spruce up your social media and web presence, simply use these logos.


Great looking logos, please use!


Voter Voice

Thank you to everyone who helped put us back near the top to end October. Folks. every 24-hours you can make your voice heard, just click the link, I know I do! When it comes to legislation and the department legislative committee, the Department Legislative Chairman Bob Hensley and I had a great conversation this past Thursday. Also, a few state representatives are looking to sit down with us to discuss upcoming legislation affecting Veterans and our families. We will of course relay everything to our Department Executive Committee and Legislative Committee before committing on supporting or opposing any legislation.

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Additionally, we finished 5th nationally for the month of October, thank you everyone who had your voice heard. Remember, Wisconsin is in our region, let's try to beat them in November.


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Awards & Trophies

Like I said last week, very few will even come close to reading anything contained in the Awards and Trophies manual. When we regularly only see 3-4 Legionnaires submitted for Legionnaire of the Year, it tells me all I need to know. I'm not trying to beat anyone up, but this particular shoe fits most of our Post. If your Post doesn't want to do anything else, at least submit the few reports the Department and National needs on time. For those who want to do a little more, this is a good place to start and to those like Post 24 & 27 who regularly clean up on awards, keep up the great work.


More Legion News


Be The One Commission

Please help ensure our Be The One Commission is successful.


To help end suicide in all demographics, stop bullying in our schools, combat Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury, Military Sexual Assault Trauma, and more we officially launched Tennessee’s Be The One Commission to End Veteran Suicide on August 16th. To help fund the commission I wrote a book titled “Those Left Behind: Veteran Suicide and My Late Best Friend Brad Bush” and hoped I would’ve sold more copies by now, but I’m plugging along.

 

Read more about the commission: www.toddmckinley.com/post/betheonetn

Read more about the book: www.toddmckinley.com/book

Stop complaining and get involved: www.legion.org/join

 

Full disclosure!

 

I purchased 200 books at the author rate totaling $775 just before the Department Convention, where I sold 24 books at $15 totaling $360. Add to this $20 in donations, bumping the total for the weekend to $380, which I donated to the Department Chaplain at convention.

 

Mainly through online sells I can happily report I’ve recouped my up-front cost of $775, and on August 16th donated $445 and an additional $45 on August 24th from in person sells directly to the Be The One Commission.

 

My overall goal is to sell 1K, but to do that I need way more help.

 

Total Dollars Donated: $870

Total Donated to the Commission: $490

Sells Online: 121

Sells In-Person: 58

# of Books Donated: 25

Total: 204

 




“VOLS: Veterans Offering Lifelong Service”

 

Todd A. McKinley

Department Commander

American Legion Department of Tennessee

 
 

Commissioner Joe Carr Must Go Now

  • Writer: Todd McKinley
    Todd McKinley
  • Nov 3
  • 4 min read

Updated: 4 days ago

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Memorandum For: Northeast, TN Media Outlets

SUBJECT: Joe Carr Must Go Now!

 

Kingsport - Sullivan County 5th District Board of Education representative Todd A. McKinley, a Republican, calls for the resignation of 9th District County Commissioner Joe Carr.

 

I arrived at this conclusion rather easily, after all, Commissioner Carr has a pattern of sick conduct towards women and others.  In fact, I was going to call for his resignation back in September just after Charlie Kirk’s assassination after a post he made on social media was brought to my attention where he called for someone who opposed him and Charlie Kirk to also be assassinated in a nutshell.  When I saw that post on social media, I had to investigate it further to see if it was true.  It was true, and I sent it to several Sullivan County Commissioners and sadly got nothing out of them except to say, “that’s Joe,” like that’s an acceptable reply.

 

This is not merely a political disagreement with Mr. Carr.  After we all witnessed the assassination of Charlie Kirk in September, and many other instances of senseless violence in our nation and throughout the world, the last thing we should expect from our elected representatives is for them to wish murder on private citizens just because we disagree with them politically.  Real Republicans who purportedly support the Second Amendment (as I do), do so because we believe in the right to protect ourselves, our families, our homes, our businesses, our communities, our states, and our nation against government, should it become necessary - and if needed, aid in defense of our nation, etc.  Calling for violence against our political opponents is nothing more than inciting even more political violence against those we disagree with.  This is in fact, exactly what happened against Charlie Kirk.  In effect here, Mr. Carr is advocating for domestic terrorism and should not be tolerated by anyone in Sullivan County or anyone in the State of Tennessee and let me be the first common sense Republican to call for the ouster of Mr. Carr for these reasons, and more.


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The late President Ronald Reagan had an 11th Commandment, “Thou shall not speak ill of another Republican.” However, this has nothing to do with attacking another Republican over a campaign disagreement.  This goes beyond politics at this point.  I’ll be honest, when I first met Mr. Carr while he was running for Kingsport BMA, I said to myself, “Here’s a young upstart who has some good ideas, who seemed to comport himself well.”  I had no problem driving him around to knock on some doors to assist him, which I did on one occasion.  Since then, we’ve run into each other at occasional Republican functions.  Outside of that, I’ve rarely had any dealings with him.  However, in recent years there have been several occasions when I’ve had to scratch my head and say, “Where’s the guy I drove around a few years ago?  What happened to him?”

 

The next three incidents are in chronological order as to why I have arrived at this decision.

 

First, during a May 2023 county commission meeting, he called Juneteenth a “woke holiday” and claimed, “We shouldn’t give these people an inch.”  While I believe he’s talking about the Left when he says these people, he certainly leaves it a bit ambiguous that he could be speaking of black people in general as well, but let’s not get hung up on that just yet.

 

While I believe we should celebrate either or both the implementation of the Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863) and the ratification of the 13th Amendment (December 6, 1865), before Juneteenth.  Here’s why that’s not happening, and it boils down to the fact we live in the Northern Hemisphere and June falls right in the heart of the summer months, whereas December and January don’t and most people would rather have a holiday in the summer versus winter, so I get it.  However, we shouldn’t be celebrating holidays just to have a day off, it should be about remembering the history of what’s being celebrated so we don’t repeat it, but I digress.  In a nutshell the state of Tennessee and the Sullivan County Commission voted to implement Juneteenth as a holiday and what was once a Texas holiday is now a national holiday, that’s fine.  It’s not ‘woke’, we are just giving hard working Americans a day off to remember and reflect for a good reason.  Additionally, voters should look at the commissioners who were on the video cackling and howling as he was saying this.  They should also be suspect when it comes to re-election.  When the county commission voted on this measure, it only made Juneteenth a holiday one year prior to what the state had already mandated. 

 

Secondly, in June 2024 I saw several posts on a credible individuals social media post that Mr. Carr was involved in an incident at Michael Waltrip brewery.  I did not see it happen, but I spoke to several commissioners who corroborated this story.  I’m sure the truth could come out regarding this issue, but it would require further investigation.  This, coupled with other statements he has made, boggles the mind. 

 

Third, on December 19, 2024 at a Sullivan County Commission meeting, Mr. Carr said, “I will be knocking on the door of every registered Republican in 2030 and telling them that Judge Katie Priester forced our school system to hire back a communist, and not just any communist, but a communist that forced his students to read an article that said their white skin is, and I quote, an existential danger, not just to our country, but to the world and all of humanity.” 

 

My reply to Commissioner Carr at the January School Board meeting was to state that Mr. Hawn is not, in fact, a Communist, and he was due an apology for that accusation.  Mr. Hawn is a fellow Sullivan County resident who many may disagree with on many things politically (me included), but no sitting County Commissioner or elected representative for that matter should be calling out a private citizen at an official meeting for simple political disagreements.  It’s not the platform for it and it was uncalled for.  

 

Finally, this arrest, thankfully Asheville (at least temporarily) got a predator of the streets.

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Todd A. McKinley, BA, MSL

SFC, USA-Ret.

 

 
 

Board of Education Self Assessment

  • Writer: Todd McKinley
    Todd McKinley
  • Oct 17
  • 2 min read

Updated: Nov 3

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To the residents and voters of the 5th Sullivan County (TN) Board of Education District,


In the coming weeks, I plan to publish 1-2 self assessment videos, each video will pertain to each point contained in the link below. In each video, I'll state the pledge, give an assessment of how I truly feel I've done and will give a letter grade then I'll offer some ways how I plan to improve moving forward. I'll then publish a final video where I give an overall assessment then announce upcoming town halls where everyone can participate, after all, you have that right as a citizen of this great nation.


This self assessment will not be glossy, I plan to be brutal and put it out there for everyone. I certainly know I have a lot of room for improvement, those who say they don't or won't admit it should be avoided like the "Black Death," as they're toxic. That said, I'll endeavor to improve moving forward as we all should in our daily work. God bless!



Announcement Video


Q & A, aka more information:


Q: Where will the videos be made available?

A: On my personal and public Facebook pages (links below).


Q: What if I'm not on Facebook or social media?

A: No problem, I'll send you a link to download and watch at your convenience, just message me your name and email address and once published I'll send your way.


Schedule

FYI, this section was added on October 27th.

While I don't have a set schedule for this assessment video, but I plan to begin the process in the coming weeks, and should be able to get the videos out soon. However, instead of doing 1 video per section, I plan to do 1 comprehensive assessment, making it easier for me and you.




Todd A. McKinley BA, MSL 

Sullivan County School Board 

District 5 Representative 

 
 

Disclaimer: Organizations and individuals listed on this website don't denote an endorsement of me or my website.

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