Bill Ketron
MURFREESBORO – Tennessee and its local governments rank third in the nation in prostitution, state Sen. Bill Ketron told county commissioners Monday.
A Republican from Murfreesboro, Ketron said he’s learned from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation that human trafficking is a “scourge” in 76 out of 95 counties and the problem is worse in the rural areas.
“Mothers are prostituting their daughters to buy meth,” said Ketron, who added that seven Mexican cartels are also engaging in human trafficking through a pipeline to Arizona. “I don’t like being No. 3 in human trafficking that is afflicting our state.”
Ketron spoke during a meeting in which the Rutherford County Commission Steering, Legislative & Governmental Committee and other county officials met with five of the six all-Republican delegation for Rutherford in the Tennessee General Assembly. State Rep. Rick Womick of the Rockvale community southwest of Murfreesboro was unable to attend.
Rutherford County Sheriff Robert Arnold after the meeting said he was glad that Ketron brought up the issue about prostitution because it’s also a problem here.
Arnold said he intends to ask the County Commission to possibly fund one or two detectives “to help us on this growing epidemic upon our society.”
“Ninety-five percent of the time it leads to drugs and alcohol,” Arnold said.
During the meeting, state Rep. Mike Sparks of Smyrna suggested that 77 percent of the reason people are in jail is related to drugs and alcohol.
The state had to increase its prison budget by $46 million, said Sparks, noting that he’d rather help more inmates seek treatment for their addictions than to lock them up at such a high cost.
In addition to talking about crime, the lawmakers and commissioners discussed many other issues, including education.
Commissioner Robert Peay Jr. said he opposed the state allowing public education funds for a strong county school district to be used on charter schools and vouchers to enable children to attend private schools.
“Please do not hurt us by taking those funds away,” said Peay, noting that his wife is a teacher at the county’s Siegel Middle School.
State Rep. Dawn White of Murfreesboro said the proposed voucher bill will not affect the Rutherford County or Murfreesboro City school districts because both are high performing.
The state, however, may look at offering vouchers for children in the bottom 5 percent of performing schools, so they get the recognition they deserve, said White, a former seven-year kindergarten teacher at the Murfreesboro district’s Black Fox Elementary School.
Tracy said when it comes to permitting charter schools, they should be under the umbrella of local school boards.
Tracy said he’d like to see a full commitment to the state formula for funding public education, which could take another $35 million to $55 million.
“We need to pay teachers more,” Tracy said.
White, Ketron and state Sen. Jim Tracy of Shelbyville said they expect Common Core education standards to be replaced.
Tracy said he intends to introduce a bill to allow Tennesseans to have “our own state standards.”
“I think we need to have the highest standards in the country,” said Tracy, a former teacher.
White said she’s always opposed Common Core standards that are promoted by the federal government. Parents, teachers and local school officials should decide what those standards should be, White added.
Contact Scott Broden at 615-278-5158 or sbroden@dnj.com. Follow him on Twitter @ScottBroden.
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