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http://www.examiner.com/tennessee-statehouse-in-knoxville/will-general-assembly-put-the-red-light-on-cameras

Will General Assembly put the red light on cameras?

November 30th, 2010 3:49 pm ET.

Now that Rep. Beth Harwell is the Republican nominee for Speaker of the House, she has gone to great pains to reassure her colleagues that there will be a conservative focus in the coming General Assembly-one that will focus, she has said, on insuring States' rights and limiting government control over small businesses and individuals in Tennessee. Perhaps as a show of seriousness with regard to the latter, Speaker Harwell might help advance legislation to limit or abolish so-called red light cameras in the State of Tennessee.

In the city of Oak Ridge alone, the cameras have racked up more than $700,000 in revenue. Some will say that the reason for these cameras is to act as a deterrent to traffic violations, particularly running red lights. Cameras don't seem to deter many people, or $700,000 in revenue based upon what is largely a government surveillance program. Rather than a traffic deterrent, the stoplight cameras are nothing more than an additional way to raise money in many locations. It would be wise for the General Assembly to take up the issue in order to send the larger message that liberty is more important than mere revenue, and preserving freedom in simple ways means not completely becoming-as Representative Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains) has so aptly put it-"one nation under surveillance."

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