TENNESSEE: Legislature Votes to Make Lying About Military Service a Crime

Knoxville News Sentinel ^ | 3/13/12 | Tom Humphrey

[SmithL]

False claims of military service could lead to a $500 fine or six months in jail under legislation sent to Gov. Bill Haslam for his signature by a Monday night state Senate vote.

The Senate vote on HB2491 was 33-0 with Sen. Becky Massey, R-Knoxville, as sponsor and virtually no debate. The House had approved earlier with a vote of 93-2 with Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville, as sponsor.

"Apparently, there were some people putting on their tombstones that they were World War II or Vietnam veterans," Massey told colleagues in a brief Senate floor discussion.

Dunn said earlier that a woman constituent, who he declined to identify, had seen the tombstones bearing claims of military service that she knew were bogus.Her concerns inspired him to file the bill, Dunn said.

Dunn said he considered any false claim of military service to be a "theft of valor" . . .

[DonkeyBonker]

Sentence them to death...wait, they are already dead.

[New Jersey Realist]

Dig the up then .......

[Einherjar]

I was in ... erm... sang-bang, dang-gong... er... i was all over that place - lot of places - lot of places.

: I was with the green beret special unit battalion commando airbourne tactics - specialist tactics er... unit battalion - yeah it was real hush hush - i was Agent Orange... that was my name - Agent Orange - that was me...

[cuban leaf]

Personally, I think attempted suicide should be a capitol crime. Fry the bast@rds.

[Retired Greyhound]

Damn, now how am I going to drink in bars for free?

[Mr.Unique]

Dunn said earlier that a woman constituent, who he declined to identify, had seen the tombstones bearing claims of military service that she knew were bogus.Her concerns inspired him to file the bill, Dunn said.

Gossip is a perfect foundation for meaningless laws.

[dfwgator]

[rickade]

[fieldmarshaldj]

Who are the 2 in the House that voted no ?

[Grizzled Bear]

If they preordered the stone to reflect the false honor, alter the stone to proclaim they falsely claimed to have served. If someone else knowingly marked the stone with lies of service, drag them into the public square and tattoo “liar and scoundrel” into their forehead.

[SmithL]

I found this from the Assembly website:

• Mike Kernel, D-Memphis
• Sheila Butt, R-Columbia

From the article:

Rep. Mike Kernell, D-Memphis, one of the two representative who voted against the bill, said he thought the measure went too far and wondered whether the new law would be enforced against, for example, against teenagers wearing an Army surplus hat.

I don't know why Butt voted against it.

[BIGLOOK]

I meet so many phony warriors that I can't keep track. If it takes more than a couple of minutes to identify them, you're slacking.

Aloha Smitty!

I thought you were still in SF. Thinking of heading to Tn myself.

[SmithL]

Aloha!

I’ve been back in the Volunteer State since October. I even voted in last week’s Super Tuesday Primary.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Thanks. Kernell is a jerk whose son hacked into Gov. Palin’s personal emails. I’m not familiar with Sheila Butt, she is part of the large 2010 class of freshmen and perhaps she voted in error.