Save Our Retirement, Inc. November 30, 2009 Dear TVARS Member, Over the past three weeks, SOR, Inc. has received many $100 contributions. On behalf of the TVARS board and officers, I want to thank all of you who have sent in donations. I also want to say thanks to the many TVARS members who sent in notes of encouragement along with their donation. It is heartening to know that our efforts are appreciated by so many TVARS members, including both retired and active employees. Our mission is to wage a fight against the high-handed, unilateral, and morally evil cuts that TVA executive management imposed on TVARS members this past August. The grossly overpaid TVA executives who rammed these retirement benefit cuts down the throats of the TVARS members were totally, 100% wrong in what they did, and SOR, Inc. and its contributors are totally 100% right in fighting these benefit cuts. Our fight will include legal action, which is what your donations will support. The rotten methods that TVA executive management used to implement these cuts will be well documented in open court. We feel confident that we will prevail in this lawsuit, not only because of legal reasons, but also because we are right from a moral standpoint. If you have not contributed, we really need you do so now. We are well on the way towards having enough money in hand to put our legal team to work. Please do not assume that everyone else will contribute. If ten percent of the TVARS members would contribute $100, we would have about $350,000 which should totally fund the lawsuit. If we do not collectively join together and fight, then collectively TVA will beat us out of $300,000,000 in retirement benefits. Please contribute this week, and our attorneys might just be able to obtain an injunction to stop the benefit cuts which are scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2010. Any civilized society has an obligation to take care of the elderly and widows. Our TVA executives apparently do not comprehend this, as evidenced by their actions in regard to cutting TVARS benefits. The efforts of SOR, Inc. will help to provide some education to the TVA executives in this matter. It is my observation that God blesses those who help widows, and curses those who hurt widows. Over the past 30+ years, I have worked in all of the fossil plants, and several of the nuclear plants and hydro plants. During this time, I worked with many good men who were older than me and who taught me a lot. Dozens of these men have now passed on, and their widows are drawing the TVARS 50% survivor benefit. These widows are going to be hurt financially by the TVARS benefit cuts, which TVA’s communication department sugar-coats with the term “Liability Reductions.” It is totally disgusting and reprehensible that there is a system in place at TVA whereby the TVA executive managers get financially rewarded for taking money out of widow’s pensions. On the subject of taking care of widows, I want to tell you about some things that happened 16 years before I was born. Obviously, I was not around then, but I heard about these events from my grandmother and father. In June 1940, my grandfather brought my father, who was 12 at the time, from Nashville to Chattanooga, where my grandfather had a preaching engagement at a local church. A member of the congregation had a sailboat and invited my grandfather and father for an outing at Chickamauga Lake, which had been impounded by TVA earlier that year. A dedication ceremony for Chickamauga Dam was planned for that Labor Day, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt attended it. My 34 year old grandfather went swimming, got a cramp, and drowned, leaving my grandmother a widow with a 12 year old son and a nine year old daughter to raise. There are three people who come to mind who did good things for my grandmother after she was widowed, and I want to mention them. Jack Norman, Sr. http://www.wsmv.com/wordonthestreet/13305399/detail.html was a very prominent criminal defense attorney in Nashville. For years he maintained an office in Printer’s Alley. He had been a high school classmate and friend of my grandfather at the old Nashville Central High School. After my grandfather died, Mr. Norman told my grandmother that if she ever needed legal help, to call. She did call Mr. Norman over the years and he never once charged her for his services. Mr. Norman is still considered to be a legendary attorney in Nashville. Dr. Thomas Frist, Sr. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Fearn_Frist_Sr was my grandmother’s doctor. My grandmother told me that if she, or my father or my aunt got sick and went to the doctor, that Dr. Frist would write “no-charge” on the bill. He had every right to charge for his services, but he chose to not make money off of an unemployed widow. Dr. Frist in later years helped to found Hospital Corporation of America, which is today the nation’s leading provider of healthcare services. I personally believe that Dr. Frist would be rolling over in his grave if he knew that one of his sons had helped to put a TVA board in place that had voted to cut the pension benefits of widows. John Alexander Hovious, Jr. (Junie Hovious) was my grandfather’s first cousin, and in 1940 was a star football player for the University of Mississippi. In November of 1940, Ole Miss traveled to Nashville to play Vanderbilt in their homecoming game. When the train from Memphis carrying the Ole Miss team arrived at Union Station early on the Saturday morning of the game, a Nashville Banner photographer was on hand to take a photo of Junie Hovious, Merle Hapes, and Ole Miss coach Harry Mehre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Mehre. Hapes and Hovious were known as the “H-Boys”. Hapes was the leading scorer in the SEC in 1940 while Junie Hovious was the second leading scorer in the SEC. Junie Hovious was also the leading punt returner in the nation. The Ole Miss coach, Harry Mehre, had been the center for Notre Dame 20 years earlier. Knute Rockne had been his coach in 1920, while George Gipp had been Notre Dame’s left halfback. At Ole Miss in 1940, Harry Mehre still ran the same system that Knute Rockne had used at Notre Dame. Junie Hovious played left halfback, George Gipp’s position. In 1940, the movie “Knute Rockne, All American” debuted at theatres. Ronald Reagan played left halfback George Gipp, earning him the nickname, “The Gipper.” Junie went by my grandmother’s house later that morning. It was a big deal to my father that his cousin visited his house, and he told me about Junie’s visit numerous times. Coach Harry Mehre that morning could have told Junie that he needed to stay with the team, or so some other excuse, but he let his player go visit a widow and fatherless children. It is apparent to me that Harry Mehre had learned more from Knute Rockne than just football schemes. That afternoon, my grandmother, my father, and my great-grandfather went to Dudley Field to watch Junie play. Halfway through the fourth quarter, Vanderbilt led 7-0. In addition to having the lead, Vanderbilt led Mississippi in the all-time series 19-1, with most games being lop-sided shutouts. Vanderbilt had the home field advantage, and Mississippi had never won a game on Vanderbilt’s home field. Although it might not have been apparent at that time, Vanderbilt also had good coaches. Red Sanders, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Sanders who would later become a coaching legend at UCLA, was Vanderbilt’s head coach. Bear Bryant, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_Bryant was Vanderbilt’s top assistant coach. Regardless of the odds or circumstances, Junie and his Ole Miss teammates did not quit. Junie threw a pass to the end, and as the end was about to be tackled, he spotted the third-string center, and lateraled the ball to him. The third-string center went in for a touchdown, making the score 7-6 in favor of Vanderbilt. Junie was one of the Ole Miss placekickers, and he kicked the extra point to tie the score at 7-7. Vanderbilt got the ball back and passed the ball on the next play. Junie picked it off and ran it back 47 years for a touchdown, making the score 13-7 in favor of Ole Miss. In those days players played both sides of the ball. (The Nashville Tennessean reported the next day that a 44 year old Vanderbilt fan suffered a heart attack during Junie’s touchdown run after pass interception. They loaded up the unfortunate fellow in an ambulance owned by a local funeral home, hauled him back to his house, and hoped for the best.) The second extra point attempt failed, leaving the score at 13-7. Vanderbilt again got the ball back and still was in the position to win the game if they scored a touchdown and kicked the extra point, but Junie picked off another Vanderbilt pass, and the game ended with Mississippi running out the clock. The final score was 13-7 in favor of Ole Miss. I think God was smiling on the Hovious family that day. Why do I tell about these people and events from almost 70 years ago? My point is that there are people who do good things for widows, and there are people who do things that hurt widows. God is in charge, and He will be the ultimate Judge. You should want to do good things for widows, because that is the right thing to do. I firmly believe that the SOR, Inc. effort will succeed and will help out widows of deceased TVA employees. Cutting pension benefits of widows is wrong. Stopping pension benefit cuts of widows is right. Please do what is right. Please send your donation to: Save Our Retirement, Inc. PO Box 60013 Chattanooga, TN 37406-6013
Your donation will make a difference. Regards, Jim Hovious President, Save Our Retirement, Inc.
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