Roy Exum: If We d Only Known Monday, July 19, 2021 - by Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Sam Venable is a longtime pal of mine, ever since we worked together at the old News-Free Press many years ago. He left us to become an award-winning columnist in his hometown at the Knoxville News-Sentinel. He’s always had a good “nose for news” and with his incredible ability as a storyteller, the cold case the Hamilton County District attorney solved and brought to light last month was of special delight for Sam. If memory serves right, Sam covered the sensational downfall of Gov. Ray Blanton.
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The true story of Marie Ragghianti is one of those lives they ought to make a movie about, and this time they did. Marie was a young Tennessee woman who broke out of a marriage with a wife-beater and somehow managed to put herself through school while raising her kids, including a chronically ill little boy. Then she got involved on the edges of the state political world, caught the eye of an assistant to the governor, was given a state job, and worked her way up to head of the state parole board.
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If the story ended there, however, it probably wouldn t have made a movie. What makes Marie s story extraordinary is that she discovered corruption in the parole system, and she blew the whistle on the grafters. As a result of her testimony, a Tennessee governor and other officials were sentenced to the very prisons they sought to control.