Sen. Alexander: East Tennesseans are fortunate to have Charlie Daniel

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Senator Lamar Alexander took to the Senate floor on Tuesday to congratulate local cartoonist Charlie Daniel on his retirement.

Daniel, a cartoonist for the Knoxville News Sentinel retired after over six decades of work.

“Charlie’s cartoons have been the first thing I looked for in the Knoxville papers since 1958 when I graduated from Maryville High School. Over the years, Charlie has skewered me in his cartoons as much as anybody, but it has always been an honest, but usually gentle skewering,"

Alexander said.

"For example, as I was working on legislation that became law this past year to ban cell phones on planes, Charlie drew a cartoon characterizing cell phone yappers on long flights as the ‘perfect hell,’ with the devil asking why he didn’t think of that,"

he added.

“East Tennesseans are fortunate Charlie and his family have called this area home. For over six decades, Charlie’s drawings have been the best thing read in the paper, and it’s going to be harder to start each day in good humor without a touch of Charlie Daniel,”

Alexander concluded.

“Congratulations to Charlie on his retirement. I wish him, his wife, Patsy, and their family the best.”

Daniel is self-taught, and he worked for the Knoxville Journal in 1958 before moving the the Sentinel in 1992, where he remained until retirement.