Letters to the Editor

Writers won't admit that God created us

I respectfully respond to the faculty members from UTC (letter, April 8) but who obviously cannot explain the fact that the discovery of DNA proves a Supreme Intelligent Being created everything that has been created! Why are so many educated, supposedly intelligent people afraid of admitting that we are here because God created us?

Science cannot disprove Scripture!

One sad truth in the creation versus evolution debate is that (some) scientists who believe in evolution are either atheists or agnostics. How balanced is such a debate? Many Christian scientists have proven evolution theories simply are not supported by facts, thus they are still theories.

I invite these faculty members from UTC and other evolutionists to investigate the writings of Carl Cantrell, specifically "DNA Requires Creation." This can be found at: www.hauns.com/~dcqu4e5g/creation.html. They obviously will not read and believe the Bible.

And of course, I support HB 368 and SB 893, and I will urge my state legislators to pass this important legislation.

BEN BURKE

Education always first to get cut

Why, when "money gets tight," do we lop off education funds like education is some unnecessary appendage?

I resist becoming a total cynic. But I'm inclined to believe that elements of our society stand to benefit from an uneducated populace who will fall for sound bite politics and outright lies.

If we paid more attention to education and societal supports for it, we could have more folks able to contribute to the economy and society. We could reduce our prison costs: Two-thirds of prisoners are high school dropouts, and the average cost to sustain a prisoner is $30,000 a year.

But, no. We seem to prefer to buy into the notion we must cut critical funding. Meanwhile, in the last 50 years we have gone from the top 10 percent of U.S. population holding one-third of the wealth to the top 5 percent holding 63.5 percent of the wealth. And GE can make a cool $14.2 billion profit and pay not one penny in taxes.

Our values are upside down. Greed rules. One understands Jesus' quote: "It is harder for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven."

KATE STULCE, Ooltewah

Article on Chapin makes great point

I would like to thank David Cook for the article "Three ways to Honor Sgt. Chapin" (April 11). He "hit the nail right on the head." I would love to see our city officials try to live on the salaries our police officers live on. I hope they "really" listen to what the article has to say.

JUDY MORGAN

Natural selection is not evolution

The list of scientists who are creationists is broad and deep. All disciplines of science have representatives who are creationists. Evolution hasn't demonstrated how life came from non-life. Creationists say life comes from life. The law of biogenesis states such and denies that life comes from non-life.

A creationist named Louis Pasteur dismantled the science of the time that theorized mice came from dirty rags and rotting wheat. Evolutionists still state non-living elements came together and created incredibly complex life. Another creationist, Gregor Mendel, disproved Darwin's evolutionary model of heredity, which caused neo-Darwinists to turn to mutations as the engine of evolution.

Does the UTC staff realize that neither evolution nor creation beliefs will hinder nor help a mathematician, engineer, surgeon, physicists, geneticists, because they deal in "hard" sciences. These "hard" sciences are testable, repeatable and observable.

A proof of evolution is many times presented as bacteria becoming resistant to a chemical. That event is natural selection, not evolution. Somewhere in the population, some bacteria had a gene resistant to the chemical presented in the environment. Those organisms survived to reproduce and carry on their DNA. However, the bacterium is still bacteria and did not become another more complex organism. Natural selection is not evolution.

GARY McDONALD, Cleveland, Tenn.

Death highlights flaw in car policy

It is a travesty when the ultimate sacrifice is made by a non-city resident officer, that he and others like him are not "deemed worthy" to take his police cruiser home without additional payment, when city officials have cars furnished free or a car dollar allowance, or both, regardless of home residence.

DAVID AND JUDY HORTON, Hixson

HOPE money vital to many students

In February, there was talk about eventually cutting the Tennessee HOPE scholarships because the state was spending over $90 million on scholarships for "people who could afford to go to school." I don't know what will happen to students if the scholarship was cut. Many of the students rely fully on scholarships to go to school, including myself.

The students spend their entire high school career trying to do well in school in order to earn scholarships. It helps the parents and the student both. There are many families that won't or can't help the student pay for college, even though they supposedly have enough of an income that they should be able to pay. These and underprivileged students are usually the ones that push themselves in order to earn scholarships so that they can attend colleges.

The HOPE pays a big part of the tuition for Tennessee schools for many students. If it gets cut, these students may no longer be able to attend college to further their education. If the HOPE scholarship is taken away, what hope would the students have left?

MARLINA FRATERMAN, Chickamauga, Ga.

Germany makes wise nuclear move

Germany has made a bold, but smart, decision to phase out nuclear power.

Since Japan's disaster, many details on the realities of nuclear plants in the USA have been published, and it does not look good. It seems that the safeguards are iffy.

Just like Japan, we are subject to earthquakes and a major one would indeed put the Southeast USA in serious trouble, if cracks occurred in a power plant. Why can't the USA follow suit with Germany?

Three reasons: (1) Americans have become hooked on cheap power and we must have it that way; (2) the mega energy producers won't consider a change to renewable energy and (3) our politicians are wimpy and cave to the wishes of big business.

While Germany is tackling the hard task of getting renewable energy sources widely available, Americans will balk at conservation, keep gobbling up cheap energy, and turn a blind eye to the reality of scary nuclear power. What a shame!

ANNE GARRARD GRINDLE, Sewanee, Tenn.

Voter ID law would hurt state

Recently, a House of Representatives panel voted to support a law that would require Tennessee residents to provide a photo ID before voting. It is unconstitutional to provide citizens with an undue obstacle to their right to vote, and for some, laying down $20 for a license simply isn't feasible. We must ask why the House would approve such a bill.

Like reporter Andy Sher noted, some have drawn a connection between this enforcement and the now extinct poll tax. For those who are not familiar with poll taxing, the phrase refers to a (now extinct) voting fee once levied in concert with Jim Crow laws to systematically prevent African-Americans from voting.

Regardless of whether you think Tennessee is racist, look at the bigger picture: Tennessee's choice to support this bill has the potential to silence thousands of people. Under what circumstances is this justified? While some might support it in an effort to exclude the votes of immigrants, as someone who works with the homeless, I can state with confidence that Tennessee natives will suffer the biggest blow.

REBECCA REEVES

Upcoming Events