Chase for benefits hits dead ends and more letters to the editor

Chase for benefits hits dead ends

After 35 years of being employed in the IT sector, my job got shipped off to India. My last day was 01/04/2013.

I applied "online" for unemployment benefits on 01/07/2013. Since then I have hit so many dead ends it is almost laughable. Except I am unemployed. You file online for unemployment. You get a letter. You get emails from Jobs4TN sent to your address. You get "'pages not found." You go do weekly certifications and get "untimely something." So you call 5600 Brainerd Road ... our local unemployment office. Which gives you a 1-800 number to call. You call that 1-800 number. They begin their response with info about how you can do this all online. Then they tell you to press one for English. You press one for English. Then they tell you how they cannot take your call due to volume and refer you back to online. The very place you started that is so un-user friendly. Did they offshore this "online" software? Guess I'll have to physically go down to 5600 Brainerd Road. Very efficient.

- TIM ENGEL

Inns of Court raises the bar

Members of the Chattanooga Chapter of the American Inns of Court recently donated $11,250 to the Chattanooga Area Food Bank. Over $10,000 of the donation was raised at an auction held during the Inn's annual holiday party. The remainder came from private donations made by Inn members.

Every dollar donated to the food bank buys five meals. The Inn's donation will provide 56,250 meals at a particularly critical time since need has increased by 30 percent over last year.

Also known as the Justices Ray L. Brock Jr. -Robert E. Cooper American Inn of Court, the Chattanooga chapter is comprised of more than 100 lawyers and judges. The purpose of the Inn is to improve the skills, professionalism, ethics and civility of the bench and bar.

- LINDA GAMBLE

Mitchell prepared to be councilman

Jerry Mitchell has the background to be an outstanding councilman for Chattanooga's District 2. As a residential property owner in District 2, I am pleased to recommend Jerry based upon his prior public service and his successful business career. Jerry is well acquainted with the business of the city, having served as administrator of Parks and Recreation under two outstanding mayors.

Jerry has a wealth of business experience, having traveled the world in his work with the Chattanooga-based Teletrain before his public service. Since his work with the city, he has held an executive position with one of Chattanooga's fast-growing companies.

Jerry has owned a home in District 2 for over 20 years. Jerry has a great history of serving his fellow citizens and is now ready to serve again.

As a lifelong friend and admirer of Jerry's public service and business acumen, I am proud to support Jerry as District 2's next councilman.

TOM DECOSIMO

McCullough best District 1 choice

If I could cast a ballot for the District 1 position on the City Council in the upcoming election, I would vote for Dr. Tom McCullough. I've known and worked with Tom since he joined the staff of Hixson High School as a math teacher in the 1970s. Our classrooms were next to each other. I found Tom to be a man of great integrity and intelligence (he taught mathematics and physics). He became an assistant principal at HHS and later moved up to the principalship of Hixson High School. During his tenure there, the school won numerous awards and honors.

Both students and teachers excelled under his leadership. During my 30 years as a teacher at Hixson, I worked for five very good principals, but Tom McCullough was by far the best. You will not be disappointed if you vote for Dr. Tom McCullough for the District 1 seat on the City Council.

DIXIE McCLINTOCK

Stand up for fans against scalpers

I am writing in response to the Jan. 24 Times Free Press report about concert tickets for an upcoming show at McKenzie Arena ("Don't trust that website selling Elton John tickets, officials say.")

While this story may catch some by surprise, ticket scalpers currently have a huge advantage over real fans. Unscrupulous ticket scalpers use sophisticated tools and approaches to snatch many of the best tickets as soon as they go on sale, then immediately flip them on secondary resale sites.

These rampant problems with the ticket resale market are why a coalition of more than 70 Tennessee venues, artists and music industry organizations is working in support of the Fairness in Ticketing Act. Our members include the historic Ryman Auditorium, Bristol Motor Speedway, the University of Tennessee and my client, country artist Eric Church.

We support a legislative proposal that would establish a basic set of rules for professional ticket resellers in order to protect fans. It would require every professional ticket reseller to register with the state; outlaw resale sites that deceptively masquerade as an official "box office" sites, and would require sellers to actually have the tickets in hand they intend to sell.

Together, we are standing up for fans.

FIELDING LOGAN

Artist Manager, Nashville

Obama's actions not Lee students' way

I look forward to viewing the "Rants" in Sunday's paper, and last Sunday there was one to which I feel compelled to respond.

Someone said that "it would be a good guess that 99.9 percent of those Lee University singers performing at the inauguration voted for Romney." As a Lee University alumnus, I would be disappointed if it were not 100 percent.

I would hope that their academic training would be such that they would not likely vote for a president who believes socialism would trump free enterprise. I also hope that their Biblical training would convince them that Obama's support of same-sex marriage and abortion is contrary to Scripture.

I imagine Lee University has changed a lot since I was there many years ago, but it is still a religious school with a strong belief that the Bible is God's word and the code that will guide our lives.

I am, however, so proud that they accepted the invitation to attend the inauguration. How rude would it be to decline an invitation to the presidential inauguration, especially since it was arranged by Sen. Alexander? "Those Lee University singers" are a class act.

JACK WILLIAMS

A perspective on Roe vs. Wade

Please consider this perspective on Roe vs. Wade:

Why Mommy, why? I was so attached to you. While I know and remember the sound of your voice, I will never know what you looked like. You will never know the color of my eyes or hair, or the sound of my laughter and voice. You will have missed my first steps, my first day of school, high school and college graduation, marriage and the birth of my first child. I will never see sunshine, rain, snow or the stars at night, or know the taste of ice cream, Coca-Cola or the peace of a child snuggled in a warm bed. The joy of playing, running with the wind in my face, the unconditional love of a mother, the love and joy of marriage and the pride and satisfaction that comes with raising a family have been forever stolen from me. I know I was just a baby, but why did you allow this to happen to me?

Your unnamed aborted baby.

ROBERT L. RAYBURN

Extra charge belongs in sewer

Greed and avarice are two of the deadly sins - ineptness should be on the list.

I resent the sewer tax waste resources devised in California - no less - charging $3 extra a month on top of the bill to let you automatically pay the bill.

PAULA SKRIVAN

Follow the law, stop your vehicle

As I drive Monday through Thursday, I encounter red-light runners, tailgaters, speeders, those who fail to yield the right-of-way, etc.

Just on Thursday at the intersection of Ringgold Road and Kingwood Road, a gentleman almost hit my car because he did not want to stop. He had a red light, I had a green light. He was turning right, but the law says, turn right on red after coming to a stop. I had to blow my horn to stop him.

SHEILA DEANE

What's good for the goose ...

If one could purchase wine at a Tennessee grocery store, shouldn't then one be able to purchase beer, setups and other related items at a Tennessee liquor store?

MICHAEL COURTER

Courteous, prompt government service

I've lived in New York, Atlanta, St. Petersburg, Miami and Richmond, Va., but I did not know what American government service was until I moved to Dayton, Tenn.

After 15 years, we developed a "gurgling" problem and slow drainage in our Dayton home, so I called a friendly plumber to clear the city waste pipe - we thought. After two days, he told us we had the only septic tank on the block. For 15 years, we thought and paid for city waste service!

There was no cleanout pipe, as there was no requirement when they installed it. We called city hall, and within 15 minutes, Ronnie Raper was at our house. He said he would take care of it, and by that afternoon, we had two city employees dig to the tank and install a cleanout pipe. Then he called two other men on a waste truck who cleaned out at least 15 years of waste, without a word!

Thanks, Ronnie Raper, we can't thank you enough!

BOB AND ADDER McELYNN

Dayton, Tenn.

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