Temple picked for future in Red Bank and other letters to the editors

Temple picked for future in Red Bank

I'm voting for Dalton Temple as Red Bank commissioner in District 3. He is one of the young adults we say we want to attract to Red Bank. He could have chosen to live anywhere, and he chose our community. I find Dalton to be articulate and intelligent with a heart to serve our community. He has a lot of fresh ideas that he wants to bring to the table and is more than qualified to work for us. He is his own man and will listen to different ideas before making a decision. Vote for Dalton Temple for our future.

BEVERLY CAUSER. Red Bank


Williams wrong to politicize education

Improvements by the College Board to the Advanced Placement history course appear to your columnist, Walter Williams (Oct. 10), to be a nefarious plot. Quite incoherently, and admittedly without evidence, he claims teachers are brainwashing schoolchildren with "environmental, anti-war, anti-capitalist and anti-parent propaganda." Supposedly by contrast, he endorses efforts by a Colorado school board to promote patriotism, respect for authority, free enterprise and the positive aspects of United States history in its curriculum. The idea that studying history has any right purpose but to understand the past is perverse and moronic. Patriotism may be experienced but not taught. Children are intelligent. They will respect authority if the authorities are respectable, and not otherwise. To teach the positive aspects of United States history without teaching the undeniable negative aspects is not education but indoctrination. Williams and other such propagandists never cease to manufacture imaginary threats with which to alarm the uninformed. But his stooping to politicize the education of the young defines a new low in propaganda.

BARBARA S. ARTHUR


Women should have abortion safeguards

I would like to urge everyone to vote "yes" on Amendment 1 during the public vote on Nov. 4. It deals with abortions. Tennessee has the fewest abortion restrictions of any state in the Southeast. Nearly 25 percent of abortions in Tennessee are sought by out-of-state women and girls because of these lack of restrictions. Women considering abortion in Tennessee are currently provided none of the following safeguards: informed consent to provide accurate information based on health history; 24-hour waiting period to avoid abortion-on-demand and coercion; inspection and regulation of abortion facilities; and hospitalization for riskier late-term abortions. Approval of Amendment 1 will allow the potential enforcement of the same common-sense policies enforced in the eight states surrounding Tennessee. Do women and girls have a right to the facts? Vote "yes" on 1. Should a 24-hour waiting period be required? Vote "yes" on 1. Should abortion facilities be licensed and inspected? Vote "yes" on 1. Should taxpayers be protected from funding abortions? Vote "yes" on 1.

ELDRIDGE CULLUM


Reject one-for-all group in Red Bank

In our upcoming election, Red Bank Vice Mayor Floy Pierce is advertising a one-for-all campaign. Vote for her, Rick Causer and Dalton Temple, she says. I don't know why we should vote for a package. Might it be a control thing? Could it be a my-way-or-the-highway kind of thing. I don't know, but this I do know. Recently there was a voters forum in Red Bank. Floy Pierce, Causer and Temple had better things to do than attend that forum. John Roberts, Ed LeCompte and Terry Pope did attend. They also answered questions from the voters as individuals, not as a group. Sorry, Floy and group. You lost my vote. Actually, I am not sorry; more happy to say, I am paying attention, and I will vote for John, Terry and Ed.

MARK TYSON, Red Bank


Howley, Spalding, Gee Signal Mountain picks

I am writing in support of candidates Dick Gee, Chris Howley and Bob Spalding for Signal Mountain Town Council. I feel it is time for a change in the leadership of this town. This change began four years ago with the election of Dick Gee. Dick has served our town well. He is an independent voice who doesn't blindly follow any one faction but seeks the advice and input of a variety of citizens in making decisions. He should continue on the council. Chris Howley is a successful businessman with a strong knowledge of budgets and finance. He has already studied our town's budget extensively. He has served on the town's Design Review Commission and is currently on the Recreation Board. Dr. Bob Spalding is a local business owner who knows the problems businesses have with our town's excessive bureaucracy and regulations. He is a lifelong resident of Signal Mountain and has been extensively involved in our community as a founding board member of WRES, a reserve officer of the Sheriff's Department and has volunteered his home and property for charitable groups. Please vote on Nov. 4 for Gee, Howley and Spalding.

PAUL AND SNODA HENDRICKS, Signal Mountain


Defeat ISIS but not with U.S. troops

Critics opposing President Obama's decision to withdraw our forces from Iraq never acknowledge this was done at the insistence of Iraq, which no longer wanted us in control with a combat military force. President Malachi's refusal to include Sunnis in his government prompted the ISIS invasion, which he was unprepared to resist. None of this would have happened if we had not engaged in an unnecessary war in Iraq. Monster though Saddam Hussein was, he kept the tribes in tow and was our ally as the enemy of Iran. Saddam excluded al-Qaida from Iraq and treated the Christian population with tolerance. He never threatened this country and possessed neither the weapons necessary for war or the delivery capability. Considering failure in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, with thousands of lost and destroyed lives through injuries, and likely ending up costing some $5 trillion, what possible hope for success could be seen in committing our ground combat forces to war in the Middle East? ISIS must be defeated, accomplished by a combination of resisting nations most threatened and accompanied with our strategic and air support. Coalition nations want this but not with American boots on the ground.

JOHN BRATTON, Sewanee, Tenn.


Stop killing babies; vote Yes on 1

In Tennessee, we have a great privilege in November to vote "yes" for the proposed constitutional Amendment 1. This positive vote could limit the baby-killing abortion business. Needed restrictions, among many other things, will help curtail the murdering of 3,000 babies every day: * A 24-hour hour waiting period. * Parental notification of the girl's parents. * Abortion facilities must allow inspections and regulations. Our state, not having these needed restrictions, causes many women and girls to come to Tennessee for this procedure. Every God fearing person should vote "yes" on Amendment 1. Read Proverbs 24:11 and Isaiah 58:1. Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death. Don't stand back and let them die.

PATSY WOOTEN


Sequatchie 'Pink Out' was a big triumph

On behalf of the Notre Dame family, I want to congratulate Sequatchie County High School for its incredible "Pink Out" Night to fight cancer that happened at our football game last Friday (Oct. 17). But in addition to the students and staff responding to the need, it appeared as if the entire city of Dunlap joined in to support their efforts. The evening began with two pink parachutists. From there, to the team's pink jerseys, to the band's pink headdress, to the cheerleaders, the dance team and seemingly everyone in attendance (including the freshly painted pink police car), it was a spectacle of excitement. It was an inspiring job well done!

GEORGE VALADIE

Upcoming Events