Coloring books help educate students about epilepsy
Even though one in 50 children has epilepsy, the disease is often misunderstood and misdiagnosed. That is changing.
Thanks to collaborations with Calvin Donaldson Environmental Science Academy and Wallace A. Smith Elementary School, the Epilepsy Foundation of Southeast Tennessee has been able to distribute free coloring/story books that provide seizure first-aid training and epilepsy awareness.
These free books, authored and illustrated by the sister and brother team of Andrew and Kelly Choyce, were made possible due to a generous grant that the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga provided.
Since September 2016, nearly 2,500 Chattanooga-area children have received these books that have helped increase interest, knowledge and access to life-saving skills.
Don't repeal ACA without a plan
I'm frightened to think about Congress dismantling the Affordable Care Act (ACA) without replacing it. Americans benefit from ACA, even those with employer insurance. My experience is a good example.
Before ACA, I tried to purchase private insurance but it would not cover me due to a pre-existing condition. ACA eliminated this. I later got great coverage at work. However, because of that condition, I felt bound to my job's health insurance and passed on starting a business.
In 2010, my husband was diagnosed with heart failure and had a valve replacement, but his heart continued to fail. A heart transplant was necessary. He survived, but talk about a pre-existing condition. I could retire early if necessary to care for him because of ACA.
Another ACA benefit: elimination of lifetime caps. Our previous cap was $1 million. Heart transplants for the uninsured aren't done unless you pay/raise the money; transplants.org estimates hearts cost $1.2 million. If lifetime caps return, my husband could be denied insurance.
Think about what we have gained and what we may lose if ACA is repealed without replacement; call your senators.
Lindy Johnson
Lookout Mountain, Tenn.
Actively engage in free speech
Freedom of speech is under attack in America. My generation is being raised to value censorship over freedom, especially on college campuses with safe spaces, posting policies and speech codes.
Colleges ought to encourage students to actively engage in opposing ideas. Opposition challenges us, and it often solidifies our beliefs. It is through opposition our minds are stretched. If we want to remain free, we should fight for freedom of speech, not freedom from speech.
The First Amendment works both ways; you can't use it only when you have something to say, then silence those who disagree. Speech should be encouraged because it helps us understand each other and move past the brokenness dividing us.
And while you're speaking, don't forget to listen, too.
Erin Cooke
Ringgold, Ga.
Help available for stuttering
For many people, ringing in the New Year brings hope and joyful anticipation. But for those who struggle with stuttering, the old fears of speaking and being teased remain the same - year after year.
Help for stuttering is available from so many places. Trusted information on stuttering is available at your public library. Public schools have speech counselors, and children are entitled to free evaluation and help by law.
Seek out a speech-language pathologist in your area trained in helping those who stutter. Universities often offer speech clinics. Finally, the internet can be a wonderful resource on stuttering - with free books, videos and reference materials.
Visit our website as a starting point: www.StutteringHelp.org. Make 2017 the year you find the help you and your family need.
Jane Fraser, president
The Stuttering Foundation
U.S. should avoid despotic regimes
The U.S. has often provided support to world dictators. Various reasons have been used to justify the contradiction between support for dictators and the ideals expressed in the U.S. Constitution.
The U.S. supported Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in Iran from 1941 until his abdication in 1979. Rationale: oil; Cold War politics. The U.S. was instrumental in the coup that brought Saddam Hussein to power in Iraq in 1982, supported him until 1990 and led a coalition that deposed him in 2003. Rationale: oil; balance of power in the Middle East. The U.S. supported Ngo Dinh Diem in Vietnam from 1955 until his assassination in a coup in 1963. Rationale: domino theory of communism.
While one can argue perceived U.S. national interests have rationalized support of authoritarian regimes in the past, until now the U.S. has never embraced an authoritarian regime for political reasons. Nor has the U.S. ever abandoned its allies whose political philosophies are aligned with ours and embraced an authoritarian regime whose goals are opposed to ours. In so doing, the U.S. would resign its position as leader of the free world.
Does this make America great again? Hardly!
T. William Alexander
Military industrial complex perilous
What a gift to the cold-blooded murderer, Russian dictator Vladamir Putin, if he finds his dealmaker friend Rex Tillerson, probably with expectations of billions in rewards, confirmed as secretary of state. Tillerson then will have enormous conflicts of interest.
Russian espionage successfully hacked into our election for Trump, who had undermined our intelligence agencies. During the campaign in Florida, Trump said Russians should steal all 30,000 of Clinton's emails and release them to the press.
McCain calls what Russia has done "an act of war" without a military response. Republicans would do well to pay attention to Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham.
Sen. Bob Corker, the best qualified candidate for secretary of state, was passed over for one with far less knowledge and experience. And God help us if that war monger John Bolton, who was considered for deputy secretary of state, was ever admitted to this administration.
In his most memorable address, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned of the dangers to our nation of the military industrial complex. So what does Trump have for his administration but mostly generals and multi-millionaire industrialists?
John Bratton
Sewanee, Tenn.
Shame on mayor, commission
The behavior of our County Commission, including the county mayor, is embarrassing. The mayor, for the second year, did not include $900,000 of discretionary funding in the budget, but he made an agreement with the commissioners to let them use $900,000 of the county's line of credit for various projects. Commissioners who get their projects before the commission are likely to be funded. Once we understood this, you said: "Oh, never again!" Mr. Coppinger, how far you have fallen!
Commissioners who conspired in this should be removed. The county mayor should resign.
My father was mayor of a West Tennessee town for 12 years. No one had ever served more than two terms in a row, but he was re-elected because of his honesty and the seriousness with which he saw his duty to be fiscally responsible with "the people's money."
The county mayor and commissioners understand how the budget works. You make a line item for things on which to spend the taxpayers' money. If an emergency arises, you figure out where you can move the money to do the greatest good. It's like any family budget. It's not rocket science.
Linda Allen Grounds