Road crew thanked for motorist's rescue
On June 29, I was forced off the road in the construction area by Walgreens on East Brainerd Road.
My car's front, right wheel and bumper fell into a soft gravel hole. I was distraught and helpless until three men from Jones Brothers' construction company came to my rescue. They knew how to handle the situation and pulled me out of the hole in an efficient manner without damage to my car.
If you are reading this, I want you to know you are angels. I can't thank you enough! Just know you will be remembered for your kindness.
Margaret Jensen
Shift health talk from insurance
This nation needs a health care system that serves all who live here.
Our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence endorse efforts to "promote the general welfare" and the "pursuit of happiness." What could be more supportive of these goals than for everyone to have secure, practical access to health care?
For that to happen, we need to shift the discussion to actual health care and away from our obsession with insurance. Insurance is a means to the end of secure and practical health care and not its goal.
While insurance is no doubt an essential element of the total system, we need creative thinking about providing heath care independent of the insurance industry.
Here is a different, though not original, idea: Establish a system of health care clinics, a kind of public health care utility that would provide heath care directly and as free as possible without the cost of insurance records, applications, explanations of benefits, insurance company overhead costs, etc., and yes, without the profits that insurance companies make.
Let's focus on health education, wellness and prevention to promote the "general welfare" and happiness of all of us.
Finn Bille
Pass Obamacare defeat measure
Have you sent your thank you notes yet? What thank you notes, you ask? Why, the Democrats in the U.S. Senate who will not vote to defeat the bill to kill Obamacare next year. Oh, yes, there, are five tepid senators who claim to be Republicans willing to help the Democrats. Just enough to ensure it cannot pass when introduced.
If you missed the July 1 edition of the TFP, the story is headlined "Obamacare insurers seek 21-42 percent rate increase." Sen. Alexander is quoted later in the article, in part, saying, Tennesseans' rates have gone up 176 percent in the last four years. Of course, you knew that anyway.
Read the article yourself, then weep if you are affected. Whom to send thank you notes to? Any Democrat now in the U.S. House, plus the five tepid Republicans in the Senate. Most of them do not live in your voting area.
You can still call their offices and write letters, and promise to, then donate to, their opposition in the next election. You should also thank all Tennesseans who vote to pass this current bill.
Horton Herrin
Dalton, Ga.
Cancer fight still needs investment
Recently, I was one of two volunteers from Tennessee to travel to Washington, D.C., with more than 100 volunteers from 37 states representing a coalition of 50 different cancer-fighting organizations for the One Voice Against Cancer Lobby Day.
Together, we asked Congress to keep the momentum going and prioritize our nation's ongoing investment in cutting-edge cancer research. A recent poll showed 90 percent of the public favors an increase in federal funding for cancer research, and 89 percent want Congress to support funding for cancer prevention programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In meetings with members of Congress, I called on them to make cancer a national priority and provide hope to the more than 1.7 million Americans expected to be diagnosed with it this year. Cancer research is on the verge of significant new breakthroughs. We are at a point where advancements in research are saving more lives than ever. The National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute have played a key role in virtually every major cancer prevention, detection and treatment discovery.
We can't miss this opportunity. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, please help fund the fight.
Elizabeth Cooper
Liberal dementia appears rampant
In response to a recent letter: It's apparent liberals and dementia go hand in hand. While they want to slam President Trump for his affairs, they forget or ignore that Bill Clinton had sex with a 21-year-old intern in the Oval Office, might I add, right under Hillary's nose; then there were Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones and others. Should I go on?
He was impeached for lying under oath about his affair. One more just for the diehard liberals: Does anyone remember John F. Kennedy rubbing first lady Jackie Kennedy's nose in his affair with Marilyn Monroe, and his brother Ted's accident that killed a young campaign worker?
He without sin cast the first stone. For all have sinned and come short of his glory. Accepting Jesus Christ as your savior is a personal choice and has nothing to do with anyone else's decisions. Heaven or hell; it is your choice!
PS: Don't believe all the liberal, misled editorials in the Chattanooga Times Free Press or you will really get messed up. Read Paul Harvey's speech of 1965 about America.
Ken Ogle
Cleveland, Tenn.
ACA repeal just about money
For eight years, I have listened to Republicans complain about the Affordable Care Act. I often wondered what it is about the ACA that is stuck in their throats like a chicken bone. Are they opposed to health care for people who do not have it? Are they just sore losers?
Last month, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman let the cat out of the bag when he said that a person with an annual income of $1 million per year would save $50,000 if the ACA is repealed.
Now, it all made sense. The super rich, who pay the bills for the Republicans, demand tax cuts for themselves, so the party must oblige.
How are the Republicans going to justify tax cuts for a few thousand extremely wealthy people compared to the 22 million people who will lose health care as a result? Surely not all of those 22 million people are Democrats.
Jim Olson
Will 'eternal' road project ever end?
As one of the thousands of motorists daily traveling East Brainerd Road between Graysville Road and Rolling Ridge Drive, I have to ask, "What is going on?" or "Is this the eternal road construction project?"
Being a former mayor in a state of Pennsylvania township, I have more than a passing knowledge of expanding an existing road. This project/progress is very befuddling! The land is cleared and the carved hillside is planted with grass, then it's cleared again, and grass planted again.
Hurricane Creek Road is worked on, then work is stopped, four times. Beautiful, sunny days go by with no workers in sight since the project began. Drainage work, which should have been completed initially, is still ongoing. I mean, really?
Oh, while on the subject of roads, at the East Brainerd and Gunbarrel roads intersection, there is a supposedly repaired, 5 feet by 5 feet spot 3 inches deep that could possibly put your car out of alignment. Really?
David B. Noe
East Brainerd