Maintain roads in bad weather
Regarding the deaths of the motorists on the Bonny Oaks overpass on the morning of Feb. 15. It was raining that morning, and the temperature dropped, causing the bridges and overpasses in the area to freeze, creating very predictable, preventable and deadly road conditions.
There is no reason why the roads in this county should not be maintained during the winter. Salt is not expensive, non-perishable and easily stored. The temperature on the 15th was barely below freezing, and a small amount of salt on each of the major bridges and overpasses would have prevented the deaths of those innocent people.
Could someone in government tell the public what conditions merit the salting of roads if not conditions that existed on that fatal day? Please don’t tell me cost is a factor in a city that spends $100,000 yearly on outdoor art. Someone needs to step up and take responsibility before there are more needless deaths.
STEVE PETARRA
Keep U.S. money here, not overseas
It’s a sad thing people are losing their health care. The government can spend millions to go up in space. Hillary Clinton can promise all kinds of money to other countries. They can give Haiti over $300 million but can’t help the American people.
Instead of treating all the people from Haiti in our hospitals, giving them money, insurance, places to live and food, give our insurance back to all of us.
I think everybody from the president down should take a cut in pay so they can take care of the people who worked all their lives.
They need to quit giving themselves big, fat raises and take care of the American people, not the people from other countries.
In my opinion, they just want the older people to curl up and die.
LOIS WITT
Signal Mountain
Metro may be fuel to propel growth
Much has been said about reasons not to jump on the metro government bandwagon. The reactions so far have been more impulsive and reactionary but what’s really needed is a simple commonsense approach.
The pros and cons should be based upon what’s good for the community as a whole.
The annexation issue has raised the specter of double taxation. Under Metro, only one tax would be levied. Whether or not certain services would or not be obtained. Metro would provide equal services for all involved. Tax equity wouldn’t be an issue under Metro since the city and county would become one entity. Everyone would be under the same tax system, resulting in a single tax bill rather than two.
Both entities would realize cheaper operational costs which would, in turn, result in better services and, possibly, lower taxes over the long term.
The growth issue alone is a sufficient reason, but if further proof is needed, take a look at the dramatic difference between where Nashville was before and after Metro.
Volkswagen will have a profound effect on growth locally, but if further growth is desired, more fuel must be added to the flame and Metro could be the fuel needed to stoke that flame.
HOWARD G.
HUMPHREY
Wartburg, Tenn.
Abortion decision is a private one
Trust the right wing to be comforted that their side is “winning” by the simplistic reduction that the Choose Life crowd is buying whopping big lots of license plates and the pro-choice crowd’s plates ain’t doing near so well. Perhaps there is another reason for the pro-choice folks not to wear their heart on their bumper. Perhaps the pro-choice crowd believes that this decision should remain between a woman, her God and her physician.
Anybody with an ounce of sensitivity understands that abortion is an incredibly difficult decision, and I, for one, choose not to shove my belief that every woman has the right to make this decision without a bunch of strangers demanding that she observe fealty to their belief system in the face of the driver of every automobile I encounter every day.
Maybe the right wing would prefer that we go back to the days of the Inquisition, when those who had power could and did torture, kill and silence those whose religious belief differed from theirs. I don’t think that’s what our forefathers had in mind when they crafted our Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
HARRY CLARK
Decherd, Tenn.
Tea partiers were absent
Where were the Tea parties when President Bush adopted and Congress approved a prescription drug entitlement amounting to a bonanza for the drug companies and costing the budget billions?
Where were they when Bush turned a multibillion-dollar surplus into trillions of dollars in deficits and when hundreds of thousands lost their jobs?
What objections were raised by them when Bush took this country to war with Iraq, a nation that never threatened us, and resulting in the defeat of the government most feared by Iraq, and a cost in endless suffering, loss of life and a trillion to the deficit?
What exceptions did they take when 200 terrorists were tried in civil courts with a 90 percent conviction rate and only three in military tribunals resulting in two acquittals and one light sentence?
What differences do they find in the legal guidelines pursued by the Bush administration and those currently proposed?
Where were the Tea parties when the Bush administration released terrorists from GITMO to Yemen and resumed their terrorist activities?
Tea partiers who want war with Iran should encourage Sarah Palin to run for president.
JOHN BRATTON
Sewanee, Tenn.
‘Common Welfare’ applies to health
In two places, the Preamble, and Article I, Section 8, the U.S. Constitution states, first, the desire of the “People of the United States” to provide for the Common Welfare, and second, the responsibility of Congress to “provide for the Common Welfare.” If the Congress chooses to make this provision by enacting national health care legislation, and to pay for it by taxes, so be it.
CARL HENDRICKSON
Mineral Bluff, Ga.
Thurman criticism disrupts meetings
On Feb. 16, I attended a work session of the Hamilton County Board of Education, whose members considered presentations regarding Chattanooga’s magnet schools.
Unfortunately, the presenters could barely make their presentations because of the constant interruption by board member Rhonda Thurman. More unfortunately, Mrs. Thurman’s inquisitions and comments were at best rude and distracting, and at worst vitriolic and narcissistic.
This was not the first time I have witnessed her monopolizing the process with criticism, devoid of any suggestions that would benefit anyone, even her own constituents’ children.
Obviously, each person is entitled to his or her own opinion, and I’m sure Mrs. Thurman and I disagree. So instead of taking my word for it, I simply request that the good citizens of Soddy-Daisy please attend school board functions. Hopefully, Mrs. Thurman will allow other board members and interested parents at the meetings to engage in productive dialogue.
The board has to make difficult decisions, but it is in everyone’s best interest that those decisions be well-reasoned, with the goal of benefiting all public school students.
KELLEY S. ELLIOTT