A friend recently asked a question that I think the readers of the Times Free Press should consider: Why is it that a man who reports being sexually abused by a priest 30 years ago is a hero, but a woman who reports being sexually abused by a man 30 years ago is a liar?
I hope someone can explain that to all of us.
James M. Hemsley
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Developers have too much sway and say
Hamilton County needs to start representing residents of Hamilton County instead of a select few real estate developers who want to destroy the quality of life by carving up our open spaces for their own profit.
They need to reject the rezoning request for the horse farm along Snow Hill Road. This area was never intended for cookie-cutter high-density housing. Density has its place but not out in rural agricultural areas. Developers’ cost-cutting strategies should not come at the expense of destroying our environment and open spaces.
Hal Abegg, Ooltewah
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Coonrod praised for stance on BID
Councilwoman (future mayor?) Coonrod deserves praise for her defense of the BID cause. It is a shame that there are divisive forces that seek to undermine a worthy endeavor by playing the race card. Those who play the race card do not help the cause of unity and do nothing but engender all sorts of racial comments said under the breath of other groups.
As a Chattanoogan of mixed ethnic and cultural background, I support the BID program. However, perhaps the BID group needs to put on paper its pledge to be inclusive of all people in their cause, regardless of race, color, ethnicity, gender and so forth. Perhaps that will make some people happy.
Jonn Mullry
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More easily accessed school data needed
Our children are our future. One of our strongest obligations is to educate them well for a successful life. A strong public school system is a bedrock of this obligation.
We have relatively low funding of our public schools compared to the nation and relatively high funding compared to comparable county systems such as Knox and Rutherford. Is more funding needed? Probably, yes. Will it be well spent to achieve real and large improvements in measurable student learning outcomes? All our leaders promise yes. The eight budget documents on the district website are far too hard to understand – 130 slides and 450 dense spreadsheets and data tables. The real answer is who knows? Only the budget highlights information and explanation on pages 28-36 of the budget binder give any information we citizens can really understand.
Superintendent Bryan Johnson, school board and commissioners, give us budget information that is meaningful and understandable, front and center for us to find – not buried in a 394-page budget binder document. And give the same information for each school. Maybe then will we believe our money will be well spent on our most precious resource, our children. Please.
John Hubbard