People who had a way with words in the news last week:
“A man who’s lost everything loses the hope to live.”
— Octavio Devia Paz, whose wife and 1-year-old son were killed and who was permanently injured in a 2023 Frazier Avenue crash, speaking before a driver convicted after the crash was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
“We do have some plans for the future. None of them include anything like a Ferris wheel. We can’t build a hotel. We cannot build a lot of the things that people have been fearful about because the zoning does not allow it.”
— Rock City spokesperson Pepper Raper addressing concerns from a group opposing the tourist attraction’s gondola plan on the grounds the attraction will add other rides and major developments.
“You can be moderately unathletic and get very good at pickleball.”
— Brookes Jones, operator of The Flying Pickle pickleball club under construction, explaining one draw to the rapidly growing sport.
“Our first clients were like, ‘Why would anybody ever look at a website on their cell phone?'”
— Eric Brown, cofounder of digital design and branding agency Whiteboard, describing how much the company’s work has changed since its founding in 2010.
“The court doesn’t find Mr. Goodine’s complaint, or complaints, to be credible at this point. The court has seen evidence that directly contradicts his claims, so the motion to compel is overruled.”
— Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Barry Steelman, addressing complaints from a Chattanooga man accused of murder who alleged Hamilton County Jail personnel seized some of his legal documents.
“As we would say in the Navy, living in Japan, I’m an open kimono. If it’s out there, you’ll know about it.”
— New Cohutta, Georgia, Mayor Brian Johnson while being sworn in.
“If I’ve got garbage in my driveway and I take it from my driveway and put it in your driveway, we still have garbage. It’s just that I’ve transferred the garbage from my place to your place.”
— Daniel Fisher, a Lookout Mountain resident, using a metaphor to describe Rock City’s proposal to divert tourists and cars from the mountain to the valley.
“I wouldn’t have a problem with a dry cleaner or a bank teller. If a drive-through has a microphone and they’re taking coffee orders at 6 a.m. in the morning, that’s a problem, or if they’re taking burger orders at 12:30 at night, that’s a problem for a residential use.”
— Lee Helena, who lives next to a property in the zone under consideration for drive-throughs by the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission.
“I care enough about Justin Robertson and his team that I’m going to tell you in your face that it looks like you’re busing kids out of their neighborhoods to another school.”
— School board member Karitsa Jones, D-Chattanooga, on a proposal announced by Robertson, the Hamilton County Schools superintendent, to move students from Orchard Knob Middle to the former Howard Connect Academy.
“There is no plea deal for grief.”
— Deshay Williams speaking during the sentencing of Marquel Lane, the man who fatally shot her brother, Justin Glover, a father of six.
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