Use discretionary money for Tyner
I was reading the Sept. 13 Times Free Press article about a little duct tape and a lot of love. The duct-taped tuba at Tyner Academy was a shame. Then I read about what to do with a combined $900,000 a year available to Hamilton County commissioners. It seems like a perfect solution for the county to use $60,000 to update band equipment at Tyner. Please consider using some of those funds for the much-needed investment in refurbishing the band instruments. Studies have shown that kids who participate in music get better grades and are less likely to get in trouble. It’s a win-win solution.
CATHERINE MARTINEZ, East Ridge
Trust what VW wants to do
Sen. Corker’s recent letter to the editor was a disclaimer to a quote attributed to him. We can take him at his word that he never said wages should be kept low. But in his letter he seems to focus his priorities on corporations (recruit companies; the rest will follow). What about considering workers as at least equal players along with corporations? This seems to be what VW management has been trying to get across.
Sen. Corker is against the UAW, he says, partly because it has a record (“destructive history”). Corporations also have records — Enron, financial institutions, even the auto companies, some of which we’ve rescued and given second chances. What the senator has clearly disregarded is the trust VW has exhibited in the UAW.
Other historical threads tell us this: Some companies left on their own dehumanize their workers, pay little for long hours, expose them to unsafe conditions and otherwise use them (or use them up). VW management is to be commended for trying to build into its very structure safeguards against these sorts of things.
EMILY BRAWLEY
Large board no ‘Rainbow Stew’
Before jumping on the bandwagon to change Walker County to a five-person board, let’s look at Catoosa County. It has Costco, Walmart, many restaurants and businesses, and the county is talking about raising property taxes. Our tax base is so much smaller, and we always need money to run the county. Having a five-person board will not eliminate taxes or make life better. Instead of having one person, you will have five bickering with each other. If you don’t like Bebe, vote her out; don’t change the system just to oust her. If we change to a five-person board, everything will not be hunky-dory, and all residents will not be drinking free Bubble-Up and eating rainbow stew. In the words of someone long, long ago, “It just ain’t a gonna happen.”
JIM GRIFFIN, Chickamauga, Ga.
Kudos to staff at Public Works
My wife and I are once again the benefactors of the excellent job done by the Department of Public Works. These men, often working in the lower pay scale, endure the full range of weather, from blistering and humid-filled heat to freezing rain and snow, while performing on behalf of the citizens of this town.
Unfortunately, their efforts are all too often overlooked and under appreciated. Instead of giving them credit for a job well done, our most common reaction is to complain when something is not accomplished.
From the cutting of grass on the roadsides to the pruning of overgrown trees to the removal of critters from the road, their tasks are endless.
This is one citizen who encourages others to say “thank you” for a job well done. Because of you, our city is much more attractive than it would otherwise be. Keep up the good work.
SAM JONES
Sparing ‘switch’ spoils the child
Really? Adrian Peterson gets criminal charges brought against him for putting a “switch” to his kid’s legs? Just dig my granny up and put her on the witness stand! That’s what’s wrong with the world today. Does anyone really think “time-outs” and groundings work as punishment anymore when your kids are so electronically connected and physically disconnected to the world today? Read any headlines on mass murders, and these kids were disconnected from the real world. Let’s get back to the day when you made your kids go to the yard and pick their own “switch” to be spanked by. I know I turned out better for it. God bless us all!
KEVIN LACEY, Harrison
Pull together, try to get along
Our country needs to grow up and put all our little racial prejudices behind us. I am a Southern boy, and my mama and daddy (that’s Southern for Mom and Dad) always taught us “not to hate” anybody. We are all God’s children. I think that a lot of parents teach their children to hate other races.
We also have these silly little street gangs that try to see who can be the toughest. Who cares?
We need to start pulling together and trying to get along with each other. When I was serving my country in the military, everyone got along. It didn’t matter what color you were.
People better wake up! We have something a lot worse coming our way [in the Middle East]. These people are animals. They are beheading and blowing themselves up. They want to die and take us with them. Please pray for our country.
PHILIP M. OSBORNE JR., East Ridge
Careless bikers taken to task
I have totally had it. For the third time this month, while crossing the street in a marked crosswalk, I have had to back up to keep from colliding with a bicycle rider. It is bad enough that cars won’t stop. I can’t do much about that. Bicycle riders, beware, you do that to me again, I will do something about it. You are supposed to follow the same laws cars do. You don’t. You run red lights, you pass cars on the right that are stopped at a red light and much more. You think, because you are healthy, you are above the law. You are not. Obey the law, healthy idiots! It is very much time the police start doing their job regarding crosswalks, by the way.
TED LONG
Water company gives poor service
My wife and I are on a fixed income so we have to be very careful about our expenses. Starting this spring, our water bill went up 100 percent in one month, then 300 percent and up to 500 percent by July. I checked often for leaks and found none. We do not water the yard or operate a car wash, so 14,900 gallons of water in one month should be easy to locate, but it was never here.
I called the 800 number and got a very rude person, who said our usage was fine and, no, we could not get a new meter. I asked for a supervisor, and he said he had none. Asked where he was and he said “irrelevant.” Motivated, I Googled Tennessee American Water Co., aka American Water Co., and found the main office to be in New Jersey. I like free enterprise, but in this case, our water supply should be handled by local folks we can vote in and out of office. Let’s use the power of imminent domain to flush out these covert carpetbaggers. Flush twice. It’s a long way to New Jersey.
DAVID TYLER, East Ridge
Treated shabby at Humane Society
Today I rescued two beautiful dogs. They were about 4 months old, clean and appeared to have been well cared for. Six months ago, I would have looked forward to taking these dogs to the Humane Education Society, but now I have deep concerns. I dread going inside, wondering how I will be treated. The first thing the girl at the desk said to me was not hello or what can I do to help you but “Where is your check?” I have always written a check and never thought anything about it, but she was so uncaring and acted like I was bothering her. Many times I have had to tolerate verbal abuse while bringing in rescued animals. I wondered if I should take the dogs with me and just give her the money — that was obviously what she was interested in. I have observed over the last several months how the personnel have treated other people bringing in animals, and I have witnessed their indifference to the animals. It did not used to be like this. If anyone else has noticed a difference, please speak up. The animals do not have a voice to help us help them.
RITA SMITH
Treat marijuana just like alcohol
Illegal pot is here and now in Tennessee. It is the largest cash crop in Tennessee. Prohibition didn’t work with alcohol, and it isn’t working with marijuana. Unregulated, it is heavily used in our society, and the big profits go to the criminals. There is also wasted tax money for enforcement and jail time for possession of small amounts. Read the studies of regulated pot use in other countries such as Portugal and the Netherlands. Their experience is the same as when we regulated the use of alcohol. Tax money is collected, use is controlled by state regulations and the criminals are driven out of business.
ROCKY RENNEISEN, Signal Mountain
TDOT should fix all roads first
The Tennessee Department of Transportation needs to adopt a “fix it before you build it” attitude. Most state roads are in need of new striping, have bridges which are weakening, potholes waiting to be filled, and as anyone can see (or not) on a rainy night, our roads are in need of new reflectors along their entire lengths so that they shine like they used to. If our state transportation department is at all responsible, it will fix every single one of the crumbling bridges we have now and repair all of the existing roads before it even gives a second thought to building anything new. Our public welfare and safety across the state of Tennessee depend on TDOT becoming more responsible.
WILL LANCE, Hixson