People who had a way with words in the news last week:
“It’s just gotten stupid, I have come down I-75 to the Ooltewah exit, and there’s a sign that says ‘one mile.’ I have sit past that sign trying to get off at the exit backed up a mile on the interstate. Tell me that’s not dangerous, dead stopped with cars coming over the hill at 70 and 80 mph.”
— Chris Maughon, an Ooltewah resident since 1989, describing the area’s rapid growth in recent years.
“I have lived through one cicada season in Middle Tennessee. It was one too many. Seriously, for better or for worse, there are three things in this world that deserve all their hype: Scotland, Lake Tahoe and cicada emergence. God have mercy on us all.”
— Elicia Hyder, a fiction writer in Spring Hill, Tennessee, on the arrival of this year’s two broods.
“I’d love to see Tennessee purple. But we’ve got to get a lot of blue in first, and we’ve got to elect some women.”
— Democrat Missy Crutchfield, announcing she will run for the state Senate seat held by Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga.
“We have a tremendous opportunity to really elevate and encourage all kids to be the best version of themselves. Education presents that opportunity because it doesn’t look at your race, your color, your background. It gives every kid an opportunity to thrive. And that’s what we’re all trying to do across Hamilton County in each of our respective districts is to lift kids up to give them an opportunity to be the best version of themselves.”
— Ben Daugherty of Signal Mountain, one of five Republican candidates for the Hamilton County school board who gathered at the Pachyderm Club.
“We’re expanding how we’re recruiting. Who we recruit, how we recruit and where we recruit have to change.”
— Lt. Gen. James Mingus, vice chief of staff for the U.S. Army, talking about the importance of events like Friday’s Armed Forces Day parade in Chattanooga for promoting visibility for the military.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene is the star of the show. The show is called Republicans Gone Wild.”
— House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, on dysfunction in the House Republican conference in general and Greene’s promise to force a vote to oust speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana.
“We want to change the face of yoga and Pilates, and it can start right here in Chattanooga.”
— Jenna Wright, who along with her husband, Ryan, own Southern Soul Yoga, which won the Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union’s Idea Leap competition. The Wrights and a majority of their staff are minorities.
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