Investigators’ pay should be raised
To say we are paying our elite investigators a top end pay of $73,000 a year is shameful. As a city, I would think an immediate address of this issue is warranted. Didn’t we just commit to spending millions on a ballpark? Where is the priority now?
As successful and beautiful as Chattanooga is, we should claim the highest-paid law enforcement of the state, not the lowest. A person must have a calling to be able to do the job in the first place; they shouldn’t be penalized for it. That is taking advantage of good people who have a calling.
Come on, people, make this a priority and stir it up until it’s fixed.
Bobby Hamrick
Thanks for furry mascot article
Thank you, TFP, for Sunday’s story “Beneath the fur” by Alexis Dewey. As a former mascot, starting as a temporary chief for UTC for two games during the 1978 basketball season, I thoroughly enjoy and respect the work performed by the people who climb into those outfits. I served as the mascot in a size 72 vest over fur and padding for northern Virginia Lions Clubs for more than 20 years at a variety of events. The joy these characters bring to children of all ages is unbelievable and rewarding.
Though I am approaching 70, I still thank mascots at sporting events for their work. They are leery of a grey-haired man approaching until I mention I was a mascot. Then we hug and bond because we all know what it takes and wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything.
Daniel Duncan
Hixson
Abortion should be premeditated murder
You kill a dog in the state of Tennessee, it is considered aggravated cruelty, a class E felony. It carries a penalty of up to six years in prison.
Premeditated murder is a first-degree offense with a penalty of life in prison or the death penalty.
Abortion should be premeditated murder, in my opinion.
No one ever talks about the responsibility of the adults. Abortion happens as quickly as going to Starbucks for a latte.
No worries, no conscience, no respect — just an inconvenience.
Ruth Cote
Hixson
Respectful demeanor necessary for officers
I worked as a Tennessee law enforcement officer for 39 years. My most valuable tool was a calm voice and a respectful demeanor. I would simply say, “Give me your gun,” and they would.
If I had encountered the man who was a passenger in a car stopped by police in Jasper on Aug. 5, 2024 (as reported by WTVC), I would have politely asked if the rifle in the back seat was real. He was in the front seat and could not reach the gun. I would have checked the gun and found it was a BB gun. I would not threaten him, saying, “You step out, or I will get you out.” I would never hit the man in the face or attack him with fellow police standing there, screaming like a Chinese fire-drill.
I made 150 arrests, and every defendant pleaded guilty. I always apologized for having to arrest a defendant and treated them with utmost respect. Defendants usually shook my hand after court, telling me they understood I was just doing my job.
John Christof
Pledge of allegiance to our banana republic
In a recent letter to the editor, a writer quoted the Pledge of Allegiance and suggested that we would all be wise to reflect on the words and what they mean. Well, I did just that. After some serious reflection, this is what I came up with:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the Disunited States of Corporate America and to the republic (oligarchy, actually) for which it stands: One nation, under God (the god of corporate capitalism), indivisible (in name only), with liberty and justice for all (if you are wealthy enough to buy it).
I am not meaning to sound flippant. I wish that what I just wrote was exaggerated sarcasm, but unfortunately, I believe it to be all too true.
Our nation has devolved to a sort of banana republic, with all the wealth being funneled to those “winners” at the top, who have literally bought our government and control it — both parties of it. If this is capitalism, it is the absolute worst form of it. It is not “lifting all boats,” as we were told it would; it has only enabled the super-rich to buy bigger ones, while the ones who are doing the essential work who keep the wheels of our society turning don’t even have a rowboat. They are treading water, and many are drowning.
This is not what a nation that calls itself civilized and democratic should look like.
Rick Armstrong
Monteagle, Tennessee
How much greed? More, more, more
Biden hates corporate greed. He leans into the microphone using a creepy whisper to tell you so. He wants to raise corporate taxes from 21% to 28%. Isn’t that greed — government greed? If you take what isn’t yours, then take more of it, and more, something that you have not earned … isn’t that greed?
Likewise, his acolyte, Kamala Harris, hates corporate greed. She calls it “gouging.” Some food companies are making more than 1% profit, and she too wants to raise their taxes. That sounds fair to her. People work hard, they make 1% for their efforts, government takes almost a third to teach them not to be greedy or gouge people.
Biden and Harris want corporations to pay their fair share. They will not give us a number; they repeat ad nauseam … fair share, fair share. Credence Clearwater answered that question way back in 1969. “And when you ask them, ‘How much should I give?’ Hoo, they answer, ‘More, more, more.'”
Philip Cioni
Newspaper biased about job numbers
On Thursday, Aug. 22, I was surprised to see a story on reduced employment numbers at the top of the front page of the TFP. I remembered the last major downward adjustment from August 2019, at that time the largest reduction since 2009, but did not remember it being front-page news. Thanks to the electronic edition, I was able to go back in time to find the article in the Aug. 22, 2019, edition buried on page C4 below the fold.
The 2019 revision indicated the economy negatively affected by the Trump billionaire trickle-down tax cuts and Trump’s record deficit spending. Taking the anemic Trump job numbers (2.7 million jobs lost) compared to Biden’s job numbers (adding 14.8 million jobs, including the recent reduction) into consideration, the 2019 revision was a much larger story.
There is enough corporate media bias today. We should expect better from our local newspaper.
Michael E. Smith
Don’t forget Nixon used price controls
I guess “Che-Mala” sounded better than “Mela-Nixon” or “Tricky Camela.” Free Press columnist/satirist Ron Hart listed communists who had implemented price controls but left out the one U.S. president who instituted price controls. There’s a lot that can be said about Richard Nixon, but no one would call him a communist for the price controls [prior to his 1972] campaign for re-election.
Mike Rado
Mystified at support for Donald Trump
Could those who love this country really vote for Trump? Former VP Mike Pence said, “He doesn’t believe in constitutional restraints.”
He suggested using nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes.
Former Sen. Bob Corker described the White House as an adult day care center.
Gen. John Kelly said, “He admires autocrats and murderous dictators,” and wants Gen. Mark Milley assassinated. Forty individuals who worked for him say he’s dangerous to democracy.
He’s a convicted felon and is also paying millions for sexual assault.
Trump is the valedictorian of liars. He instigated the insurrection of Jan. 6 to steal the election. There’s more: He said the civilian Medal of Freedom was more important than the military Medal of Honor, and not one local elected Republican condemned him. Shame on y’all from Desmond Doss!
Urging Christians to elect him and saying they “would never have to vote again” was beyond the pale. To Christians who support him, I say what attorney Walsh said to Sen. Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin at the McCarthy hearings in 1954, “Have you no sense of decency?”
I’m mystified!
Wilbourne C. Markham Sr.
Signal Mountain