People who had a way with words in the news last week:
“My biggest disappointment? Restrooms are closed. Like I say, that hits you below the belt.”
— Harold Meester, a Marine Corps veteran who was surprised to find Point Park on Lookout Mountain closed amid a partial government shutdown.
“There is a huge gap there.”
— CNE Homes project manager Jenny Hill on what homes an average Chattanooga family can afford versus what’s on the market.
“We will fail students in our district until we have the ability to provide mental health services that were stripped of them meaninglessly and shamelessly.”
— Hamilton County school board member Ben Connor, D-Chattanooga, in response to the district seeking bids for student mental health services after the board opted twice recently not to renew an existing contract.
“The reason we’re creating this program is in part because the job is emotionally challenging. It can be complex and difficult. Those are also the reasons to do it, because what we’ve also found in our company is that people who start in customer service roles end up becoming leaders in our company at very high rates.”
— Brad Leon, executive director of the BlueSky Institute at BlueCross BlueShield of Chattanooga, explaining why the company launched a paid apprenticeship and degree program in partnership with Chatt State.
“Public comment is one thing. Shenanigans are another … I think it’s just getting to the point where we have to realize what meetings are for what.”
— Hamilton County school board member Karitsa Jones, D-Chattanooga, during a discussion about hosting the board’s agenda and voting meetings on separate days.
“It’s absolutely in the Black and brown neighborhoods. It’s absolutely what I see. Once again, it’s a knee on the neck.”
— Chattanooga City Council member Marvene Noel of Orchard Knob, taking note of what she sees as a pattern among recent store closures.
“They’re definitely spreading, and they’re definitely in the Chattanooga area. You guys unfortunately got an early crop of some a few years ago, and so now there’s a central kernel of them around Chattanooga.”
— Assistant research scientist Andy Davis at the University of Georgia’s Odum School of Ecology, who has been studying the palm-sized joro spiders for the past four years.
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