People who had a way with words in the news last week:
“We’ve remained in the newspaper industry while most other family newspaper companies have sold their papers. We could not continue to shoulder the losses we were incurring here in Chattanooga.”
— Walter E. Hussman Jr., chair of WEHCO Media and the longtime former publisher of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, on the decision to sell the paper.
“We want this model to be something that people can look at and be like, ‘They did it right. They took a mid-market newspaper that was struggling and made it highly successful.”
— Freight media executive and entrepreneur Craig Fuller, who purchased the Times Free Press along with his father, Max Fuller.
“With my pockets empty, I still have my hands and feet. I know I have to work.”
— Guillermina Solano-Chala, who was deported to Mexico in February after 27 years in Chattanooga.
“What I’m saying is, the six have aligned themselves. And that’s not anything that I’ve made up.”
— Chattanooga City Council member Marvene Noel on her assertion that six members of the council have formed a voting bloc.
“TVA is in the same market as nonutility companies ordering generation equipment. We are adjusting by planning further ahead and ordering earlier than we would have in the past.”
— Tennessee Valley Authority spokesperson Scott Brooks on the federal utility having to order gas turbines five years before delivery and seven years before they are put into operation due to demand for that equipment.
“Ultimately, our future plans for the property will be, in part, shaped by the feedback we have received through an intentional and thoughtful community engagement process.”
— Stacey Keating, a spokesperson for Northgate Mall owner CBL Properties, after CBL announced it was not pursuing development of an affordable housing project at the site.
“We did not leave because of the affair, we left because of all the lies.”
–Angel Palmer on the concerns that caused her to leave the Venue Church, which went bankrupt in 2022 amid reports of an affair between the church’s married pastor and a staff member. That former pastor, Tavner Smith, is fundraising for renovations to a space for his new church, Hope House Church.
“A single mom would qualify for food stamps if this was her full-time job. We’ve had people say, ‘Oh, I thought about applying until I looked at the starting pay.’ It gets difficult.”
— Cheyenne Bedell, a senior telecommunicator for the region’s 911 emergency communications district, on the salaries of local 911 telecommunicators.
“I was the person who, I discovered yesterday, inadvertently spread confusion throughout the city of Chattanooga over the weekend. Mea culpa.”
— Joe Kelly, general counsel for the Chattanooga Housing Authority, on City Council members and others being surprised by news of proposed public housing projects.
“I hope that the new iteration will continue to seek to ‘give the news impartially, without fear or favor’ so our community will continue to have a great newspaper. And so Adolph Ochs does not roll over in his grave.”
— Helen Burns Sharp, founder of the local advocacy group Accountability for Taxpayer Money, on the change of owners and future of the Times Free Press.
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