Accident brings out Good Samaritans
During the three-plus years our family has lived in Chattanooga, we have often had cause to remark how kind and helpful everyone seems to be. Sunday afternoon, our community took “kindness and helpfulness” to a whole new level.
Our 17-year-old daughter, driving south on Hixson Pike, hydroplaned on some wet pavement as she drove through the traffic light at Fernway. Her car spun, hit the curb sideways, and rolled onto the driver’s side. She immediately called us. When we got there, several motorists had already stopped to help. Nearby residents had rushed to the scene. The fire department, police, and ambulance followed in quick succession. Two tow companies arrived to offer help with the vehicle. The emergency room staff at Erlanger was wonderful.
Miraculously, our daughter suffered only a few bruises (seat belt!). Once she got out of the car, the crowd dispersed rather quickly, before either my wife or I had had time to gather ourselves and thank everyone who offered and provided help. So, friends and neighbors, please accept this expression of our gratitude. We appreciate you beyond measure.
TOMMY AND JANET
HUDGINS
Punishment should fit crime
Clay Bennett’s cartoon (Sept. 25) decries a recent execution in another state by depicting Lady Justice with a blood-stained sword in her hand.
He misses the point of that familiar representation of justice: it should be blind, it carefully weighs the evidence, and it wields the power of life and death. Swords are for killing!
Civil government has the awesome authority and corresponding power to destroy enemies in war and to kill citizens who have killed their innocent neighbors.
“An eye for an eye” is the just and merciful principle that says the punishment should fit the crime, no more and no less. If you steal a loaf of bread you shouldn’t have your hand cut off, and if you murder someone after cold-blooded plotting you should receive the same sentence you inflict on the victim.
The soft justice that is too “humane” to carry out capital punishment is neither just nor humane. It devalues the humanity of the victim and victimizes society which is unprotected against the lawless who know that they can inflict more damage than they will receive in turn.
A truly civilized society will brandish its sword guardedly, but it will employ it.
PHILIP LANCASTER
Lookout Mountain, Ga.
Ellis was the place for late nights
So much is said about all our great places we like to eat. Let’s go back to the late ’30s and early ’40s.
For late night, there was the Ellis Restaurant on South Market Street. I would like the history of when it opened and when it closed.
Why (didn’t) the neon light signs remain to stay on. They were on in the late ’70s when I was working at the Choo Choo.
With all the work done on the Southside, why wasn’t it done to that building? It is an eyesore across from the Choo Choo.
BERTHA DONOHOE
Red Bank ‘Zoo’ needs new animals
A few weeks ago, someone called the Red Bank City Hall the Red Bank Zoo. In a few weeks we will have early voting, and there are three running for re-election in Red Bank. If it’s true that we have a zoo, then we need to get three new animals and get rid of the old ones.
JIM L. WILSON
Voter intelligence tops the wish list
Months before Election 2008, a news item reported that departing Bush/Cheney staff would set off a financial crisis no succeeding president could repair. Something certainly tilted Wall Street prior to Obama’s inauguration.
But the stage was set for financial corruption with Reagan’s deregulation. And, like time-release pods, Bush/Cheney intrigues flare up, diverting attention and money from important work.
It’s no wonder the public is confused about what caused present problems. Election year sloganeering clouds it further, but the focus has to be on this year’s candidates.
Congressmen take oaths to defend the Constitution. Doing the opposite – including declarations to oppose the president – approaches treachery. Where that misbehavior originated isn’t difficult to trace: the generation first allowed to insult and ignore parents. Recreational drug use reduces conscience, increases vanity, and promotes the general sloppiness.
Republicans want more tax cuts for the most wealthy. Lunacy. Reagan’s and Bush’s/Cheney’s cuts added nothing to the treasury or created jobs.
Congress must slim the health care bill, stabilize the economy, add environmental protections, and calm inflamed Islamic reaction to Bush/Cheney’s multi-trillion dollar malignance. Easy, no? No. So hope for voter intelligence and honest ballot-counts.
RACHEL WHEELER
Democrats took economy down
The Democrats took over the 110th Congress, House and Senate, on Jan. 3, 2007. Liberal propaganda would lead you to believe our present economic (situation) was “Bush’s fault.”
On Jan. 3, 2007, the day the Democrats took over the Senate and the Congress, the Dow closed at 12,621.77, the GDP for the previous quarter was 3.5 percent, unemployment was 4.6 percent. George Bush’s economic policies set a record of 52 straight months of job creation!
On Jan. 3, 2007, Barney Frank took over the House Financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd took over the Senate Banking Committee. The economic meltdown that happened 15 months later was in what part of the economy? Banking and finance services!
Thank you, Democrats, for – taking us from 13,000 Dow, 3.5 GDP and 4.6 percent unemployment to the crisis we’re in today, dumping $5 trillion-$6 trillion of toxic loans on the economy from your Fannie and Freddie fiascoes!
Bush asked Congress many times to reform Fannie and Freddie – starting in 2001 – because it was financially risky for the economy. But Obama received the third highest pay-off from Fannie and Freddie, so Obama and the Democrats fought against reform of Fannie and Freddie.
DONALD STEWART
Signal Mountain
Help find cure for pancreatic cancer
Have you heard of pancreatic cancer? Do you know of anyone who has had this disease? If so, the first thing that comes to mind is “that’s it, hang it up, the party is over.” This is exactly what entered my mind during a phone call with my mother, Jane Hogan, before Thanksgiving 2007. She had been given this diagnosis by the emergency room at Erlanger North.
Our family came to know the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network here in Chattanooga. The group accomplishes its mission by directly funding research and demanding that the federal government increase research dollars for pancreatic cancer; by providing patients and caregivers with reliable information to make informed decisions with their health care teams.
Imagine you are diagnosed along with 100 people;, within five years there will be only five left. What horrible statistics! The survival rate hasn’t changed in nearly 40 years!
Saturday, Oct. 9, will be the 2nd Annual Purple Stride of Chattanooga at Coolidge Park. There will be a 1-mile/5k fun walk along with music, kids play zone and refreshments but most of all love, hope and support. Come to PurpleStride Chattanooga and meet others who are just as passionate about finding a cure for pancreatic cancer. www.pancan.org.
EDITH A. SNIDER
Pancreatic Cancer
Awareness Network
Chattanooga
Affiliate Coordinator