Exercise courage: Give schools more
I urge County Mayor Jim Coppinger to include increased funding for our public schools in the budget he presents to the County Commission. I attended both of Rick Smith’s community meetings in District 2. The vision he presents is spot on. We can’t pay for a tricycle and expect a Cadillac to come off the line. We are building state-of-the-art elementary schools in which we continue to offer a 20th-century curriculum. Would that we had the funds to give the same attention to detail to the curriculum in those new buildings that we give to roof lines and parking lots. I believe Rick Smith is correct — we have a shared moral obligation to do all we can for our children. Let’s start with increased funding for our public schools.
Annie Hall, Signal Mountain
Playhouse offers wonderful show
Last evening at the Oak Street Playhouse, a wonderful ministry of First Centenary United Methodist church, a group of singles at our church enjoyed a wonderful entertaining play. The play’s name is “Wedding Belles.” There were only six cast members, Jessica Altemose, Jenny Bacon, Christine Keefe, Eric Phillips, Kitty Reel and May Wood. They were all great but the youngest, Jessica Altemose, was the obvious star. She displayed such grace, talent and poise it was hard to imagine she was so young. She will, undoubtedly, have a wonderful future as an actress if she chooses this path. My hat is off to her and the other cast members. I hope everyone gets to enjoy this wonderful play (The play will run through Sunday).
Richard Johnson
Now is the time to invest in schools
This is an open letter to the Hamilton County Commissioners. The quality of our schools is critically important to the continued success of our community. We cannot leave education behind, but we are at risk of doing just that. Hamilton County and Chattanooga have taken huge steps to revitalize and energize the community. There is an enormous amount of positive momentum, economic development and technology innovation that is happening throughout the community, so much so that others are watching our success and copying us. But our public schools have not kept pace. I believe now is the right time to address the funding issues in our public schools. If the quality of our public schools does not keep pace with the surge of energy in the rest of our community, people may judge the quality of our community by the quality of our public education system. Economic development in our community will wane, companies will reconsider decisions to move here and invest here, and we will slip backwards. Please vote “yes” to invest the funds we need to help our public school system catch up with all that has been done in the rest of our community.
Wayne Wilhelm
Cigarette markup achieves goals
TFP columnist Jay Greeson missed important information in his Monday “Politics Gets in the Way of Could Have Been Great Government” piece. The purpose of recent state legislation to increase the minimum markup for cigarettes in Tennessee was twofold — to reduce smoking and curb the influence of out-of-state tobacco companies on local businesses. Two out-of-state tobacco companies control 85 percent of cigarettes sold in Tennessee and typically raise prices twice a year. The new law to increase the minimum markup will prevent big tobacco companies from setting cigarette prices at the expense of local retailers. Tennesseans have always supported regulation that prevents adult products such as cigarettes, alcohol and lottery tickets from being used as loss leaders. While Greeson’s desire to use more revenue from cigarette sales to pay for health care is understandable, it shouldn’t be done in a way that requires retailers to sell cigarettes as a loss leader. The new law is good for both public health and free enterprise.
Emily LeRoy, Nashville