Richard Winham a community jewel
I have been amazed for many years at WUTC’s Richard Winham for his ability to bring new music and musicians to the Chattanooga community.
His interviews are probing, gentle and yet revealing, and his knowledge of music, apparently, encyclopedic.
How many people tune in every day just to hear his voice? I have friends all over the country who do.
Thank you, Richard. We’d urge you to run for mayor of this fair city, but you have more important things to do.
Mark H. Holden
Cleveland, Tenn.
U.S.A. in jeopardy from ‘inside out’
The United States is not just a collection of laws and institutions; it is a set of ideals. We do not always live up to them, but we must have the moral and intellectual courage to keep trying.
If we allow our government to institutionalize the suppression of facts and the dissemination of lies, and to willfully violate the Geneva Conventions, it won’t matter whether we build a wall. We will have destroyed our own country from the inside out.
Allison Gorman
Let’s go all the way with license plates
Tennessee legislators frequently propose laws before thinking, so Rep. William Sanderson’s new bill to require “In God We Trust” on state license plates is no surprise. Rep. Sanderson’s zeal to make us citizens more devout and spiritual is understandable, even commendable, but he forgot or doesn’t know about the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition of governmental establishment of religion.
Therefore, I’m proposing a possible solution to Sanderson’s dilemma. To be inclusive, offend no one and honor the beliefs of all (which I’m sure is Rep. Sanderson’s intention), the state could make license plates stating “In ______ we trust,” and then let each driver choose from a catalogue of stickers that would fill in the blank. Soon we could see vehicles proclaiming, In __ we trust: * Yahweh – Jews and Christians; Allah – Muslims; Brahma – Hindu; Zeus/Jupiter – pagans; Beelzebub – Satanists; the holy Trinity – Christians; Woden – traditional Norse/Germans; the vast impersonal cosmos – atheists; I haven’t decided – agnostics.
A small sample for sure, but you get the idea. I hope this helps.
Thomas Rodgers
Dayton, Tenn.
Women’s March: America at its best
“This is what democracy looks like.”
Hearing this call and response over and over at the Woman’s March in Washington, D.C., kept my 74-year-old knees and feet marching for nine hours.
Women, men and children of all colors, shapes, ages, beliefs and causes standing together, smiling, talking, holding creative signs of reminders that the environment and science matter, that Jews can stand with Palestinians, LGBT persons with Muslims, Christians with atheists, black immigrant, Native American and white lives all mattering.
We marched for justice, equality, respect and dignity for all. The respectful D.C. Metropolitan Police reported not one incident of any kind in the 500,000-plus marchers over a 10-hour period. This is what freedom looks like.
Suzanna Alexander
Wildwood. Ga.