'Chattanooga' catchy, even in Sweden
I read your article on Chattanooga being a catchy name for businesses abroad, and all I can say is — yes! My wife and I are Chattanooga natives, but we've lived in Stockholm, Sweden, for the past seven years.
My Swedish colleagues have said numerous times how cool the name Chattanooga is. In fact, while watching the national song contest, Melodifestivalen (think — Will Ferrell's "Eurovision"), we heard "Chattanooga" thrown into the middle of the program's (Swedish) banter. Confused, we googled "Chattanooga Sweden" and discovered that an enterprising Swedish trio named their band Chattanooga solely to enter the 1982 contest, surely hoping the name would put them over the top. Unfortunately they placed 4th.
Check the song out on YouTube — "Hålla hela pressen." If you don't like the song, you surely will appreciate the peak '80s album art.
Case Taintor
Stockholm, Sweden (from Signal Mountain)
Embrace the commonalities we have
With all the divisiveness we live with today — wars, politics, religious differences — perhaps taking a minute to reflect on the things we have in common might prove helpful in narrowing the gulf that divides us.
As human beings there is so much we share: this precious and beautiful planet we all call home, the deliciousness we experience with a sip of cool water when our throats are dry, the feeling of freshly washed sheets as we slip into bed, the joy of looking at a smiling baby, shade from a tree on a hot day, seeing fluffy white clouds in a blue sky, love for our families, a good meal. The list is endless. But somehow, we see the differences, and they are outweighing the commonalities.
Let each of us remember we are ultimately part of the same tribe. The human race.
Alison Hoffmann
Signal Mountain
Want the UAW? Look at Detroit
So we are supposed to believe if the VW workers vote to bring in the most corrupt union in Michigan to represent them, this is good for Chattanooga? There is no city that is more connected to a union than Detroit. In 1950, Detroit was one of the most prosperous cities in the country with a population of 1.8 million. Today the population is 667,000, and the city is recognized as the most corrupt, violent and mismanaged of all the cities run by Democrats. So, yeah, let's make Chattanooga the new Detroit.
The UAW leadership endorsed Joe Biden, even though the president admitted that the majority of its workers will vote for Trump. That's what I call a Democratic organization (not). Unions are like employers; there are good ones (our local IBEW) and corrupt ones (UAW).
To all the good people who work at VW, a word of warning. The last car I bought made by the UAW was a 1975 Mustang. There is a reason UAW membership has dropped from 1.5 million to 370,000 today. I don't think workers in Tennessee are interested in sending their hard-earned union dues to a corrupt Democrat cesspool.
Douglas Jones
A vote for Trump is a vote for evil
Rare is the occasion when good directly confronts evil, when right directly confronts wrong, when fortune directly confronts misfortune. Rarer still is when a debate ensues. For who wishes misfortune upon one's neighbor? Who wishes a cancer diagnosis upon anyone? Who wishes a tornado, a storm to rip off the roof of a house?
My fellow human beings, do not vote for evil, for misfortune, for storms upon one's neighbor. Do not cast one's vote for Trump.
Please.
Leroy McGraw
When seconds count, armed teachers crucial
The recent article in TFP about a bill in the Tennessee legislature which would allow some teachers to be armed is a no-brainer. Everywhere this comes up, it seems there are those who start saying it is a bad idea. One comment in the TFP claims it will lead to teachers pulling a gun and shooting a student. Really?
Teachers, many of whom are gun owners, can have background checks and be required to meet stringent requirements just like those in the military and police officers. Why can't a highly educated person to whom we entrust our children for several hours a day also, voluntarily, take on the extra burden of protecting those children?
The often-used argument that police officers cannot be everywhere all at once is valid as all the school shootings have shown. When seconds count during a school shooting, having armed citizens/teachers immediately available will save lives. Anyone serious about resolving this problem must come to this realization.
Rusty Lacy
Rossville, Georgia
Fleischmann feeding an 'edifice complex'
Chuck Fleischmann, our "show up for a photo-op" legislator, has co-sponsored a bill to change the name of Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C., to Trump Airport.
Once again, he seeks to boost Trump's vanity and feed his self-named edifice complex.
But, John Foster Dulles was a secretary of state of importance in the 20th century. I personally do not approve of his support of interventions in other countries, and a CIA-supported coup in Guatemala, but he was also instrumental in drafting the charter of the United Nations. He promoted American strength and international influence at the height of the Cold War.
Fleischmann would remove the name of a politician of importance and instead add the gaudy, gilded Trump logo, the emblem of an indicted charlatan who has never served anything but himself.
I have wondered why Fleischmann is so spinelessly, mindlessly enamored of Trump. I have come to the conclusion that Fleischmann likes Trump because Trump is the one man in the world who can make Chuck Fleischmann look smart.
Katheryn A. Thompson
Sister City assisters deserve our thanks
On April 16, Mayor Tim Kelly will engage in a virtual signing with Accra, Ghana's Mayor Elizabeth Sackey of a document making Chattanooga and Accra official Sister Cities. Accra, Ghana's capital, will be our first African Sister City, and members of the Sister City Association of Chattanooga (SCA) are excited to make this our eighth partnership.
Most of the credit for this is due to the efforts of Kanika Wellington-Jones and Bea Kennebrew, who have made multiple trips to Accra and developed relationships with a number of people there. They have initiated an art exchange, promoted several business projects, hosted a Ghanaian cooking class for Chattanoogans, facilitated cross-cultural zoom meetings, and connected with several Accra artisans to sell their wares here.
We are most grateful to Kanika and Bea for bringing Accra to our attention and for their tenacity in promoting the Sister City possibility to our city government. Moreover, we appreciate Mayor Kelly's and his staff's support in this endeavor.
Other projects are in the works, and the hope is to promote friendships and create greater understanding between residents of our two municipalities.
Karen Claypool