Blessings, again, to unknown tree decorator
Once again the decorated Christmas tree placed near the railroad tracks on Hickory Valley Road is a delight.
While the giver of this lovely sight continues to remain unknown to me, my grateful heart thanks YOU yet again for your gift to all.
Merry Christmas blessings to YOU.
Libby Simons
Harrison
Editor’s note: This is Ms. Simons’ ninth year since 2015 thanking the person responsible for this tree, according to Times Free Press records.
Christmas is about community
I am writing about the article on the joint efforts of area churches to pack food boxes for needy families this Christmas season (“Chattanooga area churches, organizations come together to pack 5,000 boxes of food,” 12/6/25).
This article really shows the importance of community, and being willing to volunteer and do something for your community. Many people this Christmas will be going without food, but some families in our community this year will have a nice meal for Christmas dinner. This just goes to show that some people still care about their friends and neighbors, and they are willing to show that they care by giving their time and food.
Destiny Lassiter
Cleveland
Alternate routes could help traffic
Bill Moore, thank you for addressing the traffic issues in our area! Here are some items to consider as traffic approaches Chattanooga on I-24.
Traffic bottlenecks on GA and TN alternate roadways have additional problems, especially at holidays!
In response to your letter in the Chattanooga Times Free Press (Readers respond, 12/14/25):
The intersection at Georgia Highway 299 and U.S. Highway 11 in Wildwood is very problematic when the interstate becomes clogged. The sheriff or police could aid the problem by directing traffic or installing a remote-controlled traffic light with timing that would aid the directional flow.
It is the same problem at U.S. Highway 41 and Browns Ferry Road, but in a different jurisdiction… There is a narrowing of the roadway coming from Chattanooga at the nearby railroad underpass, which would be aided by better signage to direct the merging of traffic down to one lane. Have enforcement during rush hour, as drivers push their way to the front of the line causing blockage. What they do in some cities is forced timing on the entryway to the interstate using lane control with stop lights, but this would be to force spacing on the merging lane.
Chris Ostrowicki
Center renaming a grave warning
The gravest danger to the rule of law is not its open defiance but its quiet exhaustion. Power today increasingly operates by speed, symbolism, and procedural saturation — acting first and daring the law to catch up. The move to rename the Kennedy Center by executive fiat, before any authorization by Congress, is a perfect metaphor for this governing style. The change is asserted into reality first, while the legal process is left to react after the fact. Law records outcomes rather than restrains them.
This is not a dispute about culture or personality; it is about tempo and authority. When executive action consistently precedes legal permission, the rule of law shifts from a gatekeeping function to a bookkeeping one. Courts still sit, statutes still exist, and process is formally observed — but judgment arrives only after consequences have hardened into fact. If delay becomes strategy and irreversibility the objective, we will discover too late that law was not abolished. It was simply outrun.
Carter Clements