Thanks, EPB crews, for storm efforts and more letters to the editors

Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor

Thanks, EPB crews, for storm efforts

Yes, we have had a lot of power outages recently due to the violent afternoon and evening thunderstorms, and I know of individuals who have been very upset with the length of time it takes to get their power back on. However, the men and women of the EPB crews had nothing to do with the loss of power. But, they have done yeomen-type work in doing everything they can to get everyone's power restored.

I just wanted to express the complete and absolute thanks of one resident of Hamilton County for all the extra time and effort the EPB crews have been doing - in some cases with total disregard to their own health and well-being - in their incredible efforts to get the power back in operation for their friends, families and, in most cases, for someone they do not even know.

God bless each of these wonderful crew members of the EPB for their dedication and service to all of us.

John Martin

Support safe options to abortion

While I'm certainly not "pro-abortion," I've always instinctively resisted the idea of giving the government control over women's bodies.

Still, until my daughter was in her ob-gyn rotation in medical school, I assumed that the "life or health of the mother" argument for legal abortion was largely rhetorical. When I asked my daughter how often she saw those situations, she replied, "Almost every day."

She told me that she hadn't realized how many things can go wrong that might jeopardize the mother's life - and that in almost every case she'd seen where abortion was deemed necessary, the patient was devastated.

One young teenager initially refused to consider it even though her pregnancy wasn't viable and she was at high risk of dying if she remained pregnant. That cruel emotional hurdle was followed by a crueler political one: where to get the lifesaving procedure in a state that won't allow it past 20 weeks gestation.

Abortion is too complex and personal an issue to be addressed with the blunt instrument of legislation. Lawmakers can work toward the same end more compassionately and effectively by adopting proven preventive policies, like increasing access to free, long-term birth control.

Allison Gorman

Suicide should be human right for all

In his book,"The Untamed Tongue," psychiatrist Thomas Szasz asserts that suicide is a fundamental human right which society does not have the moral right to interfere with. To these statements of support for the right to commit suicide, I will add: In a truly free society, you own your life, and your only obligation is to respect the rights of others.

Everyone is entitled to be treated as the sole owner of their life. A person who commits suicide is well within his or her rights in doing so provided he or she does so without jeopardizing the safety of others. Family, cops, judges and "therapists" who interfere with a person's decision to end their life are violating that person's human rights.

The view that the possibility of suicide justifies psychiatric treatment against the will of the potentially suicidal person is wrong. Provided he or she is not violating the rights of others, that person's autonomy precludes enforcement of what other people may think is in a person's "best interests."

The greatest human right is self-ownership, one aspect of which is the right to life, but another aspect is the right to end one's life.

Richard W. Shultz

Evenly distributed, families no problem

The president has made it sound as if the hordes are at the border and crashing through it. Putting aside the inflammatory rhetoric and sad human drama attached to this subject, let's look at some statistics.

Currently, the population of the United States is about 326 million and that of Hamilton County is roughly 326,000. Therefore our county is about 0.1 percent of the total national population.

If the estimation is such that 4,000 immigrants have been caught up in the current policy, our county would be responsible for all of four people given an even nationwide distribution. I'm pretty sure the men's shelter at Second Presbyterian Church would be more than happy to house four more people and do our part to "secure the border" in a humane manner.

Peter L. Steyn

Smith, Gitz widen divisions in country

TFP commentaries like those by Roger Smith and Bradley Gitz (June 21) concerning the "Trump Cult" and the conservative "evolution" to become free speech defenders have today's political bell curve looking more like a camel's humps.

In general, the majority bulges the bell curve with a "middle-of-the-road" or "moderate" opinion. It then tapers to both the left and right with "liberals" to the left wing, "conservatives" to the right, "radicals" and "reactionaries" to the extremes. At times the middle shifts left or right, but today's "vitriol and rancor in our public discourse" incited by the extremes of both sides splits the middle both ways.

Pundits like Smith and Gitz gush over presidential tweets and a far right agenda to disparage those who disagree with them, including moderates and even conservatives not as zealous as they are. If they looked for causes for the widening divisions within the country today, they need look no further than to their own words.

Grady S. Burgner Ooltewah

PAD surgery not always best option

I am profoundly disappointed by June 25 Times Free Press article "Circulating a warning." The article appears to not only recommend that surgery is the only option for treating peripheral artery disease but that it is an emergency situation. Both are incorrect.

By comparing PAD to life-threatening conditions of heart attack and stroke, she is doing a gross disservice to the public by putting it at risk for unnecessary tests and potentially dangerous surgical interventions when conservative treatment is the recommended first option from the Society of Vascular Surgery.

A far superior recommendation would be to encourage people to address modifiable risk factors of smoking, high cholesterol, diabetes and hypertension.

For those with symptoms of intermittent claudication (leg pain when walking a certain distance), she should recommend assessment by a physical therapist who will take history, perform an examination (including assessing muscle performance, motion, mobility, aerobic endurance, functional limitations and footwear) and make a valid a noninvasive vascular assessment of inspection, pulse check and ankle brachial index.

The PT will provide guidance to rectify impairments found, improve circulation, address modifiable risk factors and refer to a primary care provider if need for pharmacological management.

Betsy Myers

Is Trump's 'Red Wave' about Putin?

Once again I find myself getting dragged into the cesspool that is Trump! Don't you love the way he opts out of immigration legislation until after the November elections? And the "Red Wave" in November? Is he really saying he hopes his buddy Putin will once again help him win elections?

Isn't it great a significant number of evangelicals, including Franklin Graham, can't seem to find any fault with Trump and his administration's recent policies related to immigration? They must be running pretty low on Christian forgiveness/charity.

What a great statesman this guy is; he has pretty much alienated every ally we have, but not to worry, he's got a bunch of new friends who think like him (Putin leading the pack)!

Can't wait until he decides to abolish Congress and make himself president for life. If we didn't have excellent military leadership, I'd be terrified.

I love this country and understand that Trump will eventually be out of office. But the damage the cult of Trump has inflicted upon this great nation will be the measured by historians and, I hope, perceived as anything but "fake news."

God help this great country and us.

Scott C. Wilson

Ooltewah

Influential flaws? Dems have 'em, too

In the June 29 TFP, a Ph.D. writes to use the power at the poll to thwart Trump. He states that "Significant numbers of us" - apparently, also referring to himself - "carry influential flaws, including mental disorders, impressionability, smugness, rigidity, selfishness, low intelligence, biases, indifference to others' well-being, ignorance and more." That is true. They are called radical leftists, Democrats.

Gary Hayes

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