Moon River music event latest festival success
Dear Chattanooga,
In September, my team at AC Entertainment had the tremendous pleasure of launching a new music festival, Moon River, on your riverfront at Coolidge Park.
Produced in partnership with the festival's founder, singer/songwriter and Tennessee native Drew Holcomb, we were all inspired and energized by the spirit and enthusiasm we found in Chattanooga, as were thousands of visitors, artists who performed, and our music industry guests who traveled from New York, Los Angeles and beyond.
While we've promoted shows here since the early 1980s, we've found ourselves falling head over heels with your city recently, especially since taking the reins of the amazing Tivoli Theatre and the Memorial Auditorium in 2015.
Now with nine full-time employees in Chattanooga, the one-year anniversary of the Walker Theatre reopening and collaborations with Songbirds and the Signal, we're more excited than ever about the potential of this vibrant, dynamic community.
Consider this a love letter to Chattanooga. We want to thank everyone who has worked with and supported us.
Thanks for the opportunity to work in your city.
Ashley Capps, founder and CEO of AC Entertainment
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Bredesen will keep eye on our interests
The Tennessee population is about 6.7 million people. Of that, nearly 30 percent are aged 55 years or older - in other words, nearly eligible or already enjoying Social Security and Medicare after contributing to these programs by paying taxes on their wages during their working lives.
I'm over 65, of modest means, and with enough pre-existing conditions that without Medicare, I'd have zero percent chance of getting any private insurance.
I'm lucky enough to be able to live a modest retirement without needing help from Social Security, but an older relative is totally dependent on her modest Social Security income, as are many other senior citizens.
Now, remind yourself Social Security was begun 80 years ago by FDR and a Democratic Congress, as was Medicare by LBJ and another Democratic Congress in 1965. Ever since, the Republican Party has plotted to kill these useful programs while falsely claiming to champion "better programs." Don't be fooled.
Let Ms. Blackburn rant about the false issues of "walls" and "sanctuary cities." Resolve to vote for Gov. Phil Bredesen, who has a health care background. We can rely on him to protect our real interests.
Thomas Rodgers, Dayton, Tenn.
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America approaches point of no return
The travesty of our broken process to select a Supreme Court justice (justice no longer being an operative word) is almost over. The political party that did not even have a majority popular vote in the last presidential election has ridden rough-shod over custom, decorum and decency.
There is enough blame to apply to both parties, however, eager participants in a system that continues to widen the gap between the haves and have-nots.
Obviously, religion plays no role in the behaviors we have seen, especially in the past three years. Somewhere, ethics were discarded, smothered by a rising tide of patronage and favoritism.
I will not live to see my country recover, and I wonder if it is possible. Like Rome, the Goths are at the gates, only they are Russian, and they have been given the key by the occupants.
Perhaps in a century or so, historians will recount the shame of the process and the people who manipulated it. I hope this is the lowest point, but somehow I doubt it.
People must educate themselves, rejoin the political process, make informed choices and vote.
Helen V. Barrett