Reduce drug ads; lower drug prices
It seems like every other TV commercial nowadays is for some miraculous medicine.
Can you imagine how terribly expensive that commercial must be to the drug manufacturer? If those commercials were removed from the airways, and we were trusted to trust our physicians' decisions and advice on our behalf, couldn't the drug prices be reduced to more reasonable rates?
Think about it. I for one will not be taking any drug advertised on TV unless my physician brings it up himself and insists.
Kathleen M. Owen
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Appointment of Burns applauded
I applaud Mayor Jim Coppinger's appointment of Dr. Phil Burns to the Erlanger board of trustees. Dr. Burns' contribution to the health of our community spans decades.
As a highly respected surgeon, he is known to perform procedures on both sides of the surgical table, depending on the degree of difficulty. Likewise, we can trust him to have a balanced and focused influence on the board.
Dr. Burns honed his skills on the family farm in Pikeville while raising and training prize-winning heifers and steers. Everyone who has had the good fortune of knowing Dr. Phil realizes that he truly cares about Erlanger, and that is no bull.
Erlanger and the community are fortunate to have a physician, teacher, husband, father and friend who will shepherd this long-standing health care system to be better than ever.
Vance Travis, Signal Mountain
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Duplicate sewer bills a waste
For several years, our sewer bill has been on auto withdraw from the bank. We thought this would be easier for them and us.
Not the way they do it. We continue to get a hard copy of the bill with a return envelope every month.
I have called every public office that I can find to ask why do they continue to send the hard copy. No answer, and a bill continues to arrive each and every month; and I get a copy online as well. Why do they continue to send a hard copy?
They spend money printing the bill, mailing and an envelope that goes directly into recycling.
Sandra Priddy
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Thiessen's Catholic criticism rankles
Are you so desperate for print that you have to go to a smart aleck, thinks-he-knows-it-all like Marc Thiessen? Aside from the blazing bias, he has many erroneous statements. And the worst thing is that he maligns Pope Francis, who is a very intelligent, holy person who is tasked with facing problems decades old which he had nothing to do with.
Abuse by clergy was done by a very small percentage of men, but the popular press delights in making much of this, most of which happened decades ago. Pope Francis certainly had nothing to do with it, as he was then a priest in Argentina. Now that he is addressing these problems which hurt the Catholic Church, he is expected to do what?
Question: What of the current reported abuse by members of some local Protestant churches?
If you print much more of writers like Thiessen, I will be constrained to cancel our subscription.
Annabelle Laudeman
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Let businessman run his business
Daniel Weaver, general manager of Coyote Jacks, wants to reduce the amount of violence occurring at or near his establishment.
Being the manager, he is familiar with day to day operations, his clientele and their preferences/tendencies, which he analyzes to decide on actions to hopefully curb the violence.
It has nothing to do with racism. It is called business.
Once again, people who want to be offended will always find a way. Be offended by the people causing the problem.
Sam Lewallen Jr., Sale Creek
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Recalling good old days with Saddam
When will the longest and most unnecessary and unjustified war in American history come to an end with all forces withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan?
Military opposition to the Iraq War was best expressed by Gen. Brent Scowcroft when he said there was no need for war when Iraq had no delivery capability. A motive of the Bush administration also was to remove Saddam Hussein. When Saddam was taken out, four disasters occurred with continuing impacts in several cases to this day.
Unaware that Saddam had no WMD, his enemies, most notably Iran, were greatly fearful of him. When removed, Iran began its own nuclear program. Tribes held in check by Saddam resumed conflict.
Saddam kept al-Qaeda out of Iraq. With Saddam gone, ISIS entered. Saddam protected the Christian population. Upon his removal, Christian churches were destroyed, some Christians were killed, and the entire population moved to other countries.
At West Point, Annapolis and the Air Force Academy, there has been a serious pursuit on the question of the ethics of conflict, no doubt with the hope our future supreme commanders will be consulted by their commander in chief before engaging in armed conflict.
John Bratton, Sewanee
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Not interested in North Korea peace
Saturday's [Free Press] editorial about giving Trump a chance to promote peace while meeting with the horrific North Korean leader is blatantly repulsive.
Trump praises a despicable man who tortured a college student, sent him home to die and had his family watch this tragedy as it kept unfolding.
Shame on you for even trying to defend both dictators' actions, Kim Jong Un and Trump.
J. Hayes, Hixson
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Cashless society = kinder society
The recent terrifying jewelry store heist on Gunbarrel Road is a price we must pay for the grotesque inequality that exists in our society. It was poverty that drove those desperate citizens to commit that awful crime.
Most members of our harsh, cold and cruel society want to be able to earn the right to have more than their neighbor. I am not one of those people.
I feel that a cashless society that has no power or rank among its citizens would be a much more kind and gentler society. Citizens like [Americans for Tax Reform President] Grover Norquist outnumber and overrule citizens like myself. Citizens of Norquist's type could care less if low-income citizens have to shoplift and rob banks to survive.
In closing, I hope citizens will read this letter and think about what it would have been like if we had a cashless society. I think that they would see that if it was, this country would be a much more kind and gentle place than it is now.
Stephen Wilhite