Voters should oust Lee for COVID inaction
Tennessee now leads the nation in new cases of COVID-19, with more than 7,000 reported daily. This is especially tragic because many of the current victims of the virus are children sickened by the highly contagious delta variant. Caregivers in our hospitals and ICUs are struggling to keep up with this heavy caseload.
Unfortunately, there is no question that one of the causes of thousands of our fellow Tennessee residents having this disease is the failure of Gov. Bill Lee to take sensible public health precautions against the spread of the virus.
Gov Lee has consistently taken the side of the virus over that of protecting the health of our families and children. Gov. Lee likes to talk about "freedom," but as the Bible teaches us, those who have freedom must also act responsibly and care for their neighbors.
Most of us now know friends and relatives who have suffered from COVID-19, or have died from it.
I hope my fellow Tennesseans will keep this in mind when election time comes around in 2022.
Allen Chesney
Is it OK to die as long as Joe Biden looks bad?
So far, more than 660,000 Americans have died from COVID. Of these, less than 750 were fully vaccinated.
The COVID vaccines have proven to be outstanding at preventing death from COVID, have little to no side effects and no cost to the person being vaccinated. These facts alone should be more than sufficient to convince everyone to get vaccinated.
Why are many Republican politicians and much of the right-wing media actively discouraging people from getting vaccinated? Many of these people are highly intelligent with excellent educations, so they know the vaccines save lives. It looks like this is a concerted effort to prolong the pandemic to make Joe Biden look like an ineffective president.
I know, it seems inconceivable that a major political party would endanger the very lives of some of their most dedicated followers, but that is what this appears to be, if not by intent, then certainly in effect.
Please ask your loved ones this question: "Is it OK if I die, as long as it makes Joe Biden look bad?" If the answer is no, please get vaccinated, for your sake, the sake of your family and for the rest of us.
Jim Olson
Recycling is worth the cost, inconvenience
East Ridge Councilman Jackie Cagle wants the city of East Ridge to get out of recycling. His main reasons are because it's expensive and inconvenient.
Those of us who recycle (the number is growing in East Ridge) don't do it because it's convenient or because we have to pay an extra $60 for the green bin. We do it to keep our cans and bottles out of landfills and give them new life as rain gutters and sweaters.
If I wanted convenience, I'd pile my garbage in the yard and set it on fire.
Cagle is missing the point: We recycle because we are trying to do our part to save the environment and keep down the amount of garbage in the landfills. If that means taking two trips to the garbage bin, it's a small price to pay.
I understand why he's so upset. It seems that his wife carries the garbage out, and he's just trying to lighten the load.
William Hubers, East Ridge