Unemployment rule disheartening
I worked for a Maryland 501 3c company that has a branch office in Knoxville. I worked out of my home in Ringgold and was their only employee in Georgia.
I was laid off on June 30, applied for unemployment and was told no wages reported. According to the Georgia Department of Labor, if a 501 3c has less than four workers in a state, it does not have to supply unemployment benefits.
The company chief financial officer says he never heard of this rule but since they did nothing illegal, they will not provide unemployment benefits.
I find it ironic that with all the talk of extending unemployment, I do not qualify because of a little- known rule. I am 62 years old, and it took me six months to find the job I had; no telling how long it will take me this time. I am having to live off my savings but am confident things will work out for me and my family,
So, if you know of someone on unemployment, at least they have that small amount to help them. Some of us out here fall through the cracks and have only ourselves to depend on.
ALBERT A. BACA Ringgold, Ga.
Public behavior has low standard
The Riverwalk debate - joggers vs. bicyclists - misses the point. The real subject is the city's low standard of public behavior.
Streets are unsafe for bicyclists, so they use sidewalks, thus unsafely causing near-miss collisions with shocked pedestrians. No bells are required on handlebars.
Rocks and pebbles pepper many sidewalks, and in places huge planters and outside eatery seating turns walkways into obstacle courses. Motorcyclists show us unmuffled madness, and why not? They threatened to ban Riverbend and shut downtown restaurants and businesses if not allowed to offend us. The results are two kinds of music only - loud and louder - and establishment of a low cultural denominator.
The city can't eliminate dangerous drugs because users seem not to care that they are funding criminals whose products poison their own minds and bodies.
Fireworks also are popular, as is yelling, spitting, sprawling and bad language. Do Miller Park's summertime Friday night concerts really prevent weekend misbehavior, or is pandering to hullabaloo an unnecessary budget item?
Yet, noise and cultural incursion could pale into comparative insignificance. Word on the street informs that advancement for Mexican drug cartels already are in this city's ghettoes, readying them for a U.S. invasion.
RACHEL WHEELER
Sale of radio station a shock
A letter by Betty Walker said WDYN had been sold. This is a shock to me and my wife since we are and have been supporters of this station with our prayers and financial support.
This station has provided us with a Christian witness as well as thousands of others in the community.
Listeners have helped the station to meet its budget for quite a few years. The community has done its part in providing financial support.
My understanding is that the station had been sold for quite some time and with no announcement that this had occurred. We are very disappointed that all who have supported WDYN are just finding out about a month late. My understanding was that the sale was to pay off debts.
My question to the board of overseers: If you deem yourselves to be responsible, how could you let this happen? WDYN streams all over the world as a Christian witness and provides a ministry for the local and surrounding areas. The Christian community has provided the funds necessary to keep the station solvent and out of debt.
Would it be fair to say that Tennessee Temple leaders have not thoroughly thought this through to find another solution to their debt?
GAYLAND & MARY GRAHAM
Did Fleischmann approve message?
I've heard - and since come to believe - that not all Republicans are racist, but that most racists are Republican. Chuck Fleischmann's campaign consultant, Chip Saltsman, reinforced this when he sent those Barack the Magic Negro CDs to Republican National Committee members. Did Chuck Fleischmann approve that message?
NANCY BISHOP Birchwood, Tenn.
Yellow journalism back in the city
In 1878, a young visionary named Adolph Ochs purchased the failing Chattanooga Times. He went on to turn a profit in his first year and many years thereafter by printing articles that were newsworthy, informative and, above all else, the truth. Mr. Ochs would have been saddened in 1999 as his once proud institution merged with another, the Chattanooga Free Press, which got its start by opposing desegregation in the South. The years that followed revealed a paper that mixed occasional journalistic integrity with frequent Republican partisanship.
On Sunday (Aug. 22), the Times Free Press reached a new low in journalistic standards. It ran an "article" under the misleading headline "Is Obama Muslim?" This kind of fear-mongering and distortion should not exist in publications which claim to be factual. Our president is a Christian, but that is hardly the point. The reporter and newspaper should be ashamed that they are simply fanning the irrational flames of hatred and fear. Their job is to inform, not to manipulate. Looks like the yellow journalism that Ochs spent a lifetime fighting is back in full force in Chattanooga.
CHRIS ANDERSON
Newspaper slights hometown team
Fan Day for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga at Finely Stadium was right here in downtown Chattanooga.
So, what does this newspaper have on the front page of the Sports section; a half page picture of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville's coach, and a huge headline "Dooley Gets it." Really, who cares what Dooley gets? Who do they play, Tennessee Martin? UTC is playing Appy State.
Back on page 8 there is a story about the home team that isn't even as big as Dooley's picture.
This newspaper is the worst enemy that the home team has. If I ever hit the lottery, I shall buy this newspaper and fire every one in the sports department. In their final pay envelope will be a one-way bus ticket to Knoxville.
JOHN LEWIS Jasper, Tenn.
Don't punish all for wrongs of a few
The cartoon you had in your paper (Aug. 18) was in very bad taste. Bates Motel was a movie where people were killed. To my knowledge that has not happened here. You put over 200 families together and of course you will have some trouble.
I have lived here for six months with my husband and two grandkids. We are just like any other neighborhood. We smile, we speak, we borrow a cup of sugar. There are good people here.
My neighbors help bring heavy (items) up for me. If something bad happens, my neighbors always come to help. We live here because we like it. The rooms are rented nice and clean. If something tears up, it is fixed quickly and right.
About a week ago you had an article in your paper. It said that 90 percent to 95 percent of the people here were good. That is true.
They are trying to shut us down because of 5 percent to 10 percent?
Let me ask you this. You have 10 kids. One kid does something wrong. Are you going to punish all 10 kids?
Please think of the people "family" you are hurting before you make your funnies.
REBA BRAMMER