Riverside-Howard 'classic' was gem
Riverside High School vs. Howard High School (Back N Da Day):
A true "classic" was held Saturday, Aug. 6. Riverside Mighty Trojans vs. Howard Hustlin Tigers basketball game at the original UTC McClellan Gym. Decades and decades of true fans and surrounding "rivalries" packed the house because that was the event of the year!
This historical event with original cheerleaders, pep squad, original coaches: Coach Henry Bowles, Coach Leroy Alexander; original basketball players; i.e. Gerald Cunningham, Pooh, and (Woosey, McAfee, I know you were watching and cheering your Trojans on!).
The Howard Tigers represented, and Generation XYZ were awe-struck, at the jam-packed, full house of "original Old School players" still knowing how to "shut it down" with no drama!
Even, "pretty boy" Kenneth Hunter made his "Rock Star" appearance. (Jay-z-, you ain't got nothing on him!)
So whether you bleed blue and gold or maroon and gold, it was history in the re-making!
To the RHS Alumni committee: Two thumbs up, well done, pat yourself on the back, pop your collar. You pulled it off! Oh, me, an "honorary" Trojan 'til I die! Oh yeah, Howard won!
ROSIE HART RUSSELL
Don't omit visitors center on Raccoon
Re: your Sunday article (page E1, Aug. 7) about places to take friends to showcase Chattanooga's finer points. How in the world could you omit Raccoon Mountain Pump Storage Plant visitors center?
It's one of the most scenic spots in the whole state. There's parking at vistas with picnic tables. There are wonderful views of the river and mountains. The place is kept in tip-top shape, with restrooms available.
The TVA constructed this engineering marvel in the '70s for emergency power and built a visitors center near the 524-acre lake atop the mountain.
Motorists on I-24 see the signs, take Exit-174 South on Highway 41 and travel the scenic road to the top.
Along the way, they have a very good chance to see wild turkey and deer.
The center is open seven days a week. Friendly volunteer attendants are there, eager to show you the state-of-the-art exhibits of the plant and to answer any questions about the area.
Surprise, my wife and I are two of the volunteers.
LEON HICKS
Spring City, Tenn.
More stories about veterans needed
I was very much pleased with the story of the soldier ("Year of progress, year of pain," A1, Aug. 7) from Georgia who lost both his legs and is in Washington, D.C., working as an intern, and getting his legs put on and going to work, than we were with the lengthy story about illegal aliens living in Chattanooga.
We would like more stories about local people who are having a hard time getting by like the soldier from Georgia. He shows how strong our military people are. They will be coming home, and they will need jobs and certainly don't belong on the streets like some of them are today.
REBEKAH K. JONES
Dayton, Tenn.
Republicans need to compromise
Insistence of Republicans on "trickle down" economics to stimulate jobs has been an invariably discredited policy. No sooner had President Bush reduced taxes for the rich than job loss occurred, unprecedented at that time since the Great Depression.
Our country's billionaires and others of extreme wealth have declared their willingness to pay their fair share in taxes. Warren Buffet told the Bush administration that his tax rate was lower than his secretaries' (17.7 percent payroll; 32.9 percent for office staff), adding "that the taxation system has tilted toward the rich and away from the middle class." Zukermann and Gates are in basic agreement. Not "class warfare" but upper class welfare.
Mort Zuckermann asked "if tax giveaways to the rich were the answer, why didn't it bring back the economy with a vengeance?"
GE paid no taxes last year, and billions in tax income were lost to giant corporations moving headquarters abroad, to tax loopholes, and government subsidies to oil companies making record profits while citizens pay maximum gas prices at the pump.
Republicans have targeted not only the middle class, but our country's poorest and most vulnerable.
Unless Republicans are willing to compromise on the imperatives of revenue enhancement and job creation, which they have ignored, the American people will hold them accountable in the forthcoming elections.
JOHN BRATTON
Sewanee, Tenn.
More borrowing is not the cure
Folks who stubbornly promote a theory despite its demonstrated failure in constant practice are a mystery to me. Writers like Rana Foroohar in Time and Paul Krugman on the Times side of our newspaper should know better. Their Keynesian theory says a country in an economic slump should borrow money from outside to get things going again. That sounds easy enough and the attraction of using someone else's money to fill a hole in your economy sounds wonderful.
So here we are in 2011 with a hole the size of Dumbo in our economy. The problem is that over the years, we have borrowed enough to stuff Dumbo many, many times. Now, finally, our credibility as a nation able to repay those debts is questionable. But to use the Keynes "solution" would be dead wrong. "Dead" indeed, for if he could defend himself he would admit he never imagined a country that continuously lived beyond its domestic income. But we do.
No matter how much gasoline you pour on a fire, it will not go out. Constant borrowing is not the cure. It's the disease. Congress has it bad, and we little people are all going to get burned.
CLIF TINKHAM
Magazine article on city just mean
I was somewhat upset when I read the Times Free Press (front page, Aug. 4) concerning a not so complimentary visit from one of the Automobile Magazine editors, Jamie Kitman.
At first, I thought this guy was just trying to be cute and humorous. I then read the article and am now outraged.
This guy was just being simply hateful, and everyone should take offense at his insinuations and demeaning remarks concerning Chattanooga as well as the VW company.
There is not a bit of automobile edification in this article, just pure meanness. Even worse, the magazine actually published the article. I have contacted the magazine to cancel my subscription and I urge everyone else to do likewise (800-289-2886).
I also urge everyone to contact the president and editor-in-chief, Jean Jennings, to tell her what they think of their journalism and demand an apology (734-994-3500). No one seems to be answering the phones in Ann Arbor as I have left messages with her as well as her staff and have not had the courtesy of a reply!
IMRE VOLGYI
Fleischmann part of the dysfunction
After realizing the position our representatives have put us in, I sent the following email to Congressman Chuck Fleischmann:
Chuck, by now you know that I am one of your constituents and also a Republican, since I sent you a number of messages (all unanswered).
Your recent votes on the debt ceiling, etc.. were all verified on your TV appearances and are the signs of what the public is calling a dysfunctional Congress (82 percent at the last poll).
You and your tea party members have evidently accomplished your goal - bringing the government and your state to its knees with a downgrade (Sen. Kerry calls it a tea party downgrade) from our valued AAA rating and to the sharpest decline the stock market has seen in years.
You and the Republican Party ignored a bipartisan plan by Bolt/Simmons which addressed both spending cuts and revenue issues and which would have eliminated the problems we now are facing
Somehow, I do not feel you are carrying out the wishes of your constituents. (I, for one, am discouraged and disappointed).
I can only hope you have an IRA and stock in the market.
DON R. JORDAN
Hixson