Can you imagine a court like this?
Imagine this:
A court system where the prosecuting attorneys have free rein to make their own court schedule, not the courts.
A court system where the prosecuting attorneys are "best friends" with the judge, and they make it clear to the defendants in the court room.
The prosecutors' clients are the elite of Chattanooga.
The defendants are the poor of Chattanooga.
The judge listens to the prosecutor's case intently.
The judge doesn't even read the defendant's case.
The judge disregards the direct references to standing law by defendant.
Who do you think is going to win here?
This is Hamilton County Sessions Court, in my opinion.
ELDON COOPER
Red Bank
Illegal immigrants take from citizens
No, Mr. President! Just because the parents slipped illegally across U.S. borders, and their many illegal -- though some born in U.S. -- children attend U.S. schools, they shouldn't be made citizens without entering legally, following the steps to become a U.S. citizen.
Yes, Mr. President, some of these students, through no fault of their own, were smuggled into America and have reaped benefits of free education, health care, and even free scholarships to our colleges.
The time, effort and expense used for these illegal immigrants would have helped all our children receive a better education.
Children in poverty -- and more American children are in this category since the Great Depression -- would reap great benefits in education and more would qualify for college and scholarships if our government wasn't pushing them aside to take care of illegal immigrants.
Send them all back! Stop hiring illegal immigrants and hire Americans.
Our people need jobs. Our students need to know our government cares about them. If the illegal immigrants were removed, the burden of educating, providing local, state and federal assistance for housing, food, and health care could be shifted to helping Americans who are in great distress, wondering how to pay bills, feed and clothe their children, and care for the elderly.
TINY STEELE
East Ridge
Garbage worker offers kindness
Last summer, my 84-year-old godmother told me she was having problems setting her garbage can on the street for pick-up. She suffers from several joint ailments herself but still wants to take care of her husband.
Miraculously, one day a city of Chattanooga garbage truck worker saw her hobbling along trying to bring the can to the street. He told her she did not need to bring it out any more. When he was on her route he would be sure it was emptied.
My godfather is practically bedridden, and due to his illness there is a lot of garbage each week. When one of us takes the garbage can to the street for her, the young man returns it to her yard beside the front gate after it has been emptied.
She doesn't remember his name, but her family and I want to give you a special thank you. We don't know who you are, but it is people like you whose heartfelt kindness often goes without any recognition. Thank you so much for making my godparents' lives and all of our lives a little easier. May God bless you!
LINDA MURRAY BULLARD
Gun lovers repeat their arguments
Murders committed with firearms are as common as ticks on a dog.
After every high-profile mass murder, there is a flood of letters from gun worshipers denying culpability and defending the rights of the criminally insane to possess firearms. They have three arguments:
(1) Keeping guns out of the hands of maniacs would be inconvenient for gun buyers. I wonder if the parents of 9-year-old Christina Greene think it is worth the inconvenience.
(2) The old NRA distortion is "guns don't kill people." The truth is that people use firearms to kill other people and themselves on a daily basis. In 2007, according to the CDC, 12,632 Americans were murdered and 17,352 killed themselves with firearms.
(3) Mass murder is an argument for more guns. This crazy argument is accompanied by the adolescent fantasy of being a "gunslinger hero" who kills the mass murderer. Those who have been in real gunfights know that surviving is as uncertain as Russian roulette.
However, gun lovers need not worry. Our national pattern is well established. Our politicians will shed crocodile tears like John Boehner, wring their hands, say "ain't it awful," and then do absolutely nothing.
TERRY STULCE
Sunshine Laws are necessary
Several days before the District 3 public forum, I happened to be in the wrong/right place, depending on how you look at it, to overhear a cell conversation conducted by our new county mayor. I went home and told my husband that the vote was going to be seven for McClure.
A one-sided conversation proves nothing to anyone but me. However, I would love to see each commissioner have to answer this question: "Did you promise your vote outside of public meetings?"
I serve in an appointed position on Signal. We are covered by the Sunshine Laws. They are inconvenient sometimes. However, they are absolutely necessary.
MISSY CANTRELL
Failed policies still don't work
We need a mayor who is motivated by new ideas, not the old failed policies they keep adopting from Atlanta.
Demanding that police officers must work in the city they serve is a ridiculous idea.
Are other companies going to be strong-armed into hiring residents only? After using Chattanooga's taxpayers' money to build their plant, did Volkswagen follow this policy? Atlanta only has one mayor. That's one idea which needs to be adopted here.
JOHN DUNBAR
Cleveland, Tenn.
Stuttering at times too romanticized
I am a person who stutters, and your article "Therapists praise accuracy of stuttering in 'The King's Speech'" movie (Jan. 30) was very thought-provoking for me to say the least. I am very happy that the movie is bringing attention to stuttering.
However, part of me thinks that what is depicted about stuttering in the movie is too overly romanticized and maybe does not show the terrible hardships faced by regular people who stutter in everyday life, not to mention how so many intelligent people who stutter are discriminated against and spend their lives in menial jobs.
I thought that the sidebar to the article listed other famous people who stutter. King George VI is far from being the only famous person who struggled with stuttering. Many more names are listed in the list of famous people who stutter on the website of the Stuttering Foundation (www.stutteringhelp.org). Some of them are James Earl Jones, Mel Tillis, Carly Simon, Bruce Willis, Peggy Lipton, Bill Walton and other big names. I recommend the website of this Memphis-based nonprofit to anyone seeking information on stuttering, as it is most helpful.
FRANK CARMON
Franklin, Tenn.
Make politicians be accountable
Our country is in deep trouble. Let's look at a few facts and the unforgivable mess our public servants have put us in.
Of every tax dollar collected by the feds, 33 percent goes to pay interest on our $14 trillion-plus debt. What happens when inflation and the debt increase and that percentage rises to 50 percent, 75 percent or even 100 percent?
Out of every dollar the feds spend, 40 cents is either borrowed or printed. Unbelievable!
In 2013, the Obama health care bill adds a new 3.5 percent tax to all real estate sales. Did you know that 26 states have filed suit to repeal this bill?
Our corporate tax rate is the highest in the entire world. Also, last year 70,000 pages of new regulations were written by bureaucrats. Why would anyone want to start a business in the United States?
Our public servants have failed and must be held accountable for the monumental mess we're in.
A few ideas to start: massive cuts in state and federal budgets; term limits for Congress; a federal "Balanced Budge Amendment," and halt government theft and corruption.
Politicians, are you listening?
E. LEE GERALDSON
Harrison