Everyone has the right to free speech
I am so embarrassed for Coffee County. A group of so-called free-speech advocates refused to allow anyone else to have their say. These people don't represent me and, I hope, not most of my neighbors.
Yes, you have the right to say what you wish in this country, but you should also allow others the same privilege.
Shame on you for saying you support free speech when you clearly only mean for you and not for anyone who is not in agreement with you.
ROGER THOMPSON, Tullahoma, Tenn.
Nothing wrong with immigration rules
We hear so much today about immigration reform. For a hundred years or so, there have been millions and millions of people who have immigrated to the United States and become citizens by following our existing procedures and process established by our immigration policies and laws. It has worked for over a hundred years.
Now the Democrat politicians say we need immigration reform, but they don't explain what's wrong with the existing rules, processes or laws that have worked for so long. Is it because they want to grant citizenship to all the 11 million to 20 million illegal immigrants in the hope of them voting for Democrats to remain in power? After all, I believe I have read that polls show 75 percent of Hispanics vote Democrat.
GARY HAYES, Ooltewah
Free enterprise not meant to be limit-free
Unregulated private enterprise has always been an unmitigated disaster for society. Anyone with common sense, empathy and only a cursory knowledge of economic history (please study FDR and the Great Depression), would never choose greedy, profit-above-all uncontrolled corporations.
The fertilizer plant explosion in Texas and the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire (child labor), just as the building collapse in Bangladesh, are examples of unregulated safety violations. The GOP is striving to undermine labor unions and oversight regulations to hand over the U.S.A. to people such as the Koch brothers.
If socialism is choosing regulated free enterprise -- desiring clean, unpolluted air and water, caring that a poor old woman has at least one good meal a day (sequestration is cutting meals on wheels), or that children in the U.S.A. do not go to bed hungry as so many do today -- then I am definitely a socialist.
We live in a country that has so many obscenely rich people who would greedily take all our wealth. To call countries such as North Korea "socialist" is a blatant lie. They are examples of extreme right-wing dictatorships, by the very definition of the term right wing.
WALTER M. BENTON, Signal Mountain
Park should be treated as a historic area
I am saddened and disappointed that city officials are planning on placing a road through the former site of Lincoln Park. Lincoln Park was a rare source of enjoyment and entertainment for African-Americans, where families came together for relaxation and celebration.
The park was a preferred destination for African-Americans throughout the local region and residents from Alabama and Georgia, as well. There is no doubt that this is a historic area in Chattanooga and should be treated as such.
JOE ROWE