Fumes on farms causing concern
I am so sick of horrible smell and cloud of something that comes off bio-sludge (human waste) my neighbors are spreading on their farms. This stuff smells for miles I am told, but when it is so close, it will make you nauseated. We cannot enjoy being outdoors due to the ignorant and self serving neighbors who are too broke, or too cheap to purchase real fertilizers. I am afraid of inhaling these fumes, and I'm afraid that whatever is in that cloud of dust like material coming from it could be hazardous and possibly fatal. Thank you, idiots, for doing this to our rural community. I am sure you know who you are!
- PHYLLIS LAWHORN Georgetown,Tenn.
Smokers are worst addicts of all
Smokers are drug addicts. Plain and simple. And they are the worst drug addicts of all. Let me explain. When a heroin addict sticks that needle in his arm, he doesn't reach over and stick it in your arm. When a crack addict lights up his pipe, he doesn't force it between your lips and make you take a puff. But when a smoker lights up and blows his noxious poison around, he makes everyone near him partake in his addiction. Smokers are arrogant and ignorant. Arrogant because they they the right to make you share in their addiction. Ignorant because they don't realize their smoking and all the related diseases that go with it are what is driving the health care costs up in this country, which we all pay. Ignorant because they don't realize that their hair, breath, clothes, cars and homes smell like nicotine. And also, if you have children and smoke around them you should be charged with child abuse. I hope the city bans them everywhere they can.
JOHN LOGAN
Liberals too narrow-minded
It is a pathetic time when you at the Times must regurgitate an opinion commentary published in the Los Angeles Times by Madeline Janis. She writes that when packing her father's things to send him to a nursing home, she discovers her father's Rush Limbaugh caps and demands that caps be thrown away. At first, her father rejected the idea and she, typically liberal, threw a childish fit. Then, to accommodate her, he allows her to throw away the caps. The article ends by Janis saying "we should reach across the gulf of ideology to work cooperatively and respectfully to solve problems." However, what Janis and liberals alike never realize, it was Janis who was intolerant and demeaning of her father. Her conservative father accommodated her. She tolerated nothing from him and remains an ideological shrew. To liberals, there is no other acceptable viewpoint except their own no matter how backward and deviant that viewpoint might be. So when is it that a liberal will "reach across the ideology gulf" to solve problems? That's not very likely -- they're too narrow minded.
JEFF WELLS, Hixson
Editorial demeans Haslam, Corker
I disagree with the Sept. 13 Times page editorial "The New Gilded Age And The Fight For VW'S UAW" featuring a cartoon that caught my attention. I disagree with the disrespectful and degrading tone used in reference to the actions of Gov. Haslam and Sen. Corker. I don't think VW needs a union to communicate with its workforce. And the economic benefits they have brought our town have nothing to do with the desire to have an auto workers union. To imply or assume that Haslam is ignorant of what a union would do or mean to this area is severely naive. Haslam, as you may recall, was one of the most successful businessmen in our state. Sen. Corker was a Chattanooga businessman and our mayor. Both of these individuals are invested in the success of VW and our local economy. However, this article painted a very different picture with very little reason as to why. I am disappointed to see such lack of research or understanding on the two officials referenced in a published piece.
CHRISTINA ANGEL, Collegedale, Tenn.
Stop the madness we call the U.N.
Is America the world's policeman is the central question in the Syria question. I along with the vast majority of Americans believe not. That was the job initially conceived for the United Nations. This organization has failed miserably. We pour billions of dollars into an organization that allows dictators and totalitarian leaders to thwart our principles of freedom and human rights on the world stage. Why do we continue to fund this dysfunctional joke? It is time to to stop this madness and ask all nations that believe in our values of individual freedom and human rights to join us in a new organization and isolate those who would seek to do us harm.
DAVID FORSTEN, Dayton, Tenn.
Merger plan unfair to some
I would like to bring attention to the lack of concern for current state workers in the TDOT maintenance and construction merger plan. In this recent directive, there are specific educational requirements to be achieved by Sept. 1, 2015. However, there are no provisions for grandfathering-in those current employees who are unable to achieve those requirements. As a volunteer tutor for the Cumberland Adult Reading Council, I am working with a state employee who must have a high school diploma or GED in order to keep his current job. Although he is giving a very strong effort in preparing for GED examination, it is extremely unlikely that he will be able to obtain this goal. It is my understanding that he has performed his job well for more than two decades and has received high evaluations. In addition, recently he has obtained a commercial driver's license, a second requirement for his job under this new directive. I am aware of other workers who are likely to lose their jobs for inability to meet these new educational requirements. The state should address this problem with a provision to allow employees, who have performed satisfactorily, to continue to hold their current jobs.
WILLIAM D. C RAVER, M.D., Crossville, Tenn.
Time to do something about teen crimes
I am a very concerned citizen when it comes to our children and teenagers. I am so tired of what's happened to our younger people. It is time for us to do something about these crimes.
Almost every week we have Chattanooga's younger people killing each other. We have to make sure all our children are safe.
We need to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and mentally ill people.
HELEN LINDSAY