More work is garbage and other letters to the editors

Sunday, January 5, 2014

More work is garbage

I received notice that my garbage container is to be placed in the street "clear of all objects." I suppose that means away from the mail box, telephone poles, etc. Next they'll be asking that we load the trucks for the city. Ten to one, most containers will be damaged by cars or trucks the first week. Anything to make life more difficult for older people! K

ATHLEEN DOHERTY, Hixson


Support troops, by curbing war

I have been seeing a lot of Support Our Troops campaigns lately, and I think I have some ideas that will better support them than naming a shopping holiday after them (Veterans Day) or having to stand up at meetings for a round of applause. 1) Don't get involved in civil wars. Everyone ends up hating us when we do. The losing side blames us for their fall and the winning side blames us for not supporting them more. Look at the civil wars we have been involved in; Korea, Vietnam, Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq. None of them have ended well for us and they all have had cost in American lives. 2) Cut the defense budget in half. This will pull our forces back to defending America, not the rest of the world. The standard size of the military is computed to be large enough to support 2.5 wars. We only need to budget for defending the USA. Secondly, it will reduce the number of new war toys. Nothing like a fleet of new that make the military eager to try them out. 3) Require every high-level federal official to have a close family member in the combat arms of the United States. I am talking President, congressional members, department secretaries. This will give them a personal stake in sending our troops off to war. The best way to support our troops is to stop throwing away their lives on issues that do not really involve the defense of our nation.

JOHN MAC NEIL


Tennessee has an income tax

An article in the Dec. 31 issue of the Times Free Press by Stephen Ohlemacher of The Associated Press caught my attention. He stated that nine states are without state income taxes. He did not name them, but I believe the number to be grossly misstated. At least one state that often gets on such a list, erroneously, is Tennessee. It is important that your readers understand that Tennessee does have personal income tax, the rate being 6 percent. Three types of income are exempted: Wages, social security and a few special interest income sources such as state bonds. Capital gains, such as the sale of your property and stocks, are taxed at the full 6 percent. Full details are available on the state's web site.

STEVE MARCUS