Questions about newspaper policy and other letters to the editors

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Questions about newspaper policy

It seems the newspaper picks on the poor people.

Why do you think people want to read about people having to take bankruptcy. I think these people go through enough without you publishing it in the paper. It is nobody's business but theirs.

Same way with crime blotters. Why don't you print the names of the homeless, we all need to know that too. I really think you are wasting ink and paper. I sure hope you don't find yourself in their shoes someday.

CHARLES MILLIRON, Pikeville, Tenn.


State behind in health, safety

Tennessee is failing its residents in the area of public health and injury prevention. According to the state-by-state report card on America's emergency care environment just released by the American College of Emergency Physicians, Tennessee received a D-minus in public health and injury prevention. Overall, it received a C-minus and was ranked 17th in the nation.

The state has high rates of traffic, fire and poisoning fatalities. It has the third highest infant mortality rate in the nation. To improve this grade, the state must explore the underlying causes of these deaths and implement outreach and evidence-based education efforts.

Emergency physicians save one life at a time, while investment in injury prevention and public health can save thousands.

DAVID C. SEABERG, MD, Dean and Professor, University of Tennessee College of Medicine


Times editorial taken to task

Let's rephrase the Times Editorial of Jan. 18, "Make Cyclist's Encounter with Teens a Cause for Innovation" as a conversation between the editor and a teen. Cyclists "look funny" in their "spandex riding expensive bicycles." We represent "a land unaccustomed to buses, let alone bicycles." They "flaunt" safety concerns with their "three-foot passing rule." Now the three-foot rule may be part of the Share the Road law of the State of Tennessee, but we know that "our mountain roads and many valley roads are barely wide enough for two vehicles" so why should we "give carte blanche to cyclists on these narrow roads with no room for error? Cycling is just the "newest in-vogue fad" and cyclists are not us.

So it came to pass that the teen got a friend and drove to Raccoon Mountain and a road that is common for cyclists and connects no major sections of our city. There, whatever the finally resolved facts, a bicyclist was sent to the hospital in an ambulance, and the editor said that's "unfortunate, but not completely unexpected." Is this what we want to teach our children?

FRED OBERKIRCHER, Dunlap, Tenn.


The irony of Iraq

Now that Fallujah has fallen to al-Qaeda, where many Americans fighting in the service of our country lost their lives, can there be any doubt that Iraq is a more dangerous threat than when Bush took us into this unjust and unnecessary Iraq War? Iran's principal enemy was Iraq before we went to war, and al-Qaeda, Iraq's natural opponent, was denied a presence there. The reversal of both have created instability in the region, and far greater problems for our country.

JOHN BRATTON, Sewanee, Tenn.


Live by the golden rule

In the early 1900s, they quoted the Bible to keep women from voting. In the 1960s, they quoted the Bible to keep blacks from equal rights and citizenship. Today, they quote the Bible and preach from the pulpit that gays and lesbians are perverse sinners to be excluded from the righteous, destined to hell, and denied the opportunities and benefits of heterosexuals.

I suppose there will always be people who feel threatened by those they don't understand, those who are different in some way. They exclude them and put them down so they can feel better, more secure, and justify their actions by quoting from the Bible. But being exclusive and judgmental of others is bad theology and poor civic politics. It only leads to anger, dissension and violence.

We must remember that we are the hands and feet of God here on the planet; the promised land must come through our own thoughts, voices and actions. "Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself." Or perhaps a more recent version: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

REV. DOUG WERTH, Signal Mountain


Ohio case raises questions

I find it absolutely appalling that an Ohio attorney named Allen Bohnert would try to shame the people of Ohio over an untried drug used on his convicted killer client during his execution. As usual, the family of Dennis McGuire, the convicted killer, wants to sue the state of Ohio because it caused him to suffer "agony and terror" while he died. Probably just like the victim or victims did. Too bad lawyers take our constitutional rights and twist them around for money. This is just another sign of the further decline of western civilization.

TERRY O'NEILL, Trenton, Ga.


Don't use gang nicknames

Here's a suggestion for lowering the gang violence level in Chattanooga: Stop glorifying common criminals by using their lame, made-up nicknames in news stories. Printing names like Devonte "Dimwit" Dover and the "20th St. Apple Dumpling Drips" just encourages them to further glory. Just print their names like their parents gave them (Cedric Harold Jones III or such), and let them be the embarrassments to their parents, grandparents, and communities that they are.

MARK H. HOLDEN


Obama may destroy U.S.A.

Barack Obama was elected president using a critical lesson learned as a community organizer in Chicago -- words matter. Words delivered with passion and conviction command attention. So he strategically constructed his campaign mantras around two simple words, "Hope and Change". His use of these hollow words convinced voters he would lead them to the promised land. Obama's real obsession is power, and his unapologetic, intimidating style is his calculated way of elevating his power to a higher level.

He learned the strategic use of words and the ruthless use of power from his well-chronicled study of, and affection for, Saul Alinsky, who wrote "Rules for Radicals", a book dedicated to "the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom -- Lucifer." What more do we need to understand Obama's methods and goals?

Obama will continue to abuse the Constitution and bully his political opposition, supported by his cast of unelected-and unconstitutional-Chicago henchmen, along with a complicit national media. Unless Congress and/or the Supreme Court intervene, Obama's two-term presidency will ultimately destroy the America we once knew.

PAUL SHEARER


No justice for officers

Two police officers were sent to stop a thug with a knife in his fist, who resisted the police when the officers brought him down hard. Bobby Dodd, the city council and our crooked politicians gave the (man) $125,000 and destroyed two police officers who should have received commendations. And they called this justice.

REV. CHARLES BROWN