Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Ghandi said, "The greatness of a nation can be determined by the way its animals are treated." That goes for a city too, Chattanooga. You want to market this city as "progressive," and there are dogs tied to trees and chained out on 100-pound log chains all over town.
You place your traffic cameras everywhere to build your revenue stream; how about fining people for not taking care of their animals! For the life of me, I can't understand people who get an animal and then don't take care of it. It's not like you go out, get drunk, make some irresponsible choices and nine months later, boom, you have a dog. That's not how it works.
At some point you make a conscience decision to get a dog, so you need to, at the very least, make sure it has shelter, food, water, exercise and some social interaction.
Chattanooga mayor, police, City Council, gang task force, masked men, crime fighters, whoever you are who claim to want a safer city, if you want to dissect evil, you need to start with whoever is abusing and neglecting animals. Come on, Chattanooga, step it up!
KAREN MILLS
How utterly appropriate that we set aside a day to honor fathers. I regret to say that I did not frequently or adequately express my appreciation to my own father while he was alive. It is only after his death that I am realizing how much he invested in the lives of my siblings and me.
Consider that fatherless homes produce: 90 percent of homeless and runaway children; 71 percent of school dropouts; 63 percent of teen suicides. Clearly fathers have a more significant role than simply providing for families' financial needs.
How sad that so few movies or TV shows depict fathers/husbands in a positive light. What was the last movie or TV show you saw that depicted a good father?
How sad that we see female celebrities choose motherhood without marriage or a male partner, thus sending the wrong message. The right message is that child-rearing results are best when a married man and woman are involved in the lives of their children. Definitely many single parents are doing good jobs, and many married couples do bad jobs. But the statistics are undeniable: Children fare best in a home with their married parents.
Thank you, Dad. I love you.
DENNIS URBANIAK
Signal Mountain