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Letters

  • Why do the innocent people have to pay?

    I was disappointed to hear that Harriman has passed an ordinance to restrict the sale of cold and allergy medicine containing pseudoephedrine.

    Why is it that for every social ill, it is the innocent and honest citizens who have to pay?  

    We are creating a culture of laws that penalizes the innocent masses for the crimes of the minority.  

    This is not a good trend.

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  • Tribute to Scott McNew brings mom’s thanks

    I am writing this letter to the Harriman High School and its athletic club in regard to the honor they  bestowed to my deceased son, Scott McNew.

    What a wonderful thing to do!

    Scott was devoted to the athletic system and the school system as a whole.

    He loved all the boys, coaches, principals, his psotters, the quarterback club, PTO and, especially, the announcing system.

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  • Rand Paul’s word thefts sparks ire

    Rand Paul, aka Son of Ron or abbreviated SOR to conserve ink, has reached a new low in his public discourse by using plagiarized material in his speeches without acknowledging the authors.

    He is setting a bad example for all students and especially for those Roane County students who are now engaged in writing their entries for the Roane County student writing contest, which completes in early 2014.

    Plagiarism is forbidden in this contest, and entries found to contain plagiarism will be rejected.

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  • RCHS band does its part for cancer cure

    I am a sophomore at Roane County High School and a member of the band.  

    I’d like to talk about something we do off of the band field.  

    For the past three years, the band has participated in the Buddy’s Race for the Cure in Knoxville.  

    This is an enjoyable event that supports local research and financial aid for cancer patients in East Tennessee.  

    For every year our team, Band Together for the Cure, has participated, we have received awards for largest and fastest community team.  

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  • Must we battle needlessly over legislation?

    Ann Coulter, the Tea Party favorite and political author/commentator, is back on the talk show circuit with a new book.

    She revealed that she loved the way the Republicans in the House stood their ground.

    But I will remind her that so did Col. George Custer at the battle of the Little Big Horn.

    How bravely they stood against logic, reason and the political polls.

    The cost was exceedingly high, and many scalps were taken.

    Yes, there will undoubtedly be payback, but for now, Republican blood is shed.

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  • Donation to Kingston library extraordinary

    Members of the Kingston Public Library Foundation would like to thank Scott Johnson for donating Wesley Johnson’s extensive book collection to the library.
    I am a member of the foundation. Several weeks ago my husband Roy and I were driving around on a beautiful fall day when we saw a sign for “C & C Estate Sale.”
    We attended the sale at a lovely home South of the River. The owner, Wesley Johnson, has passed away and the homestead was being auctioned.
    There was a home library with many, many, books.

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  • Conservatives need to change extreme rhetoric

    The political climate in Washington changed briefly after the passage of a law to reopen government and extend the debt ceiling into 2014.
    Tea partyers stepped to the microphones to bemoan their failure with long faces, disappointment written all over them.
    Even U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz modified his strident tone and became less preachy.
    U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell actually smiled as he described what had transpired.

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  • Colon cancer checks should be earlier than age 50

    Mike Gibson’s article about Kevin McClure’s cancer brought back sad memories of my son’s bout with colon cancer.
    Unlike Mr. McClure’s, my son’s had advanced to stage 4 when he was accidentally diagnosed while being treated for a kidney stone attack.
    He died at 45 years old a little over a year ago.
    As Bill Williams of WBIR TV says in a public sevice announcement, colon cancer is a silent killer.
    Surgeons said the start of the cancer could have been active in my son as much as 10 years earlier.

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  • Stubborness is to blame for federal govt. shutdown

    And we thought North Korea was obstinate until U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz led the right wing of the Republican Party off the tracks.

    Stubborn as a Guinea fowl in the middle of a country road, he keeps making the same sounds and looking over his shoulder for his followers to see if they are still in lockstep with him.

    What happened to “regular order” in the House and Senate?

    Is this chaos a part of the new American exceptionalism some leaders like to crow about or just the new normal?

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  • Fleischmann still gets paid under shutdown

    Open letter to U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann:

    Your Party’s strategy to allow the government to shutdown in order to get concessions on Obamacare is irrational.

    You know as well as I do that people  may not like Obamacare (because they do not understand it yet), but every poll shows they are vastly not in favor of shutting the government down to gain your small health care concessions.

    I and others will remind people when it is time for your re-election on the stupidity of your Party’s decision.

    You will not get re-elected.

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