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Letters

  • What are the facts on school performance?

    Much has been said recently about the current state of education and the future state of economy and jobs in Roane County.
    However, if we wish to make major improvements in these two closely connected areas, we simply must start with the facts.
    After all, show me a self-satisfied and proud organization, and I’ll show you one which is unlikely to set the world afire!

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  • Teachers deserve even more than we now give them

    Our economy is in shambles, health care costs are deplorable, the energy crisis threatens our way of life, and  rhetoric between political parties has reached far beyond the point of rational civility.
    So, what are our priorities? It has been suggested that we focus on taking away the bargaining rights of our teachers.

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  • Don't let D.C. politicians cut public TV funds

    It seems that Washington politicans like to keep the public in the dark about what they’ve been up to.
    It seems the news media must agree with them because the only news media I’ve seen this story in was public TV. The politicians are now cutting funding for public TV.  
    In 1998 nearing the end of President Clinton’s administration, Washington politicians determined that the millionaires and billionaires didn’t have enough money and that the poor and working class had way too much.

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  • Big-business pigeons have returned to roost

    To all you voters, especially teachers, who thought it was so wonderful to put the Republicans back in control, it looks as though your pigeons have come home to roost.
    They are already in the process of dismantling health-care reform and are going after Social Security and Medicare next.
    All so that companies like United Healthcare and the drug manufacturers can continue to reap their obscene profits and contribute more heavily to the Republican campaign coffers.

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  • Writer: It’s about time union thugs are reigned in

    After spending decades at the mercy of teachers’ unions, parents and taxpayers in state after state are finally taking a hard look at what they’ve been getting for their “investment” in education and deciding that it’s time for real change.  
    Not surprisingly, those who benefit from the cozy relationship between the unions and Democratic politicians are furious with the upstart Tea partiers and the new Republican legislators who have the nerve to actually represent their constituents by turning their campaign promises into action.

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  • Don’t let state officials silence teachers’ voices

    The pending legislation regarding education in the General Assembly is meant for one purpose — to help the Republican agenda of destroying the Tennessee Education Association.
    TEA stands directly in the way of the Republicans’ ability to privatize education by creating charter schools and a voucher system. 
    TEA’s purpose is to help teachers protect their rights, receive a fair wage, be safe in their schools and their classrooms and have due process rights in personnel issues. 

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  • Would rather have locally run ambulances

    Roane County Ambulance Service is comprised of dedicated and professional staff and provides this community with a service that cannot be measured by monetary value.
    I attended a recent Roane County Commission’s committee meeting concerning the ambulance service.
    I found all the commissioners and county executive to be very attentive and concerned about the service.
    The executive presented a copy of the ambulance service’s annual budget and gave a report on the current expenditures.

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  • Commissioners are much ado over nothing

    I do not understand why some of the commissioners are rehashing all of these things that have already been approved and built.
    I understand that there is a new government in Kingston and the county, but it seems that a lot of these commissioners sure do like to see their names in the local paper.
    It has been nearly two years since they built the ambulance station South of the River.
    I’m sure it went through the proper channels to get approved and funded, or it would not be there.
    Why are you worrying about something you can’t change?

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  • Federal income tax simplification much needed

    As taxpayers we will spend millions of hours and hundreds of millions of dollars again this year in an attempt to determine how much we each need to pay in federal income tax.
    The tax code continually gets more difficult to understand, yet we are forced to use it.
    This angers me.
    It is a sad commentary when the average American taxpayer thinks the amount he or she must pay or the size of their refund depends on who prepares their tax return.
    With tens of thousands of pages of complex wordings, phrases and situations is it any wonder?

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  • Honky-tonk? Not so much. Family fun? For sure

    The article about the Riverfront Band in last week’s Roane County News described it as a “honky tonk” band.
    I’d like to clarify that.
    The band plays country-western music in a family atmosphere, with no drinking or smoking allowed.
    We have mostly family, senior citizens, children and teenagers.
    The main object is exercise, fellowship and to have lots of fun.
    “Doc” Mullins
    Harriman
     

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Copyright © 2013

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