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Today's Opinions

  • Police go beyond call of duty for stranded motorist

    On Tuesday, Oct. 9, around 3:30 p.m., I was on my way to my place of employment.

    As I topped the hill, my vehicle just stopped working, which, as you may be aware, was during a time of heavy work and school traffic. Immediately, traffic began to back up.

    I tried to restart my vehicle, to no avail.

    After what seemed like an eternity to me, but was just a short time, Kingston Police Officer Jerry Singleton was first on scene. He was extremely professional and helpful.

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  • Think before you vote — and do a little research, too

    Do you remember when the three R’s stood for education in our schools and was good for us? Now it seems to stand for Republican, Romney, and Ryan. Those three R’s may not be in our best interest. Before you automatically vote Republican, take time to find out about another R — Karl Rove and his power over the Republican Congress.

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  • GUEST OPINION: Football/prayer: It’s all about an even playing field

    By KEN PAULSON
    First Amendment Center
    You can throw a Hail Mary at a public school football game, but you can’t actually hail Mary.

    That distinction is at the heart of a flurry of incidents this fall in which public universities and high schools are being challenged for conducting prayers before football games.

    In recent months:
    The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga announced that it would no longer hold public prayers before football games, while the UT campus in Knoxville said it was retaining them at Neyland Stadium.

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  • A fresher, more natural look coming

     

    For a long time, the Roane County News logo has included an anemic blue version of the county outline in its logo.


    Anyone who studies the points designating Roane County communities on this outline will notice they are more than a bit off.

    But it was familiar to you and to us, and so we kept it.

    After the 2008 TVA ash spill, when Chamber of Commerce and tourism officials decided the county needed a better image, we began to think about the same.

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  • War hawks need to think of fighting’s impact

    In fall, raptors begin their annual migration to the warmer weather of the southern states.
    But that centuries-old pattern has now apparently been interrupted by a single event in the Middle East; abruptly diverting the ‘War Hawks’ toward Washington … D.C., that is.

    U.S. Sen. John McCain, old “Bomb, bomb, bomb…bomb, bomb Iran,” is in full flight and on national TV agonizing over the heinous attack on our diplomatic mission in Libya.

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  • GUEST OPINION: Knowledge is power against hate, distrust

    By CHARLES C. HAYNES
    First Amendment Center
    Over the past decade, an anti-Muslim movement in America has pushed for anti-Shariah laws in some 23 states and helped generate anti-mosque protests in more than 50 communities.

    Even more disturbing, poisonous anti-Muslim rhetoric has contributed to an atmosphere of anger and hate that provokes acts of intimidation and violence — including the recent attack on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin where six people were murdered, apparently because the killer confused Sikhs with Muslims.

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  • Looseleaf Laureate: Two wheels keep on turning, but not here

    My passion for vehicles on two wheels has been well-documented of late.
    I’ve loved riding bicycles since, as a 6-year-old, I snagged my older sister’s powder-blue Huffy out of the yard and wildly pedaled off.
    Now, as an adult, I have two bicycles of my own.
    In the past month or ™so, I’ve gotten my motorcycle license and bought one of those, too.

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  • A VIEW from LICK SKILLET by Gerald Largen: If they love the party, Republicans will fire DesJarlais

    It seems, gentle reader, that when we were first exposed to the deplorable conduct of Dr. Scott DesJarlais, we weren’t told even half of the story.

    What we were told about his conduct with and to his first wife, and even more importantly his son, seemed enough to disqualify him from representing us, or any others of the good, moral, ethical, and high principled citizens of the old Fourth Congressional District of Tennessee.

    However, our Republican friends saw it differently and gave this low-life reprobate their votes.

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