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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

About Jackson Baker’s Politics column, “Settle the Carson Matter!” …

Mr. Kustoff, if you can singlehandedly end Obamacare, stop illegal immigration, and destroy radical Islamists, there’s no reason to wait until Election Day. Please, sir, put on your cape, and fix all our problems immediately. Having done so, you will no doubt win by acclamation. 

Boris

Seeing the party’s inability to audit its own books, we are left to ponder a couple of possible reasons: 1. The party is incapable of performing an audit due to an utter lack of accountability for the funds, not just from the former chairman, but everyone involved (i.e., no one submitted receipts even for legitimate expenses), or 2. The party is unwilling to perform an audit due to general penny-ante corruption, not just of the former chairman, but throughout the organization.

And the actions of the state party chairman, rather than being a harsh reprimand, seem more like the actions of someone desperate to sweep the whole thing under the rug.

Jeff

It’s foxes guarding the hen house. Maybe I’m just a cynic, but I’m not optimistic that Bryan Carson will satisfy the entire $6,000 debt.

Regarding David Kustoff’s campaign ads: I’ve noticed that they don’t display any of the arrogance, condescension, and general snarkiness that he exhibits on shows like Informed Sources. Maybe he has turned over a new leaf.

Okay. That was pretty sarcastic.

Jenna

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Editorial Opinion

No to Requiring City Residency for City Employees

When Martavius Jones was a member of the old Memphis City Schools board, he came across as a generally forward-looking public official. He was board chairman when a massive Republican victory in the state election of 2010 awakened fears in city circles that the long-blocked ambition of the then-wholly suburban Shelby County Schools board for special-school-district status would be enabled by the new legislature. Fairly or not, many residents of Memphis’ urban core believed that such an outcome would result in the diversion of significant state funding from city schools. Jones was a leader in moving for the MCS charter surrender that, in theory, would lead to the merger of city and county schools and the avoidance of any such fiscal dilution. 

Martavius Jones

Subsequently, as a member of the blue-ribbon Transition Planning Commission that was created by the legislature, allegedly to “facilitate” the merger, Jones appeared to be on the side of those who took seriously the TPC’s ostensible mission of setting the stage for a successful union of the two existing systems. From the beginning, there were elements of a sham to the process, since the Norris-Todd bill which created the TPC seemed clearly designed to lead to a secession of the Shelby County suburban municipalities from the newly merged common district.

As we all know, that is how things ended up, with a fragmented local educational landscape, consisting of six suburban school districts and a rump version of SCS that served mainly Memphis and a bit of unincorporated county turf and was further balkanized  by a galaxy of charter schools and a state-supported Achievement School District that gobbled up “non-performing” city schools.

But there had been a brief moment when the prospect of a unified and merged city/county school district seemed possible. That was when an initiative developed across various jurisdictional lines to name John Aitken, the respected superintendent of the old version of SCS, as superintendent of the unified new version. Unexpectedly, Jones, the presumed progressive and apostle of school unity, became one of the leaders of a stop-Aitken movement and made clear his loyalty to an urban faction that brooked no possibility of a compromise solution. The result was deadlock on the ad hoc provisional board then governing the public schools and the ultimate disintegration of the merged system.

Why do we bring up this unhappy history? Because once again we see Mr. Jones, now a member of the Memphis City Council, applying his talents, not to the process of unity but to that of parochialism in his sponsorship of a prospective referendum to force all city employees, including first responders, to live within the city limits — binding the Strickland administration’s hands and limiting its options as it strives, at a time of rising violent crime, to rebuild what is a seriously truncated police force.

The able councilman from Super District 8 still, as in his time on the school board, has stand-out moments — as when he, and he alone, demurred from the original Council vote to give the Memphis Zoo board total oversight over the Overton Park Greensward. But we think he’s wrong on the residency issue and urge his council colleagues — or the city’s voters, if it comes to it — to reject the proposal.

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Toby Sells’ post, “House Dems Stage Sit-in for Gun Vote” …

A bunch of old folks with money and power decided to sit on the floor until their butts got numb, and then decided to call it off and congratulate themselves, as if they had actually accomplished something.

And they complained about Bernie Sanders being unrealistic and ineffective for the many months that he continued after they had anointed Hillary Clinton. Pathetic.

Brunetto Latini

I hate to say this, but it actually wasn’t that good of an idea. Yes, it made old hippie hearts flutter with remembrances of days of yore, when the world was full of possibilities. But times have changed, and entrenched power has learned that all they have to do is wait, and the media will get bored, a shark will attack someone somewhere, and the hippies will go home. 

The optics of it are actually good for the GOP, rather than bad, because nothing energizes their base like punching hippies. Ryan won points at home standing up to them and closing the doors. The NRA has already put checks in the mail. This was the political equivalent of a PBS fund-raising drive that gives away 18-disc CD collections of all your favorites from 1969.

Jeff

There’s no tote bag?

OakTree

About Jackson Baker’s Politics column, “Toeing the GOP Party Line” …

Kelsey’s signs are everywhere, and I’ve seen a few for Kustoff; nothing much for Luttrell. I’ve received several mailers for Kelsey, telling me to watch out for snakes in the grass and vote for the 100 percent pro-life conservative (who undoubtedly enjoys self-gratification while viewing old Reagan movies), and someone hung a Kelsey brochure on our front door, as well. Flinn’s TV ads are numerous, with some real pathos from older folks wanting to make ‘Merica great again and keep the government out of their Medicare.

I’m thinking Kelsey is in good shape to at least win the Shelby vote, if not the whole thing. That’s just a gut feeling, or maybe it’s a wave of impending nausea.

Packrat

Gerrymandering has turned our political parties into echo chambers. No wonder nothing gets done in Congress. Our representatives are more concerned with following the party orthodoxy than doing some creative thinking on their own. This is sad.

JKM

About Josh Cannon’s story, “MATA President Won’t Give Start Date for Trolley System” …

I think the key to this entire problem has been as stated “… a lack of experienced workers.” How in the hell do we have no experienced maintenance mechanics for the trolleys when they had been operating for many, many years? Were all those jobs given to politicians’ family members? I think we all know the answer. Of course, no one has been blamed for this abysmal failure.

Smitty1961

About Adam Nickas’ Viewpoint, “Fix Tennessee’s Health-care System” …

If no new taxes or expenses are to be incurred by Tennessee for the length of the program, then I am all for it. That said, we probably should consider a two-tier national health-care program for the entire country. The first tier would be for the basic program, and the second tier would be for those who are willing to pay out of pocket for some additional benefits. Of course, the insurance companies will never let a national program come to pass.

TimeOut4

Tennessee citizens pay for the Affordable Care Act right now, yet we are missing key benefits. An expansion of ACA would support our medical professionals, support our hospitals, and support the communities they live in, on top of those receiving the actual benefits. Failure to pass an expansion of ACA does nothing other than hurt some of our most vulnerable citizens. It’s a travesty.

DatGuy

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Toby Sells’ cover story, “Bike Memphis!” …

I enjoyed reading Toby Sells’ “Bike Memphis!” article. It made me want to get out and ride. I didn’t see anything in it about the Hightailers, though — the biggest cycling club in Memphis. They’ve contributed to the success of cycling in Memphis, simply by the sheer volume of their membership, their advocacy, and their cycling education efforts.

If you’re not already a Memphis Hightailer, consider joining. There’s a huge wealth of knowledge and social enjoyment in being a member!

Drew

I live in Desoto County in Southaven and commute 31 miles round trip twice a week to Hernando. I ride upwards of 4,000 miles a year, some in Memphis but mostly in Desoto County, where there is zero bike infrastructure. And yet, I have almost no problems whatsoever. I control my lane at all times and communicate to motorists whether or not it’s safe to pass on two-lane roads. Almost all motorists are appreciative and courteous. The ones who throw tantrums still give me a full lane change when passing. A tantrum means I know they’ve seen me.

I will not ride in bike lanes next to parked cars or hidden behind parked cars like on Overton or Broad. Those are super dangerous. I sure hope Peabody doesn’t get bike lanes next to parked cars. Peabody is perfectly easy to ride on as it is.

Don’t ride in the gutter or on the sidewalk. Ride big. Be visible and predictable. Be aware of surroundings and communicate with other road users.

Patrick Smith

West Memphis has their Greenline into downtown completely finished now. I visited recently to check the progress and was happy to ride on paved Greenline all the way to Pancho’s.

It’s great that the Flyer is encouraging people to get out there and explore, and I hope that more people share your initiative. Also visit adanay.co and see some of the interesting rides around Memphis.

Cort Percer

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s Letter From the Editor, “Who to Hate” …

America leads the world in mass shootings. Why? National news media attention is like a vector that reaches people who are vulnerable. These disaffected people can be infected by the attention other angry, disturbed people get by becoming mass killers.

Before he shot dead 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, Adam Lanza created a spreadsheet documenting the names, body counts, and weapons from previous mass murders.

Killing former colleagues, schoolmates, or groups of strangers in a suicidal spasm serves not only as an act of revenge but as a way of forcing the world to be aware of the killer’s inner torment. These public attacks also give the killer the fame that eluded him in his failed life.

Revenge over real and imagined slights, the desire for attention and fame, and delusions all can play a role. Almost all mass shooters are male, with about 64 percent white. The American dream may contribute to the frequency of these killings. When success fails to materialize and men find themselves in the margins of society, they feel cheated and emasculated. They’re in real pain, but they’re eager to blame that pain on those around them. 

The United States has five times the number of mass shootings as the next-highest country in the world. Why? The most obvious reason is our unique gun culture. The U.S. easily has the most guns per capita of any country in the world, with an estimated 310 million guns in circulation, and lax gun laws. In a civil society, what does anyone need with a military style weapon?

Bob Lawrence

High-tech guns in the hands of low-tech minds continue to foster mass killings. Fifty young people killed in Orlando by a lone wolf, male gunman wielding a military-style weapon. It’s the guns, stupid; semiautomatic guns allow mass murders to happen. Over and over again, alienated young males have taken out their anger and hate on innocent victims. This was a hate crime of domestic violence directed at the people in a gay and lesbian nightclub. All these young people would still be alive today if it hadn’t been for the guns and bullets used in this killing spree.

Dion

Categories
Editorial Opinion

TN AG Should Clarify Transgender Policy

Memphis was favored last week with a visit from state Attorney General Herb Slatery — who turns out, by the way, to have a brother living here and, in a luncheon address to members of the rotary Club of Memphis, said some appropriately nice things about his host city. In almost every way, in fact, General Slatery was a particularly agreeable visitor. We especially enjoyed his recollection of the “historic” occasion in 2014, when Governor Bill Haslam came to town and swore in, on a single day, “an African American, a Jewish man, and a woman” — to wit, Appellate judges Kenny Freeman and Arnold Goldin, and Supreme Court Justice Holly Kirby.  

We appreciate his pride in recounting that moment of diversity and share in it, vicariously. However, if we’d had our druthers, Slatery, who is Tennessee’s preeminent legal officer, would have been more forthcoming about some of the more current issues of inclusiveness. 

One of them was highlighted in the form of a question directed to Slatery about an imminent clash between the jurisdictions of state and nation. The issue was a directive — actually, a letter — from the Obama administration offering “guidance” on the matter of whether transgender students should be allowed by schools to use bathroom facilities of their declared (as against their birth) gender. The letter, issued jointly by the Justice Department and the Education Department, declared, in the words of U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, “There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex.”

In all candor, the federal letter, shrouded in several layers of ambiguity, was not exactly a model of clarity and directness. Nor was it terribly forthright about the extent of its legal authority or whether a mandate per se was being proclaimed. There was language to the effect that failure to comply could invite financial sanctions under Title IX of the Civil Rights Act. Its essential import was clear enough: Transgender Americans should be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice.

As it happens, the aforementioned General Assembly had, in its most recent session, rejected a bill that would explicitly have sanctioned the opposite premise, prohibiting transgenders from exercising such a choice. As it also happens, Slatery himself had contributed to the bill’s withdrawal, in April, by advising legislators that loss of Title IX funding could follow passage of such a measure.

Yet Slatery and, officially, Tennessee have now joined 10 other states in a lawsuit challenging the federal government over the bathroom directive. As the Attorney General said in Memphis last week, “The people of Tennessee should have a voice in [the] process, and we’re having a hard time finding where that voice was.”

For ourselves, we’re having an even harder time finding where the voice of state government is regarding a sensitive matter on which, arguably, it has been on both sides of the issue. Without much optimism, we await further word.

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Jackson Baker’s Politics column, “Is Terry Roland a Bully?” …

There’s a certain mental framework that comes from growing up watching too much wrestling on television. Maybe that’s Roland’s issue here. Ritual exaggerated violence for entertainment encourages a certain bombast and swagger that substitutes for developing the subtler skills of rhetorical debate more commonly expected from politicians.

Physical violence is beyond the pale. If you are expecting mealy-mouthed political correctness from Roland or a number of our other local representatives, you will be waiting a long time. That’s what their supporters and constituents want and expect. Maybe Willie Herenton had it right: It’s all bullshit.

Thoughtful

About Eileen Townsend’s cover story, “A Night at the Ditch” …

I currently live just outside of Austin, Texas, but I grew up going to the races at Riverside Speedway. Your article was very well-written and really touched my heart. My mother tells me that the first time she ever felt me move in the womb was at Riverside. I now work as a PA announcer in Texas with a travelling sprint car series and edit racing videos for a streaming service called Race on Texas.

Thank you for a touching look through an outsider’s eyes. I hope you enjoyed your evening at the races. You should go again sometime!

Nick Robbins

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s Letter From the Editor, “Orange is the New Black” …

“There are 300 million genies out of the bottle in America. Thanks to the NRA and their friends in our government, guns are everywhere and easy to get. No legislation can make a dent in that number in our lifetimes.”

This is a discouraging point of view and basically a summation of my own thoughts. The full picture is even more discouraging. The Second Amendment is our country’s fundamental design flaw. The NRA and gun culture as a whole are symptoms, not the disease. We can’t even pass sensible legislation on firearms in the United States or make serious efforts to reduce or eliminate the number of firearms in circulation because of that damned Second Amendment.

This is what we’re stuck with in the absence of massive systemic change — change that no one is truly pushing seriously. While I’ll never actively discourage someone from taking steps to try to reduce gun violence, I believe the fight is ultimately hopeless. I hate that it is.

Jersyko

You wear orange, and the soulless gang kids say, “Oh, gee, we gotta quit the endless cycle of violence.” Sure. Or, you wear orange and create a consciousness that we need to have some form of re-education for young men considered likely to shoot/get shot. That would be great. Am I missing a step here?

Danzo

About Mark Akin’s column, “Tackling Time” …

Muscle mass, endurance, and agility can all be addressed via an ancient exercise program known as the martial arts. I could never motivate myself enough to engage in mindless exercise like running, bicycling, or whatever for the simple goal of physical fitness. Karate has the added benefits of mental challenge and social interaction that are equally important to good health.

Some people think karate is for the young, but with a good instructor who can tailor his or her program to the physical abilities of every student, karate has tremendous benefits that you just can’t get working out in a gym. Toss in self-defense training, and you’ve got yourself a pretty well-rounded health regimen.

Jeff

About Toby Sells’ post, “West Memphis Plans for Big River Crossing” …

That land across the street from the entrance in West Memphis is vacant. Put stores, restaurants — something that will garner an interest when they get to West Memphis! Other cities have grown. It’s time West Memphis does the same.

Lucia Johnson

Re-open the Plantation Inn, have Willie Mitchell’s band play regular gigs, and consistently serve underage drinkers.

Packrat

Categories
Editorial Opinion

Lessons From the Orlando Tragedy

Readers of this week’s issue will note a couple of pieces, including this one, devoted to the unspeakable weekend tragedy in Orlando, in which at least 50 people died during an armed assassin’

s murderous spree at a gay-oriented night club and another 50-odd were injured, some critically.

There is good reason for such close attention here and on the part of other media, world-wide, and it is similar to that which followed in the wake of the June 2015 slaughter of nine African-American worshippers during a Bible study session at an historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina. That previous attack, carried out by a youthful racist obsessed with loyalties to his state’s Confederate past, instantly transformed a racial landscape that had been changing all too slowly and greatly accelerated what Martin Luther King once described as the bending of the arc of history toward justice.

Before the Charleston atrocity, the Stars and Bars of the old Confederacy flew unimpeded in dozens of places where they hang no longer — including the state Capitol at Columbia, South Carolina, the very birthplace of secession and the cradle of the Confederacy, that would-be nation of breakaway Southern states devoted to the creed of official racism and the institution of human slavery. 

In a true sense, the young assassin’s senseless act, intended by him to ignite a race war on behalf of Confederate ideals, accomplished the exact opposite — the final putting to rest of the Confederacy and its flag as anything but tawdry reminders of a brutal racist past.

In like manner, the savage massacre at Orlando’s Pulse Club has surely ended the lingering debate as to whether the quest for rights, equality, and dignity by members of  the LGBT community should be regarded as within the mainstream of the nation’s ongoing civil rights struggle. By their martyrdom, the souls sacrificed in Orlando to murderous bigotry have, we pray, propelled that recognition and ended that debate. Gay Americans should now be seen by everyone, as, increasingly, they see themselves — not as outliers seeking toleration but as proud citizens in the forefront of extending liberty.

And, though both the Charleston and Orlando horrors have provoked rethinking the nature and promise of American democracy, they both serve, too, as bleak reminders of a national gun culture run amok. After Jonesboro and Columbine and Sandy Hook and Aurora and so many others, this fresh atrocity is testament to the long overdue need to change the rules for selling and using firearms, especially semiautomatic, combat-like weapons such the AR-15, used for the purpose of mass murder in Orlando and elsewhere. There is no need to expunge the Second Amendment from the Bill of Rights, which is what the NRA and other gun-industry lobbyists accuse reformers of trying to do. A good start to setting things right would be the extension of background checks and a resumption of the undeniably Constitutional Clinton-era ban on the sale of such weapons, which was allowed to expire in 2005, during the second presidential term of George W. Bush. It is no accident that the frequency of massacres, as well as their body counts, have increased since that time.

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s Letter From the Editor, “Playing the Long Game” …

I get all my news from an RSS feed covering a wide range of sources and then repost the stories that I think would be relevant to my particular list of friends and followers. I am guilty of reposting a lot of Flyer stories and hope that y’all can convince your advertisers that the ads that show up on your left sidebar are worthy of investment.

When it comes to local news, it is the Daily News that gets the second most, if not more, reposts due to Bill Dries’ tireless daily reporting.

I’ve noticed that a lot of online news sources now require you to “click here” to continue to read an article. I assume this is done to somehow generate more ad revenue. I do hope we can figure out some way to make it work. I’d hate to see journalism die and be replaced by paid advertisements disguised as articles.

Scott Banbury

“We’re not going to advertise. We’re just doing social media.” (Shhhh… Nobody tell them “doing social media” is advertising.)

Jen Simmons Clarke

You were a little harsh on Zuckerberg’s opinion of Memphis. Surely, he must know that he may need a liver fast someday.

CL Mullins

About Toby Sells’ story “Timing of Zoo’s Study Release Draws Controversy” …

It’s interesting that the Memphis Zoo, which is not a named defendant in the Open Meetings Act suit against the Memphis City Council, has filed a motion to intervene after the plantiffs’ request for production of documents.

Are these legal fees really the best use of Memphis taxpayers’ $4 million subsidy to the zoo? What is the zoo so afraid of coming to light? The truth, obviously. And fortunately for the citizens of Memphis (and unfortunately for certain city council members and zoo administrators), the truth always does come to light, eventually.

Mary Ost

The end is way overdue for Memphis’ unquestioning devotion to its publicly funded, yet privately managed, institutions, as well as a lot of other entities, both public and private. Good citizens ask questions. “We’ve always done it that way” is never the appropriate answer.

B

All I have to say is amen! Bring all the data to the forefront. The zoo has survived on our tax money for long enough. They gambled; they lost!

PDP

About Tim Sampson’s Last Word column, “Greensward SVU” …

I moved to Memphis for an OB/Gyn residency over 20 years ago, a biracial, West Coast-raised, East Coast-educated young doctor. I have embraced my role as a physician and neighbor in Memphis; I love this city. I am privileged in my practice to see women of all races, religions, and social situations. They all want the same things for themselves and their families: good health, the ability to provide for their children, and access to the services that a robust city offers.

Across the country, cities are focusing on the intrinsic value of parks for their citizens; this should be something that we prioritize. Many studies show the benefits of parks, both in terms of exercise and health, but also in community cohesiveness, reduction in crime, and improvement in property values.

This is not just about parking or grass. It is about the need for all of us to embrace one another and all of our glorious differences and find a way to make our city better for everyone. It is something that we can achieve. Fixing this issue will certainly not solve all of our problems, but it is a very good place to begin.

Susan Lacy MD

Co-founder: Physicians for Urban Parks

Categories
Editorial Opinion

Homicide Wave: Memphis is Up Against It

Apropos Memphis’ homicide wave: To put it bluntly, we are indeed up against it — the “we” including Mayor Jim Strickland, his interim Police Director Michael Rallings, the members of the Memphis City Council, and … who

else? Oh, yes, that “we” includes us, all the residents and businesses of Memphis and Shelby County, and all the tourists and other visitors who come here, drawn by the city’s legendary reputation for barbecue, boogie, and whatever else.

Specifically, count two of downtown Memphis’ foremost attractions, Beale Street and the Bass Pro Pyramid, within that group of potential victims of illegal violence — and, hey, summer, whether destined to be the long, hot version or not, hasn’t really even gotten started yet.

When Justin Welch, a distressed and/or mentally unstable 21-year-old, went on a shooting spree Saturday night, wounding innocent people in the Pinch District and Bass Pro and killing Police Officer Verdell Smith with a stolen vehicle, he put an exclamation mark on what was already an untenable situation.

Strickland must have known what he was getting into when he ran for the mayoralty, an office of responsibility that he’d had an opportunity to observe during his eight years as a city councilman. And we can only hope he knows what he’s doing now as he sets forth on what would seem to be a new course of active “partnerships” with other law-enforcement agencies: namely, the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department.

For obvious reasons, there has always been some jurisdictional cooperation between the Memphis Police Department and these and other agencies, including the Tennessee and Federal Bureau of Investigation. But this new arrangement is different; it puts a new spin on the old conundrum of whether the sum of separate parts can be greater than the whole.

We are reminded of another not-so-distant time, the late 1980s, when the “jump and grab” incursions into Memphis of the late activist Sheriff Jack Owens were regarded with a fair amount of jealousy and suspicion by the MPD and city government at large. The new combine of crime-fighting forces has, by the very fact of its being proposed, become a graphic illustration of the emergency we seem to have found ourselves in.

Simultaneous with an upsurge in homicides, surely the most chilling spectre on the public horizon, there are basic matters affecting the MPD that must be resolved. There needs to be a permanent police director, pronto. And, even though we have been assured by the wise lights in our local governments that the reductions in benefits for our police officers and other first responders were absolute fiscal necessities, we cannot regard this matter as closed. Strickland’s proposals for reactivating PST assistants  and for increasing pay and other incentives may, in fact, not be enough to offset what is clearly an understaffed protective infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Strickland is not the only public official who is on the spot; another is former district attorney and state Safety and Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons, who will shortly be assuming his new dual role of president of the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission and director of the new Public Safety Institute at the University of Memphis.  

Let’s hope Strickland is on the right track with his new crime plan, but we need as many new answers as we can come by.

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Bianca Phillips’ post, “Tennessee Suing Obama Administration Over Transgender School Guidance” …

I’m just surprised that Wisconsin is part of the Confederacy supporting “states rights” this time around. The rest of them could be taken en bloc from the old South from 150 years ago.

Thoughtful

Thoughtful, Wisconsin is not a surprise since Scott Walker and the crazies took over a few years back.

DatGuy

I wish I was in the land of Wisconsin, old times there are not forgotten. Look away, look away, look away. … Oh, wait. Nevermind.

Cheddar

About the Flyer editorial, “Silver Lining” …

Believe me, I’m in the “Save the Greensward” camp. Overton Park should be preserved and enhanced and parking on the grass adjacent to the zoo parking lot (which is an eyesore in the first place) should not occur. The zoo and its board are just greedy for the money parking makes available for efforts that I consider inhumane (to the captive animals).

That said, I have neither seen nor heard anything in response to my suggestion, I’ll suggest it again: When there are more cars than parking spaces in the existing lot, rather than the zoo  taking over the Greensward, why not direct the overflow to the Center City shopping center and have them park in a designated area and have a small bus to shuttle patrons to and from the front gate of the zoo? The parking there is free, but if a small fee were charged for riding the shuttle the “loss” in revenue could be recouped. Seems reasonable to me.

Cheryl M. Dare

About Richard Cohen’s Viewpoint, “Support Trump and Be Mocked by History” …

I’m not a Trump supporter, but I get sick of seeing the left try to talk about Trump’s “lack of qualifications” after supporting Obama’s Presidential run in 2008. If you could get behind him and Obama’s lack of resume in 2008, you can’t really talk about Trump’s lack of qualifications.

The current political system (both right and left) have helped to create this monster. All of the focus has supposedly been on the middle class lately, yet no one in the government from either side is doing anything for the middle class. It’s on minorities or on homosexuals or the trans-gendered. The working class has it even worse. The working class gets nothing.

If you’re a white, working-class person in middle America, this government isn’t for you and hasn’t cared about you in a long time. They’ve been relaxing immigration laws to allow more cheap labor in to squeeze your labor market. They’ve been making it easier and easier for corporations to move manufacturing jobs overseas, essentially exporting your job market. And on top of all that, the few social issues you care about get almost zero attention.

All of that has finally boiled over. It’s created Trump on the right and Sanders on the left. The people who have been ignored are rising up and creating a movement. The point being, if you don’t like the Trump movement, maybe you shouldn’t have ignored a wide swath of the population for so many years. You can’t just keep crapping on working-class white America and not think that the people will eventually lash out.

GroveReb84

Trump is a saint compared to the morally corrupt, lawless, criminal Democratic administrations — Clinton, Obama, Lynch, Holder, etc. Finally, they are going to learn they are no longer above the law.

FlyingTiger

The Trump campaign really shows what white Republican Americans are all about. They don’t care about morals and never have. They don’t care about racism and never have. They don’t care about America and never have. They say they are upset about government aid such as welfare, food stamps, Medicare, etc, yet it’s the corporations that receive most of the free aid. Trump is an example of what they really are: lying, cheating, women-hating, and bigoted.

Kevin Jones