Greg Cravens
About Toby Sells’ post, “Luttrell Did Not Proclaim ‘Jefferson Davis Day'” …
Apparently this sort of thing happens to local sheriffs and mayors all the time. It’s just that nobody notices when the sheriff’s office declares “Beehive Hairdo Day” in Mayberry.
Jeff
About Toby Sells’ post “Pyramid: Now With More Alligator” …
“Swamp installation, including the alligator pit?” WTF! This place is all about animal murder. Maybe it will go out of business and we can turn it into a water park.
Tommy Foster
If Memphis is going to be a world-class city, what we need is a giant corporate logo plastered over our city’s landmark! The only way we’ll outdo the Empire State Building, the Gateway Arch, and even Nashville’s Parthenon, is with a breathtaking view of a 40-foot-tall bass popping out of a pyramid.
Dracula
To compare the Pyramid to the Gateway Arch, the Parthenon, and the Empire State Building is asinine. The Pyramid is a landmark only because it’s so ugly, and Memphis was duped into building it. Thank gawd for Bass Pro for coming along and making good use of it.
Nobody
About Wendi C. Thomas’ column, “What Happens Next” …
It appears we have reached a point in our politics, that if one keeps repeating falsehoods often enough, people begin to believe them. Never has this been more apparent than in the debate over the proposed Amendment 1 to the Tennessee state constitution. The people pushing this deeply flawed and dangerous amendment are using outright untruths to attempt to sell their message.
Falsehood 1: Abortion in Tennessee is unlicensed, unregulated, and performed in unsafe facilities.
Truth 1: Abortion is highly regulated in Tennessee. From mandatory reporting to the Tennessee Health Department to regular Health Department inspections, along with a host of regulations including parental notification for minors. Abortion in Tennessee is performed in licensed ambulatory surgical centers by doctors with hospital-admitting privileges.
Falsehood 2: Abortion is dangerous.
Truth 2: Abortion has a safety record of more than 99 percent, and it is 10 times safer than childbirth.
Falsehood 3: This amendment would protect women.
Truth 3: Quite the contrary: Amendment 1 would have no regard for a woman’s health or well-being, as it makes no exceptions for rape, incest, or when a woman’s health is in danger.
Falsehood 4: All Christians will vote for Amendment 1.
Truth 4: Many sincere Christians, including clergy, have come out publicly against Amendment 1. They understand that a woman’s private health decisions should be made only by her, with counsel and support of her family, and they subscribe to the basic Christian tenet, “judge not.”
Politicians have no business meddling in the personal health decisions of a woman and her family, obliterating the strong privacy provisions in the Tennessee Constitution. I urge all people of good will to vote No on Amendment 1.
Mary M. Loveless
About the verdicts in the “Kroger teen mob” incident …
The swift arrests of the youths in the Kroger mob violence sent the right message. As did Mayor Wharton and Police Director Armstrong immediately standing together to denounce it.
The soft sentences eight of the youth received for this crime sent the wrong one. Justice was not served. The victims could have been killed. The eight deserved more severe punishments, ones that would deter future actions like this one and prompt parents to make certain that their children never behave this way.
With teachers quitting their classrooms because of disrespectful, unruly kids and with the increase in the number of gangs, there are many Memphians who may decide to exit our city and many from outside who will choose not to come here to live.
I want to live the rest of my life here, but we need to take the necessary steps to ensure a good future for Memphis.
Philip Williams