Greg Cravens
About the “wine in grocery stores”
bill …
I believe the members of the Tennessee legislature would all tell you how much they support our free enterprise system. But consider the “wine in grocery stores” bill passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Haslam:
According to the law, petitions must be signed in counties that have liquor stores or liquor-by-the-drink in bars and restaurants. If enough signatures are gathered, food stores will still not be able to sell wine before July 1, 2016. Then, food stores will be required to mark up the retail price of wine 20 percent above the wholesale price and required to buy their wine from Tennessee wholesalers.
Liquor stores that are located within 500 feet of a food store will have the right to delay the food store from selling wine for a year. Liquor stores also gain the right to sell more items.
I do not see how this new law lets the free market work. Consumers may even have to pay more for wine than they should, because of the mandated 20 percent markup. And there are no laws or regulations that would prevent Tennessee wholesalers from taking advantage of not having to compete with wholesalers from outside the state.
The new law is not one that benefits consumers. It seems to have been crafted to protect and help the liquor store industry.
Philip Williams
About the Shelby Farms Greenline traffic lights …
The Shelby Farms Greenline is a definite asset to our city. My wife and I use it frequently to cycle out to Shelby Farms and the Wolf River Greenway. But the traffic signals at Highland and Graham that allow pedestrians and cyclists to cross are confusing and potentially dangerous.
When the button is pressed by a pedestrian/cyclist wanting to cross the street, motorists see two flashing yellow lights, followed by two solid red lights, and finally two flashing red lights. When the motorist sees the solid red light, the pedestrian sees the white “Walk” symbol. However, in a few seconds, a red “Don’t Walk” symbol appears with a countdown, while the motorists simultaneously see the two flashing red lights. The pedestrians are still under the assumption that it is safe to walk (for the remaining seconds in the countdown), but I have witnessed countless motorists drive through once the red lights begin flashing. This creates a very dangerous situation. Why not just have the lights remain solid red while the motorists are supposed to be at a stop?
Kristen Hildebrand
About Toby Sells’ post, “Public Golf Courses Could Get New Leader” …
Convert one of the courses into a Footgolf course!
Charlie Eppes
Footgolf, sure, but how about letting soccer players carry nine irons. I’d watch.
CL Mullins
If the past is any indication, they’ll hire someone who has never even kicked a golf ball.
Jeff
About Joe Weinberg’s Viewpoint on replacing Diebold voting machines, “It’s Broken. Fix It!” …
This is a good article by someone who has studied this issue for a long time. It is past time we move to optical scan machines so that we have a voter verified paper trail.
As I have written in the Flyer this year, Nashville has millions in federal funds available for just this purpose; and the Shelby County Commission this very year put in $1.3 million to pay our local share. All the SCEC has to do is ask the state for the matching funds in the form of a grant contemplated by state law. But it consistently declines to do so, even though its own staff made a formal budget request for county money for optical scan machines this very year.
Steve Mulroy