Greg Cravens
About Toby Sells’ cover story, “The Battle over Benefits” …
Let’s not forget, in the budget that was initially approved (and I quote the exact statement): “The city will continue to pay for the retiree health-care cost for persons not eligible for Medicare, and the city will identify ways to ease this transition of all impacted employees.” And then, the city pulled a fast one and no longer supplemented the pre-65-year-old retirees that are not eligible for Medicare. And there is also no mention of spousal carve-out. So the council didn’t have all the information when they based [the original budget].
Robin Miller Comellia
About Bruce VanWyngarden’s Letter from the Editor, “Let’s Go Krogering: A Rorschach Test” …
I hope that everyone learns an important lesson from the aftermath of this incident. If you feel you have the right to judge others, especially strangers, at least wait for all of the facts to be revealed. As long as people of all races are so quick to assume that every crime is motivated by racism, a world without racism will never even be a possibility, let alone a goal.
I thought this was a hate crime at first because of what was initially reported. The post I read stated that a group of black teens attacked a white man for no apparent reason, then attacked two teen Kroger employees when they tried to intervene. According to that information, it was a hate crime. Their target was a white man who appeared to be minding his own business, and the other two victims were only attacked because they tried to help. However, the attack does not appear to have been motivated by race, but by teen boredom. This is not just a problem in Memphis; I have seen it personally from Detroit to Memphis to small town Iowa.
What horrified me most about this incident at first was the number of people who stood around and laughed. Again, though, after getting more information, I found I was wrong again. The people watching didn’t understand what was really going on at first. Once it became clear that innocent people were being brutally attacked, people tried to help.
Christina Lacock Mauthe
Greg Cravens
It’s about time we moved the Bedford Forrest statue to Poplar Plaza. The gathered adoring, well-armed, flowers of the Confederacy will make it safe for families again, and all the concerned trollers from all over America will be a boon for business.
crackoamerican
Thanks for laying out a column without an agenda. Crime is bad, everywhere, inevitable, and occurs in all neighborhoods and walks of life.
Markell Jeffries
Comment sections are 90 percent trolls, 5 percent people who got lost and have no idea what box they are typing in. It is worth celebrating that the Flyer usually does so much better than the rest of the internet comment world.
I am angry, though, that no one is hearing that this was not a one-off aberration. This time there was a video, that’s all. Large groups of teens with their brains switched into a feral mob mentality have been terrorizing Poplar Plaza and other parts of town, from downtown out, for some time, and no one seems to care, until an embarrassing video leaks.
Hate, guns, pity, and denial. None is useful.
WSaffron
What if there had been no white people at all involved in this incident? Most likely the general public would dismiss it as “thugs being thugs” or some other such nonsense. We should not tolerate any such incidents, regardless of the color of the skin of the perpetrators or the victims. We are all human beings, how about we all start treating one another as such?
PatrickGSR94
About Chris Davis’ post, “Wendi Thomas Resigns Her Position at The Commercial Appeal” …
Good riddance. I might consider becoming a subscriber again… since she was the reason I dropped my subscription. She was a racist, race baiting, opinion writer… nothing more.
JustZero
It’s a shame. Didn’t always agree with her, but this town desperately needs more people in the media who are willing to call b.s. on it when needed.
B