To the Editor:
Deer hunting van be an exciting adventure, but is it a good thing? #1, it is a “clean” meat as mentioned in Lev. Chapter 11 and permission is given to eat it. #2, it involves killing, which I’m sure that the deer do not appreciate. Meat is not a necessary food. The original diet (Gen. 1:29), which God gave to man in Eden, did not include meat nor dairy products. A vegetarian diet includes all the nutritional elements needed to sustain life. The original diet consisted of fruits, grains, and nuts and after the fall, vegetables. There are two main reasons why a meat diet is not good. #1, fat or cholesterol can cause heart attacks and strokes. Diseases in deer, (including cancer and others), can be transmitted to humans if not thoroughly cooked. There is 0 cholesterol in a plant diet. Deer are beautiful animals. Since deer meat is not an absolute necessity, wouldn’t it be better to let them live so that we may enjoy their beauty? In the New Heavens and the New Earth, both man and animals will return to the vegetarian diet that God created for each of them. As it says in Isa. 11:9; (first part) For they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my Holy mountain. Isn’t God’s way best?
S.R. Callahan
Stanley, Va.
Search for Airborne Veterans
Dear Editor,
We are trying to locate the many veterans that have passed through the 82d Airborne Division in the past 66 years. We need to record their deeds for history for our younger generations.
The 82d Airborne Division has served in Afghanistan and Iraq for the past few years and will return for another tour of duty. This is the most decorated division in today’s military.
We have 100 civilian chapters across the U.S.A., which serve both the military and civilians. With 34,000 members, we hold regular meetings, annual picnics, dinner-dances, and mini-reunions, an annual National Convention, local parades and sponsor school programs on our Airborne History.
Our membership has veterans from the 11th, 13th, 17th, 82nd, 101st, and today’s special forces. Combat is not a requirement, only the wings you earned through hard work and determination.
National Activities include the 63rd National Convention, August 19-22, 2009, in Indianapolis, IN. For complete details on events and membership, contact Airborne 2008, 5459 Northcutt Pl., Dayton, OH 45414. Phone: 937-898-5977, Email: srgabn@aol.com.
Respectfully Submitted,
Shirley R. Gossett
Need help with road
To the Editor:
I would like to start by saying, even though I read the Claiborne Progress every week, I don’t ever reply to the people who put in letters to the editor. But, the week of April 30th, 2008, I came across a column and I just could not sit back any longer and not say anything. As far as all the facts first, there’s already a lot of Claiborne County residents that know how much land tax goes to the road department and how much sales tax the road department receives per gallon of gas sold within Claiborne County.
As for some other residents and myself, we don’t go to other counties or states to purchase fuel. Therefore, we are not taking money from our county government. We are contributing to it, and may I also add that not only from land tax and sales tax that add up to be approximately $35,000 a year. It is not the only amount they have. They also receive a certain amount of government funding to go along with that $35,000.
As for maintenance of the county roads, we know it takes labor, fuel, and materials, and that there are only 24 employees. We all know each and every one has been paid for the hard labor they do. I think what we may be trying to say when we put letters to the editor, saying something about the roads are 1) Maybe if all the public knows of the problem not being fixed, maybe someone with a kind heart will help! 2) We may be saying there’s a whole lot of money and funding not being used. So where is it going? Fixing roads that have already been paved and nothings wrong with them.
However, I do have to agree that the Sanitation Department is doing the best that they can. As for the Road Department goes, other residents and myself feel that the employees that work under the Road Superintendent are also doing the best they can and what they can do for this county when the Road Superintendent permits it ok. We thank the employees that work under the Road Superintendent for the hard labor they do. As for the Road Superintendent, no, I don’t feel that he’s doing all that he can. The reason for me saying this is, I have set back ever since he has first been elected approximately 5 years. I have come across so many columns in the Claiborne Progress, in the section of Letters to the Editor, that have complained about the roads, and other ones that have defended the Road Superintendent.
The very first time the Road Superintendent ran in the election for the position, like me, he knows of a little girl. I call her a little girl because that’s what she is. He knows of all of her conditions, past and present. He knows that the only way for her to get in and out to her appointments, due to her condition, is by ambulance. Not to mention, she is severely handicapped, bedridden, and has respiratory failure. She has a trach in her throat and oxygen on top of that, just to breath. Without either one of them she cannot live.
Yes, everyday she breathes in what is called rock dust from the gravel road. Eventually it will kill her. The rock dust comes into the house and settles in her machines. The filter system can only filter out so much and then the filters clog with rock dust. She breathes it into her lungs. Like a lot of people, her parents cannot afford to just up and move to a better place. This is why I say, no, the Road Superintendent is not doing all that he can. Even before the first time he was elected, and he is still running for Road Superintendent, he promised this little girls parents that if he got elected, he would get Coal Hollow and Griffin Lane paved. He has promised this for approximately 5 years now. They have been 3rd on the list and still as of today, you can take a ride in Coal Hollow and Griffin Lane, and all you will see is a gravel road in your rearview mirror. All you will see is rock dust not paved road.
Now that he has been elected Road Superintendent, every time that this little girl’s parents mention anything about paving Coal Hollow and Griffin Lane, they get the same response. “We don’t have enough money, I can’t do anything right now”, or “You’re 3rd on the list”, year after year. To me, the worse part is, the Road Superintendent has been shown the filters that have come out of the machines. The most that was said to this girl’s parents was, “I can’t do anything about it right now.” Still yet, nothing has been done and they still get the same response. Yes, as far as getting the facts first, I have all of my facts and they are all straight.
Lynn Pierce
Tazewell, Tenn.
Health endangered by dust
To the Editor:
Hi, my name is Sabrina, and I live in New Tazewell, Tennessee, in Claiborne County. I would like to tell my story about the road I live on and the County Highway Department Superintendent.
Everyone is always talking about their dirt roads and the pot holes where they live, I’m not saying anything bad about these people and what they write, but I would like for people in this county what I live with, so here’s my story.
I have respiratory failure, I have a trach and I use oxygen. I can’t live without this, and I am bedridden. I am blind and I live with this dust that comes into our home that makes my filters white with dust. It gets into my lungs and makes me sick. I have to go to the hospital and stay for weeks. My mom has spoken to the Superintendent about this for the past five years and he keeps telling her the same things. “We have no money” or “You’re third on the list” or “I have 300 miles to pave”. My mother has even taken the filters into his office and showed him the dust. My filters are washed every other day and my room is dusted everyday to keep the dust down. My mom tells me that she can only pray for the Road Superintendent because he has told her so many stories.
My mom also has to have oxygen and has breathing problems. We would like to know why the Road Superintendent keeps telling different stories. Why not just tell the truth and say he’s not going to have the roads paved on Cole Hollow and Griffin Lane at any time and be done with it. No more stories Mr. Road Superintendent.
My mother has written this letter on my behalf because I can’t speak. I hope the Road Superintendent can live with this.
I thank each and everyone for taking time out of their busy day to read this letter. May God bless each and every one.
Judy Hensley
New Tazewell, Tenn.
Thanks to those who made parade a success
To the Editor:
The New Tazewell Merchants’ Association would like to say a big “Thank You” to all of you that braved the bitter cold weather to participate in our Christmas Parade, especially the New Tazewell Police Department, Tazewell Police Department and Bobby Morelock, our Field Coordinator, and his crew to get the parade off the field and down the road. Our Claiborne Co. Fire Depts. and Rescue Squad are also a big part of the parade. Our parade was led by our Grand Marshall Fred and Tammy England followed by our Mayor Jerry and Donna Beeler along with our honored merchants Elaine and George Debusk and Sandy Wilder and last but not least Santa and Mrs. Claus. Thank you also to the Claiborne Progress for helping to get the word out. Without all of you that participated we could not have the parade, because you are what makes everything come together. We all wish you Happy Holidays and good health for the coming years.
Sincerely,
Polly Enix, President
Tammy Meyers, Secretary/Treasurer
Opposition to on-line education for county students
To the Editor:
I continue to be bothered by the fact that the Claiborne School System is allowing students to drop out of school at the age of 16 and go home to work on an on-line diploma from a school in Florida. I understand that the school system is between a rock and a hard place due to the ridiculous requirements of the “No Child Left Behind” law. But there has to be a better way to comply with this legislation than by sending children home and leaving them behind.
The following memo was recently sent to the high school principals and counselors from Dr. Shoffner, Director of Schools. “If a student is noncompliant and the noncompliance cannot be addressed using the Court system (truancy and unruliness), the school can suggest a Category III approved home school. The most economic choice, if the student is 16, is Continental Academy (which is an on-line school headquartered in Florida). Proof of enrollment and registration with the Home School Coordinator allows the student to withdraw “out of state” and is not counted as a dropout against the school system. This choice does not protect our ADM.”
Let me explain what this means. If the school cannot control or educate the child, let them drop out of the Claiborne County School System and enroll in an out-of-state on-line school. The student will provide a registration in the school as proof they have withdrawn from the county school system and transferred “out of state.” Therefore, when they do not graduate from high school it will not count as a negative graduation rate for Claiborne County because the student was enrolled in a Florida school. I simply cannot understand this. I thought that when I paid county school taxes I was paying them for the Claiborne County School System to educate Claiborne County children. Not the state of Florida.
The last sentence of the memo states that choosing to withdraw a student and enroll them in an “out of state” school will cause the school system to lose state funding for that child. This is true. The State of Tennessee provides approximately $7,000 per year per student enrolled in the school system as a “per child expenditure” as determined by the ADM (average daily membership). It is my understanding that, so far, more than 20 children have been sent home and enrolled in Continental Academy. This means that the Claiborne County School System is losing more than $140,000 in state funding. Yet, the front page article of this newspaper recently stated that the school board was facing a possible funding crisis. Has not some of the crisis been brought on by the school board itself by allowing this exodus from the school system?
I simply cannot wrap my mind around the fact that the Claiborne County School System is saying, “If we cannot educate a child, send them home, let them enroll in an out-of-state on-line school (whether they ever graduate or not), and let them be Florida’s problem!”
Carl Nichols
Retired Teacher
New Tazewell, Tenn.
God gives Grace!
To the Editor:
Have you ever said, “I don’t know how I am going to make it thru the week?” I have many times. God gives grace for every day! The next time you begin to think about how you are going to make it, remember there is grace for every need! That is a wonderful thought isn’t it. Paul asked Jesus to take the thorn from his flesh but Jesus told him His grace was sufficient! There’s a song I like that says, sufficient Grace to run the race! If you are a sinner ask Jesus in your heart and you can receive. I would like to hear from some of my readers. My phone number is 626-2386.
Josephine Patterson
Tazewell, Tenn.
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