Ow!
I'm glad to hear Shinara Taylor and her little friends [May 10] got their rocks off at the FTAA summit, but I wonder about the Quebec cop that got splattered with flaming gasoline. Does he share the warm and fuzzy glow?
Joe Finucane
Knoxville
On the 'Labor Tax'
I recall about seven years ago when Don Sundquist promised that he will not raise taxes if he was elected governor. Much to my regret, I voted for him. Then again, the talk that politicians make promises they don't intend to keep is true.
[State Sen.] Bob Rochelle of Lebanon stated that "there'll be hell to pay'' if an income tax isn't passed. Actually there'll be hell to pay if the legislature does pass the income tax. He ought to be voted out of office.
These politicians are so out of touch that they lie to your face. It's bad enough that they figure out how to scam people behind closed doors.
People for the most part are not lobbyists trying to cop political favors. They are instead simply working—mainly to pay for this tax burden that has been forced upon them. I think a more accurate term for income tax would be labor tax. You pay a tax so that you can work. Working for your money and putting food on the table used to be a responsibility. Now it's a burden.
These working people are the "silent majority" that is taken for granted. But until the masses start rising up and voting for people who will not take them for granted, this travesty will continue.
Chris Fortner
Knoxville
Then, as now
Read your article [April 26, Best of Knoxville] on the Back Door Tavern on Kingston Pike. Back in pre-World's Fair days I stayed at the Colony Motel (now gone) across the street.
Fay and Elvin "Pee Wee" Coker ran the Back Door. Some people may have called him "Shorty," I don't know. The Back Door was a good tavern then and, I understand, still is. Toddy Cook passed away and he had some boys to take it over at that time.
Enjoy Metro Pulse, so keep up the paper.
Doyt E. Barkley
Knoxville
Ducks, Too, May be Involved
We have read with astonishment your fine piece [May 17] on the possibility of an alien plot to establish a new world order using a matrix of spherical tourist attractions in downtown Knoxville.
Since our firm was the architect for the recent Bijou Theatre renovation (including installation of the air conditioning unit you believe may be central to the conspiracy) we first believed we had been used as puppets to assist in this sinister plot.
However, upon closer examination of your satellite image we have discovered a miscalculation by your unnamed government source. It appears that the crosshair lies not on the air conditioning unit, but on one of the Bijou's two chimneys.
Mysteriously, this chimney has been known to serve as a perch for not a few pigeons—the very creatures seen loitering suspiciously in the vicinity of the other significant sites noted in your article.
Thanks to your excellent investigative journalism Knoxville may now be very close to linking a potential alien treachery to a burgeoning population of avian operatives.
Lee Ingram
Brewer Ingram Fuller Architects Inc.
Knoxville
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