Oppose the Road
At a time when our federal government is straining to maintain world peace and keep the homeland secure without going too far into debt, North Carolina U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor is pushing a $150 million boondoggle that would degrade the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The so-called North Shore Road proposal would bulldoze and pave across a 30-mile swath of the backcountry in the park between the north side of Fontana Lake and the state line ridge. Cutting such a road across steep ridges and through pristine valleys would have bad effects on wildlife, plants, and water quality and would degrade tranquility and solitude of some 15 backcountry campsites and many miles of hiking/horse riding trails.
The pretext for Taylor's road proposal goes back to 1943, before Fontana Lake flooded an existing gravel road between Bryson City, N.C., and Deals Gap on the Tenn./N.C. border (on US-129). Government representatives committed to build a replacement road if Congress funded it. For the very good reason that other replacement roads in less sensitive terrain were greatly improved, Congress has never funded it. Take a ride sometime on Route 28 along the south shore of Fontana Lake. It's a really nice road with Blue Ridge Parkway-style overlooks that provide magnificent views of the lake and the Smoky Mountains beyond.
The National Park Service (NPS) has initiated an Environmental Impact Statement regarding the proposed North Shore Road. That sounds comforting but only guarantees that the impacts be estimated and alternatives studied. They can still, within the law, say, "Who cares about the impacts, let's go ahead and build it."
The NPS EIS contractor is coming to Knoxville to present information about the proposed road and to collect input from the public. The meeting will take place Monday, Sept. 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Marriot Hotel in downtown Knoxville. This is a great opportunity for lovers of the park and of outdoor recreation to attend and give the Park Service an earful about how there must be some reasonable alternative to this destructive and expensive boondoggle.
Mike Harrington
Knoxville
Network Ethics?
I was disappointed to read that Metro Pulse endorsed Bill Haslam for mayor and not Madeline Rogero. I was less surprised when I read as a footnote in Joe Tarr's Citybeat article [also Sept. 4] that Metro Pulse owner Brian Conley contributed $1,000 to Haslam's campaign. A footnote in a Citybeat article? I checked back to the endorsement article and there was no mention of Conley's contributions.
Thanks for keeping up those journalistic ethics, Metro Pulse. Thanks also for working so hard to keep that Good Ol' Boys network intact.
Marcelle Good
Knoxville
Joe Sullivan's column favoring Haslam for mayor was his own decision. Conley's contribution to the Haslam campaign was made months before his purchase of Metro Pulse, and there was never any thought of not listing it with the other contributions
—The editor.
Think "Ro-Air-O"
I beg to differ with Joe Sullivan's [Sept. 4] choice of Bill Haslam for our next mayor. The most important issue that faces Knoxvillians during this election time is our air quality. Bill Haslam proposes to deal with pollution by supporting development that induces people to work and live in the city. Fine, but that only touches the tip of the iceberg. Madeline Rogero agrees with that and supports a mass transportation system that addresses greater Knoxville and farther into the future.
As I write this letter, Knoxville's air quality is indexed at 193, or "unhealthy" for the second day in a row. That is only 7 points from being "very unhealthy." Let's face it folks, if we don't take steps to clean up our air now, no one will want Knoxville for a residence or a place to do business. Madeline's deep concern for the environment is what sets her apart in this race and she has my support because of it.
Teresa Miller
Knoxville
Un-alternative Alternative
I admit I have never been very appreciative of Joe Sullivan's mainly conservative and definitely "un-alternative" columns; however, his Insights column of Sept. 4 leads me to wonder if he wouldn't, perhaps, be more comfortable writing a newsletter for Warren Buffett or employed as a spinmaster of propaganda for our appointed president.
Sullivan spins that "during the course of his (Haslam) campaign, he's connected with every neighborhood, ethnic group, etc." Duh! Isn't that what one does in a campaign?
How far need we look, especially in this town, to see how important campaign promises are, particularly concerning ethnic groups and poorer neighborhoods? The current (and outgoing, thank God) administration claims "there's no money" for the Danny Mayfield Park, but find the money for $6 million worth of flowers for a park with the "right" zip code. Haslam likes to point out he swept floors and pumped gas as a young teen at a Pilot store. I deduce from this that, after inheriting his father's empire, his brief, early experience has kept him connected to the common worker. I worked at age 14, after school and Saturdays, in a wholesale candy and tobacco warehouse, which my daddy didn't even own (or have any connections to).
Both Sullivan and Haslam like to point out the wealth of Haslam's contributions (and contributors!). Could it be the same "too few who have run things too long" aiming to keep the status quo? Sullivan correctly points out that job creation is an important need in Knoxville. A few more Pilots will soon have one on every corner, all providing a paycheck-to-paycheck existence for employees.
Knoxville has historically strived to attract low pay industry. That's how the few "haves" continue to have. Sullivan says, "If you can't stand the thought of a rich man being mayor of Knoxville, then by all means vote for Rogero." That's not the reason to vote against Haslam or for Rogero. He should have said, "If you believe Knoxville has reached its fullest potential thanks to the too few making too many of the decisions for too long, then by all means vote for Haslam."
Richard York
Rockford
Loud-Ass, Maybe...
Thanks for another stereotype perpetuated [Ear, Sept. 4]. There's an old saw among motorcyclists that goes "It's not the bike; it's the rider." Buying a big or fast (the two are not necessarily synonymous, by the way) motorcycle and discarding the mufflers doesn't make the owner a bad-ass, as much as he or she would like to think so. Unfortunately, motorcycles have become costume jewelry, pseudo lifestyle enhancers for the wanting-to-appear-bad-ass with money or good credit. Those with less money or poor credit have to settle for the black Motor Company T-shirt.
A quick and dirty poll of one of the largest motorcycle clubs in Knoxville failed to produce a single recollection of anyone's seeing Tim Burchett ride a motorcycle, or appear anywhere carrying gear to indicate he had arrived via motorcycle. Tim is a long-time enthusiast and has a fine collection of bikes, but he usually arrives via four-wheeler.
I don't know what criteria Ear used to pick the selection of Republicans in the piece, but you missed a perfect example: On the floor of Smoky Mountain Motor Sports in Kodak rests a used Kawasaki ZRX1200 registering a whopping 725 miles on the odometer, the kind mileage a genuine bad-ass could accumulate in a day. It seems Hallerin Hill traded it in on the hyperbike du jour, a new Suzuki GSXR1000.
Real "bikers" ride their bikes (and not just to Hooters and on flag-waving cause rides), and so will be less visible to Metro Pulse writers and other bad-ass watchers. But they're no less bad-ass than the Republicans selected for this story, so give us a break. Meanwhile, we're all waiting for the day we encounter Mr. Hill on Highway 129 astride his new "bad-ass" ride.
Fred Sahms
Knoxville
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