Henderson is wrong about Obama
Published November 19th, 2010 in the Times-News
I would suppose that one answer to Cecilia Henderson’s question, “What could President Obama do that would get the approval of the narrow-minded people in Tennessee?” might be to resign. Based on his approval ratings, resigning would get the approval of more voters than those “narrow-minded people” in Tennessee. But that would not appease Ms. Henderson, who by her comments appears to be narrow-minded also. I strongly disagree with Ms. Henderson, who does not speak for anyone but herself, that criticism of President Obama is because he is black.
It seems to me that all of the presidents since 1960 have endured their share of criticism and abuse from the media, the public and the butt of jokes by late night talk show hosts. One major difference among the men elected president prior to Obama is they all had experience in business, leadership in politics or the military, something President Obama does not have. And for the record, President Obama is not black. He is the son of one white parent and one black parent and so mixed black and white ancestry and therefore is a mulatto. Use of the term mulatto varies widely, and a majority of people of mixed white and black ancestry choose not to identify themselves as mulatto, but prefer African-American or another adjective other than white.
Bill Killen
Church Hill
DOUGLASS WEBSITE EDITOR'S NOTE: Many African-Americans do not like the term "mulatto" because of its association to slavery and colonial and racial oppression, according to Wikipedia. We only include it in the above letter because of the historical context.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Letter to the Editor: Bashing of Obama racially motivated
What could President Obama do that would get the approval of the narrow-minded people in Tennessee? Every move he makes there is someone waiting to criticize him. Why are we so hard on this one president? I know. And the people who are giving him so much grief know, but they don’t have the courage to say it. So I will say it for them. The president is black.
Cecilia Henderson Kingsport
Cecilia Henderson Kingsport
Thursday, November 11, 2010
What Happens When a Tower Demolition Goes Way Wrong!
“Oh no.”
Near Springfield, Ohio, those were some of the last words heard before shouts to get back as the old Mad River Power Plant’s 275-foot tower toppled in the wrong direction about noon Wednesday.
The blasts should have sent the stack onto a cleared area directly to the east, but instead the tower crashed to the southeast.
CHECK OUT THE VIDEO, COURTESY THE A.P.:
No one was injured but the tower knocked down two 12,500-volt power lines and smashed a building housing back-up generators.
The electrical lines came crashing down as a crowd of about 25 media members, FirstEnergy Corp. employees, demolition crews and their family members scattered to avoid the live lines.
“It just started leaning the other way and I thought, ‘Holy cow’ ... It was terrifying for a little bit,” Springfield Twp. Fire Chief John Roeder said.
About 4,000 customers on the west side of the city lost power for more than two hours and traffic lights in at least nine intersections went down.
The explosives detonated correctly, but an undetected crack on south side of the tower pulled it backward, said Lisa Kelly, president/owner of Advanced Explosives Demolition Inc.
“It’s property damage and it’s not life,” she said. “That’s the most important thing — that no one was injured.”
Demolitions are a highly technical process.
“(But) it’s not without some uncertainty,” said Tim Suter, FirstEnergy manager of external affairs.
All of the debris landed on the FirstEnergy property and none of it went into the Mad River or onto the nearby railway tracks. An estimate of the cost of the damage wasn’t available Wednesday.
Suter said he hasn’t seen anything like it before.
“Fortunately no one was injured,” he said.
FirstEnergy has worked with the demolition contractor, Advanced Explosives Demolition Inc., on other jobs, Suter said, and a lot of preparation went into the project.
“They’ve taken other towers twice the size of this one down without anything going on,” he said.
The Idaho-based, family-owned company has been featured in a series on TLC, according to its website. They travel the country with their children doing demolitions.
The AED website says that Eric Kelly has “a perfect safety record of no accidents in 27 years.”
AED President/Owner Lisa Kelly said the crack in the tower pulled it in the wrong direction.
The most important fact is that no one was injured, Kelly said, because property can always be reconstructed.
Cleanup will be handled efficiently, she said.
“Nobody’s happy with things that go wrong in life, and sometimes it’s out of our hands and beyond anybody’s prediction ... We’re all extremely thankful no one was injured or hurt,” she said.
The plant dates to the 1920s and was last used nearly 30 years ago. FirstEnergy began razing it this summer as a company-wide effort to cleanup old sites.
Springfield Twp. Fire Chief John Roeder came to observe the tower demolition Wednesday and had fire trucks nearby if needed.
Once he saw the tower heading the wrong direction, Roeder wanted to clear the area under the wires as quickly as possible, and feared it might strike a substation and start a fire.
“It was definitely a sight to see,” Roeder said.
The power lines nearly fell on several news crews staged in the area.
“We just ran,” said Eric Higgenbotham, a WHIO-TV videographer. “We were standing underneath the power lines, it was like the end of the world. We were running for our lives.”
At least nine intersections on the west side of the city lost power, and officers were dispatched to direct traffic, said Sgt. Brian Radanovich, Springfield Police Division.
One minor crash with no injuries at High Street and Wittenberg Avenue was reported during the outage.
Fewer intersections were disabled in past power outages, he said.
“This is probably the most we’ve had in awhile,” he said.
Near Springfield, Ohio, those were some of the last words heard before shouts to get back as the old Mad River Power Plant’s 275-foot tower toppled in the wrong direction about noon Wednesday.
The blasts should have sent the stack onto a cleared area directly to the east, but instead the tower crashed to the southeast.
CHECK OUT THE VIDEO, COURTESY THE A.P.:
No one was injured but the tower knocked down two 12,500-volt power lines and smashed a building housing back-up generators.
The electrical lines came crashing down as a crowd of about 25 media members, FirstEnergy Corp. employees, demolition crews and their family members scattered to avoid the live lines.
“It just started leaning the other way and I thought, ‘Holy cow’ ... It was terrifying for a little bit,” Springfield Twp. Fire Chief John Roeder said.
About 4,000 customers on the west side of the city lost power for more than two hours and traffic lights in at least nine intersections went down.
The explosives detonated correctly, but an undetected crack on south side of the tower pulled it backward, said Lisa Kelly, president/owner of Advanced Explosives Demolition Inc.
“It’s property damage and it’s not life,” she said. “That’s the most important thing — that no one was injured.”
Demolitions are a highly technical process.
“(But) it’s not without some uncertainty,” said Tim Suter, FirstEnergy manager of external affairs.
All of the debris landed on the FirstEnergy property and none of it went into the Mad River or onto the nearby railway tracks. An estimate of the cost of the damage wasn’t available Wednesday.
Suter said he hasn’t seen anything like it before.
“Fortunately no one was injured,” he said.
FirstEnergy has worked with the demolition contractor, Advanced Explosives Demolition Inc., on other jobs, Suter said, and a lot of preparation went into the project.
“They’ve taken other towers twice the size of this one down without anything going on,” he said.
The Idaho-based, family-owned company has been featured in a series on TLC, according to its website. They travel the country with their children doing demolitions.
The AED website says that Eric Kelly has “a perfect safety record of no accidents in 27 years.”
AED President/Owner Lisa Kelly said the crack in the tower pulled it in the wrong direction.
The most important fact is that no one was injured, Kelly said, because property can always be reconstructed.
Cleanup will be handled efficiently, she said.
“Nobody’s happy with things that go wrong in life, and sometimes it’s out of our hands and beyond anybody’s prediction ... We’re all extremely thankful no one was injured or hurt,” she said.
The plant dates to the 1920s and was last used nearly 30 years ago. FirstEnergy began razing it this summer as a company-wide effort to cleanup old sites.
Springfield Twp. Fire Chief John Roeder came to observe the tower demolition Wednesday and had fire trucks nearby if needed.
Once he saw the tower heading the wrong direction, Roeder wanted to clear the area under the wires as quickly as possible, and feared it might strike a substation and start a fire.
“It was definitely a sight to see,” Roeder said.
The power lines nearly fell on several news crews staged in the area.
“We just ran,” said Eric Higgenbotham, a WHIO-TV videographer. “We were standing underneath the power lines, it was like the end of the world. We were running for our lives.”
At least nine intersections on the west side of the city lost power, and officers were dispatched to direct traffic, said Sgt. Brian Radanovich, Springfield Police Division.
One minor crash with no injuries at High Street and Wittenberg Avenue was reported during the outage.
Fewer intersections were disabled in past power outages, he said.
“This is probably the most we’ve had in awhile,” he said.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Americans Sure Have Short Memories
FROM A NOTE EMAILED TO ROBERTA LANAUZE:
After The 8 Years Of The Bush/Cheney Disaster, Now You Get Mad?
You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and
appointed a President.
You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to
dictate Energy policy and push us to invade Iraq.
You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.
You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.
You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no
threat to us.
You didn't get mad when we spent over 800 billion (and counting) on said
illegal war.
You didn't get mad when Bush borrowed more money from foreign sources
than the previous 42 Presidents combined.
You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars in cash just disappeared
in Iraq.
You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.
You didn't get mad when Bush embraced trade and outsourcing policies
that shipped 6 million American jobs out of the country.
You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping
Americans.
You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.
You didn't get mad when Bush rang up 10 trillion dollars in combined
budget and current account deficits.
You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.
You didn't get mad when we let a major US city, New Orleans, drown.
You didn't get mad when we gave people who had more money than they
could spend, the filthy rich, over a trillion dollars in tax breaks.
You didn't get mad with the worst 8 years of job creations in several
decades.
You didn't get mad when over 200,000 US Citizens lost their lives
because they had no health insurance.
You didn't get mad when lack of oversight and regulations from the Bush
Administration caused US Citizens to lose 12 trillion dollars in
investments, retirement, and home values.
You finally got mad when a black man was elected President and decided
that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are
sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, job losses by the
millions, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, and the
worst economic disaster since 1929 are all okay with you, but helping
fellow Americans who are sick...Oh, Hell No!!
After The 8 Years Of The Bush/Cheney Disaster, Now You Get Mad?
You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and
appointed a President.
You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to
dictate Energy policy and push us to invade Iraq.
You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.
You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.
You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no
threat to us.
You didn't get mad when we spent over 800 billion (and counting) on said
illegal war.
You didn't get mad when Bush borrowed more money from foreign sources
than the previous 42 Presidents combined.
You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars in cash just disappeared
in Iraq.
You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.
You didn't get mad when Bush embraced trade and outsourcing policies
that shipped 6 million American jobs out of the country.
You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping
Americans.
You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.
You didn't get mad when Bush rang up 10 trillion dollars in combined
budget and current account deficits.
You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.
You didn't get mad when we let a major US city, New Orleans, drown.
You didn't get mad when we gave people who had more money than they
could spend, the filthy rich, over a trillion dollars in tax breaks.
You didn't get mad with the worst 8 years of job creations in several
decades.
You didn't get mad when over 200,000 US Citizens lost their lives
because they had no health insurance.
You didn't get mad when lack of oversight and regulations from the Bush
Administration caused US Citizens to lose 12 trillion dollars in
investments, retirement, and home values.
You finally got mad when a black man was elected President and decided
that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are
sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, job losses by the
millions, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, and the
worst economic disaster since 1929 are all okay with you, but helping
fellow Americans who are sick...Oh, Hell No!!
Friday, October 1, 2010
Message from former Kingsport Mayor Jeanette Blazier
"The dedication ceremony (for the V.O. Dobbins, Sr. Complex) was one of the most inspiring we've had in Kingsport! Thanks to you and so many others who have worked tirelessly to make this long time dream a reality. I'm very thankful and 'my cup is running over' a week later. Calvin, you and many others should be on cloud nine! I'm there with you. In 1996 when Jalisa Ferguson was killed, I started working with a wonderful steering team that helped the neighborhood begin to create a vision for Riverview. The highest priority out of those neighborhood sessions was the renovation of V.O. Dobbins and specifically a community room/center. Praise God you have it in 2010! I am filled with joy!"
Jeanette Blazier
Jeanette Blazier
Monday, September 27, 2010
V.O. Dobbins Complex Is A Welcome Addition to the Community
Like Van, watching the slide show of the newly renovated Douglass, I, too, became emotional. For all of us who were taught and cared for at Douglass High School, the social services now located in Riverview and across the city, will now be more understood by those citizens in Riverview and across the city.
Finally, Riverview is a part of the City of Kingsport.
Congratulations to those citizens of the City and County who worked hard to make this happen. Yes, Mr. Dobbins, Mr. Gill, Mr.Young, Coach Deering, Mr. Baylor, Mr. Hendricks, Mrs. Shannon, Mr. Thomas, would be proud; however, let's not forget Mrs. Dobbins, who worked tirelessly to support her husband as she, too, taught and cared for and helped her students and friends and neighbors. I often observed Mrs. Dobbins out and about in the community. Again, congratulations, also, to the Douglass Alumni Association for their part-a job well done.
Rosemary Gray
Finally, Riverview is a part of the City of Kingsport.
Congratulations to those citizens of the City and County who worked hard to make this happen. Yes, Mr. Dobbins, Mr. Gill, Mr.Young, Coach Deering, Mr. Baylor, Mr. Hendricks, Mrs. Shannon, Mr. Thomas, would be proud; however, let's not forget Mrs. Dobbins, who worked tirelessly to support her husband as she, too, taught and cared for and helped her students and friends and neighbors. I often observed Mrs. Dobbins out and about in the community. Again, congratulations, also, to the Douglass Alumni Association for their part-a job well done.
Rosemary Gray
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Nice event
I attended the New Vision Youth Grandparents Day luncheon at the Civic Auditorium. This event was real nice. The New Vision youth kids were very mannerable and helpful in helping the grandparents get their lunch and drinks. The homemade soups were very tasty and good — that tea was out of this world.
I have never seen an event free to the public, which I was told they’ve done this for three years with no charge.
Grandparents that didn’t attend missed a tasty event. They even gave out nice door prizes. I admire how has their free events and doesn’t charge. Kingsport needs to attend the New Vision Youth events. Youth came from all over as far as Gate City and Johnson City to be of help to the community. Ms. Johnnie Mae, keep up the good work with these youth. Your blessings are coming.
Mrs. Loretta Collins
Kingsport
I have never seen an event free to the public, which I was told they’ve done this for three years with no charge.
Grandparents that didn’t attend missed a tasty event. They even gave out nice door prizes. I admire how has their free events and doesn’t charge. Kingsport needs to attend the New Vision Youth events. Youth came from all over as far as Gate City and Johnson City to be of help to the community. Ms. Johnnie Mae, keep up the good work with these youth. Your blessings are coming.
Mrs. Loretta Collins
Kingsport
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