Dear Editor:

I have recently visited the 2010 re-election campaign web site for Rep. Jason Mumpower and noticed while the Tennessee General Assembly House Majority Leader from Bristol has posted hyperlinks to both the City of Kingsport (Sullivan County) and the City of Bristol (Sullivan County) that for some reason Mumpower has neglected to include hyperlinks on his campaign web site to either The Town of Mountain City and the Johnson County, Tennessee web pages. I find this rather ironic because Rep. Mumpower is himself employed by a Bristol based media and public relations firm owned by Rep. Jon Lundberg (also of Sullivan County) that produces web content for Corporate Image clients.

I imagine that it must be nice for Johnson County residents to apparently be held in such high regard by Rep. Mumpower, even though he has thoughtfully provided visitors seeking information at the Mumpower 2010 election web site with hyperlinks to two different comic book publishers.

Oh, well --- if the hopeful TNGA House Speaker Mumpower doesn’t share the passion of struggling Johnson County residents with finding employment, preventing foreclosure on their homes, or even in securing affordable health care, at least the many hurting families in Johnson County can at least share in Rep. Jason Mumpower’s childlike delight and passion that he apparently finds both collecting and reading comic books...after all, this 2010 election is all about Jason Mumpower.

See you all in Rep. Mumpower’s funny papers, Johnson County.

Robert D. Ritchie
Elizabethton, Tn

Dear Editor:

On Monday, March 15, 2010 at 10:45 p.m. it will be 11 years since my son, Jadey, was killed by a drunk driver. These past 11 years have been very painful and heartbreaking, but my belief in god and knowing that Jadey is in the presence of the Lord has given me the strength to get by one day at a time.

I know that Jadey had lots of friends that knew and loved him. On Monday night at 10:45 I will be down at his cross on Highway 421 and I am going to let 11 blue (Jadey’s favorite color) balloons go up. If any of his friends would like to join me, they are welcome. I am doing this in his memory.

I would especially like to thank Jimmy and Nancy Bunting for all the love and support they have shown me in making the beautiful flowers and putting them on for me. Love you guys, you’re the best.

Jadey's Mom, Jean Linton

Dear Editor:

Earlier this month, I delivered my eighth and final State of the State Address to the 106th General Assembly, and I presented a budget that has been the most difficult to prepare since my time in public office.  Despite the economic downturn, I’ve continued to focus on outlining a path to ensure that state government lives within its means while continuing to look for ways to move forward in priority areas critical to the future of our state.

The recession that has gripped our nation has been felt strongly here in Tennessee. We have seen unemployment and housing issues affect far too many families and state revenues have plummeted, creating tough challenges for us to maintain the services our citizens want. However, the state of our economy should never be an excuse for failing to advance those things most important to us in areas like education and job creation.

My goal has been to remain true to the principle of the “family budget” that I’ve talked about since first becoming governor. It’s nothing more than the commonsense idea that we’re going to adjust expenses to match our income and be very careful about using money from our savings. It’s the way sensible families have to manage through these times, and while state government is much larger, the principle is the same. It’s extremely important to have our finances stabilized so the next governor and legislature inherit a budget that matches recurring revenues and expenses.

The budget I’ve proposed is consistent with the four-year plan submitted last year with additional reductions to reflect the further revenue declines we’ve experienced along with the rest of the country.

Once again we have fully funded Tennessee’s formula for funding K-12 public education and the state’s pension system. Beyond that, state agencies will make budget reductions that average about six percent. This year it was not feasible to make reductions across the board, so a number of departments contributed nine percent and others – including Higher Education, Mental Health, Intellectual Disabilities Services, Children’s Services and Correction – contributed less.

TennCare is the largest single line item of the budget, and though we can’t achieve the spending reductions we need without affecting TennCare, we focused carefully on areas with the least direct impact to patients. These are tough times and the TennCare program, like every other state agency and sector of the economy, is not immune from the impacts of budget reductions.

In the Department of Safety, proposed reductions would have meant elimination of 85 filled trooper positions and 56 filled positions in driver’s license stations. Rather than do this, we proposed an increase in the driver’s license fee – the first increase since 1988 – from $3.90 to $5.75 annually, and we’ve extended the time these licenses are valid - to eight years instead of five.

With these reductions, we had a budget consistent with our four-year plan, but to achieve all of the reductions in their entirety required elimination of a variety of programs of real value. It would also require additional layoffs of 1,363 people and the elimination of 456 unfilled positions.

Our reserves are strong and prospects for a return to growth in the months ahead look far better today than a year ago. In this environment, I believe we can make judicious use of some of our savings to fund the continuation of a number of particularly important programs for a two-year period. This will allow additional time for the economy to recover and perhaps make the cuts ultimately unnecessary.

Programs that will be funded for two years through use of reserves include school health programs, Career Ladder extended contracts for teachers, safety net grants to health centers, disease prevention programs, community mental health recovery services, alcohol and drug services and juvenile justice grants in the Department of Children’s Services.

These reserve funds will also be used to preserve nearly 400 state employee jobs that would otherwise have been eliminated due to the economy.

Though I’ve had to make some very difficult decisions with this budget, I am confident this is a commonsense, straightforward approach that addresses the current economic challenges while ensuring Tennessee’s finances remain strong and stable over the long-term.

If you have questions or comments about this issue or any other, please e-mail me at phil.bredesen@tn.gov .  

Dear Editor:

On February 23, my family and I visited your town.  My husband had found your town on the atlas and had wanted to visit for some time.  Finally we had the opportunity.  We really enjoyed driving around in the town and meeting some of the people there.  We had lunch at Hardees.  The young lady who took our order and later brought our food to our table was super nice!  Then other people in the restaurant proved to us that what we had read about your town is true:  a very friendly hometown.  We did have a surprise that day while we were 500 miles away from our home; the alternator on our Ford Expedition went out.  We had just gotten gas at the Exxon/Napa service station on Main Street, so we went back there to see if they could help us.  They did just that!  How wonderful it was for us to meet some very nice people who went out of their way to help us when they could have taken advantage of the situation, but they didn’t.   Many thanks to all who were so nice to us on that Tuesday.  We will remember your kindness.  I apologize for not getting your names, but hopefully you will read this letter and know who you are.  May God bless each of you in Mountain City, TN.

Respectfully yours,
Tracy and Joanna Newman
Corinth, MS