Opinion

A few days ago, I did something I haven’t needed to do for 34˝ years. I signed up for a subscription to the Shelbyville Times-Gazette. I’ve never needed a subscription because I was usually here when the presses rolled, and I could grab one right out of the press room if I needed to, while the ink was still warm. ...

“Hope itself is like a star – not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity.” —Charles Haddon Spurgeon We have 461 bills set to be heard in our committees this week. I have 10 bills that I’m presenting and hopeful that they will all pass and move on the House Floor in the next couple of weeks. ...

To the Editor: As a ICF/RN in Fayetteville, I'd like to ask our community and specifically our senators to cosponsor the Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act (S. 2080). This bill is bi-partisan, has already passed the House, and helps seriously-ill patients manage their illnesses, avoid unnecessarily hospitalization, and retain their quality of life...

To the Editor: I wanted to pass this advice along for anyone in a similar situation that I was in when deciding on care for my mother. My Mother had been with me at home until I was physically unable to continue to care for her and my family and I had to make the difficult decision to place her in the nursing home...

"Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right." --Teddy Roosevelt The 2020 Legislative Session is probably half over. The Committee and House Calendars are becoming full and sometimes the bills are contentious. I had eight bills this week that I presented in committees and I should have that again next week. We are striving to adjourn by the middle or end of April...

For many locals, life is better when they're swimming. The Times-Gazette has received several calls recently in regard to the temporary closing of Shelbyville Recreation Center's indoor pool. I wish I had better news. It seems patrons are going to have to wait a bit longer for a leisurely swim at the Rec Center...

To the Editor: I recently traveled from Shelbyville to the statehouse in Nashville to represent cancer patients and survivors. I called on our state lawmakers to make reducing barriers to care for cancer patients in Tennessee a priority. I was honored to be joined by more than 100 of my fellow American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network volunteers from across the state...

To the Editor: For the past year, the board members of Circle of Friends, along with Hawkins and Price Contractors, have been diligently working to build a new Christian preschool in Shelbyville. Our new facility, on the corner of East Lane and Deery Streets, is within a week of opening...

"America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand." -- Harry S. Truman I wanted to give a huge thank you to Commissioner Linda Yockey and the rest of the Bedford County Commission for working with Bruce Nelson from the State of Tennessee Real Estate Asset Management to purchase the old Social Security Building. ...

To the Editor: Across the country, everywhere you look, our religious freedoms are under attack from the radical left and their socialist agenda. In Tennessee, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit last November against the Smith County School System for a student-led prayer at a Veterans Day assembly and their "prayer and period of silence" in school...

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead The date for filing new bills for the 2020 Session closed last Wednesday. There are 2,901 bills filed for this year compared with 2,727 last year. I believe that we normally pass about 500 bills per year. As you can see, there are many new ideas and changes introduced, but only about 15-20% pass and become laws...

Why do only a small portion of the voting age citizenry bother to vote in presidential elections? It’s because the majority know their vote doesn’t matter. Here are some details from the National Popular Vote Advocacy Group. State winner-take-all laws are the reason why the vast majority of American voters are politically irrelevant in presidential elections. These laws award all of a state’s electoral votes to the candidate who gets the most votes in each separate state...

To the Editor: The recent episode of United States House Representative Nancy Peolsi dramatically grandstanding and grimacing while tearing up Presidents Trump's State of the Union speech is reminiscent of another hate-driven outburst in the Halls of Congress by a disgruntled South Carolina Democrat, Andrew Brooks. ...

To the Editor: Now the trial of the impeachment of President Trump has come to an end. We must turn our attention to the U.S. Senate for holding a so-called trial without searching for the total truth. There were many differences in this trial. This trial did not have any witnesses. ...

To the Editor: In the story headlined “Wartrace, resident spar over driveway” by Terence Corrigan (Times-Gazette, Saturday, Feb. 1), concerning the Dec. 19 Wartrace town hall meeting, the paper stated Eddie Carroll disagrees with the Town of Wartrace over who should pay for repairs to his driveway. This matter had not been discussed with us...

To the Editor: I am asking for community assistance from individuals and churches for Curtis Stacy. For many years Curtis ran the Community Closet at his home on Dover Street and helped many people in Bedford County with free clothes whenever needed. Due to his age and health he had to stop doing this service...

To the Editor: We are approaching the final arguments and the vote on the articles of impeaching a first term president Donald J Trump. The country is waiting and watching the Senate. The Senate has already voted to have a trial without witnesses. The majority Senators voted on a partisan line. ...

Hamilton County government has found a new way to prevent access to public records:get rid of them. It's not really new. It's the oldest trick in the book. In late July last year, a reporter with the Chattanooga Times Free Press became concerned that the county government was not following state law in its responses to public records requests...

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. — Colossians 3:17 The second year of the 111th General Assembly started back in Session at noon on January 14th. We have a new Speaker of the House, Cameron Sexton, from Crossville. ...

To the Editor: The ongoing travesty the Congressional Democrats have instigated drags on with acquittal a given. However, in the interim the United States moves right along with the economy booming and if anything with the cheap theatrics put on by the House of Representatives, all they have done is displayed their ignorance of the Constitution in that President Trump has not committed a single violation of any of the true articles of impeachment as set forth in the Constitution in Article 3, Section 3, Clause 1. ...