Love And Hate Mail
Drunk on Kool-Aid
I was somewhat amused by your article on Mayor Bill Purcell ("Mayoral Manipulation," June 17). It appeared to me to be a somewhat convoluted attempt to blame the city's budget problems on the mayor's temperament. Budget problems make people unhappy, and budget reductions make everyone (including this writer) uncomfortable.
I voted for Bill Purcell in 1999 because I admired his leadership when he served as the state House majority leader. During his first mayoral campaign, I had the opportunity to meet him and hear firsthand his ideas for Nashville. He articulated a vision that focused on neighborhoods, education and other quality-of-life issues. In 2003, I voted for him again because he (along with his leadership team) took his vision and implemented it through programs and services that improved our community.
If grinnin', shuckin' and jivin' are what you visualize as desirable in a mayor, Purcell is not your man. But if you want thoughtful consideration given to Nashville's future, he is who you want. Nashville has always been a good place to live. Mayor Purcell's leadership has made it better.
PHILIPPA THOMPSON
kb4gyc@arrl.net (Nashville)
More than a "salutary effect"
Must have been a slow political week to provide enough space to pillory the Department of Human Services for a media alert designed to protect children (Political Notes, June 17)! Mr. Abramson, with his cavalier dismissal of DHS' efforts, has managed to neglect reality. Apparently he failed to notice the facts mentioned in the alert. Here is a quote from it:
"During a two-week period last July, Human Services found serious transportation violations at 91 different agencies statewide. As a result, 12 child care agencies voluntarily suspended their transportation licenses. One agency's transportation license was suspended by a departmental order."
I know and work with many child care providers. I know none of them need or want unnecessary visits and surveillance. And the majority do a tough job well, and safely. But when the health and indeed the life of a small child are at stake, then surely reasonable enforcement and unannounced surveillance is in order. This is not just "feel-good" stuff. It is important and deserves better than the unnecessary and inaccurate criticism in last week's Scene.
STEWART CLIFTON
stewartclifton@comcast.net (Nashville)
Credit whomever
After I defended you to my husband ("They'll certainly print a retraction," I told him), your paper proved to be less than I expected when you failed to correct your June 10 editorial entitled "Win This One for the Gipper" (June 10). You did present letters taking opposing views on whether or not it was fitting to invoke Ronald Reagan, but you failed to mention that you had the facts completely backwards. Democrats on the Hill supported adding the sales tax deduction for Tennesseans to the Alternative Minimum Tax bill; Marsha Blackburn, Bill Jenkins, John Duncan and Zach Wamp (Tennessee's Republican House contingent) voted against the amendment. The May 7 Knoxville News Sentinel got the story right ("Sales Tax Deduction Shot Down"), as did the May 6 Chattanooga Times Free Press ("State Democrat Leader Says GOP Dropped Ball on Sales Taxes"). Yesterday, the House passed a two-year deduction for Tennesseans in a naked attempt to get votes for a pro-corporate tax bill. The Democrats voted for it again, and this time even the state's Republicans got on board. Will the factually challenged editorial staff admit the error? And will the editorial staff push the House Republicans, so fond of permanent tax cuts, to make this one last longer?
ROSE M. NACCARATO
rose.naccarato@comcast.net (Nashville)
Speaking of crabby...
I wrote my first and only letter to the editor a year or two ago to protest what I perceived to be a frighteningly Gannettesque evolution at the Scene, as evidenced by the then recent (and, as it turns out, temporary) death of Desperately Seeking the News. Well, I hate to say I told you so, but your June 17 issue makes my point. At a time when the Metro school budget is in disarray, and, as an assistant public defender, my job is quite literally in jeopardy due to the budget crisis, the Scene chose to focus on (1) the Wallace/Neighbors "weed" legislation ("Weed Whacked"), (2) dogs in Sevier Park (Editorial) and (3) the mayor's crabby side ("Mayoral Manipulation"). What can we expect next week? Perhaps a thought-provoking essay on the surprising absence of cicadas this year, or a detailed description of Pedro Garcia's grooming habits? I, for one, can hardly wait.
PATRICK G. FROGGE
PatrickFrogge@jis.nashville.org (Nashville)
Go ahead, jump; everyone else is
I didn't want to jump in here, figuring others would. And they did. Still, I have to add to the responses to Michael McCall's article and Ed Petterson's sidebar (Cover Story, June 10) that both show a remarkable lack of knowledge about what a digital audio editor (or Digital Audio Workstation) does, choosing instead to pursue a pre-selected theme: Is the music real?
Their theme is trumped up, as other readers point out, or at the very least, has nothing to do with Digidesign's Pro Tools software. (Digidesign is the manufacturer: Pro Tools is its product, but only one of numerous multitrack software-based audio editing systems the recording industry uses. "Pro Tools" should not be used generically, as the writers have done.)
The increasingly common use of software/hardware combos that can pitch-correct an artist's voice, even in real-time, is an interesting technological development in the music biz. But it doesn't have anything to do with Pro Tools software. Whether the pitch-correction technology makes it easier for Music Row to turn out video-friendly artists vs. musically talented and interesting ones is another question—and one that the writers eventually work their way toward. But not until they have lost a great deal of credibility.
CHARLES CONTE
charlesconte@bigmediacircus.com (Nashville
