I thought all the asphalt and advertising resulted simply from inadequate planning for Nashville’s quick growth. Now, thanks to Christine Kreyling’s well-researched story (“Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” Aug. 31), I know that the mistakes other cities have made are all part of TDOT’s plan for Nashville.

On a recent trip to the suburbs of Washington, D.C., I traveled the Maryland and Virginia truck-free parkways and HOV-only interstate highways and saw not one billboard. On the 10-mile trip from the Nashville International Airport to my home off West End I counted 70 billboards. Yes, D.C. has a “ring road,” the Capital Beltway, a.k.a. “the eight-lane death trap.” It also has the Metro system and commuter rail service.

Are Middle Tennesseans less deserving than residents of our nation’s capital? Are parkways free of unsightly signage too good for us? Is a modern efficient commuter rail or light rail mass transit system too advanced for us country folk?

Tomorrow as you sit in traffic staring at the trucks, concrete, and billboards, ask yourself why TDOT sentenced you to life in an endless light industrial landscape.

Paul Whitfield

EmailPW@aol.com. (Nashville)

Walk in their shoes, Bruce

I just read last week’s editorial (“First Shots”) about the Metro Police Department. It’s easy to call the game from the sidelines, isn’t it? Here’s a challenge for you: Enroll in the police academy, put on a uniform and gun, and do the job for a few years. Then if you still feel like slamming the men and women in blue go right ahead.

Matthew Newman

hotel32@yahoo.com. (Nashville)

Get off the police

Regarding “The Force’s Folly” by Willy Stern (Aug. 31), I have seldom seen a more useless piece of bias portrayed as journalism. It is readily apparent that your reporter has some serious issues with police officers. I would wager that he has had at least one run-in with law enforcement officers that didn’t suit him. Well, here’s a real news flash: so have we all! But the vast majority of us don’t use our jobs to exact revenge. We don’t accidentally cut off their power, miss-fill their prescriptions, or negligently repair their vehicles.

You may feel that simply writing an article doesn’t equal actions of the same magnitude as these. I would argue that by allowing this rumormonger to spread his gossip, you damage what little trust the public has left in their police. When this trust is destroyed, who do you think will come forward to be interviewed about a crime they may have witnessed? Without public support, law enforcement is impossible. Here’s another perspective for you: Kennetha Sawyers is doing the best she can to revamp her section, and closing the Garafola case is the first step in rebuilding Metro’s internal affairs division. The new name, Office of Professional Accountability, is purely cosmetic. The fact that she was less than overjoyed with her section’s performance could very well mean that she intends to improve its performance in the future.

Despite the fact that all police officers are reluctant to report wrongdoing by one of their peers, Sawyers was able to conclude the investigation successfully and Garafola was punished. Now maybe this wouldn’t have fed the cop haters as well as the tripe you published, but it would have served your community. I know the times when journalists considered serving the community are long past, but, what the heck, give it a try sometime. You might feel better about yourself.

Compare this “heinous” crime of Garafola’s to others that have been reported. He twisted regulations for personal gain and the gain of his friends. He has been punished, and I might agree the punishment was light. But what about a president who lied under oath? Did Mr. Stern call for his head on a platter? I must have missed that. Hell, the list goes on forever: musicians who commit felonies and still receive six-figure paychecks, athletes who aid murders and are still playing, you name it. But Stern seems content to tackle the easy, hackneyed, angles. Attack the police and you will have a guaranteed number of readers.

I feel as upset that you encourage this conduct by publishing him as I do that you pay him for it.

Frank Barnes

franko@usit.net. (Pulaski)

Kiss her vote good-bye

Shortly after the Democratic convention I heard several women call in to a talk show and explain that they were going to vote for Gore because of the way he kissed his wife at the convention. For a moment I was ashamed to be a woman. How incredibly naïve.

I can’t seem to understand why a woman would favor Gore. Gore has had nearly eight years to accomplish at least some of the “promises” he made at the convention. Why weren’t any of these “promises” already fulfilled if they were so important to Gore? Why are our schools in the worst shape in history after Gore’s reign as vice president, the second most powerful position in the nation? Why are so many seniors worried about Social Security after Gore has had a chance to influence this problem? Perhaps some insight can be gained from the many personality makeovers Gore has had over the past nine months. Al Gore had to hire a woman to dress him. How does he expect to make important decisions as president if he can’t even dress himself? Gore appears weak, indecisive, and seems to shift whichever way the wind blows.

As a Hispanic woman and Marine Corps veteran, I am upset by Gore’s constant stirring of the racial “pot.” His campaign focuses on racial differences. This attitude in the Oval Office can only lead to more envy and hatred between good people of different colors. His promise to force gun licensing proves his animosity for the Bill of Rights. Gore took an oath to protect the Bill of Rights when he took office. Now the Clinton/Gore administration’s lawyer is on record saying that no one has the right to own a gun in the United States. As a woman I may need a firearm to protect myself someday. Besides, who is he to strip me of my civil right to own a weapon?

I find two of Gore’s campaign issues particularly disturbing. Gore favors partial-birth abortions on demand. This gruesome dismembering of a full-term living baby goes against every mother’s instinct to protect her child. As an ex-Marine, the promise of more gays in the military is also disconcerting. Morale is at an all-time low. Our national defense is the weakest it has been in years. Gore promises to make our military weaker yet with his social experiments. The media has attempted to show Gore as a fighting soldier. The fact is he had a bodyguard with him most of the time and saw no action.

If Gore wins, our country is in very serious trouble. Expect to lose your right of self-protection. The military will be further weakened, our moral fiber will be degraded, the racial divide will widen, your paycheck will get smaller and the government will be better equipped to control our lives. Well, at least he’s a good kisser.

Patricia Tapia-Cook

dcook@softcom.net. (Lodi, Calif.)

Flag burns to the core

I read with great passion the article by Randy Horick, titled “Flag Burning” (Aug. 24). I am a biracial female who has yet to fully understand the significant meaning of the Confederate flag. Personally, I have never been offended by the flag, but I can understand why it can burn at the core of someone’s being. I also can understand why someone could ignorantly think that it’s a part of his or her heritage. But I ask those people: Why are you so proud of a flag that represents a war you lost? I know I’m not proud of any battle I’ve failed to overcome.

I would think that in our current striving for political correctness, both of those states would have removed those flags years ago, especially Georgia, the host of the 1996 summer Olympics. As long as we’re talking about the act of being politically correct, why do we still have teams called the Redskins? Would you root for a team called the Blackskins or the Yellowskins?

People have had the wool pulled over their eyes for a long time. It’s thought to be acceptable to have a rebel flag flying or to call a team the Redskins because it has been acceptable for such a long time. People are taught from a young age to be ignorant of the facts, to overlook things that are of no great importance to their own well being, and to look the other way. It’s time for people to show compassion for one another, make an effort to change the mistakes of our parents, and teach our children the lessons we’ve learned from those mistakes.

Thank you, Mr. Horick, for your wonderful eye-opening article. I hope it encourages someone other than me to think about and do something about the flag that should have been laid to rest when the war was over.

K. Turner

kripaju02@aol.com. (Nashville