Sunday, Sept. 1, 2002
By Staff
Fire Station No. 2: Maybe the chief should live there
To the editor:
If Fire Chief Partridge thinks Fire Station No. 2 is "livable," I'm sure he would be willing to spend two or three months living there. It might be a good idea if he were required to do so.
Jessie Lee Hayes
Meridian
Bonita Lakes Mall's dress code
To the editor:
I've heard it all now. So the reason sales are down at Bonita Lakes Mall is because teenagers wear their hats backwards. That's really pathetic. Look around, sales are down because the economy is down.
I don't agree with the dress styles of a lot of today's youth, but the majority of the items mentioned in the article were purchased at the mall. So you are telling me that I can buy these items, but if I don't wear them like you think I should, then I can't come to the mall.
Now, I have seen quite a few teenagers with pants too big and everything else, but I have never seen any of them wearing Lane Bryant. Be real. What's next, are you going to ban the rebel flag hats, and shirts? What about large people in spandex, that's pretty offensive.
I just find it hard to believe that sales are down because teenagers in Meridian are dressing like they are in all parts of this country. I see them dressed like that in Wal-Mart every time I go there, but I don't think Wal-Mart is complaining.
It might be that you think this is the only mall around. Most folks were accustomed to driving before to find good deals, and that might just be the case now. Ninety miles to go to real malls is not that far.
Lorell Martin
Meridian
Careless' remarks
To the editor:
I am a longtime resident of Meridian and I enjoy the freedom and the attitude of the people of Meridian. But my problem is what Deputy Secretary Claude Allen, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, had to say about our majority black population inside the city limits and I quote:
I do not know or really care if Mr. Allen is black or white, but the comment about us being brown was not very professional or respectful to the black people who live, shop, pay taxes and raise their children in this community.
We do not need another health care clinic and if the mayor and the city council would allow new jobs to come in besides hotels and restaurants, which do not pay anyone enough to live regardless of what color you are, we could afford our own health insurance and not have to deal with people like him and those who think like him.
I feel Chip Pickering and John Robert Smith and Mr. Claude Allen owe this "community of color," or "brown" people as Allen put it, an apology for being careless in their speech because you never want to offend a brown man before he goes to the voting poll.
Rev. David Viverette
Meridian
A different approach to tort reform
To the editor:
Many words have been written recently about tort reform. The solution may be the way some doctors in Georgia handled a lawyer several years ago. I read this in the Wall Street Journal about a lawyer in Georgia suing doctors every time a baby was born. If the baby didn't have an IQ of 300, he sued; if it didn't have blue eyes and blond hair, he sued. All of the OB/GYN doctors in the county refused to see his wife when she came up pregnant. He had to travel 150 miles to find a doctor who would see his wife.
The solution to our problem here in Mississippi is, therefore, very simple. All doctors need to refuse to see any lawyers or their families who have ever filed suit against a doctor. Also refuse to see any of our lawmakers and their families. Let them have to leave the state for medical treatment and then tort reform will become a real possibility.
James H. Addy
Decatur
