News
Right on Matt Pulle! You're a champion of injustice and a Nashville treasure. Just read your article "Policing Gays" (June 23). Yeesh—talk about hate crimes. I'm still speechless after reading it. Does the Hermitage KGB think the majority of drug users in Nashville are gay? Is this really the most effective use of their time and our taxpayer dollars? The conduct of the Hermitage police is certainly criminal and beyond ignorant and deplorable. Not only are the coondawgs baying up the wrong tree—they don't even know what the hell they're hunting for. I think Steve, the poor fellow they arrested, was right to begin with. He didn't run into the police, but "just a bunch of good ol' boys partying on a Friday night." Except, I don't know what's good about them. Keep up the good work, Matt.
Bob Einowski
Moodswingone@comcast.net (Nashville)
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One step forward, two steps back
Thank you for publishing Matt Pulle's cover story "Policing Gays." It seems like as soon as I start to think Nashville is taking steps toward being a progressive community, some government official goes and screws it all up. I wish the Hermitage police precinct could have found a more practical way to spend their time the night of "Steve's" arrest, such as...hmmm, I don't know...stopping a legitimate crime.
Congrats, Hermitage precinct police—discrimination and humiliation at its best!
April Powell
aprilpowellfrey@gmail.com (Nashville)
Pardon us for defending a mistreated individual
Regarding the article "Policing Gays": with coverage like that, it is no wonder that conservative Christian groups are so opposed to homosexuals. Just for once, I would like for the Scene to present an article in which gays are just regular people. Not all of us are secretly seeking sex at the nearest park with some miscellaneous stranger. Some of us just want to be accepted as regular people.
Our sexuality is only a portion of who we are; every thought and every action I have is not driven by my sexuality. I'm an employee, I'm a brother, a son, a friend, a Christian who attends a conservative evangelical church. I would much rather people get to know me for my talents, my abilities, my passions, my love for God first, and then my sexuality later...if it even comes up at all.
As I sat in the worship service of City Church of East Nashville Sunday night, the pastor's sermon dealt with how the church should respond to homosexuality. He referred to the cover story in the Scene last week and presented what I felt was a very compassionate viewpoint. Even a Tennessean cover story last week referred to how Baptists are softening their views on gays. I think this is tremendous progress. Conservative Christians (and I put myself in this category first) are making efforts. I just hope the Scene's cover story this past week doesn't make them regret these efforts.
Allen McAlister
Allen6684@aol.com (Nashville)
Outraged enough to make her own TennCare calendar
Regarding "Is she fooled? Or just foolin'?" in Love/Hate Mail (June 23): maybe I was fooled, but I know something good when I see it. I wanted to purchase one of the "Coverage Now!" calendars to help support and bring awareness to the people who are about to be done a great injustice. My mother is one of those people, and it's not fair. She wouldn't even be on TennCare if it hadn't been for a local grocery store's carelessness. She doesn't want to be on TennCare; she has to be. Her life depends on it.
So I get the point. I am outraged—not by the articles that are "rude, unforgiving, tasteless, crude, immoral and/or indecent," as one letter writer wrote last week, but by the injustice that my mother is about to experience for something that is not even her fault. It is hard for me to lose sight when I know how this is going to affect someone that I love. I too am a "family" woman with "high moral values"—since I can't purchase one of these calendars, maybe I will make one of my own. Then you can call me the instigator.
April Chamberlain
april@ironwareinternational.com (Nashville)
Those damn liberals
Wendell Rawls Jr. has reiterated his claim that liberal bias in the media either doesn't exist or is a matter of small importance (Desperately Seeking the News, June 23). Allow me to take exception. Has the good professor forgotten the recent comments of Eason Jordan and Linda Foley? Nina Totenberg's vicious attack on Sen. Jesse Helms? The recent revelations in Bernard Goldberg's book Bias? The personal experiences of journalists Bob Schieffer and John Stossel? The recent gaffes of Dan Rather, Mary Mapes, Michael Isikoff and John Barry? May I suggest that the (now deposed) emperor's disrobement has become acutely embarrassing.
J. W. Cooke
workwins@ aol.com (Nashville)
Beauty is in the ear of the beholder
Regarding "Crying Uncle" (June 16): I saw and heard Art Garfunkel nail the high note in "Bridge Over Troubled Water" at the GEC recently. David Crosby sounded great when I heard him a few years ago on the CSNY reunion tour. I know opening paragraphs can be tough, but please don't disparage artists who are doing much more than writing columns criticizing others.
Logan Runger
loganrunger@yahoo.com (Brentwood)
Correction
In last week's cover story, "Policing Gays," the drug in question is the inhalant amyl nitrite. Amyl nitrate is sold in tablet form and is administered orally as a heart medication.