Recent editorials from Tennessee newspapers:
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Feb. 26
The Knoxville News Sentinel on attacking the opioid crisis:
The extent of the opioid crisis in Tennessee requires an “all of the above” approach, and developments last week show officials are making efforts on a variety of fronts.
Punishing peddlers and treating abusers have to go hand in hand.
On the enforcement front, prosecutors successfully made the case recently that doctors who over-prescribe pain medication at clinics are no different from gang members slinging crack on street corners.
U.S. District Judge Pamela Reeves sentenced Dr. Deborah Gayle Thomas to a decade in prison for writing prescriptions for thousands of painkillers to addicts in her capacity as chief medical officer at the Breakthrough Pain Therapy Clinic in Maryville prior to a raid in 2010.
Thomas, 65, was one of nine medical professionals who doled out prescriptions at the clinic. The clinic was owned by Sandra Kincaid, herself an opiate addict, and her husband, Randy Kincaid. The true purpose of the clinic was easy to discern - the facility did not even have examination tables or other basic medical equipment.
“We have to tell these drug traffickers who hide behind white coats and prescription pads you don’t get to do this,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kolman said in arguing for a harsh sentence for Thomas. “You’re no different than a street drug trafficker.”
The opioid epidemic is taking a toll on Tennesseans. The state ranked 11th in the nation for fatal drug overdoses in 2015. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,457 people died of overdoses in Tennessee that year. Among those, Knox County accounted for 153 deaths - third highest among counties statewide, according to the Tennessee Department of Health.
Like most markets, the drug trade is driven by demand. Treating addicts instead of incarcerating them is a strategy that promises to shrink the pool of opioid customers.
A new program for Knox County inmates provides Vivitrol injections to prisoners charged for low-level drug crimes. Vivitrol blocks the brain’s ability to feel pleasure from opioids, such and OxyContin or hydrocodone. When released, the inmates enter an intensive outpatient program administered by the Helen Ross McNabb Center.
The program is funded by a $150,000 grant awarded by the Trinity Health Foundation of East Tennessee. Alkermes, the manufacturer of Vivitrol, is donating 360 doses of the drug - a value of nearly $400,000.
Helen Ross McNabb also is taking concrete steps toward establishing a treatment center that would be an alternative to jail for nonviolent offenders. The nonprofit is asking the Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission for approval to use a former church off Western Avenue for the facility.
The facility would stabilize nonviolent offenders with drug and alcohol problems so they could get into longer term treatment. Knox County and the city of Knoxville have pledged funds for the center; local officials are lobbying state legislators for additional money that would move this much needed project forward.
Thomas’ sentence should send a clear message to physicians that overprescribing opioids carries consequences. The efforts of local officials to expand treatment options likewise should tell those in the grip of addiction that there is hope. All of the above are needed to heal our communities.
Online:
https://www.knoxnews.com
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March 1
The Johnson City Press on cyberbullying:
Today’s technology allows schoolyard bullies to quickly spread threats and humiliating taunts. That’s why school systems nationwide are looking to create sound policies that specifically address cyberbullying.
A report released last year found zero-tolerance policies are ineffective in combating bullying. As a result, officials with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine say bullying should no longer be dismissed as simply kids being kids.
Researchers are urging school officials to end zero-tolerance policies that automatically suspend students for bullying and take a more comprehensive approach to deal with the root causes of the problem. This should include family counseling. Experts say bullying is often a behavior children learn from their parents and siblings.
Tennessee law requires school systems to implement a policy defining bullying and outlining the punishment for students who intimidate their classmates. This has been difficult because social media, smartphones and the internet have provided new forums for bullies to operate.
Too many Americans - young and old - are under the mistaken impression that only friends are going to see the personal information they post online. Maybe, but maybe not. The truth is the digital age has its own high-tech versions of “Peeping Toms” and playground sex predators, and it’s time that we all come to that realization.
While social media has become a popular place for Americans of all ages to stay in touch online, law enforcement officials say children become vulnerable to predators and trolls when they post too much personal information on those sites.
Both children and adults should never give out personal information to strangers online.
Online:
https://www.johnsoncitypress.com
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Feb. 27
The Commercial Appeal on a new plaza and the return of trolleys in downtown Memphis:
Downtown Memphis received a couple of pieces of good news last week with announcements that the city is preparing to build a new I Am A Man Plaza and that the vintage trolleys should be rolling again by the end of the year.
The I Am A Man slogan is synonymous with the 1968 sanitation workers’ strike, which drew Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis, where he was killed by an assassin on the evening of April 4, 1968. His murder cast a years’ long pall over the city, which some people maintained helped contribute to the demise of Downtown and the economic vibrancy of the city.
The trolley system, an internationally recognized Downtown amenity since 1993, was shut down in 2014 because of safety concerns. They have been sorely missed by tourists, and Downtown merchants and residents.
The plaza and trolleys’ return, in their own way, will add something special to the city’s front door.
I Am A Man captured the sanitation’s workers’ fight to be respected as men. For years, they toiled in a nasty and dangerous occupation for low wages and few benefits.
I Am A Man has morphed into a worldwide slogan for oppressed workers and groups, seeking to be treated fairly.
The city and the UrbanArt Commission issued a request for qualifications from artists interested in designing the $700,000 plaza next to the historic Clayborn Temple, the starting point for a March 1968 sanitation workers’ march led by King and the rallying point for the strikers’ supporters.
The plaza will provide a space for reflection on social justice and equity, space for “peaceful protest,” and will feature a dedicated and interactive art installation emphasizing the famous “I Am A Man” slogan used by striking workers.
The goal is to finish the plaza in conjunction with the rehabilitation of Clayborn Temple in time for the city’s 50th-anniversary commemoration of King and the strike in 2018.
Memphians sometime forget that more than $100 million in federal, state and local funds were spent to create the trolley system. That is a tremendous investment that is not being used while the trolleys are out of commission.
So, last week’s announcement that the electrically powered vintage trolleys are coming back online - barring a hold up by federal transportation officials - is good news from a transportation and investment standpoint.
The rubber-tire replicas that MATA uses as replacements lack the same cachet.
Once the trolleys are running again, MATA will be tasked with following stringent safety and maintenance protocols.
The trolleys will initially run along Main, with service eventually returning along Madison Avenue and Riverside.
Over the last three decades, Downtown Memphis has emerged from a deteriorating retail and commercial center to become an eclectic mix of homes, apartments and condominiums, shops, restaurants, art galleries, nightclubs, museums, performing arts centers and enhanced riverfront amenities.
The vintage trolleys were an important part of that resurgence and the I Am A Man Plaza will add another important chapter to the narrative of this city’s civil rights history.
Online:
https://www.commercialappeal.com
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