Traffic Safety No Accident

A couple of years ago I went to a traffic safety meeting at Mid-Valley Fire Station because there are too many accidents on Carmel Valley Road.

When it was finally my turn to speak, I told everyone there that I did not want to have to give CPR to the next victim on Carmel Valley Road. My dramatic statement was met with impatience and scorn. Six months later, there was an accident about a half-mile from the library entrance, which was one of the areas that concerned me. When I saw the emergency vehicles, I turned around, and went home, not knowing that it was my dear friend, Chris Sauer, lying in the road dying after being hit by a truck in her wheelchair in a crosswalk.

The Grand Jury noticed the disconnect between concerned citizens and those who represent us. We all know that road safety needs are not being met. It is not an accident if you know it is going to happen. I hope that the courts hold cities and counties responsible when they fail to heed our needs and our loved ones pay the price. — Kelita Smith | Carmel

Living Vicariously

Congratulations to Mark C. Anderson for his 15-day diet article [“Chew On This,” Nov. 29-Dec.5]. I had read [Barbara] Kingsolver – but this brings the idea close to home. Thanks! — Eleanor Avila | Carmel

Relief Is In Sight (Yeah, Right)

For those low-wage earners having trouble keeping a roof over their head and putting meals on the table, relief is in sight.

All one has to do is follow the lead of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

For starters, they would scrap the federal income tax and replace it with their “Fair Tax” (federal sales tax), estimated to be somewhere between 23-30 percent. Since a sales tax is a tax on consumption, only those who purchase something would pay that tax; unearned income, that is monies accumulated from investments (now taxed at half the rate of earned income), would not be taxed.

Soon we will all be able to experience the prosperity now enjoyed by the citizens of Tennessee, South Dakota, Nevada and Alabama – all of which now have a state sales tax as their primary source of revenue.

Now here’s the beauty of it all. Since minimum-wage earners are barely able to purchase much of anything as it is, the money they would save by not purchasing food, clothing and shelter could be applied towards private retirement, health care and college tuition savings accounts that business interests envision will replace Social Security, Medicare and government financial support for education.

Just think of the opportunities for minimum-wage workers. Now all they have to do with the money they save is to re-examine their investment portfolios and buy their stocks in the petroleum, insurance and pharmaceutical industries. — Paul G. Jaehnert | Vadnais Heights, Minn.

Time To Move On, Mr. Hoffman

This writer [Nicholas von Hoffman, “Give Us This Day Our Daily Debt,” Nov. 8-14] neglects to mention that the “rich” pay 90 percent of the taxes in this country. That’s why everything works. He wants a redistribution of wealth, which isn’t going to happen. He is a socialist/communist and should move to Russia. If he had bought Apple Computer stock a year ago he would not be writing this idiotic article .— Alan Baer | San Francisco

Correction:

A story headlined “Rubble Trouble,” [Nov. 29-Dec. 5] incorrectly reported that a civil complaint filed by the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District alleged a legal violation by the Monterey Regional Waste Management District, and that Monterey and Santa Cruz counties paid $100,000 each toward a settlement. While the air district did refer the case to both counties’ district attorney’s offices, charges were filed only against an auto dealer, who paid penalties to both Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.