Letters to the editor: March 7, 2013

Take down that placard

If you are handicapped and have a handicapped placard for your car, be aware that it is illegal to drive with it hanging from your mirror. On the top of the placard is a message that says you must not drive with the placard showing.

I was told by the San Diego Police Department that because of the shortage of police officers in San Diego this law is rarely enforced, but that is no excuse for breaking the law. The placard blocks your vision while driving.

Please think about this before driving with the placard hanging on your mirror.

In one of his first appearances in San Diego after being sworn in as our new congressman, Scott Peters recently told the Rancho Bernardo Rotary Club, “I’m here to report on the accomplishments of Congress since it convened seven weeks ago.”

He paused and let the chuckles of his audience build to outright laughter.

Peters’ presentation was a refreshing departure from his predecessors of the previous decade who pledged to “fight” for the nebulous “values” dear to our hearts.

Instead of confrontation, our new congressman brought a message of “consensus building,” saying he had joined a group of 30 first-term Republican and Democratic congressmen calling themselves “The United Solutions Caucus,” which favors cooperation over rhetoric.

Peters said that all 84 of his fellow newly minted congressmen want to solve problems bipartisanly. One demonstration of this bipartisanship was the “dates” that Democrats and Republicans made to sit together on the night of the president’s State of the Union address.

Peters eschews the rancorous debates of recent years and advocates returning to Congress’ traditional “collegial debates” to forge legislation. “It’s up to us to bring a new attitude to these discussions,” Peters said. “I want to do the type of problem-solving we used in San Diego where each side lays out its views, works on solutions, and then goes out and has a friendly drink after work.”

In the first question after his talk, a member of the audience said, “Scott, err, Congressman, would you…”

Peters interrupted saying, “If the option is to call me “Congressman” or “Scott,” I prefer Scott because I have a higher approval rating than Congress.” It’s easy to see why.

In response to Amy Roost’s Feb. 21 column:

There are really only three kinds of people in our society: sheep, wolves and sheepdogs. Most are sheep and are kind and gentle people who abhor violence. Then there are the wolves who would feed on the sheep without mercy…if not for the sheepdogs.

Sheep live in denial, that’s what makes them sheep but denial can be seductive and has an insidious effect.

Sheep don’t want to believe there’s evil in the world. They accept the fact that fires can happen, so they put fire extinguishers throughout their kids’ schools but these same sheep are outraged at the idea of putting an armed person in those schools.

Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land.

September 11, 2001; the wolf pounded hard on our door. Do you remember who our sheepdogs were then? The cops, the firefighters, the everyday people who, in the face of peril stepped up to help others, like the people onboard of Flight 93 who stopped the terrorists from taking even more lives. Sheepdogs, all.

Amy blames the NRA, she doesn’t want armed guards in schools, she doesn’t want paranoia, she wants a guarantee of safety. She wants/doesn’t want a whole lot, so what’s her answer?

I’m a sheepdog. My job is to protect the flock from the wolf. Amy is a sheep who writes confusing, unfounded balderdash.

When are rules more important than safety? A traffic survey taken at 10 a.m. does not take into account what really happens on Martincoit Road. When school is in session there is a steady stream of parents taking their children to and from Painted Rock School, residents are leaving, and service people have arrived to do work. As they speed down the steep hill they do not see residents who want to depart from hidden driveways.

At the Feb. 20 Traffic Safety Committee meeting we attended, we learned that raising the speed limit to 35 mph would allow officers to issue tickets to speeders. Why is that not possible when the limit is 30 mph?

At Rostrata and Martincoit there is a four-way stop and a flashing yellow light.

At Martincoit and Stone Canyon, a heavily traveled intersection, there is nothing but a stop for those leaving Stone Canyon.

Do we have to wait for a tragic accident as did Valle Verde?