Letters to the Editor

Editor:

This month’s coyote attack (Oct. 21, page 2) was heartbreaking.

To lose something you love is heartbreaking. It’s even harder if you lose to a tragedy.

I can’t imagine how this (pet owner who lost her dog) feels. However, I want to say, there is another side.

This heartbreak will save others from experiencing the same loss. This little dog’s life gave to the lives of other dogs and cats that live in this community.

For now, we will be more diligent, careful, aware of our surroundings. This loss will help us. So, I want to say, it broke my heart, but the little guy’s sacrifice will help others.

Darlene Meirell Mutual 1 Editor:

The latest issue of the LW Weekly is headlined: “Be Alert Behind the Wheel.” I totally agree that that is extremely important, particularly in a community of older persons who may be nearly as deaf as I am or who cannot see clearly, or who are not as spry as we once were.

We need to protect ourselves, our neighbors and visiting children by staying alert.

For this reason, I drive with my headlights on 24/7. Day or night, morning or dusk, those headlights are on. The reason is simple: my car can be seen by everyone it approaches.

If I am approaching you in my gray car on Oakmont Drive, you will not be able to see that I am moving toward you unless those headlights are on—not the yellow parking lights, but the clear white headlights.

Do you know what it means when an approaching car flashes its headlights at you twice? It means, “Put your lights on.” Simple, isn’t it? And yet, every time I am out driving, I meet oncoming cars whose lights are not

on. So I flash mine twice.

I never get a response—seriously, never.

Drivers should follow these rules for safety. (1)Headlights should be on 24/7. (2) When an oncoming car double-flashes its lights at you, they are warning you that your headlights are not on. So you should turn them on.

I am guessing some people fear that if they do drive with lights on 24/7, their headlights will burn out, and it will cost them money to replace them. Well, my car is 11 years old, and to replace the one that burned out on my car, it cost me $12.

That is a heckuva lot cheaper than paying a higher insurance premium for reckless driving.

And the life you save may be your own.

Lynne Burt-Jenkins Mutual 7