Yield the right of way
I was in favor of the roundabout at 10th Street and Burrell Avenue because folks, not understanding right-of-way laws, were constantly waiting for me to turn left when, they, in fact, had the right of way to go straight.
I did not use that intersection for almost a year because of the standoffs that occurred between me and other vehicles. Now, with the roundabout finished, I have witnessed several severe infractions of the laws pertaining to this new roundabout.
The turning radius was designed to force folks to slow down in order to stay in the parameters of the roundabout lanes, thus making it safer for children to use the crosswalks at that intersection.
Guess what? I witnessed a red truck, going north on 10th Street at more than 40 mph, disregarding the yield sign, and charging over the curbing, into the roundabout island. If I had not been watching him as I entered the roundabout, I would have been hit hard enough to throw my car into the lawn to the right.
This is going to prove to be an extremely dangerous intersection if this is allowed to go on. It is those folks who don’t stop for red lights, don’t yield the right of way and have no regard for others, who will eventually cause a death, simply because the roundabout wasn’t designed with those people in mind. I hope it isn’t a child.
Laurel White
Lewiston
Regulating gun ownership
Bridger Barnett’s response to my last letter was typical MAGA obfuscatory effluent. Chicago gun laws don’t prohibit gun ownership, they seek to regulate it.
City officials estimate that some two-thirds of the city’s guns have been obtained illegally in neighboring states with looser gun laws and are being carried illegally on the city’s streets.
“The number of guns out there is crazy,” say the officials.
Kristen Rand, director of the Violence Policy Center, says “the evidence is compelling that gun death rates are driven by exposure to firearms.”
Statistics show that states with strong gun laws and lower gun ownership generally have the nation’s lowest gun violence rates.
Stuart Stevens, former Republican campaign strategist, says over the last few decades the National Rifle Association has devolved from a gun safety organization into a thuggish gang that rewards those at the top with millions of dollars based on proven ability to muscle elected officials into doing what they know is wrong.
“The NRA has made it impossible for a Republican to oppose their group,” Stevens says, “because of their base of supporters who can be mobilized in Republican primaries.”
It is nearly impossible for a Republican to win a nomination in the Republican Party and actively oppose the NRA, Stevens says. “That places the NRA as gatekeepers to the power center of the Republican Party.”
Ryan Busse, former vice president at Kilmer Rifles, says the AR-15, lauded by the NRA as “America’s rifle,” has become the most important MAGA political symbol.
Mike Epstein
Clarkston
