add together all gun deaths and all non-fatal gun injuries, you get 104,852-some people shot every year – 160,829 murdered between 2002 and 2011. That doesn’t move you, though. It’s the price, right?
The killing of 20 babies doesn’t move you. I’m guessing that you all feel that this is an acceptable price for freedom, liberty and your Second Amendment rights.
In 2010, 15,576 children and teenagers were injured by firearms — three times more than the number of U.S. soldiers injured in the war in Afghanistan. That doesn’t move you.
What does move you, though, is a cougar or wolf killing a cow or sheep. Now that gets you all up in arms and ready to legislate and kill, kill, kill – even the cubs. Twenty people in North America were killed by cougars between 1890 and 2011. Do the math.
Diane Daiute
Sweet Home
Common sense lacking in news
Editor:
Regarding railroad trespassing and unnecessary use of our community police:
One, regarding the article about the kids hitching a ride on the boxcar: Is incriminating a teen for jumping on a train really necessary? I believe this incidence is becoming overkill. What harm was really done to deserve a potential criminal record?
The fact that the subjects involved were walking on tracks is hardly a crime, but it is dangerous. As I do not know the teens involved, I do ask you to see the matter with an open mind.
Rail tracks are beautiful, they are scenic. Actually, riding on a train is not only fun but adventurous. How is this not what these kids were doing…seeking adventure, in their own time? Did you ask them?
Maybe they achieved some needed adventurous rush from the incident. And again, ask yourself, is this thought or action criminal?
I understand that there are dangers involving train tracks and civilians. When I was younger, we were taught to avoid the tracks because of the dangers surrounding them. A representative from the railroad came to our school and gave a presentation about railroad dangers and safety. And they didn’t hold back. We learned how to get an arm chopped off by slamming a boxcar door, how to get run over by a train with a foot stuck in the tracks.
It was brutal, but hey, it kept me off the tracks. Maybe that is what this community needs, not one more petty problem that a cop or judge has to deal with. It’s a dangerous world if we let it be; education is a better solution, so please avoid prosecuting juveniles for their lack of maturity.
We are just setting them up for failure with all the rules being made. Juveniles need room to learn from their mistakes without the harshness of the law stepping in.
This brings me to my other point. Last week there was a caller reporting that their cigarettes have been stolen by a juvenile. You’ve got to be kidding me! The person called the cops about it. What are the cops supposed to do? Get your $5 pack of cigarettes back, your cancer stick? Seriously, you couldn’t have handled this on your own, maybe contact the parents of the juvenile? And if that didn’t work, well then, you know better to keep better care of your cigarettes, and where you keep them. There is no need to call upon cops to deal with this.
My third point, and back to the railroad problems. This point is regarding all the home owners that are battling the railroad company for trespassing violations to get to their properties along Highway 20. Albany and Eastern Railroad should be ashamed of themselves for not producing a better way to deal with their expenses. Charging property owners for a “crossing toll” really makes the company look bad. It’s very disturbing to me.
I get that you all have technical paperwork to deal with to protect yourself from lawsuits of damages and accidents, but you really went about it the wrong way. I’d rethink being more neighborly on the issue. And if being more neighborly costs you money, then that’s what it takes to be integral company. Those property owners did not buy the railroad and start your business, you did; you take care of the up-keeping, or build them a new road that avoids this issue.
Common sense, people – learn it, know it.
Sincerely and respectfully,
Candice Lawrence
Sweet Home