Letters to the editor, Dec. 18, 2008

7Blight in paradise
It may be beginning to look a lot like Christmas to some, but to this (happily) ex-Californian, it’s starting to look a lot like Los Angeles.
And that’s not good. Not good at all.
Living in Los Angeles, my eyes were daily filled with visions of graffiti.
Spray paint on overpasses and billboards and fences. And small “bumper” stickers hawking any number of products or philosophies stuck just about everywhere. Especially on street signs of the “stop,” “yield,” “dead end” and “no parking” variety.
And I’m starting to see these pop up throughout our city.
Besides the obvious blight of such disrespect, it is basically advertising on the backs of taxpayers.
A few years ago, the city of Los Angeles’ graffiti abatement budget was in the $5 million a year range. And the problem was so huge, it became impossible to keep up with it all.
Especially now, when we need all of our tax dollars to go to necessities ? this shouldn’t be one of them.
If you love our little piece of paradise here, I cannot stress strongly enough that all graffiti must be eradicated with vigilance. Immediately.
When you see these stickers plastered in your line of sight, please do what you can to remove them. The possibility of removal becomes much more difficult the longer the graffiti is left there to fester.
And, as has been proven again and again: Graffiti begets graffiti.
Shelley Taylor
Sequim

Something needs to change
As I read the continuous articles regarding the person who caused the death of Ben Merscher, I become more upset each time. With the latest being the possibility Engre Brown could be out on bail. I find this appalling.
What makes anyone in the judicial system believe she will obey the law and not get in a car and drive, and most importantly not take the life of another innocent person? Has she shown in the past that she was trying to correct her wrongs?
Quite the opposite; she has snubbed her nose at the courts and has shown she will do as she pleases. This time, she took an innocent young man away from his family, friends, and community. Ben did everything right with his life and had a lot to give as he had his whole life ahead of him.
When will the innocent law-abiding citizens be safe from people like Engre Brown? Sadly, I believe the answer is never. Something needs to change and it certainly isn’t allowing repeat offenders free to get into a vehicle and use it as a weapon to harm others.
Ben’s family is living a nightmare that no one should have to live. Please keep her in jail so that another family doesn’t get that knock on the door in the middle of the night. 
I am the leader of the North Olympic Peninsula Chapter of The Compassionate Friends and unfortunately there are many stories such as Ben’s. I have met many families since my son died nearly 12 years ago, who are faced with the same reality as Mitzi Sanders and her surviving children. It is heartbreaking.
Jacqueline Russell
Port Angeles

Rethink 3-Strikes law
Do we feel oh, so much safer since the “3-Strikes” law keeps nonviolent people caged for life? In view of the growing state deficit and the need for money in our schools, health services and the like, are we so glad that our tax dollars are being utilized to the very best advantage?
Washington’s Sentencing Guidelines Commission recommended reform of the “3-Strikes” law back in 2001. Yet nothing has been done. They feel that second degree robbery and some second degree assaults do not warrant life sentences, and rightfully so. In fact, shouldn’t our learned judges be the ones to weigh the facts and determine the sentences? If we cannot afford to spend millions every year on ineffective and unjust policies such as “3-Strikes,” isn’t it time that we implement the Sentencing Guidelines Commission’s recommendations?
Shirley White
Port Townsend

Shifting the costs, costs too much
In the absence of further explanation, I was shocked and disgusted by the revelation that Washington State Department of Transportation is going to use salt on Olympic Peninsula highways this winter (Sequim Gazette, Dec. 10, 2008, p.A8). As a native of New York state, I grew up watching new cars start rusting away in their second winter. It was not unusual to see a pickup truck with its fenders held on by rope. Why do you think they call that region of the U.S. “The Rust Belt”?
Do not believe the recommendation that washing your vehicle will solve the problem. Road salt eats cars, but it also kills roadside vegetation and destroys wetland and stream habitat. Salt is cheap for DOT, but everybody else bears the horrendous costs of its use. Please let’s not let DOT shift this destructive burden to people and the environment!
Robert L. Caldwell
Sequim