ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 2, 1996 TAG: 9612030046
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
I WOULD like to let some light in on this subject regarding Anthony S. Cooper's Nov. 12 letter to the editor, ``DUI law violates the Constitution'':
Driving is a privilege, not a right guaranteed by the Constitution. If the state wants to pass a law giving it the ability to take away someone's license to drive, then so be it.
In my opinion, anyone caught driving under the influence should have his or her driver's license suspended for much longer than the year a judge can set at the trial. And if someone has an accident while drunk, that person should be liable - not the individual's insurance - for all damages and injuries caused. If the person kills someone, the person shouldn't be charged with involuntary manslaughter but with murder.
Regarding Cooper's allegation that blood and breath tests are an invasion of his Miranda rights: Next time, the police can get a search warrant or court order to force him to submit to the tests. And then the tests can be graduated so that the time elapsed between his being stopped by the police and the time the test is administered will be taken into consideration when the results come back.
If Cooper were ever involved in a wreck with a drunken driver, maybe he would think twice about leniency given to drunken drivers.
I don't drive intoxicated, so I don't have to worry about the laws. But I do have to worry about drunken drivers. As far as I am concerned, the law should have a zero tolerance for all drivers. Your rights end where my rights begin.
JEFFREY A. SOBATAKA
SALEM
One more way to make a buck
IN THESE days of higher costs, cutbacks and less service, we are constantly finding that once-free information is now costing us money. I understand economics, and realize that I don't have to pay if I don't want to and can do without the information.
Recently, though, I called the Virginia Lottery 800 winner-line number to hear that ``it's busy, you can keep trying, or call our new 900 number and pay 40 cents a minute to hear the winning numbers.'' Give me a break! This adds insult to injury, and it's just one more way to separate us poor suckers who play the lottery from more of our money.
The phrase ``once the hog gets its head in the trough'' comes to mind.
VIC HAM
ELLISTON
Del. Cranwell: media critic
I FIND the antics of our local power broker to be deplorable. You would think House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell could better spend his time by finding a way to lower taxes and bring more jobs to Southwest Virginia instead of engaging in a petty war of words with a newspaper that is 190 miles away (Nov. 14 news article, ``Cranwell wages war with paper'').
Cranwell blasted the Richmond Times-Dispatch for pointing out the truth about how he and his fellow Democrats appoint state judges. He then goes on to impugn the integrity of the Hanover County citizens' committee, formed by state Sen. Bill Boiling, which had the task of interviewing and selecting a judicial candidate for a vacancy on the Hanover Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. The citizens' committee unanimously recommended a candidate, and Bolling formally nominated him.
In his letter to the editor to the Times-Dispatch, Cranwell implies that this citizens' committee was in conspiracy with Ross McKenzie, editor of the Times-Dispatch editorial pages, because the judicial candidate's daughter is married to McKenzie's son. The Times-Dispatch had it absolutely correct in its Nov. 13 editorial when it declared that Cranwell's letter was "ludicrous" and "serves up a melange of self-congratulation, innuendo and deceit."
WILLARD TOMLINSON
ROANOKE
Drivers must learn meaning of `yield'
I WOULD like to add my 2 cents and agree with Roger Shelton's Nov. 19 letter to the editor (``Exit ramps here are real killers") regarding the "unyielding" people who use the Hershberger Road exit.
Will the Virginia Department of Transportation wait for a tragic accident to occur before it does something? What about putting stop signs at the exits since "yield" obviously means driving as fast as possible to cut off others while merging into four lanes of very fast-moving traffic.
I do not blame everything on VDOT regarding these poorly designed exit and entrance ramps. A lot of the blame should go to the drivers. People go too fast, do not yield, do not use turn signals, and generally drive very badly. I've seen people driving 50 mph to 60 mph on Hershberger Road (at lnterstate 581) and zigzaging across all four lanes to get ahead.
We need to do something about improving driving skills, redesigning exit and entrance ramps, and making people yield to make our roads safer. For everyone's information, the dictionary says "yield" for motorists means "to let another have the right of way."
KATHLEEN BOGUNIECKI
ROANOKE
LENGTH: Medium: 94 linesby CNB