Letters to the Editor — Stoplights, labor, guns, chores

Red-light rigamarole

Hardly a day passes without a news article bemoaning the climate crisis, and I try to do my part. Still, if there is one thing that gets my ire it is the time and gas wasted sitting in my car at traffic lights.

Coppell has one main north-south road. It starts near Interstate 635 and runs about five miles to the border with Lewisville. It’s a six-lane street with speed limits ranging between 35 and 45 mph, and if one drives the limit, it should take about 8 minutes to traverse.

But there are the traffic lights, lots of traffic lights. As a test, I drove the route twice and each took just under 20 minutes. That is more than twice the time it should take to cover the distance. The reason for the delay was the time spent sitting at red lights. A few of the lights control traffic at major intersections, but many make less sense. They feed into strip shopping centers, schools or isolated neighborhoods. While they may benefit the few leaving those places, it’s maddening that the rest of us spend so much time sitting still.

When the light finally turns green, a clump of 10 to 15 cars traveling together head to the next red light and wait, despite little or no cross traffic. The odds of hitting two green lights in a row are slimmer than the odds of winning the PowerBall.

According to a Dallas Morning News article last year, roughly 30,000 cars make the daily journey each way, so that’s 60,000 trips. Add 10 minutes to each, and collectively we waste about 10,000 hours a day sitting at lights with cars and trucks spewing pollutants into the atmosphere.

Fifty years ago we said, “If they can put a man on the moon why can’t they … ?” Today, AI can write a paper that will fool a teacher or fly a pilotless F-16. Why can’t someone fix it so I can make two green lights in a row?

Saul Friedman, Coppell

See what I see in workforce

Re: “Get to Work, America — A shocking number of people have left the labor force when jobs abound, hurting themselves and their country,” by Dallas Cothrum, Sunday Opinion.

Cothrum is a boss who appears committed to spreading the myth that “people don’t want to work anymore.” He offers unsubstantiated claims like “there is a lack of hard work” today and “stimulus checks created a mentality [of laziness].”

He then hearkens to an America of the past, conveniently failing to mention that early Americans relied heavily upon the unpaid labor of the enslaved and women, and upon land confiscation from indigenous people.

I work at a domestic violence shelter in Dallas with a workforce that is primarily female and nonwhite. The folks that I work with often work 60+ hours a week doing mental and physical labor that many people would probably avoid.

The people in my life that are not in the workforce are retirees, veterans experiencing PTSD and students preparing for future careers that will benefit society. Open your eyes, Cothrum, and maybe you will stop insulting those that you choose not to see.

Lesa Holley, Rowlett

Stop harassing legal gun owners

Re: “New rule to close loophole on unlicensed gun dealers — Checks to be required before sales online, at shows; Republicans object,” April 12 news story.

President Joe Biden says he’s closing the gun-show loophole. I wonder if any gun used in a violent act can be traced to a gun show. Now dealers do background checks and complete all paperwork the same as you would in a store. There are sales at gun shows of private collections. Many of those guns are classified as collectibles and are quite costly.

I purchased a firearm from a private sale some years ago. The seller asked for my ID, I presented my driver’s license, and he put all my information in a journal. A criminal who can’t legally own a gun will get one from another criminal.

Our president believes his policies will save lives. The way to save lives is to keep violent criminals locked up. I know prisons get overcrowded. The solution is to build more prisons.

Every gun proposal I’ve ever heard the Democrats come up with would do nothing but harass law-abiding gun owners. The president should let Congress make policy. He should stay out of issues he knows nothing about. Harassing legal gun owners won’t get him re-elected.

Jimmie George, Farmersville

Chores and budgets

Re: “Any bright ideas to sub for light bulb frugality? — LED blew that budget lesson for kids, but surely there are others,” by Michael L. Davis, April 11 Opinion.

Davis asked for ideas on teaching the value of money to his daughter. Give her an allowance to cover that $6 drink, her streaming, etc., and if she wants more treats, have her do chores to earn the money for them.

Help her develop a budget. If she wants that drink and doesn’t have enough in her budget for it, buy it for yourself, and give her the portion of it she has money for, and have her pay you.

My grandkids were shocked when I asked them to pick something up so it wouldn’t get broken, and I explained how many hours their mother worked to buy it for them. Same for food they don’t want to eat. My mom gave me $20 a month as an allowance to cover school clothes and anything else I wanted and didn’t have babysitting money for, because she was tired of, “I don’t want to wear that. I don’t like it.” We also used hand-me-downs.

People may think that because they can afford it, it isn’t fair to deprive the kids. But if you don’t, you are depriving children of growing up to be responsible adults. Chores and budgets are important, even budgets for time.

RaeLynn Shattuck, Balch Springs

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