Friday's Letters to the Editor

<p class="bold allcaps">Dangerous drivers</p> <p>EDITOR: I suggest that the CHP make Highway 12 between Santa Rosa and Sonoma a top priority in its traffic enforcement. In all my years traveling this road, I have not seen such dangerous driving.</p><p>Traveling at 5 mph over the speed limit does nothing to dissuade tailgaters that are so close that you cannot see their headlights in your rearview mirror. Slowing down to 5 mph under the limit so as to decrease the damage in the event of a collision just infuriates these people to take even more reckless chances in passing. Passing over the double yellow lines is now common. Driving 45 mph through Kenwood? Forget it. At the light at Highway 12 and Arnold Drive, I had an SUV from two cars back pass me on the right at a green light. There are long stretches where it is virtually impossible to pull over. Reducing speed to the posted limits when pulling into Agua Caliente (40 mph, then 35 mph) invites the horn honk and one-finger salute.</p><p>An enhanced CHP presence would make this road safer.</p><p>ALFRED CHIRCOP</p><p><i>Sonoma</i></p><h3>Why yellow?</h3> <p>EDITOR: I am no traffic engineer, but I can't help but wonder why crosswalk warning lights are yellow and not red. Don't you want cars to stop for the pedestrians? I agree that more warning lights are needed at high-risk crosswalks (“Some SR crosswalks are just dead ends,” editorial, Thursday), and they should be flashing red not yellow.</p><p>BOB WILLS</p><p><i>Santa Rosa</i></p><h3>One-sided criticism</h3> <p>EDITOR: Susan Lamont's claim that the Peace and Justice Center stands against all violence is undermined by its continual one-sided criticism of Israel (“Strongest must lead the way to peace,” Close to Home, Monday).</p><p>It was silent during the second Intifada, when Palestinian suicide bombers were murdering Israelis at bus stops and restaurants but quick to condemn Israel's decision to build a security fence to thwart the attacks.</p><p>In the years since Israel left Gaza, Hamas has ruled with an iron fist, silencing fellow Palestinians who don't agree with its stated mission of liberating all of Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.</p><p>Peace activists have been mum while more than 13,000 rockets and mortars have been fired at Israel's towns and cities — more than 2,200 in 2012 alone. Millions of Israelis seek shelter every time a missile is launched; in towns near Gaza, they have 15 seconds after the siren sounds. In Jerusalem, they have 90 seconds. When Israel finally responds, it is condemned as aggressors. The credibility of those who claim to stand for peace and justice would greatly improve with a public call for Hamas to renounce violence and acknowledge Israel's right to peacefully exist side-by-side with a Palestinian state.</p><p>DAVID BALLO</p><p><i>Santa Rosa</i></p><h3>Always an Eagle</h3> <p>EDITOR: I loved the article about Stefan LeRoy in Saturday's paper (“<TH>'I'm not that bad off'<TH>”). I did have a minor bone to pick with the semantics used by the writer — one is not a <CF102>former <CF101>Eagle Scout. Once you achieve that rank, you are an Eagle Scout forever.</p><p>LEE SPITZER</p><p><i>Santa Rosa</i></p><h3>Missing the story</h3> <p>EDITOR: The headline “Rice fails to assure 3 GOP senators” for Wednesday's article detailing the briefing by the three Republican Senators was completely inaccurate and misleading.</p><p>Susan Rice failed at nothing. The event is better summed up this way: “Three GOP senators bully Rice.” That is what happened, as the story explained. In future, please do your readers, even the casual headline scanners, the service of correctly summing up the story.</p><p>BRADFORD KALLEN</p><p><i>Sebastopol</i></p>