Let the ducks be

Every time I visit Carrie Blake Park I am stunned by the disrespect people have for the ducks who live there. Most recently, in one 30-minute period, several toddlers chased them, a mom kicked one of them, an adolescent threw rocks at them and a 50-year-old man unleashed his dog on them just for fun.

As disgusting as I find these actions, what I find most troubling is that their behavior is normal. I am the crazy person because I have fun watching the ducks be ducks rather than harassing and abusing them.

The way we treat all God’s creatures, great and small, reflects the way we treat each other. Being so close to Easter, we would all do well to remember the teacher who spoke for the voiceless, touched the untouchable and loved the unlovable. People had fun with him, too.

Be it a prophet in a garden or a duck in a park, man’s inhumanity, indeed, makes countless thousands mourn.

Barbara Deak

Sequim

Failure to signal

Do you find it aggravating when a driver approaching you, at a stop sign, or in front of you fails to use their turn signal? I do! I took some time to read about some of Washington’s traffic code laws and wanted to share this one with you: RCW 46.61.305. (RCW stands for the Revised Code of Washington. The RCW is the collection of all permanent laws in force in Washington state.)

Failing to signal your turning intentions before making your turn is illegal. You are legally required to signal before pulling over, pulling into traffic, lane changing, parking, merging, turning right and left, etc.

The following is from the Bellingham Herald newspaper, March 21, 2016: “Don’t be an ‘unpredictable driver’. When you signal, you make your intention clear to other drivers around you. Predictability reduces your (and others’) risk while driving. Statistically, driving a car is probably the riskiest thing you do all day. Whatever you can do to reduce risk is worth the effort.”

However, just because you use your signal doesn’t automatically mean you can simply turn or merge.

“Drivers must signal and make sure it’s reasonably safe.”

How much does it add to your drive time by using your turn signals? None. While the Sequim Police Department is enforcing distracted drivers who talk/text on their phone, eat/drink (coffee or soda), or not paying attention to their driving, maybe they should pull drivers over for failing to signal, too.

Failing to use your turn signals is very dangerous and irresponsible.

Michael McCann

Sequim