Consider a four-way stop
I recently read an article regarding a proposed roundabout at Sequim-Dungeness and Woodcock.
I fail to understand why this obvious traffic hazard is allowed to exist. Converting it to a four-way stop in my opinion would greatly enhance the safety for all of the traveling public.
The intersection at Cays Road and Woodcock is an example that the local county road authority could follow. Traffic circles are nice, but four-way stop signs would not be near as expensive as the proposed roundabout.
Traffic planners use statistics (often written in blood) to determine what is needed to improve traffic safety. The article shows that plenty of data has been provided. Every time I use this intersection I remind myself that oncoming traffic is doing 45-50 mph. I certainly do not want my neighbors or our family to add to the statistics at this intersection.
County traffic planners, slow them down ASAP!
Michael Johnson
Sequim
Library expansion seems too costly
Twelve million dollars plus! A new library would be great and in the past I would have voted “yes” on a library bond issue. I love books and love to read. But please find financing elsewhere! Our taxes are way too high now! Just don’t keep piling more and more on us for the use of a few.
After all this is the age of Internet, computers, social media where a huge physical library is not used/needed as much as in the past. Maybe invest in library computers in the current building? During our retirement travels, we visited many county/city libraries where it seemed most visitors were there to use the computers (waiting lines).
How about revisiting the idea of adding on to the current library? Would that not be substantially cheaper? Better use of taxpayers’ money? From this article I understood the architects would rather build a brand new building — not remodel the existing one.
We Sequim/Clallam County limited-income seniors and low-income citizens can only afford to pay so much tax/bond money. I would rather pay taxes for emergency services (fire, medical, etc.).
There is much need in our communities; we must be careful what is financially supported — where our limited funds are used.
Mary Lone Bear
Sequim
The bystanders of bullying
The way bullying is being handled by both the teachers and the students involved has always been a problem. Most kids think to go along with the crowd and let what they saw be another part of the bystander effect. But the consequences of those actions turn extreme.
It has come to kids and young adults committing suicide, suffering from chronic depression, choosing to be homeschooled or quitting school altogether (“Why don’t schools stop more bullying?”, Julia Withers, Classism Exposed, www.classism.org/why-don’t-schools-do-more-to-stop-bullying, November 2010).
If we don’t send the message to the students and teachers alike we won’t be able to prevent bullying. Kids of all ages send in letters every day to be read and posted. A letter from a teen wrote, “I said stop insulting me or I’ll hurt you, but all of this has been building up inside me and I just couldn’t hold back anymore” (“Real Teens speak Out,” pacerteensagainstbullying.org/you-are-not-alone/real-teens-speak-out,” April 30, 2018).
Later she went to her substitute teacher crying about the boys teasing her. But it was years later before she finally got justice. The matter of the fact is that bullying needs to be stopped and teachers need to do more to stop the rising of bullying in more and more school nowadays.
We cannot live by the philosophy, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”
Emma Hines
Sequim
Hines is a freshman at Sequim High School.
