WEATHER

Where are the plows?

To plow or not to plow. How much are safe roads worth? In the Boise area we have had 8 to 10 inches of snow over the last few weeks, and with the cold temperatures the snow has packed and is very icy and slippery. Roads like Warm Springs east of Harris Ranch to Idaho 21 and Surprise Way to 21 are nearly all ice. If they had been plowed while the snow was soft they would be OK today. I have seen many sand and deicer trucks on the roads but no snowplows on the front of any of them. Can’t Ada County Highway District afford plows for their trucks like other cities in Idaho?

BRUCE BAGLEY, BOISE

Not quite a record

An article in your paper recently stated that the record low temperature in Boise was minus 6 on Jan. 4, 1910. This is not correct. At Christmas time in 1990 it was minus 25 for a few days. I remember it well, because it was my first Christmas in Boise.

CLARICE WRIGHT, BOISE

MARIJUANA

Focus attention on alcohol

Shortly after the election, a Northwest Channel News anchor asked the Seattle chief of police about his viewpoint on the legalization of recreational marijuana. His response was, “If my officers see two people on a street corner, and one’s drinking a beer and the other’s smoking a joint, we’re going after the person drinking the beer. Marijuana is the lowest priority of law enforcement in the state of Washington as of today.”

Cigarettes are directly responsible for the premature deaths of some 463,000 Americans every year, including my mother from lung cancer.

Alcohol is directly and indirectly responsible for another 200,000 annual deaths as a result of overdoses, falls, drownings, vehicle accidents, vehicular manslaughter, domestic violence, assault, battery, homicide, suicide, etc. These drugs are legal. Alcohol is the main cause behind cancer of the esophagus liver and bladder; also, the recurrence of breast cancer in women and occurrence of fetal alcohol syndrome in the unborn.

I lost a big brother and best friend to alcoholism and suicide. I’ve attended five funerals, all alcohol-related suicides. I’m not attending any more. I choose to wear an illegal smile instead.

WOLF HOFFMAN, BOISE

COMICS SURVEY

Not reader friendly

Have you taken leave of your good senses? I refer you to the Sunday, Jan. 6 edition, pertaining to the very sensitive subject of your continuous destruction of the comic pages.

Why in the world would you expect a survey of any kind to be very representative of your general readership when you allow only two avenues for a response?

It is unbelievable to me that you would ask anybody to go to a computer and put in https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9GQTFTX.

The other option is to drive to your Curtis Road location and pick up a printed survey form.

Are you not a print organization? It’s a no-brainer. Why don’t you print a copy of the survey form in one of your issues? First-class postage costs your reader a lot less in time and money than a trip to your office to pick up a survey form.

Think about it. A lot of us seniors are only semi-computer literate and are the backbone of your subscribers and you want to shut them out due to this gross lack of insight.

R.R. (BOB) SHAW, EAGLE

EDUCATION

School reform requiresadequate funding

It is difficult to understand why the Legislature decided it was necessary to cut the state income tax. Hardly anyone noticed except a few Sun Valley millionaires. Less money coming into the general fund forced the Legislature to once again cut funding for education.

Our students are spending fewer days in school. Teachers are forced to take unpaid furlough days and deal with larger classes. Every parent wants their children to get a good education. This includes the owners of businesses who are looking for a place to expand.

Education reform won’t work without adequate funding.

DARRELL W. BROCK, BOISE

GUN EDITORIAL

Statesman viewmisses the mark

All right. Who wrote this "Our View" (Shooting from the hip clips debate), Sheriff Kieran Donahue or Rep. Judy Boyle?

Perhaps none of the items in President Obama's executive order or legislative proposals would have prevented the Sandy Hook massacre. Perhaps. But to proclaim they could not prevent "any other shooting in the future" is absolutely absurd. Really!

At least read the order before making such ignorant pronouncements.

In my over 60 years of daily reading of the Statesman, I don't recall an editorial this clueless.

The title to the editorial just below ("Open mouth, insert foot") would have been apropos to both editorials.

JERRY AND RENEE QUICK, Boise