Sabbatical stupidity

Last I checked Fritz Keinert, from the mathematics department at ISU, your school is a state-funded facility, which means it’s paid for by us taxpayers (“Your View,” March 22). So that means you work for us, and we have a right to know how our money is spent. You see, times are tough in the private sector, and very few if any of us will ever get a paid sabbatical. Hell, we can’t even get away for a week of offsite training because our bosses haven’t gotten back to making the huge profits they were making a few years ago. Recharging and broadening our horizons is called getting “laid off” in the private sector. So quit whining and get back to work. Your summer vacation is coming soon enough.

Dave Hallin

Norwalk

New music section

Just wanted to compliment Cityview on the new changes made in the music section. The new writer is amazing. Keep up the good work, and I’ll keep on reading.

Ksenija Garton

Des Moines

No pet problems here

I just wanted to say that, while I love the fact that you publish the Animal Rescue League’s “Pets Needing People” section, I also love that you don’t publish breeders’ dogs-for-sale ads. As most Iowans have become well aware of in the past couple of years, this state has a puppy mill problem and while not every breeder is a puppy mill, it’s a sad fact that most people looking to adopt a particular breed of dog don’t bother to vet which breeders are reputable and which aren’t. There are so many healthy, intelligent animals up for adoption at local shelters and by publishing “Pets Needing People” you not only help publicize that fact, but by NOT publishing breeders ads you don’t give your readers access to potentially seedy breeders and add to the overpopulation burden. I wish The Des Moines Register practiced similar ethics.

Melinda Mills

Urbandale

Obey the law

As the automobile became more prevalent and more powerful, previous legislatures determined that operating these machines would be a privilege rather than a right. To protect roadway users, restrictions needed to be put in place to control their operation. These people also directed that violation of these controls needed to be enforced, either by monetary fines, be revoking the person’s privilege to operate the vehicle.

In an effort to protect roadway users, the state and communities increased the numbers of police officers enforcing the restrictions. However, numbers have increased to the point where it has become impossible to afford the number of people needed to patrol the roads. With the improvement in technology, a new way to monitor roadway usage was developed, cameras equipped with radar and motion detectors to identify those who were not obeying the restrictions (laws) to keep others safe. What was not included with the rules for the cameras use was the removal of the privilege to operate.

Leave the cameras in operation. If you don’t want a citation, obey the law.

Paul Ehlert

Carlisle

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