Not enough traffic police enforcing law in Beaufort County | Letters
Have you ever wondered why we spend so much money on posting speed limit signs when 80% of drivers in the city of Beaufort and Beaufort County are driving over the posted speed limit? Why do law enforcement officers give a 5- to 9 mph cushion before writing a speeding ticket?
If a traffic engineer has decided the speed limit that is posted on a section of highway to be the safe driving speed, then why do we let drivers drive over the posted speed?
Would it not be better to put two speeds on the sign, one for the posted safe speed and the second number being the ticket speed?
This type of sign would help all drivers know the safe driving speed and then the speed at which you are going to get a speeding ticket. It takes all the guesswork out of driving safely and getting a speeding ticket.
The reason law enforcement officers don’t write tickets for the posted speed limit is because there aren’t enough police officers to write the tickets and court time to prosecute the cases.
We have a big problem in Beaufort County and the city of Beaufort with speeding, and not enough law enforcement officers to handle the problem.
We need more funding for law enforcement in Beaufort County and the city of Beaufort so they can establish traffic units so we can keep our roads safe.
Mike Thompson
Beaufort
The impeachment and John Roberts
For several days, Chief John Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court has been the judge in the Senate trial of President Donald Trump. Thus far, however, it has not been a genuine trial. The Senate Republicans have informally indicated they will refuse to allow any witnesses or potentially incriminating documents to be introduced.
After the impeachment “trial” began, two men made two sensational public allegations against the president. One is Lev Parnas, a shady associate of Rudy Guiliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, who himself may also have become quite shady. The other is John Bolton, Trump’s former National Security Adviser, who either resigned or was fired by the president. Other people may soon make other allegations.
Unless four Republican senators vote to permit witnesses and more documents into the trial, Chief Justice Roberts may choose to rule they must be produced, if justice is to be pursued. If there are no witnesses or documents, there is no genuine trial. If there is no real trial, no satisfactory justice shall be adjudicated in the president’s impeachment.
At this point, it is uncertain whether Roberts will exercise authority to require witnesses and further documentation. Constitutionally, surely he of all people can require that, for the sake of judicial fairness.
If the chief justice rules in favor of witnesses, his current day job will probably last a few weeks longer. Then all of us may become determined “to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with (our) God” (Micah 6:8).
John M. Miller
Hilton Head Island
US distrusted worldwide under Trump
President Donald Trump supporters who write to this paper often say America is once again respected. They offer no evidence of this. They, and Fox News, merely repeat it over and over again.
Did Iran show respect when it shot down our drone over the Strait of Hormuz last summer? How about when it recently launched a rocket attack on our base in Iraq and injured our soldiers?
Was it a sign of respect when Saudi Arabia killed a U.S. journalist and hacked apart his body in 2018?
Did Kim Jong Un show respect when he promised a “Christmas Gift” of ballistic missile tests last month?
Did we earn respect when we abandoned our Kurdish allies in Syria last year? How about when Trump began the process of withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord? Once we are out, we join a short list of highly respected countries like Iran, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan and Libya.
If you ask me, America under Trump is for the first time disrespected and distrusted.
James Foley
Bluffton
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This story was originally published January 30, 2020 at 9:22 AM.