No reason to restrict light aircraft

10/19/2006

An Oct. 13 article, "Crash sparks calls for N.Y. flight limits," portrayed general aviation in a bad way. The article seemed to suggest setting higher restrictions on light aircraft because of their possible danger.

In reality, these planes are no more of a danger than an average SUV, considering an SUV is larger. The damage they could inflict alone comes nowhere near catastrophic. Cars that run off the road into crowds of people would cause more damage.

In fact, an SUV could contain much more explosives and/or biological weapons than a light aircraft could. A potential terrorist wouldn't need to learn the skills to fly an aircraft and would be able to load up the vehicle much more privately.

What the public doesn't understand about general aviation is that we are a very tightly knit group. A program called Airport Watch set up by the Aircraft Owner's and Pilot's Association (which is the largest pilot organization in the world) is a more extreme form of the neighborhood watch.

There are more than 650,000 pairs of eyes looking for suspicious activity at the nation's airports. How many people are looking for suspicious activity in their neighbor's garage?

My point is not that driving is a threat to national security, rather it is that general aviation is not. Car accidents happen on a regular basis, yet we don't restrict driving routes. Why should it be any different for aircraft? This was an accident and that point should be clearly made.

Jason Glazer

Bowling Green

Iraq has weapons of mass destruction uh yeah, that's it umm and Iraq was part of 9/11 uh Saddam is supporting al-Qaeda yeah, and uh we are ridding the world of a tyrant yeah, that's it the world is a better place without Saddam Hussein we are fighting to bring democracy to the Iraqi people umm uh we are fighting so that the terrorists won't control the oil yeah, that's it, that's the ticket we're fighting to keep the terrorists from controlling the oil.

After all other reasons have been proven false, finally, President Bush somewhat stated the real reason last week: oil. We invaded a sovereign country to control its oil. Remember that the terrorists arrived in Iraq after we did and oil was not the driving factor. We invaded for the greed of this administration, the neoconservatives, and the oil industry. And, we threw in some war profiteering just to see how much money could be had.

More than 2,700 American soldiers dead. More than 20,000 wounded soldiers; 10,000 with permanent disabilities. About 655,000 Iraqi dead. More than 1.7 million Iraqi refugees. Torture. Rendition. Secret prisons. The removal of habeas corpus. No bid contracts. Unaccounted for billions of dollars.

Increased instability in the Middle East. Iraq without an infrastructure. Iraqi civil war and genocide. More than 100 new American military bases built in Iraq. Iraq as the petri dish for terrorists. Huge, massive American debt. The unending imprisonment of innocents - about 70 percent in Guantanamo (Wall Street Journal). The destruction of the positive, worldwide reputation once held by the United States.

I can't imagine what would have happened if the "values voters" had not voted for values.

Jane Lynam

Greenhills Road

An Oct. 14 letter, "Bush haters offer nothing constructive," overlooked one very important thing we Democrats have to offer. Every doctor can tell you that the first rule in treating any patient is "first, do no harm."

After six years of sabotage to every facet of American life, it will be a welcome relief if the next administration does nothing at all. But judging by past history, we can expect strong job growth, a balanced budget, an end to the senseless war in Iraq, and a repudiation of the arrogant policy of torture that has disgraced us here and abroad.

Political fitness: Use it or lose it.

Paul B. Gallagher

Horsham, Pa.

I was disappointed by The Blade's reporting of the recent story involving three Lucas County Sheriff's correction officers. While the story was newsworthy, and should have been reported, it is a shame that The Blade, rather than reporting the facts of the case, and launching a more thorough journalistic investigation regarding the young men's gross stupidity, instead chose to use the incident to launch yet another personal attack on Sheriff James Telb.

The Blade further compounded the attack the following day with the story headlined "Telb ducks blame in fracas. He says he can't prevent lapses by his employees."

I could not help but be embarrassed for The Blade for being so petty and for Sheriff Telb for being unfairly taken to task.

Three men did a very stupid thing. They were arrested, charged, and will be held accountable by the court. In addition to the court's justice, they will face whatever disciplinary action the sheriff's department places upon them according to the rules set forth under their contract. The sheriff is no more responsible for these men's actions outside of work than my employer is for mine.

Many of us remember that The Blade backed the other guy in the last election for sheriff, and unlike The Blade, do not hold that fact against him.

If The Blade has an ax to grind, then it should grind it in the opinion pages, and not hide it within a news piece. The Blade loses credibility if it chooses to use any and every news item regarding the sheriff's department like a rolled up newspaper to beat the sheriff with while screaming "Bad Sheriff Bad Sheriff!"

Robert W. Nunnally

Sylvania Avenue

A recent editorial and follow-up letter paid tribute to the 50th anniversary of the TV remote control. The unit cited was the Zenith Space Command ultrasonic remote released in 1956.

I believe a little research would reveal that the first Space Command remote by Zenith in 1956 was in fact a light-activated device that used a small futuristic pistol-like flash light with a trigger control.

The light was pointed at a spot in each corner of the TV cabinet that activated the four functions of volume and channel up and down. Although the monochrome TV using this device was only on the market for a short time, it captured the imagination of the public and pointed the way to future electronic marvels.

This TV was sold in the Toledo area at several dealers, including the one I worked for, Central Electric, in the 2700 block of Central, across from what was then the Timberlane Lumber Co.

Thanks for bringing back memories of my first post-high school employment.

Ralph Mungons

Lambert Drive

The United States is a republic, which means the voters elect representatives to govern for them. Therefore, as a voter, you have a responsibility to choose people you believe will best represent the country as a whole. You can't objectively do this by automatically voting for one political party's candidates or by getting all your information from one source. Nor should you vote for someone based on only one issue.

As a voter, you have a responsibility to become informed about the candidates and where they stand on all issues. If you are not an informed voter, you should not vote; you are doing the rest of us an injustice.

Joel Weinberg

Maumee

Here's a twist on a traditional subject.

For one game in this year's World Series, how about letting Ernie Harwell broadcast? And why not? It would be a treat to hear that Hall Of Fame voice for the championship!

It would be serene justice for not only Tigers fans but for all baseball fans as well. Besides, who really wants to listen to Fox mouthpieces Joe "I wish I was Jack" Buck and Tim "I wish I played for the Yankees" McCarver butcher yet another World Series?

William Coley

Pin Oak Drive