I spent 45 minutes yesterday driving from the “glider rides” billboard to the traffic signal at North Star. This is an ongoing problem for those who really just need to get to the Lake. I know in the past when the traffic has been really backed up on Donner Pass Road near the high school trying to get onto Highway 80, the police have set up cones to create a through lane for those going to Donner Lake. It seems like an arrangement like that would work very well on 267. The traffic currently moves between 0 and 5 mph so creating three lanes for a longer distance should not be a safety issue. What about it, Powers That Be, can we have a solution for this traffic problem?

Vivian Euzent

Sunnyvale/Truckee

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The corporate media has praised Gerald Ford over and over again since his death. His former cabinet, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld among them, have praised Gerald Ford as well. The main talking point for this praise is his presidential pardon of Richard Nixon.

They claim the pardon was the best thing for the country, that it wouldn’t open national wounds. There is now no presidential accountability, moreover accountability of those in power. When you commit a crime and resign, you should be investigated like anyone else and not given a pardon because of your former position of power or your friend’s current position.

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The law of the land is what makes this country great. If we choose to dispose of law and pardon presidents that are involved in wrongdoing, what future course does that set for our country? What law and morality will be cast aside for future presidents?

It is of little wonder that Dick Cheney praises Gerald Ford for pardoning Richard Nixon. There may be future war crimes or other wrongdoings that may surface, future scandals to rock the already tainted and troubled Republican administration.

Everyone should be held accountable for his or her actions, especially those in power. The former president set a precedent that if you are in power, you can do whatever you want and get away with it. His legacy, for me, will be censor of law.

Ethan Silin

Truckee

I can’t tell you how sad I am these days. I am sad because my good friend just lost her beloved dog to the jaws of a coyote.

It is known that coyotes jump fences to steal their prey, although the caretaker watching this little Chihuahua, midday from her kitchen window, was careless. She didn’t go out with this little dog to make sure she was safe while doing her business.

With as tiny a dog as this, I would not have let her go out without being on a leash, fence or no fence! Once a coyote has a hold, chances of retrieving such a small dog untethered is highly unlikely, as coyotes are good climbers and voraciously ambitious when hungry.

This event is a stark reminder of two years ago: I wrote of a dog that had been grabbed, in my front yard, by coyotes. It was the most horrific scene, with that dog yelping for what seemed like half an hour, being carried away, dying a horrifying death. I never did find out whose dog it was, although I guess it doesn’t matter. It was that dog’s cries into the night that transformed my thinking about leaving pets unattended outdoors, especially up here in Tahoe, for this very reason.

My imagination is way too overactive and since that ghastly evening, my cats became indoor cats, although I did leash train them; now their time outdoors is with their halter and leash on. That is the only way they go out, and they are never tied and unattended. Their outings are very supervised and they are OK with it.

Please, folks, know that large or small, day or night, dog or cat, your pets are prey to these cunning predators. There is no discrimination, only opportunity for this scoundrel beast.

Teresa A. DeJournette

South Lake Tahoe