It’s time to address the crime of traffic violations in Charlotte | Opinion

The state legislature is targeting repeat criminal offenders starting Dec. 1. I wish that attention was also focused on repeat offenders who violate traffic laws. I saw three drivers this morning drive through red traffic lights. Two were driving over the speed limit. Two were in uptown and one was in Dilworth. I doubt this was their first drive through a red traffic light. All three appear to have mastered the feat.

Speed and red light cameras would help if they were placed around the city and on the interstates. Fines should be stiff and repeat offenders should face significant jail time. The fines could be used to finance transit and staff for the jails.

It is time to address the crime of traffic violations

Ed Tilley, Charlotte

Murder is murder

Someone needs to explain to me what goes on in the mind of a Republican U.S. Senator.

For weeks, these senators have said nothing while the Pentagon has utilized drones to blow small boats out of the water. Those who were piloting those boats were not given a chance to be apprehended, charged, convicted or sentenced. They were simply murdered, based on their status as suspects.

Now, we learn that two survivors of one of these missile attacks were subsequently targeted while clinging to wreckage. And a few GOP senators are now questioning whether killing the two survivors was a war crime. That’s an interesting perspective, considering that killing their crewmates, without any due process, was — in the minds of these Senators — apparently just business as usual. Murder is murder, folks, regardless of what Donald Trump says. It’s time to put a stop to this madness.

Raymond Jones, Charlotte

We’re in bad company

In World War II, the United States was outraged by stories of the Japanese machine gunning US sailors after their ships were sunk, and German pilots firing at shot down Allied airmen in parachutes. In 1949, the Geneva Conventions were written to protect helpless combatants specifically mentioning the wounded, helpless, and shipwrecked.

Shooting missiles at unconvicted suspected drug boats seems to be legally shaky, but firing an unnecessary second expensive missile to polish off two helpless shipwrecked men is by definition a war crime. That puts us in very bad company.

Vincent Keipper, Concord

Immigrant communities

As International Migrants Day approaches on December 18, North Carolina has an opportunity to reflect on how the immigrant students, families, and neighbors who strengthen our communities are being treated. Recent reporting on “Operation Charlotte’s Web” shows how aggressive immigration enforcement in Charlotte disrupted daily life and left families afraid to go to school, work, or even seek medical care. That level of fear should have no place in our state.

Immigrants are essential to North Carolina’s economic health. They deserve to be treated fairly, humanely, and with full constitutional protections.

I urge Senators Thom Tillis and Ted Budd and Representative Chuck Edwards to support measures limiting immigration enforcement in sensitive locations like schools, hospitals, and places of worship. Zoe Tuyishime, Cullowhee

CMS challenges

When the four newly elected members join the remaining Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education members, they will face many conundrums. An excellent superintendent, but a 2024-2029 Strategic plan that isn’t meeting interim goals.

The biggest dilemma is that its teachers are well prepared to improve student outcomes, but too many children from too many families are not arriving prepared for success. Not a new problem, but CMS can’t get past blaming poor district results on this clash between families who have time to help students with their studies and those who don’t. Interjecting heritage, status, and economics into the causes of poor student performance is a sign that the district is failing in its mission to educate all.

Bolyn McClung, Pineville

Executive pay

The pay increases for the executives at Advocate Health and Atrium Health are obscene given the current state of the economy with so many individuals and families struggling to make ends meet. What can be the justification for such massive increases especially given the so called nonprofit status of these organizations?

Numerous stories in the Observer are about various groups working to feed the hungry and house the homeless. Yet the top 1% continue to take an unfair share of the nation’s wealth. I’m not blaming the individuals in this instance but the corporate mindset creating these inequities.

Kent Rhodes, Charlotte