Making a bad decision isn't same as having an accident

Making a bad decision isn't same as having an accident
EDITOR:
Regarding the letter from the writer who felt that charging C.A. Lively with aggravated vehicular homicide and aggravated vehicular assault would be ruining his life, EXCUSE ME, what about the teenagers lives that ended in an instant?
From what I've read in the paper, Lively was asked to slow down and did not. At his age, he knew right from wrong and made a decision that ended tragically. I also feel sorry for this young man, but it was his fault! Accidents happen, but this one could have been avoided.
KAREN FURLONG
Austintown
Why is running on streetsuddenly a big problem?
EDITOR:
As a person with a physical disability, I empathize with other minorities who suffer oppression at the hands of the "normal," ruling majority. I fully understand when a person's color or gender or physical condition becomes the reason they are either restricted or deprived of their natural right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
I suffer from Erb's palsy. Despite this inconvenience -- through a lot of hard mental and physical work -- I've overcome a lot of the obstacles. I'm very fortunate to be able to use my legs as a way to counter others' opinions of me and the way they treat me. Believe me, if I couldn't run, I couldn't live.
I've been a long-distance runner for the past 30 years. During the past 10 years I've risen each day at 4 a.m. to run before leaving for work at 6 a.m. I run on various streets in the township and have not had a single problem during that period. However, recently the local police department has tried to stop me from running on the local township streets. I'm told there is a rule that precludes me from running anywhere except on sidewalks -- even at 4 o'clock in the morning when the streets are desolate. I drive 190 miles to and from work each day, and I have no other time to run. Over the past month, I've been stopped by township officers and screamed at, warned and forced to run on sidewalks that compromise my physical welfare.
Everyone knows how uneven sidewalks naturally are and the risk one takes while trying to run on them in the dark in the early morning. If I should once trip and fall because of how sidewalks naturally rise and recede, I may injure myself in a way that I cannot physically afford to. If I should fall and injure my "good" arm, I will become forever incapacitated and a financial burden of the state. However, I don't want that to happen because I need to support a family whose financial needs go well beyond the appropriations of public assistance. My disability requires that I run on EVEN surfaces!
The local police department has far surpassed its mission of protecting its constituency; it's now started to make life unenjoyable for those who have helped make it the great place that it is. Now I know how my brothers feel when they cross Midlothian Boulevard, traveling south on Market Street, on any given evening of the year!
ALLAN S. HLEBOVY
Boardman
Bush, Kerry overlook black community in visits to Valley
EDITOR:
The state of Ohio and the Mahoning Valley are critical and crucial in the 2004 presidential election in the campaign by the Republican and Democratic parties to elect their candidate, either George W. Bush, or John F. Kerry, as the next president of the United States of America.
Both presidential candidates and their campaigns have visited the Mahoning Valley already, and overlooked the African-American community in such visits. I believe it is very important that all the presidential candidates especially Bush and Kerry, truly campaign in the African-American communities of the Valley because every voter, vote and issue still count.
WILLIE JAMES RICHARDS
Youngstown