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McCook Gazette
Letter to the Editor

Questions, questions

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Dear Editor,

I am writing with regard to the letter posted in the open forum by Don Neel, Friday, March 25.

Having spent my entire life in North Central Kansas and Southwest Nebraska, I have driven tens of thousands of miles on "un-paved" county roads. During this time I have never seen even a suggestion of a "center-line marking" on any of these roads. We are all expected to drive alertly, and when we meet oncoming traffic we are expected to slow down and move closer to the edge of the road to avoid a collision. Also, when driving up hill, we are expected to stay as far to the right as the road allows.

Otherwise, there has never been any suggestion that we should observe the rule for "not crossing the centerline"; which, as I already pointed out, does not exist. In Don's letter there was no mention of "driving erratically," "speeding", or "driving under the influence," but only that Mr. Neel was driving "left of center." And so, the questions: Why was a patrolman even bothering with this situation? Why did our county prosecutor prosecute this case? And, why did Judge Payne find in favor of the prosecution? Were there other things that we do not know about, or was this truly an absolute travesty of justice?

Stan Garretson,

McCook

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    Just as a casual observation, this was an opportunity for all involved to really throw the book at someone for a very minor traffic infraction hoping it would cover up all the ineptness of the LE, prosecutor and judge on other more serious cases. One doesn't have to look back very far to find out what I am talking about.

    To bad the law wasn't willing to take a look at the county road about 8 miles south of town two years ago when there were ditches 18" deep on the driving surface where the road department pulled up the shoulders and let it wash out for several months. It was impossible for two cars to even meet on the hills as they were so bad. Oh well, what more would we expect from those involved anyway.

    -- Posted by ksfarmer on Tue, Mar 29, 2011, at 11:46 PM
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