Reduce clutter at crosswalk
I read “Psych out” in the Friday issue of The Argonaut with great interest. My daughter and I arrived in Moscow early Thursday evening for the Vandal Preview event the next day. This was our first visit to the area, so we decided to drive around the city and UI campus. While driving along the Moscow-Pullman Highway, we encountered close calls with pedestrians near crosswalks twice, once during early twilight hours and the other after darkness had fully set in. While I could clearly see crosswalk lines crossing the highway both times and that no one was in the crosswalk as I approached, I did not see either of the pedestrians preparing to step into the crosswalk and my lane of traffic. The pedestrians apparently did not wait for me to acknowledge them through the slowing of my vehicle prior to stepping out into the crosswalk.

Although I saw flasher lights and the caution signs as I approached the crosswalk both times, these pedestrians were hidden among the clutter of flashing lights, signs and poles along the side of the road.
My suggestion is the city should reduce the visible clutter at each end of these crosswalks to make pedestrians clearly visible to approaching drivers, and the use of strobe lights, perhaps in conjunction with strobe lights embedded into the crosswalk strips, should be considered since there are many locations along roadways, not just crosswalks, where yellow caution lights flash 24 hours per day. Yellow flashing lights should not be utilized as a visual signal to approaching drivers that a pedestrian is present and about to enter a crosswalk.
Mike McInnis

Free pass for Obama
Once again I find myself cringing in the early morning hours when my roommate’s alarm goes off, and the brain surgeons at “Z-pun” (ZFun 106) take stabs at the political candidates.
Answer me this, “Z-pun”: why is Obama, a man who just begs to be made fun of, such a sacred cow?
Quite frankly, the Sarah Palin jokes are wearing thin. Furthermore, why aren’t the feminists all over that?
Doesn’t it seem to you, too, that their silence is saying Idaho’s women or UI’s women grads are only second-rate?
Right, wrong or indifferent, we at UI need to stand behind candidates like Palin. After all, how often is our little backwater university going to be thrust into the national limelight?
Although I am painfully aware of Hillary Clinton’s track record, I would be more inclined to cast my vote (which leans heavily to the Republican side) for her than Obama. Hillary can at least articulate herself intelligently in debates and has concrete answers to tough questions, even though her answer isn’t what I want to hear.
As for me, I really like the idea one of our grads such Palin has made it as far as she has. That speaks volumes for the hidden talent at this institution. So, you folks in the media need to grab hold of your ears, pull until you hear a loud pop and get a whiff of the mocha. Maybe you’ll see things for what they really are.
Michael W. Coey
junior, forest resources/forest products/German

Minnick not conservative
Walt Minnick may sound like a conservative in all those commercials he’s been running for the past month and a half, but we all know he will be obliged to vote in lock-step with all the other Democrats in Congress. So, no matter what he says, he will vote for more government, more taxes, unrestricted abortion and same-sex marriage. He will vote against conservative judges and against success in Iraq (can you say, “Joe Lieberman”?)
However, while his lip service to our conservative values and beliefs insults my intelligence, I do appreciate him pointing out Bill Sali’s financial struggles. It confirms to me that Sali did not go to Congress to get rich, as it seems many have, but to actually serve his constituency and his country by seeking to preserve the freedom and opportunity that made America great and oppose those who scoff our constitution and our faith.
Fortunately for America, Mr. Minnick, you can’t fool all the people all the time.
Curtis Young
Meridian

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