Letters

Daylight Savings

Rep. Elizabeth Scott, R-Monroe, says that staying on standard time all year long would simplify our lives. I see it exactly the opposite. Here are my reasons for staying on the current saving time/standard time schedule.

Reason one:. During summer, daylight begins at approximately 4:00 a.m. if we were on standard time. Most people do not get up until approximately 6:00 a.m. So two hours of daylight are not used except to sleep. In the evening the extra daylight is a welcome advantage so people can work in their gardens, golf, recreate with the children, whether it be baseball or fishing, or just enjoy whatever other activities we do not do in the dark.

Reason two: In the state of Washington, commercially, recreationally, and cross-border employment, the population interacts with Idaho and Oregon thousands and thousands of times every day. For evidence, look at the amount of traffic between Pullman and Moscow, or Spokane and Coeur d’ Alene area every hour, every day. Lewiston and Clarkston interact as one community. On the west side of Washington, think of the many thousands of cars going between Seattle and Portland which is a mega-traffic corridor.

I think being in sync or harmony with Idaho and Oregon is very important for the interaction (both commercially and otherwise) between the three states of Washington, Idaho, and Oregon. In other words, it is in the best interest of all three states in terms of clock times and schedules.

The House of Representatives will be voting on this issue soon - contact Rep. Joe Schmick about your thoughts.

Ron Braun,

Colfax

Another way

Several people have experienced a vehicle accident in which insurance companies assign a certain percentage of responsibility to each driver involved in the accident.

In most cases, these situations are resolved by negotiations between the insurance companies.

There is another way- Small Claims Court.

In my specific situation, the Court found that the other driver was completely at fault for the accident and directed their insurance company to pay all costs for repair of my vehicle.

Sid Houpt,

Pullman