In his letter titled “Enough is enough,” Peter Brown of Vancouver lamented the lack of respect for human life and property, referring to a death during a riot in downtown Portland (Our Readers’ Views, The Columbian, Sept. 10). It goes beyond that, Peter. There’s no respect for all laws when enforcers turn the other way.
I no longer see any enforcement of the safety-minded law of not using a handheld cellphone while driving. Do you? We all still see many people holding their phones while driving daily, but where’s the enforcement of the law? Sure, some would say “bigger fish to fry,” and a ticket’s only written if there’s an accident involved rather than just pulling a scofflaw over, but if we ignore one law we may as well ignore all the laws that are “inconvenient,” right? Hit someone in the wallet with a fine and he or she will start thinking about right and wrong.
Time to set the tone and get back to basics. If people have to think (and pay the consequences of their indiscretions), perhaps we’ll get back to a time when all laws matter and a civil society will again rule the land.
