MILITARY SAFETY
Soldiers need training with live ammunition
A recent letter writer was “incensed” at the casualties incurred during a training exercise in Nevada, and demands that “no live rounds be used in any training exercise” (Readers write, Opinion, March 26).
As a Vietnam veteran myself, I am incensed that anyone would suggest that a military member should go into battle without ever having experienced and used the same weapons he will employ. No target shooting? No mortar training? No hand grenade practice?
Yes, accidents happen in training — and as regrettable as this is, there is no substitute for the real thing.
WALTER H. INGE, ATLANTA
FOREIGN MOTORISTS
Everyone should take driver’s license exam
In its ultimate wisdom, the Georgia Legislature considered a bill for drivers with licenses from other counties to be exempt from taking written or on-the-road license tests. This “reciprocity” with drivers who know only the laws that govern driving in their “home” country would create a hazard for Georgia drivers familiar with Georgia laws and with driving on the right side of the road (in the case of those from left lane-driving countries).
Honestly — are our legislators that daffy?
BOB FURNAD, COVINGTON
ETHICS
Call gifts what they are: legislative bribes
Regarding this childish bickering among the legislators of Georgia: Enough already.
I, like many others, have had it. Call a spade a spade. The offerings to senators and House members are bribes. Taking the loot is accepting a bribe. Therefore, both parties involved should be arrested and prosecuted.
Nobody asked these representatives to run for office, and they knew the pay scale. If they cannot be happy working for it, they can quit. They say these offerings do not influence them, but they do. We should also stop writing proposals regarding ethics with built-in loopholes.
We are not that dumb — or are we?
ROBERT BLUM, SUWANEE
HEALTH CARE
Tort reform can curb ‘defensive medicine’
Whatever steps are taken to make health care more efficient, attacking defensive medicine should be at the top of the list. Correcting this glaring problem can be effected by using a two-pronged approach.
On the front end, we could reform tort law to comport with reasonable goals and bring down the cost of insurance. On the back end, require aggrieved parties to first submit their complaints to arbitration, before professionals, prior to resorting to a court of law. If a party were to decide to proceed from there, permit the arbitration record to go forward.
DENNIS BALLOU, ATLANTA
