LETTERS: LIE courtesy, school consolidation and more

Let's see courtesy, not arrogance, on LIE

I'd like to respond to the author of a recent letter . His thinking is part of the problem.

I've had the opportunity to drive in France, where drivers seem to have a courteousness about them that is sorely lacking here. Yes, they drive fast, but everyone seems to adhere to the practice of staying in the right lane if you are not actually passing somebody. None of this "I'm going to do the speed limit no matter how many vehicles are piled up behind me" attitude that I witness daily on the road here in the United States and especially on Long Island.

If a vehicle comes up behind me I let it pass, no matter what my current speed is. Courtesy is key. Not arrogance.

Barry Young

Ridge

Gay, straight troops already live together

A recent letter writer asks, "Is there a difference between a gay man residing in a men's barracks and a straight man living in a women's dorm or barracks?" .

What he forgets is that due to the "don't ask don't tell" law, gay men have been residing among heterosexual men in the military for quite some time without any mass outbreak of sexual misconduct. If they had broken the rules, surely we would have read about it in the pages of Newsday. As far as "straight men living in a women's dorm," I can't claim any knowledge but I would stack up gay soldiers' conduct against their straight compatriots any day.

Peter Miller

Westbury

Let's consolidate school districts now

Walt Handelsman's cartoon was on the mark . School taxes need to be reduced, and waste cut.

The North Fork has five school districts teaching fewer than 3,400 students. (In 1955 Brooklyn Technical High School - a competitive entry, outstanding school - had 6,000 students, one principal.)

The North Fork "requires" five superintendents, three high school principals, and at least five elementary principals. One district has 26 students with a superintendent who winters in Arizona. The largest has 1,614 students.

Southold just hired a new superintendent from Patchogue-Medford, where he supervised administrators at 11 schools, and our school board raised his salary to manage one high school and one elementary school.

Consolidation is essential, but we can't let school boards do the study of how. With the state mandates, there is little "local control." Our libraries and BOCES prove the value of sharing and consolidating. We need a citizens' select committee to study how to get it done, now.

Gunther Geiss

Southold