Letters: Torn about requiring life jackets

Regarding "Require no life jackets" [Letters, Nov. 13], I couldn't agree more with letter writer. You wouldn't be human if you didn't feel bad about Stephanie Luca's husband drowning ["Dad's last lifesaving words," News, Oct. 27], but the letter is right. It was a tragic accident, but that doesn't mean there should be a law requiring everyone to wear life jackets. It should be our choice.

The writer is so right when she says that every time there is a tragic accident, some politician will try to pass another useless law aimed at making everybody else safe. I, too, want to make my own decisions.

Doug Hadgeoff, Holbrook
 

I respect the writer's right to make her own decision whether to wear a life jacket when she goes kayaking.

However, should she choose not to, before she leaves the shoreline, she needs to contact the U.S. Coast Guard, local police marine bureau, and local fire departments and advise them that when she accidentally falls out of her kayak, they should NOT dispatch anyone or waste any resources looking for her after she drowns or her family reports her missing.

Robert Spielman, Merrick

Editor's note: The writer is a member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary.