Red light, green light, who pays?

Thanks for the information about the Suffolk red-light ticket surcharge [“Court: Suffolk can’t add $30 fee to red-light camera tickets,” News, May 1]. I’m glad to see the judge found it to be illegal.

Last summer, I got a ticket from the red-light program. My nephew was driving my car. I looked at the ticket, saw that it was a $50 fine, collected the money from my nephew, and paid. In October, I got a letter saying that I had failed to pay the $30 surcharge, which I hadn’t noticed on the ticket, and would be charged a $25 late fee as well. I sent a $55 check. I wonder whether Suffolk County will now refund my money promptly, or will I have to charge the county a late fee?

Stuart Chamberlain,

West Sayville

Statewide, students deserve fair shake

I agree 100% with the letter “Lesson 1: Changing how we fund schools” [May 3]. Besides making Nassau County one district with one person in charge, there should be one flat state school tax, something that would be affordable for everyone statewide. The school tax could be evenly distributed across the state.

I worked as a substitute teacher in several districts and couldn’t believe the extreme differences in materials given to the students district to district. Children shouldn’t be denied a better education because of where they live. Every student should be given the opportunity to learn with the best materials available. By “spreading the wealth” we could provide everyone the same opportunity to succeed regardless of where they live.

Nick Maggio,

Valley Stream

School choice saves taxpayers money

Michael Hynes, Port Washington school district superintendent, made fine points in his op-ed “Our children deserve an education revolution” [May 2]. He suggested more physical activity and coverage of civics, crafts, home economics and life skills. I do disagree with his call for only 30 minutes of homework for middle schoolers — I’d say more than that.

But one key recommendation he didn’t mention was parental choice in education. Parents should have the right to select any state-accredited private school and receive state funding at a level 40%-50% below that of public school students. A 1991 study for the State Senate by Ron Lauder concluded that school choice would save state taxpayers $4 billion a year! Today, those savings would be $8 billion per year. These savings could be split between our public schools and taxpayers. This would be especially helpful in these high tax days. Everyone wins with school choice and the resulting competition — students, parents, taxpayers.

The school choice opponents are teacher unions, which want to keep their monopoly, and bigots who oppose parents selecting schools where kids say prayers. But parents, especially poor parents, should be able to pick schools for educational quality and moral values they want taught.

Frank J. Russo Jr.,

Port Washington

Editor’s note: The writer is president of the Port Washington Educational Assembly, a taxpayer group.

Pence unmasks his CDC hypocrisy

The hypocrisy of our “leaders” is abominable [“Pence goes without mask during Mayo visit,” News, April 29]. Vice President Mike Pence has been touting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines “put out by the president” as the road to eventually open the country. That he blatantly refused to wear a mask at the Mayo Clinic and stood close to others is an incredible act of not following the rules that he insisted we all follow. He said he wanted to look people in the eye. How does a mask make that impossible? The president, of course, refuses to wear a mask, and both men say it is because they are often tested. Scientists have said that one can be contagious before testing positive. This is another example of our leaders wanting us to do as they say but not as they do. We need a government we can believe in.

Sherry Eckstein

Huntington

Mixed signals on U.S. Postal Service

My wife and I were fortunate enough to receive our Economic Impact Payment (stimulus money) two weeks ago through direct deposit into our bank account, and we’re financially stable enough to donate most of it to local food banks [“How LIers are spending their stimulus checks,” Business, May 3].

Recently, we received a letter on White House letterhead, signed by President Donald Trump, informing us of this obvious deposit. Of course, we received this letter through the U.S. Postal Service, which Trump has been bashing again and threatening to allow this most necessary service to go bankrupt because of a unique requirement to fully fund future pensions for its current employees. Based upon this letter we received, it seems Trump must also believe the U.S. Postal Service is necessary.

Jim Engeldrum,

Islip Terrace

Trump adds some meat to his order

Meat is the symbol of American freedom. Thank God that President Donald Trump is forcing the meatpackers to keep working [“Trump: Keep meat plants open,” News, April 29].

Arnold Wishnia,

Setauket