Once again I see the media using the Columbine incident of two years ago to bang the drums for removing guns from the homes of citizens who are law-abiding people all in the name of stopping the slaughter of innocent children.

If the media were really interested in stopping the slaughter of children all they have to do is examine the latest statistics from the Department of Highway Safety, which shows that 4,900 children ages 15 to 20 were killed in one year. This is equivalent to five Columbine incidents each week for 52 weeks. Yet I see no hue and cry to stop this slaughter.

Since January of this year I have been studying the court cases in the Bangor Daily News, which show hundreds of teen-agers have been stopped for driving after suspension of their licenses, many cases also involve speeding, alcohol or drug use. In most of these cases, the penalty suffered by the child was a small fine with additional suspension of driver’s license.

If we were really interested in saving children’s lives, in the case of these repeat offenders, we would remove their cars from them just as we are trying to remove guns from the hands of people. Incidentally a number of these cases involved children 16 and 17 years old driving in the early hours of the morning. What is wrong with the parents of these children? Do they know where their children are, or do they even care?

Instead of crisis teams consoling classmates after these accidents we need teams to teach the kids to obey the rules of safety in driving before they happen. Then we will save lives.

A.F. Lopez

Bingham