Q - Millard North High School

May 10. 2011 opinions 5Dear Mr. President,Editorial Cartoon by Kelly BastA little on thebright sidejamesgeigerstaff writerThomas Edison didn’tknow what he was getting into.His revolutionary invention, thelight bulb, brought homes, business,and whole cities out fromthe darkness of night – allowingpeople to throw out their nowarchaic oil lamps and candles.Eventually, the light bulb wouldallow people to drive at night ononce-dark roads and, in a moremodern respect, stay awakewatching late-night television.Our extensive use of artificiallighting has never beenquestionedor thoughtabout twice,simply beingpassed off asan everydaynormalityand habit—but at whatcost?Lightpollution isoften passedoff as insignificant or unimportantin comparison to the otherforms of pollution cities face,but contrary to popular belief,light pollution is a seriousproblem that is easy to fix. Theexcessive light given off by artificiallight can do some majordamage to both animals in theregion and humans living in thecity.According to NationalGeographic Magazine, lightpollution is any nighttime artificiallight that shines where itisn’t needed. This unnecessarylight is then reflected downwardby cloud cover, a phenomenonknown as sky glow. Not onlydoes this sky glow account forthe lack of visible stars at nighttime,but it also can be a culpritwhen it comes to the disruptionof the Circadian Rhythm, whichregulates sleep/wake cycles.When this cycle is disrupted,the effects can be devastating.The most frequentlyexperienced disruption to thecircadian rhythm is jet lag,caused by moving between timezones while flying; but recentstudies show that an increase innighttime sky glow can also disruptthis cycle on a more regularbasis than jet lag. According tothe Society for Neuroscience, aregular disruption in circadianrhythms can cause weight gain,impulsive actions, slower thinking,along with reduced performancein school and at work.While many factors go intosleep schedules, artificial lightlate at night is a major contributor,and simple steps canbe done in order to limit the“Light pollution is oftenpassed off as insignificant orunimportant in comparison tothe other forms of pollutioncities face, but contrary topopular belief, light pollutionis a serious problem that iseasy to fix.”amount of artificial light.According to NationalGeographic Magazine, the currentdesign of streetlights is inefficient—oftenwasting 60% ofit’s potential light to the nightsky. Simple designs have beensuggested to improve efficiencyof nighttime lights, includingreflectors that direct light downwardswhere it’s needed most.Implementing these designswouldn’t cost much, but wouldhave a lasting impact on theproblem.Easily fixed issues, includinglight pollution, shouldn’t beignored due to apathy towardsthe problem. After all, whenEdison had an issue to fix, heset out to be successful evenafter he tried and failed. Withthe easy solutions to light pollutionthat are avaliable, there isno excuse to ignore the problemany longer.F a s tFacts:Light pollutionis moreprominateinlarge cities.Inefficientlights canw a s t e60% oflight tothe nightsky.On average,200-300 starscan beseen fromsuburbs,comparedto 2,500in morerural areas.Sky glowcan disorientboth animalsandhumans,disruptingthecircadianrhythm.More efficientlights andreflectorsare simpleandlong termways tosolve theproblem.‘You’re fired’to to suffer the same fate. Hecan’t simply declare bankruptcypeaceon the US economy and expectkanu-asiegbu to build it back up.staff writerAside from his financialwoes, Trump is also sorely lackingin his ability to pick hisbattles wisely. A president issupposed to have a “way withwords” but Trump is notorious“I’ve always been the victorand you need these kindof people in the government.”Donald Trump uttered thesefighting words at the 2011Tea Party Convention.Trump, best known asa billionaire business moguland for his reality show,“The Apprentice”, has engagedin talks as a prospectivecandidate for the 2012election year.Despite his talks, DonaldTrump doesn’t have theskill level, qualifications, nordoes he meet the criteria fitfor the presidency.Trump, a self-made tycoon,has an uncanny businessbackground. His businessestake him all over the world,so he has been left with someinsight on how to deal with economicsand the art of makingmoney.However, Trump has had todeclare bankruptcy four timesin the past 20 years only to bebailed out by big banks, familymembers etc.Though, it is admirable thathis businesses have survivedbankruptcy. The US can’t afford“One must exhibit characteristicsof strong familyvalues worth of emulation.Trump happens to be on histhird wife with five childrenfrom his marriages. A presidentcan’t simply “divorce”the country if minor infractionsarise. He must fight tokeep the peace.”Photo enforced finesbridgetvan beaumontfront page editorShocked and thoroughlyconfused, Plattsmouth residentJohn Blotzer received a ticketfrom an Iowa red light camera(RLC) in the mail. He went topolice when he realized the carin the photo was not his own.Only after visiting the CouncilBluffs Assistant AttorneyAfter was the error corrected.Blotzer’s case is just one ofmany confirming that RLCshave several errors and areoverall an unreliable ticketingdevice.RLCs do just as theysay. They photograph a car,focusing on its license plate,in order to collect evidenceof the vehicle actually runninga red light. Then thephoto, along with a ticket is sentto the owner of the vehicle. Theowner is then able to watch thevideo of the incident on theirhome computer for further review.While this sounds simpleenough, the system can easilybe flawed, such as in the exampleof the falsely accusedCouncil Bluffs man. Blotzer’scase of mistaken identity is notunusual. At least once a monththe red light cameras in Iowahave issues with duplicate licenseplates from Nebraska. Inaddition, the photos have otherfor starting “a war of words.”He recently accused PresidentObama of “conning” theUS. He claimed that Obamawasn’t an actual citizen. Heeven launched his own full-oninvestigaton to look into thesituation. Trump kept attackingObama until he finally firedback by releasing copies of hisbirth certificate to the public.Lastly, as president, onemust exhibit characteristics ofstrong family values worthy ofinaccuracies such as not havinga traffic light visible in the photoevidence and having a yellowlight illuminated instead of red.According to Red LightCamera List.com there are a totalof eight cameras in CouncilBluffs. Their placement rangesamongst stoplights from 6th to35th street, and anywhere fromWest Broadway to Willow Avenue.While the RLCs may seemlike decent way to collect revenuefor to the city’s generalfunds, the money earned from“While the RLCs mayseem like a decent wayto collect revenue for thecity’s general funds, themoney earned from thetickets is divided throughoutthe state government.”the tickets is divided throughoutthe state government. Cashfrom one ticket makes its way tothe city, county and state courts,in addition to being used as a feefor anything from law enforcementto document holding.Overall the typical trafficticket is split between 14 differentgovernment departmentsaccording to National MotoristAssociation, not creating a noticeableor profitable income.Along with the ticket moneybeing split into practicallynothing by the government,emulation. Trump happens to beon his third wife with five childrenfrom his marriages. A presidentcan’t simply “divorce”the country if minor infractionsarise. He must fight to keep thepeace, a standard that the countryruns on.Moreover, Trump’s motivesfor the presidency arequestionable. He“trumped up” noiseabout running forpresident during the2000 elections withSenator John McCainand former presidentGoerge Bush. Manybelieve that this timearound, Trump has thesame motives. Onlythis time around, it’sjust a ploy to gainpopularity for his T.V.show.Besides, if Trumpruns, he will prove to be a nuisianceto the Republican party.If Trump were to get the bid, theRepublican party can expect tobe the “butt” of many politicaljokes.There is no question thatTrump is not qualified for thepresidential seat. If Trump doesget the presidential bid, it wouldbe wise for the US citizensto think long and hard beforesomeone tells Obama, “DearMr. President, “You’re Fired.”the camera itself must be paidoff. In Iowa $45 from a single$65 ticket go back to the cameracompany. According to ErinMahoney at Emunds.com RLCscost around $100,000 for eachlocation. That means it wouldtake well over 2,000 tickets topay for just one RLC.Likewise, another fault inthe camera system is human determinationand ingenuity. Withlogic anyone can avoid a RLCby simply using a website suchas RedLightList.com whichgives the locations of all of redlight cameras in any city.While the wholepoint of these camerasis to decrease the numberof accidents and redlight running, severalstudies have revealedRLC’s having the exactopposite effect. Asstated in a study done bythe Virginia TransportationResearch Councilrear-end crashes increased 27%in an entire area of study afterRLCs were installed. If the safetyof drivers is being put at riskin fear of being ticketed, thenclearly the cameras are ineffective.The idea of the RLC givesthe impression a device usedby utopian government—usingtechnology to collect moneythough putting minimal effortinto it. Although red light camerasare an innovative idea theyare a reminder to all: buyer barware.