As You See It: March 14, 2008

One letter has this to say: "This young man is obviously attempting to create a business for himself while providing a much-needed service to locals. As I recall, freedom of speech is his right."

So, if I understand that correctly, it would be equally righteous for young women to stand around on the street corners, attempting to create a business for themselves by offering sex. It would provide a much-needed service to locals, I presume.

The primary difference is that the hos move along after a short while, if they don't get any immediate business in one place. And, they usually don't carry a commercial sign.

now we don't need to call jerry for his "much needed service", we can just dump our stuff in his truck on the corner like everyone else is doing. he's an idiot like you. freedom of speech?...that's not the point here, it's obviously over your head. you should be embarrassed

John Collins' column about his visit to Beijing and seeing the child labor

Isn't Mr. John Collins on the Santa Cruz School Board?

Perhaps he could respond to Mr. Brohmer's letter as a head ed honcho in our area instead of just as an observant tourist.

Little Johnnie Collins would not want to hear my 15 year old daughter describe a day a Soquel High School...most of the time it's one word long and I fear shared by many other teens.

Tell the moron with the eyesore trucks to try that crap in Carmel. Watch what happens.

I think the hand-held phone ban is stupid. There are so many other things that distract drivers and cause accidents, which we don't ban -- including phone use with hands-free devices. The primary reason to ban the hand-helds is because the driver's distraction and irresponsibility is blatantly obvious and this offends some people. Hey, it offends me too, whenever I'm following (or being cut off by) someone who is jabbering into a handheld. But I suspect that the ban will cause more problems than it solves, and it will certainly reinforce the government's propensity to use prohibition as a primary tool, instead of a desperate, last resort.

And while we're at it, why does this forum mechanism try to be "helpful" and identify us by the addresses of our ISPs? I have been shown as being from "Hayward," and "Oakland," when I actually live (and connect to the internet) in Santa Cruz. My DSL provider is AT&T. They reconfigure their networks all the time. Perhaps I'll someday show up as being in Provo UT, or Dubuque IA.

usually laws become effective in january but i heard a "talking on cell phone while driving" law will be happening in july this year...???? anybody know?

Home held cell phones both talking and texting endanger people in the car and others on the road.

I can't do cell phone dialing and texting while driving...

I meant Hand Held

yes july 1

If one person uses our streets as his own franchised billboard, we debate whether that's OK.

That's one person. Can we rocket scientists see where this precedent is headed?

RobtA,are you kidding?whats the difference?that Florida sun must be doing something with your ability to state a logical analogy.

how smart is a business man, really, who leaves his business vehicles all over town covered in tickets and with flat tires that now need to be replaced?

not very smart at all.

Now I just need to get this guys number - I definitely want to promote his business. All of the idiots with the "not in my backyard" mentality should get out of town. It doesn't matter if it is advertising, a train, poor people .... get over it and get a life.

cell phone law wrote:

usually laws become effective in january but i heard a "talking on cell phone while driving" law will be happening in july this year...???? anybody know?

July 1 and you can still talk but you must have a hands free device which precludes texting. Teenage drivers will not be allowed to talk or text at all.

Bluesdawg asked me about my analogy, in the first reply above. Well then, let me take the analogy further:

One woman struts here stuff on the street, carrying a sign that reads "For Sale."

Another woman struts her stuff on the street, carrying a sign that read "Trash."

It seems to me that the first woman would get a ticket, but the second woman would not? They mean the same thing, don't they?

You are implying that Trash = Hooker or Prostitute.

For Sale could mean "I will clean your house"

We sell ourselves everyday. that is why we get paychecks.