Mary Fong Lau, sentenced to probation for a crash that killed a family of four, walks out of court during a recess at the Hall of Justice in San Francisco on Friday.
Benjamin Fanjoy/For the S.F. Chronicle
Regarding “West Portal crash: S.F. judge sentences driver who killed family of 4 to probation” (San Francisco, SFChronicle.com, March 20): I’m disappointed and outraged at the sentence Mary Fong Lau received.
I agree that sentencing her to prison would be a death sentence, given her age. I also believe it was an unfortunate, unintentional accident, probably resulting from a cascading series of events. She has also expressed remorse.
However, Lau can renew her driver’s license in three years. Whether she wishes to or not, she should never be allowed to drive again.
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My father once became unresponsive at the wheel due to a seizure while driving to a doctor’s appointment. Thankfully, neither he nor anyone else was injured, but the Department of Motor Vehicles permanently stripped him of his driver’s license
If my father lost his license for a potentially dangerous situation, then Lau, who killed four people, should be stripped of hers, even if it was a tragic accident.
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Jim Wollak, San Francisco
Remove his name
Americans can be proud of our mature, near-unanimous response to the news of the sexual abuse allegations against labor leader Cesar Chavez.
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In light of this response, surely we will apply the same standard to any other prominent persons accused of similar crimes.
Imagine there were a person who, like Chavez, many Americans admired but who, also like Chavez, multiple women credibly accused of sexual assault. Imagine further that this person was caught on tape bragging about committing some of these assaults and that a civil jury found that this person was liable for sexually abusing a woman.
We know now that, as with Chavez, even Americans who continue to admire that person would join in supporting the removal of that person’s name from the multiple sites named for him.
Greg Gegiere, Sacramento
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Enact a billionaire tax
Regarding “Progressives love him. Billionaires hate him. Can a Berkeley professor pass California’s wealth tax?” (California, SFChronicle.com, March 18): Any billionaires with a shred of wisdom and ethics will support the proposed tax. Why?
Because even after paying the one-time 5% tax, someone with $1 billion in assets would still have $995 million — sufficient to continue living in opulent luxury — while contributing to state revenues for needed services and enhancing the economy.
The billionaires who oppose this tax show their true colors of mean-spiritedness and greed. The only argument they can offer against it is threatening to leave the state in droves.
Well, so be it. May they leave our beautiful state to those who value a more equitable use of resources that benefit all. The billionaire tax is a no-brainer. Don’t fall for the mean-spirited fear-mongering about it.
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Marilyn Langlois, Richmond
Show some decency
Regarding “Trump on former FBI Director Robert Mueller: ‘I’m glad he’s dead’” (Politics, SFChronicle.com, March 21): President Donald Trump’s remark about the death of Robert Mueller was a stark reminder of Joseph Welch’s famous quote directed at political witch-hunter Sen. Joseph McCarthy during a in 1954 congressional hearing: “Have you no sense of decency, sir?”
Among other accomplishments, Mueller was a decorated war hero (Vietnam), highly respected, long-time FBI director and special counsel for the investigation into Russian interference into the presidential election of 2016.
We all have friends and enemies, and they are all deserving of human respect.
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Steve Abney, San Francisco
Americans are conflicted
Guest opinions in Open Forum and Insight are produced by writers with expertise, personal experience or original insights on a subject of interest to our readers. Their views do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Chronicle editorial board, which is committed to providing a diversity of ideas to our readership.
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Regarding “A UC professor won criminology’s highest honor. Americans still don’t believe her research” (California, SFChronicle.com, March 17): Americans are still comfortable holding two contrary ideas at the same time.
The story said that 57% of Americans believe that immigrants bring more crime, while national polling shows that about 60% of Americans believe that the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement has gone too far.