Lehigh Valley roads have a litter problem

The annual spring snow melt is a lurid visual reminder that we have a serious litter problem in the Lehigh Valley. Decades of annual Earth Day celebrations have apparently not resulted in a significant reduction of trash along the shoulders of our Lehigh Valley roads. This writer finds it particularly ironic that the ramp from Route 222 East to Interstate 78 East is covered in trash despite having two “littering is a crime” signs 100 feet apart. One wonders if there is any enforcement of our anti-littering laws — can law enforcement please publish statistics on the number of littering tickets issued over the last five decades? It would seem logical to start enforcing the anti-littering laws by monitoring I-78 and Route 22. At a minimum, The Morning Call should actively request and publish trash photos received from the public as a weekly feature.

— David Thompson, Macungie

We don’t need TV news to report higher gas prices

Shame on the TV news programs. Do they think the public is so stupid that they have to broadcast the soaring price of gas 10 times a day? Don`t they have something better to report? The public knows what’s going on, we are the ones pumping the gas so why do they have to make people more depressed? It is like they enjoy making us miserable.

— Barry Buchecker, North Whitehall Township

Trump’s statement about Mueller unforgivable

Upon learning that Robert Mueller, a decorated former Marine (he received a Purple Heart), an accomplished lawyer and head of the FBI under several presidents had died from complications of Parkinson’s, the president of the United States had this to say: “Good, I’m glad he’s dead.” Thus far there has been almost no reaction from the Republican-majority Congress for such an uncalled for statement. Mueller does leave a family behind, mind you. Imagine the president of the U.S. saying the same about someone in your family.

— Jeff Horning, Bethlehem

SAVE Act would disenfranchise voters

I respectfully disagree with the writer in a recent edition of The Morning Call who claimed that the SAVE Act only aims to remove aliens from voting. The act actually carries broader implications. Notably, it would disproportionately impact women. As Caroline Leavitt stated, “And for the small fraction of individuals who have changed their name or their address, they can still register to vote; they just have to go through their state processes to update that documentation.” This specifically includes recently married or divorced women who changed their name or address within a state or county. Furthermore, the new process must be done in person. According to the Brennan Center For Justice, over 21 million Americans lack ready access to required documents, such as birth certificates or passports, and would face significant challenges in getting them — especially people of color, low-income individuals, and married or divorced women. If you question whether this is fair and democratic, you can do something: Vote May 19 at your polling place while you still can.

— Ann Brown, Lower Saucon Township

Attacks on Iran poorly planned

We are now seeing deadly missile and drone attacks on U.S. allies and bases, cyberattacks and oil exports reduced to a trickle, impacting the global economy. All mainly due to the poor planning, timing and execution of our president’s attack on Iran. I’m pretty sure many of us agree with preventing Iran from sponsoring terrorism and becoming a nuclear power. However, the Republican administration’s simplistic bomb-them-into-oblivion approach is unlikely to accomplish those goals. As military and foreign policy experts report, President Trump’s latest military actions haven’t been well thought out or executed. And without significant, meaningful assistance to Iranian dissenters, the Iranian government’s capitulation is unlikely. Iran is fighting back and doing great harm beyond its borders. Now Trump is trying to do damage control by making threatening demands to reluctant NATO allies for military support. How long are our GOP senators and representatives going to blindly accept the Trump administration’s approach to war? It’s pretty clear that significant changes are needed at the top if we are to meet our military objectives. At the least, Secretary of Defense Hegseth needs to be replaced by someone who possesses solid leadership, management and strategic abilities.

— Harold Vandegrift, North Catasauqua

War with Iran makes no sense

Our government started a war with no clearly defined objectives and a plan to achieve them. The Iranian regime responded by closing the Strait of Hormuz, which is continuing to drive up the price of oil, gas and eventually everything else derived from or moved with petroleum. Recently we learned that Russia may be assisting Iran with targeting information that may have been used to attack and kill our servicemen and women and attack other oil-producing nations. To try and temper the high prices, sanctions were removed from some Russian and Iranian oil, but what it’s really doing is funding our enemies in a war against ourselves. How does that make sense? What’s next, boots on the ground? Send ICE, they’ll be at the airports this week. This nonsense has to stop.

— Anthony Louie, Bethlehem

The Morning Call publishes letters from readers online and in print several times a week. Submit a letter to the editor at letters@mcall.com. The views expressed in this piece are those of its individual author(s), and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of this publication.

ELECTION LETTERS

Letters to the editor about candidates and issues in the May 19 primary election must be received by 10 a.m. May 11. Election-related letters will not be published after May 14.