Dear Editor:

I am pretty sure I wrote you before about this topic, but my friend (who refuses to give his name, and claims he is 92 years old) appears on my porch out of nowhere and rings the doorbell and knocks constantly until I answer. When I do, he has the biggest toothless smile you ever saw and just melts any hard feelings I may have at the nuisance doorbell. Anyway, I shall just call him Charley.

Charley was riding with his great-granddaughter through downtown Lehighton, and as they turned onto Bankway and approached the doughnut shop on the left, he let out a shriek that startled his driver and she hit the brakes. He yelled, “What the devil is that … what is that light?” She said it is a new business that sells cigarettes, I think. This really got Charley’s ire up and he went into a wild narrative (if that’s the word for it) that lasted a good 20 minutes. To summarize, he was complaining about the lights aimed at the traffic.

When he was finished, I took him into our kitchen and asked him to sit a spell, and poured him a cup of tea. He calmed down enough that I could talk and relate my feelings as well. I told him not too many years ago I sent a letter to the Times News about this very problem; business places shining lights out into traffic lanes. I even sent a letter to PennDOT but did not receive any response. (Not that I really believed they would.) I have to agree with Charley, the problem is getting worse. I occasionally enjoy a cup of coffee at a lunchroom along the tracks in Weissport with a retired state trooper. He too echoes our disgust, but is not at liberty to address it anymore.

I guess Charley and I and many other motorist will put up with it until it is proven that the lights caused a fatality on a street or highway somewhere! I helped Charley off my porch and wished him a long life!

Respectfully yours,

Richard M. Gross

Lehighton