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Do right thing: Stop for buses

Perhaps the motoring public needs to be reminded of the importance of stopping for a school bus while it is loading or unloading.

I am a bus driver, and there isn't a day that goes by that someone doesn't pass my bus illegally while I'm loading or unloading students.

How would you feel if you hit a child? You would have to live with that for the rest of your life!

Motorists must be aware of their surroundings at all times. They need to hang up their cell phones and concentrate on their No. 1 responsibility: driving!

To those drivers who stop, thank you. The children on the bus also thank you.

Let them live - please!

Too little teaching time, too much holiday time

I just looked at the Pinellas County school calendar for 2005-2006. I wish I were going to school now instead of when I was in elementary school.

School is closed for three days for Thanksgiving, not including the weekend (five days total).

School is closed for 10 days for "winter holidays," not including three weekends (16 days). Since when do we have winter here? Why don't they say it like it is? Christmas break. This is one time that no matter what religion you are, you celebrate Christmas.

During the school year, the students lose 12 hours of learning because of a "school improvement planning day." They should plan this better and do it after school hours.

I almost forgot the infamous "spring holiday." Closed for one week, not including two weekends.

Not only are some family working schedules juggled because they can't leave their children home alone, but what about the students? They have all this idle time on their hands. I am sure they don't open a book or read during this "off" time.

Get with the program, Pinellas School Board, and schedule the school year to reflect teaching time, not holiday time.

Save Calvary Baptist as a landmark in Clearwater

Re: Calvary Baptist Church chapel.

The Calvary Baptist chapel, part of Calvary Baptist Church at Osceola Avenue and Cleveland Street in downtown Clearwater, is a beautiful and wonderful place. It would serve the city to save it for historical reasons. The chapel also is a domed work of art and is worthy of being saved.

In 1915, at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, a focal point there was the "Palace (or Dome) of Fine Arts." It was the only building preserved from the exposition. It still exists today as a famous San Francisco landmark in the Marina District near the Golden Gate Bridge and is greatly used and admired.

Street light style seems out of place with location

Has anyone questioned the new street lighting on Curlew Road in Dunedin? Incredibly tall and ugly, it reminds me of a megamall or toll plaza lighting. Is this type really necessary? Let's trade these lights for some that fit in form and function, at least in the residential section.

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[Last modified September 14, 2005, 02:15:34]