Letters: Saskatoon photo radar tickets shock B.C. tourists

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We live in British Columbia and visited Saskatoon in September. We travelled in our 1992 Pleasureway van and were there for 10 days. A month after getting home, to our surprise and shock we received a letter saying we had a speeding ticket for going 45 km/h in a school zone on a Saturday.

Unbeknown to us, Saskatoon has a 365-days-a-year speed limit in school zones. The ticket was $290. We were horrified. My husband and I are both in our late 70s and on a fixed income. We have always followed rules, so we reluctantly paid the fine.

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Then, we received a second ticket; same school zone from the following Saturday. It was $306. Now we were in tears. We had travelled 3,600 kilometres from B.C. to Saskatoon return without incident. We cooked our food in the van, slept in it every night — all to save money.

And now we were being asked to pay almost $600 for fines that we had no idea existed. Where we live school zone limits are for school days only. We called the number on the back of the ticket and were given a court date by phone.

The justice of the peace was ruthless and rude. She finally lowered the $306 ticket to $200. She told us when to pay and abruptly hung up while we were still talking. If we don’t pay, it will eventually affect our credit rating. We feel like the second fine is a money grab for unsuspecting tourists.

Dave and Peggy King, Parksville, B.C.

Education decline in U.S. explains Trump win

I am a bona fide Canadian citizen, but have spent most of my career living in the U.S. I’m now retired and living close to home in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and it is natural for my friends to solicit my opinion on what is going on politically south of the border.

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How is it possible for an advanced nation like the United States, under totally free and democratic conditions, to decide that a surly fellow like Donald Trump would make their best leader. One can read ad nauseam all the many details of how this happened.

In my (humble) opinion, there is one fundamental reason for this, and it is hardly talked about at all. It is the dismal state of primary (kindergarten through Grade 12) education in that country.

Until about 20 years ago, the United States was ranked No. 3 among OECD countries in the level of quality education in these primary grades. Now it is No. 17.

This means that people who don’t go beyond Grade 12 (most of the “blue-collar” workforce) are weak in their analytical skills and lack the intellectual depth to go much beyond cosmetics and theatre. Trump seems to have understood this and adjusted his message accordingly.

Richard Penner, Saskatoon

Atchison again splits vote for mayor

Don Atchison has done it again, he has. Split the vote for mayor. Had he not been on the ballot, the results may have been different. How old will he be for the next election?

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Doug Lovegrove, Saskatoon

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