Editorial: They’ll drive like you

Written by The Darien Times
Monday, May 14, 2012 06:00 AM

It's time for adults to start modeling good driving habits for teens. How can we expect new drivers to ignore a text or phone call, obey the speed limit, wear a seatbelt, leave the make-up application, shaving, and bagel/coffee juggling for another time, and never ever get behind the wheel after (or while) drinking when they see more experienced drivers doing all of the above all the time?

Darien teens recently won an award for a video they made that showed exactly that. Your kids are more likely to drive as you do than drive as you say.

May is National Youth Traffic Safety Month. Not coincidentally, it's also prom season (Darien's is this Friday, May 18) and the beginning of graduations and end-of-the-school-year party time. These are occasions that mark a transition in American teenagers' lives, a move from childhood to adulthood. But when the adults they look to for guidance and example-setting are making bad choices, the road to adulthood can be bumpy at best and disastrous at worst.

Editorial: $26.77

Written by The Darien Times
Saturday, April 28, 2012 10:47 AM

That is an estimate of how much it cost for each vote cast here in Tuesday's Presidential Preference Primary. Turnout was 12.2% in Darien.

Not even 750 Republicans made it the Darien polls Tuesday to cast their preferences for the GOP's next presidential nominee. And can you blame them? Mitt Romney is already considered the nominee. And the rest of the primaries are merely formalities until this summer's convention makes the former Massachusetts governor the official nominee.

But the state still requires every polling location to be open for primaries — even though everyone knew turnout would be low ever since Mr. Romney's biggest challenger suspended his campaign earlier this month.

Editorial: Connecticut's obsession with more government

Written by The Darien Times
Tuesday, April 17, 2012 11:00 AM

While the Nutmeg State might be small in population and area compared to other states, it can seem like a different state by traveling just one hour in any direction. But so often the governmental center of Connecticut — Hartford — likes to push laws and ideas that make sense in one corner and cause problems in another.

In a state that has one of the highest tax rates around, the last thing Connecticut needs is another layer of government. But that is exactly what Hartford officials are pushing on us right now. More layers of government always end up meaning one thing: more taxes.

Editorial: Sunshine

Written by The Darien Times
Friday, March 16, 2012 04:00 PM

Appropriately, the sun has been shining in Darien all week long. It should be — it's Sunshine Week.

And none to soon — not only are most people ready for some spring sun and warmth, but most of Darien's boards and commissions are in need of a reminder about the importance of "sunlight" — operating in full public view — as well.

Sunshine Week, launched by the American Society of News Editors in 2005, is a national initiative to promote open government and freedom of information. It's a time to "shine the light" on government business and to bring to the forefront the public's right to know what its government is up to.