Great job to the Michigan State Police troopers who pulled the two children and driver from the overturned vehicle and the Alpena Fire Department firefighters/paramedics who responded to the collision on 2nd and Miller yesterday! (“Trooper rescues kids amid back-to-back crashes in Alpena,” Oct. 27).

In contrast, I hope the Alpena Municipal Council looks at the pictures from this incident which endangered the lives of two young children and the adult driver and decides to finally take action for public safety. The traffic light at Miller and 2nd had functioned as a three-color light during school hours until recent years. Apparently, the light stopped functioning correctly a couple years ago and was either not fixed and/or replaced with a blinking yellow despite the fact that it is adjacent to All Saints Catholic School and St. Mary’s Church, which is used daily by parishioners of All Saints Catholic Parish.

Twice each school day, we and many other school families drive through that intersection as defensively as possible taking our children to school. As reported, last year there was at least one pedestrian struck and seriously injured and another individual we know hospitalized due to a collision, not to mention the regularly occurring near misses. Yesterday’s accident was only a matter of time and the next one could be tragic. These concerns were raised again to the Municipal Council in February, as reported, acknowledged, and “tabled” without action.

The Alpena Municipal Council should stop deferring action on the safety of children and families and return this light to a fully functional traffic signal!

LARRY and MEGAN LaCROSS,

Presque Isle